Had some free time today so I skedaddled off to the range with my new CZ75B.
I chose the satin nickel finish for a couple of reasons. I figured it would be a bit more durable and easier to clean. And, I surmised that the tiny extra bit of thickness due to the plating might make it slightly tighter and therefore a bit more accurate.
New, out of the box, I noticed the nickel was flaking on the right slide rail. This is the part of the rail hidden by the frame, so it can't be seen with the gun assembled. It's not going to cause a functional issue either but I must say that while I'm not picky enough to return the gun over it, I would rather not see this kind of problem on a new gun. Or even a well-maintained gun for that matter. There is no sign of flaking anywhere else on the gun. If I had it to do over, I'd pay a bit more and order the stainless model.
The test target included with the pistol measured just a hair under 2" for a 5 shot group at 25 meters so I was encouraged that at least the gun had accuracy potential. Test ammunition was made by S&B according to the errata on the target but no other ammunition parameters were supplied.
The DA trigger was smooth with little to no stacking. Pretty good (if a bit stiff) for a relatively old DA design. SA trigger out of the box showed some definite creep and was heavier than I like. A good bit of dryfiring using the supplied snapcaps (it was a pleasant surprise to find those in the package) helped that some and a judicious application of some molybdenum disulfide grease helped even more. Still, the trigger could use some professional attention--it plagued me a bit during the range session. Oddly enough the EAA Witness (a CZ75 clone) I owned some years ago had a much nicer SA trigger. Don't know exactly what to make of that.
One other glitch I noticed while cleaning the gun. I wanted to remove the plastic grips before spraying gun cleaner on the frame. That turned out to be a major undertaking. The manufacturer apparently loc-tited the grip screws in place. I've never seen that done before. One doesn't expect to expend a herculean effort merely to remove a pair of grips.
For those of you who don't have experience with this pistol, it is equipped with a magazine brake which prevents the magazine from dropping out of the pistol if the magazine release is accidentally activated. This is not an uncommon "feature" provided on European "duty" semi-autos. If drop-free operation is critical to the user, one can either remove the brake (which is not particularly desirable for a couple of reasons) or can simply stick a finger into the magazine well and press it flat at the "bends". Then the magazines drop free easily.
I warmed the pistol up with WWB at about 15 yards. An all steel 9mm is an easy gun to shoot and firing at the rate of about one shot a second it was no trouble to keep all the rounds from two magazines inside an 8 inch circle. That target earned me a "Good shooting!" from the obviously kind shooter in the next lane.
Next I ran the target holder out to 25 yards to see what the pistol (and I) could do. All the groups below were 5 shot groups shot at 25 yards. I'm not much for shooting a pistol from a rest--I like to get as much practice time in as I can--so these were all shot standing with a two hand hold. I have no doubt that one could improve on these groups using a rest, but that's not how the gun will be shot in real life, so these numbers are more practical from my perspective.
Using a 6 O'Clock hold on a 5.5" bull put the point of impact at 25 yards about one or two inches above the center of the bull, or about 4 or 5 inches above the top of the front sight. Windage was dead on.
The best group was 2.38" using Blazer 115gr FMJ aluminum cased ammunition. I ended up shooting 6 groups for record using the Blazer for an average group size of 2.95" Had a couple of heartbreakers, one where a called flyer on the fourth shot opened up a 2" group to 2.75" and another where a 1.6" four shot group was bumped up to 2.7" by the fifth shot. But that's how it goes, I guess.
I shot two groups using Federal 9BP 115gr JHP ammunition. Best was 2.63". The other group with the Federal was the first group I shot at 25yards. Wouldn't you know it, I accidentally loaded and shot 6 rounds! 5 of them went into 2" flat with a 6th round making the group size 3.25". I have no idea at what point in the sequence the "flier" was shot, but I didn't call it so I can't complain about anything other than my lack of ability to count to 5 while loading a magazine.
I shot only one group using American Eagle--it measured 3.0".
I didn't keep real close track of the number of rounds through the gun, and since I had another 9mm at the range, I can't simply count up the empty boxes. I'd guess that I put about 100 rounds through the gun. I had one stovepipe during the range session and that was while using the Blazer aluminum.
