I've *FINALLY* found the right 9mm for me

[MacTech]

It's taken me a while, but I've finally found the right 9mm pistol for me, I've gone through the following;

Taurus PT-99AF; was generally reliable, but would stovepipe at least once or twice per range trip, where I put about 100 rounds downrange per trip, it was also not as accurate as I liked, it was fine at around 7 yards, but anything beyond 20 yards took on a "shotgun-esque" style pattern

It was traded for a....

Tanfoglio Witness; the Witness was *far* more accurate than the Taurus, it could reliably shoot one and two holers at 7 yards, and at 20-25 yards, 1-2" groups were possible and repeatable, the problem was, it had FTF issues, at least twice to three times per mag, the slide would refuse to go into full battery, I'd have to tap it closed, I polished the feed ramp, cleaned the gun and the mags, it reduced the FTF issues but didn't eliminate it, on top of that, when I went to the EAA website, my Witness was one under a recall for firing pin problem

Yes, I could have sent the gun to EAA, replace the recoil spring with a stronger spring, but I was generally unhappy with this gun, so I decided to give another gun a try

It was traded for a....

CZ 75B; this, like all my previous guns, was used, but in great shape, it was a little dirty when I bought it, but it cleaned up nicely , I polished the feed ramp, and took the mags I had bought for the Witness (they were CZ-75 mags anyway) to the range today, expecting to be dissapointed again, given my luck, the only pistol I'd been happy with had been my .45 ACP Glock 21 with the 3rd gen OD frame (love that gun, LOVE the .45)

What can I say, the CZ performed brilliantly, it was even more accurate than the Witness, at 7 yards, I was able to put all 15 rounds into one half-dollar sized hole, at 20 yards, I could shoot 1/2 to 1" groups, and it fed flawlessly, absolutely *NO* FTF issues, in fact, no issues at all, it was almost Glocklike in that regard, pull the trigger, it goes *bang*, no FTF, FTE, stovepipes or anything, 100% reliability, even the two mags that were FTF'ing in the witness fed with 100% reliability

Normally, I tend to shoot 50-100 rounds out of my 9mm and .45 at the range, due to the expense of ammo, but the CZ 75 was the first 9mm I actually had *FUN* with, expense be dammned, it just felt right, it felt natural, like it was custom made just for me, I shot off my 15 rounds of GDHP that I had been feed testing in the Witness, as I didn't feel safe using ammo that had been fed and refed multiple times as SD ammo, so I fired them off to test the 75 for feed issues

no issues...

I actually had *ALL* my 9mm ammo in the car, as last night, when I was fed up with the Witness, I was contemplating on just giving up on 9mm entirely and going with .45, I was going to sell off all my 9mm if I didn't find the right 9mm that night....

So after the flawless 15 rounds of Speer GDHP, I went back to the car, and grabbed a couple 50 round boxes of 9mm, and went back to continue shooting, thinking I'd just fire off one of the boxes and call it a day (well, morning, actually, I had a car appointment at 11 AM), I had so much fun with the first box of 9, that I shot off the other box, great accuracy, and not a FTF, FTE, or any issues at all

I went off to my car appointment, and on the way back home, stopped into wally-world, picked up a 100 round box of WWB in 9 and .45, and drove home, stopping off at my gunstore to pick up some replacement targets, and another 100 rounds of 9mm and 50 rounds of .45 (it was on sale)

As I was driving home, I had the urge to go back to the range, after all, I had some new targets to test out, a great new gun, and 770 rounds of ammo in the trunk (750 ball rounds and 20 Speer GDHP) and I was tempted to shoot it *ALL* today I resisted the urge to shoot up my entire stash though...

I set up the new target, and ran another 100 rounds through the gun, once again, 100% flawless performance, so far, I've put 215 rounds through the gun and had absolutely no problems with it, and was reliably grouping 3/4" to 1" groups at about 20 yards

I *LOVE* my CZ-75B, Resistance is Futile, I am part of the CZollective now

 

[Claude Clay]

cz has some beautiful family members. how long can you put off temptation?

