Picked up a Springfield Armory Model 9

[gasmandave]

Just picked this up today.
Springfield Armory Model 9 in .45 ACP.
Looks to me like a CZ.
Can't find any information on this.
Anyone have anything to say?

 

[shoobe01]

Should be called a "P9." Back when the world was other than just Glocks and AR15s, Springfield imported (so, stamped as mfg) a lot of neat things in mostly fairly small quantities.

The P9 is just an Italian CZ clone, but unlike some earlier (not Springfield) imports it is a pretty close copy of the Czech gun in every way. Many more details: https://www.springfieldforum.com/threads/the-springfield-p9-cz75-clone.2270/

I almost bought one as my first gun ever, but they only had it in .40 and I didn't really like it. Got a Star M30 instead, loved that, sorta wish I still owned it.

AFAIK, these are good guns. Get rid of the dumb grip and find some original plastic panels or some nice wood stocks. At least, remove and clean under them. What did you pay for it?


ETA: in .45? Not aware of that. Maybe the link will have details. But, the Italians surely made .45 copies, I had a — later than the Springfield time, when they changed importers — EAA one that was good... until it was not. Had the barrel crack, sent back for repair and it came with a different crack (so, put for consignment before I even took it home). Underneath the barrel. Seemed to be an issue with the bushing not being ground right so it would twist the barrel, but don't know how common it was.

 

[gasmandave]

Thanks for the info.
I paid $400.00
Came with original wood grips. I'm going to change the grips out as soon as I can get to it.

 

[shoobe01]

Bored. Slouching. Yup, they made a .45 way back then, sold under the Springfield name. Odd they were all apparently "P9" when only one caliber makes sense to have that name.

If variety is the spice of life, the Springfield P9 was one hot tamale. They came in several finishes including a two-tone (blued upper/slide Assembly, industrial hard-chromed lower/frame Assembly), blued, and chrome. Besides the normal CZ 16-shot 9x19mm, the gun was also produced in an 11-shot .40S&W and .45ACP variant as well as a competition-grade 15-shot 9x21mm. While the standard model came with a 4.75-inch barrel and was 8-inches overall, there were also Compact and Subcompact models with 3.75 and 3.50-inch barrels respectively. If you wanted to go bigger, there was the Factory Comp model, which came with extended mag releases, extra-slim competition grips, and a dual-port compensator that gave the gun an overall length of 9.5-inches.

Somewhere I have a catalog from that era. They offered epoxy coatings on all their guns, for an extra charge. Any color you want. There's a P9 in there with a fire engine red slide.

Alway wanted to see weird things like that pop up, and be so weird they are priced to give it away

 

[shoobe01]

I have bought a few older guns with wood grips lately. Inspect. They are probably bone dry if they have been off the gun, or it's been alone on a shelf, since the 90s. So much, they are at risk of damage if you use them dry. Get some good wood oriented oil on them, soon, and expect to do several coats.

Whole thing should be very pretty then.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Back before you could legally import a CZ75, the popular substitutes were the Italian copies from TA/TZ. I seem to remember that the Springfield P9 was an imported TZ.

The P9 and other copies were very popular in USPSA competition in the Open Category (compensated and optical sights) , before the advent of the 2011 frames, and loaded up for 9mm Major. The weak point of the gun, like all CZ clones, was the slide stop pin

 

[Reinz]

If I remember correctly, when SA was selling those P9’s they had several different models including Race guns.

Congrsts on your new pistol.

 

[9mmepiphany]

they had several different models including Race guns.

The Race Guns lead to the establishment of the SA Custom Shop. SA was trying to get their bite of the USPSA Open Gun market...or at least the folks who didn't realize that they were buy guns at least an evolution old

 

[jmohme]

I clicked on this thread, saw the pictures and thought someone had snuck into my house and snapped pictures of my CZ75B!


I bet yours will really look nice with the wood grips back on it, but I will tell you this, it won't feel nearly as good in your hand as it does with the grips on it now.
Well, that is if your hands are similar to mine.

Anyway, congrats on your new CZ clone in .45.
If it is anything at all like my 9mm 75B, you are going to love it!

 

[gasmandave]

With the wood grips installed.

 

[bannockburn]

gasmandave

Had one years ago in .40S&W. Decent enough gun though I never was a big fan of the .40S&W in the first place; just thought I should give it a try. Didn't know they made it in a .45 version.

 

[shoobe01]

Nice! Looks good.

I don't just generally hate the rubber finger grooves, but a friend's CCZ75 pre-B had them and it was horrible to my hands. Make him take them off!

But I guess you may like them. Someone has to.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Have seen a few of those for sale on Armslist here in Ohio. Asking prices around 6-700. Seemed a bit high, but 400 seems like good deal.

 

[hemiram]

I passed on a nice one of these a while back. It's made by Tanfoglio, and the only reason I didn't buy it was, well, it was crazy high priced, and I have a ton of Tanfo made CZ clones already. Not a bad deal for $400. I paid a little less for this one, I think it was $359, the Stars of David came with it for free. I have a set of the same rubber grips yours came with. I like them a lot better when I'm shooting it. This is my favorite gun of all I own. Amazing slide fit and it has a fantastic SA trigger, and the DA isn't bad either.