...but I really like my CZ 75 which is modern handgun, but still has classic lines and heritage.
I like the CZ-75, too, and the CZ-75 is just a few years older than the Glock 17 (which was designed in 1979, and put into service in 1982.) Classic lines? It looks a bit like a BHP, but not much like anything else. The looks just appeal to many of us.
But, except for the fact that the CZ-75 uses the Browning short-recoil design, there's not much
heritage involved: it was essentially an all-new design not based on anything previously built by CZ, and quite different than other DA/SA guns of the period. (Unlike the rest of the CZ handguns, the 75 was apparently designed for export/civilian use, and not WWI/WWII use, or the Communist Bloc war machine.
The Communists didn't use 9x19...)
For me, the outstanding Communist Block pistol design is the Makarov; a simple but elegant design that has proved to be effective, reliable, and accurate. The CZ-82/83 is almost as good -- and I much prefer it to the Mak -- but it is a bit bigger and a bit more complex. Both are great guns.
Most of the other Communist Bloc pistols are, to my thinking, only so-so weapons, at best. Most of these weapons were "offspring" of a very
utilitarian Soviet-system approach to weapon design and production: make it simple and easy to maintain, don't use exotic materials, don't make it hard to build, and don't worry too much about whether the shooter likes it.
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