I chose the satin nickel finish for a couple of reasons. I figured it would be a bit more durable and easier to clean. And, I surmised that the tiny extra bit of thickness due to the plating might make it slightly tighter and therefore a bit more accurate.
New, out of the box, I noticed the nickel was flaking on the right slide rail. This is the part of the rail hidden by the frame, so it can't be seen with the gun assembled. It's not going to cause a functional issue either but I must say that while I'm not picky enough to return the gun over it, I would rather not see this kind of problem on a new gun. Or even a well-maintained gun for that matter. There is no sign of flaking anywhere else on the gun. If I had it to do over, I'd pay a bit more and order the stainless model.
The test target included with the pistol measured just a hair under 2" for a 5 shot group at 25 meters so I was encouraged that at least the gun had accuracy potential. Test ammunition was made by S&B according to the errata on the target but no other ammunition parameters were supplied.
The DA trigger was smooth with little to no stacking. Pretty good (if a bit stiff) for a relatively old DA design. SA trigger out of the box showed some definite creep and was heavier than I like. A good bit of dryfiring using the supplied snapcaps (it was a pleasant surprise to find those in the package) helped that some and a judicious application of some molybdenum disulfide grease helped even more. Still, the trigger could use some professional attention--it plagued me a bit during the range session. Oddly enough the EAA Witness (a CZ75 clone) I owned some years ago had a much nicer SA trigger. Don't know exactly what to make of that.
One other glitch I noticed while cleaning the gun. I wanted to remove the plastic grips before spraying gun cleaner on the frame. That turned out to be a major undertaking. The manufacturer apparently loc-tited the grip screws in place. I've never seen that done before. One doesn't expect to expend a herculean effort merely to remove a pair of grips.
For those of you who don't have experience with this pistol, it is equipped with a magazine brake which prevents the magazine from dropping out of the pistol if the magazine release is accidentally activated. This is not an uncommon "feature" provided on European "duty" semi-autos. If drop-free operation is critical to the user, one can either remove the brake (which is not particularly desirable for a couple of reasons) or can simply stick a finger into the magazine well and press it flat at the "bends". Then the magazines drop free easily.
I warmed the pistol up with WWB at about 15 yards. An all steel 9mm is an easy gun to shoot and firing at the rate of about one shot a second it was no trouble to keep all the rounds from two magazines inside an 8 inch circle. That target earned me a "Good shooting!" from the obviously kind shooter in the next lane.
Next I ran the target holder out to 25 yards to see what the pistol (and I) could do. All the groups below were 5 shot groups shot at 25 yards. I'm not much for shooting a pistol from a rest--I like to get as much practice time in as I can--so these were all shot standing with a two hand hold. I have no doubt that one could improve on these groups using a rest, but that's not how the gun will be shot in real life, so these numbers are more practical from my perspective.
Using a 6 O'Clock hold on a 5.5" bull put the point of impact at 25 yards about one or two inches above the center of the bull, or about 4 or 5 inches above the top of the front sight. Windage was dead on.
The best group was 2.38" using Blazer 115gr FMJ aluminum cased ammunition. I ended up shooting 6 groups for record using the Blazer for an average group size of 2.95" Had a couple of heartbreakers, one where a called flyer on the fourth shot opened up a 2" group to 2.75" and another where a 1.6" four shot group was bumped up to 2.7" by the fifth shot. But that's how it goes, I guess.
I shot two groups using Federal 9BP 115gr JHP ammunition. Best was 2.63". The other group with the Federal was the first group I shot at 25yards. Wouldn't you know it, I accidentally loaded and shot 6 rounds! 5 of them went into 2" flat with a 6th round making the group size 3.25". I have no idea at what point in the sequence the "flier" was shot, but I didn't call it so I can't complain about anything other than my lack of ability to count to 5 while loading a magazine.
I shot only one group using American Eagle--it measured 3.0".
I didn't keep real close track of the number of rounds through the gun, and since I had another 9mm at the range, I can't simply count up the empty boxes. I'd guess that I put about 100 rounds through the gun. I had one stovepipe during the range session and that was while using the Blazer aluminum.