 

[atblis]

Wow

I knew based on the thread title that you most likely meant a CZ75B. Seriously.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Why did you go 9mm in the first place?
(Not critisizing, just trying to learn)

 

[zeebandit]

CZ 9mm

I have 2 of them. Be careful, they are addictive and fun to shoot.

 

[MacTech]

Why did you go 9mm in the first place?
(Not critisizing, just trying to learn)

Mainly due to the price, 9mm is the least expensive centerfire cartridge on the market, previously I was a revolver fan (still am) but I wanted to try a semiauto for a change, 9mm was the cheapest choice while still being useful in case I had to use it defensively

 

[denfoote]

I *LOVE* my CZ-75B, Resistance is Futile, I am part of the CZollective now

We are Glock.
You will be assimilated.
Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own.
Resistance is futile.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

So did you get your first 9mm (which you have now sold) before or after you got your glock?

 

[MacTech]

The Taurus was my first semiauto, my semi history goes like this;

Taurus PT-99AF (Sold)
Glock 21 (Still own and love it, it's too much fun!)
Tanfoglio Witness 9mm (Sold)
CZ-75B (Definitely a keeper)

 

[SureThing]

CZ's are really good. You hear of very few issues with them, and mine have been %100.

 

[WVleo]

My CZ RAMI has been running strong without a blip. And My CZ American .22lr is sweet. They make nice firearms .........WVleo

 

[JZ06]

I know the feeling. I kept going through 9mm's like they we're candy. For a while it was my sig 239,then 8 rounds weren't enough...then it was my px4. I have my "keeper" and that pistol is a Glock 19c. Accurate, low recoil, reliable and high capacity. I shoot very well with it(slow fire or rapid) even on bad days I'm still ok!

4300 rounds and ZERO malfunctions in less than six months of owning it(bought it new)

 

[BlindJustice]

I got a CZ 75B last May. No FTFs/FTEs in 950 rds of
every type of bullet weight/type I've put through it. And
yeah, silly accurate. Good quality for the money.

Randall

 

[Marcus L.]

I've owned a CZ 75bd, CZ P-01, CZ 97b, and CZ SP-01. I've sold them all except the P-01 which I plan to sell and get another standard CZ 75b in stainless. The classic 75b in my opinion is by far still the best overall CZ model in 9mm. It has just the right balance, just the right slide mass and overall weight for shooting 9mm NATO comfortably, and those Commies put a lot of R&D into the original design. Not to bash the newer CZ designs, but the original had the best balance of attributes in my opinion.

 

[dwave]

Glad you found one you like. I am still looking for a 9mm that I like.

 

[MacTech]

I was wondering, how necessary is the magazine brake in the CZ75, it's the only feature I don't like on this gun, it looks easy enough to remove and it doesn't appear to have any functional purpose other than preventing the mag from dropping free, I *LIKE* drop-free mags

I removed the mag brake, and the gun appears to be unaffected, the only thing I can see it doing is keeping the hammer spring a tad cleaner, but not by much, there's plenty of clearance between the mag and the hammer spring, and the mag keeps most of the crud out of the hammer spring area anyway

So, mag brake, critical part, or minor annoyance? any downside to removing it?

 

[schmeky]

MacTech,

Congrats on the CZ. You need to keep the mag brake, just bend it straight. It helps the magazine glide in smoothly. You can insert the magazine w/o the mag brake, but it can, at times, bind slightly.

Been there, done that.

Now do you understand us CZ "nuts"?

 

[MacTech]

Ayuh, I understand, it's a great pistol, for sure, and I want to make it better, I've been reading up on the mag brake thing, and apparently CZ has flat springs available that don't act as a brake, but just a hammer spring cover?

I'll give the US CZ distributor a ring Monday and see if this is true, as it's the only thing I want to change about my CZ

Oh, i forgot to add, my CZ 75 came with a nice cushy set of Hogue finger-grip rubber grips, not as classy looking as wood, but nice and grippy

I'll post pics later

 

[SureThing]

Actually, just remove the one you have and bend it straight. There is info at the czforums about it.

