Walt Sherrill
Member
jmr40 said:If you're looking for a gun for personal protection, LE or military use you will see just the opposite. Despite CZ's carefully worded descriptions they are rarely chosen for this use.
Yes and no.
Ruger sells almost no guns to the U.S. military or LEO. What do you infer from that? SIGs are widely used by LEOs in the U.S., but see only limited use by the US mlitary. U.S. NAVY SEALS do use a special model of the P226, but they use other handguns, too. Keep in mind, too, that the U.S. military uses many, many times more Berettas than SIGs.
CZs are not seen much in police work in the U.S. but that may be because CZ has no U.S. factories for their 75B or P-07/p-09 series guns, and most LEO organizations will buy ONLY US-made weapons. (Glock and Beretta have U.S. factories.) Limited sales to US LEO agencies may also be because CZ doesn't have the deep pockets of firms like S&W and Glock to offer deep discounts to LEO agencies -- which seems to be the driving force behind LEO sales: low price. CZs are used as police weapons in parts of Europe, the Middle East, and in African nations. CZs also see military service in a number of countries, including Israel.
Before the Western Embargo of Communist-made weapons ended (in 1991) Israel liked the CZ guns so much they bought licensing rights from Tanfoglio for the Tanfoglio version of the CZ design, and started making the weapons themselves (through the IMI and IWI firms); IWI developed the Baby Eagle guns for commercial use.) This all started before the fall of the Soviet Union (1991). After the embargo ended, CZ sold weapons to the Turkish military, and they later, like Israel, made them themselves -- and started making a number of different Turkish-made CZ pattern guns to the world. CZ is a relatively young "for-profit" organization, and I am amazed that they've done as well as they have competing against firms like SIG, Glock and Beretta. They're advertising budget in the U.S. has been tight and much of their sales success is due to word-of-mouth promotion by other CZ owners.
The latest IDPA Nationals were just held, and listed 320 guns used in that competition; the highest counts: 97 Glocks, 87 S&Ws, 42 Springfield Armory, 22 STI, 21 CZs. Not a single SIG.
SIGs are good guns. I have a Gray Guns-tuned P228r and a P220 Super Match. For use in competiton or for home defense, I prefer my Glock 38 to the P220 Super Match. I'm also now shooting a Sphinx SDP, and prefer it to all of my guns -- possible exception: a custom AT-84s, which is also CZ-pattern gun.
chitech500: if you can, try hands-on with the guns, and actually shoot them. (Rentals? From an acquaintance?) Nothing beats actually shooting a number of rounds through the gun. CZ triggers will get better with use. SIG triggers are usually pretty good out of the box. SIGs don't fit me as well as a CZ -- but not everyone falls in love with the CZ, hands on. Why? The non-decocker CZs have a LONG DA trigger, and you NEED to experience THAT before you buy, unless you plan to start from cocked & locked. Or just look into the P-01 or the PCR, or if you can find one, the 75BD, the full-size CZ with decocker. The decocker models have a slightly shorter and lighter trigger, due to the fact that they start from the half-cock notch.