Onmilo said:
The CZ handgun design is now in the realm of the 1911 and single action revolvers.
Still useful but way past their prime.
The CZ-83 you mentioned has almost nothing in common with the CZ-75 vs. Glock comparison...
And I'm pretty sure THAT is the comparison being made. The CZ-83 is a much different design created by different designers... the '83 is a blowback design and really can't handle 9mm or larger caliber rounds. The CZ-83 is arguably one of the best blowback service pistols ever made (not just the best .32 semi-auto) -- giving the original Makarov a run for it's money. Others can address THAT debate.
The CZ design which isn't everyone's cup of tea, is only a year or two older than the Glock -- both were introduced in the mid 70's. The Glock is an
elegantly simple design. Every time I work on one of mine, I'm amazed by the simplicity of the design, and how easily some parts of it can be tuned. I've even seen metal frames offered for sale -- probably for IPSC/USPSA competition.
Much is made of the CZ's ergonomics: how it fits the hand. Ergonomically, a Glock could be adapted to be as "friendly" to the shooter's hand as the CZ, and the fourth generation guns with the adjustable grips are a step in that direction. The trigger pull of the Glock, while less crisp than the CZ, is also much shorter. (Trigger pull length being a major drawback of the CZ's DA/SA [or is that SA/DA] design.)
SA/DA? The CZ was a also big departure from the standard designs of the time, too -- offering a SA start if you wanted it, plus DA functionality. In recent years -- CZ is just now really catching on here in the U.S., aftermarket parts are available to make the triggers truly outstanding, and the cost of these parts are reasonable. (Drop-in hammers and trigger-pull reduction kits change the very nature of the gun.)
Had the CZ been designed in the West, this discussion might have taken a different course -- as for the first 10-15 years of the CZ's service life it was almost impossible to get one in the West. (Western nations embargoed most of Soviet Bloc exports.) The CZ designers really built a gun for export to the West -- it wasn't designed for military use. The Western embargo kept it from catching on until the fall of the Soviet Union (although Tanfoglio began making copies in the '80s.)
The earliest CZs that came to the West (through Canada) were very expensive: $1000 or so in the mid '70s. Later, GIs serving in Germany could buy them through their base or post exchanges -- and when you find one without import marks, that's often how it got here. But CZs stayed RARE -- until Tanfoglio "borrowed" the design and started making clones that eventually subtly changed. (Tanfoglio no longer makes clones, but does make excellent CZ-pattern guns, as do a number of firms in Turkey. China makes them too, but we can't get them here in the U.S. from China.)
Had the Communist nations been a bit more flexible with their licensing practices, CZ might have stayed in control of the CZ design. CZ did license the CZ design to a firm in Switzerland, and the original
ITM AT-84 was a true CZ clone. At least one firm in Great Britain also built a true CZ clone. The later AT-84s, which is based on the Tanfoglio version of the design, is still a close copy, but no longer a true clone. That Swiss firm, ITM, went on through sales and mergers to become part of another firm that still makes CZ-pattern guns: Sphinx. Their guns have long been considered the best of the CZ "copies." My two best "CZs" -- a semi-custom AT-84s and a Sphinx SDP -- were both made in Switzerland.
We hear a lot about the standard CZs but little is said about their IPSC and USPSA guns. These guns are far more costly and in effect, semi-custom/custom guns. The CZ Custom Shop builds comparable weapons, and Cajun Gun Works can, too. I'm not sure whether Glock has comparable guns
from the factory, and I don't know of a Glock Custom Shop -- but after-market shops and parts suppliers give Glock shooters the ability to go that route should they choose to do so. (Remember the metal Glock frame.)