 

[Aka Zero]

Welcome to the club. Got a 75b-sa. All I did was add some slim rubber grips. Gun is perfect for me. 100% too.

 

[crebralfix]

I had the opposite experience with a CZ75 I was thinking of buying. It was a total jam-o-matic.*

*Disclaimer: This is not a judgement of the design itself. It is merely a report of the performance of one example of the breed.

I do hear a lot about various CZ guns. I'm contemplating getting one of their compacts since their prices are very reasonable.

 

[MacTech]

Thank you, CZ-75, thank you for being such a fun, accurate, reliable, fun and fun gun!

oh, did I mention it was fun, I think I forgot to mention it...

My previous semiautos never really resonated with me, the Taurus PT99-AF I bought mainly because it was inexpensive, and I always liked the Beretta style gun, it worked fine for a few weeks, then began to irritate me with inaccuracy beyond 20 yards and an increasing number of stovepipes, so it was traded back, getting basically what I paid for it

the Tanfoglio Witness was much more accurate, but a tempermental feeder, sometimes, in the middle of a mag, it would FTF, it happened on all three mags, even after a feed ramp polishing, cleaning and lubing and other TLC, discovering there was a recall on my serial number range for firing pin problems also did not please me, so back it went

Now that I'm the happy owner of a CZ-75, I realized something, the thing that was missing from the previous two pistols was *FUN*, the Taurus shot well, when it wasn't stovepiping, but I never really enjoyed it, it was just sort of "there", it was a bullet launcher, nothing more, plain, mundane, pedestrian, as was the Tanfoglio, but the Tanf. actually annoyed me with it's tempermental feeding

a few weeks after I got the Taurus, I picked up a Glock 21 .45 ACP, mainly because I LOVE the .45 ACP cartridge, the Glock was *FUN*, it was a blast to punch big .45 caliber holes in my targets, the only downside is I could basically chew up the plywood target panel once a trip, after 100 rounds of .45, the plywood panel I staple my targets to took on the appearance of swiss cheese, still, it was gratifying to see plywood shrapnel erupt from the back of the panel, shortly followed by a little puff of dirt as the slug slammed into the massive earthen backstop downrange, the .45 is simply a *fun* round

after experiencing the accuracy and power of that cartridge, my Taurus PT-99 AF and Witness just seemed, well, boring, they lacked the panache and presence of the big .45

However, something about the CZ-75 is different, it's legendary, impressive accuracy is certainly a factor, as is it's incredibly soft and mild recoil, but there's something else, something indefinable, it's the *fun* factor, it's just as much fun to shoot as my big Glock, more fun in fact, because I don't have to wince and feel that stabbing pain in my wallet every time I fire it, it's just as much fun as my G21, and less expensive to shoot to boot, so I can shoot it more often

Thank you, CZ-75!

 

[gwnorth]

Congrats - it sounds like you have a keeper!

I'm planning on picking up my first CZ this coming weekend - it will be either a CZ PCR or a P-01. I've shot both and like both and both are available, so it may just come down to a coin-toss in the end.

 

[NG VI]

I've owned a CZ 75bd, CZ P-01, CZ 97b, and CZ SP-01. I've sold them all except the P-01 which I plan to sell and get another standard CZ 75b in stainless. The classic 75b in my opinion is by far still the best overall CZ model in 9mm. It has just the right balance, just the right slide mass and overall weight for shooting 9mm NATO comfortably, and those Commies put a lot of R&D into the original design. Not to bash the newer CZ designs, but the original had the best balance of attributes in my opinion.

Sounds like the newer CZ model for you would be the PCR. It's an alloy framed compact, great for carry, and to me it appears to be sort of a scaled down CZ 75BD, none of the other compacts have truly the same proportions as the fullsize original, but the front end of the PCR definitely screams "75".

 

[MacTech]

Here's my '96 vintage 75B;