The wait finally paid off. I was scoping this gun out on Buds and the price fluctuation was driving me nuts. It was in the high $500’s for a while, then jumped up to over $600 and I thought man don’t tell me the price is there to stay. Some time later, I saw it for $530… I was stoked. Got the blessing from my significant other and was going to order it when I got home the same day. Low and behold when I got home the price changed again……….to $511… and that’s all she wrote. A week later and I was a happy owner of a new CZ P01 9mm pistol. Oh and a BIG +1 to Jim Spence from J&S Guns for the transfer and making it a nice and easy transaction.
When I took it home, I have never seen so much grease in a gun. It was beyond bad, it looked like someone just dumped the pistol in a bucket of grease and put it in the case (OK maybe not that bad but you get the point). I wiped off that I could with a rag (no cleaner at this time, couldn’t wait to get a feel for the trigger
) and went at it dry firing with snap caps. About 10 pulls later, this little blob of grease just plops down on my finger from above the trigger. Needless to say, I took out my Hoppes #9 , field stripped the gun, and thoroughly cleaned and lubed it.
The outside fit and finish on the gun is superb. I would say it’s comparable to a friend’s H&K USP. On the inside though there is some evidence of machine marks; but as long as the gun is reliable, I could care less.
I really like the curved trigger, I think it looks good and I find it very comfortable. The SA pull was nice and light, no creep whatsoever and a clean break. The DA pull was a different beast; it was really heavy and gritty. I hear it’s a hit or miss with CZ’s but I was determined to smooth it out. After I dry fired the snot out of it for a few hours, it started to smooth out enough for me to notice a difference. Being on a budget, I went with the poor man’s trigger job and got 1000 rounds of ammo. That should get ‘er done… or get really close
. I have already fired 400 rounds of Geco and 100 rounds of WWB through it with no FTE/FTF whatsoever and the DA pull just keeps getting better.
The slide on this gun has a low profile because it rides inside the frame to supposedly improve accuracy
. It took some getting used to and I found that racking it overhand is the easiest. It helps to have dry hands as the serrations are small and if sweating it’s easy to slip up on the grip. But, like anything else, it just takes getting used to the gun to be comfortable with it. Because of the slide, I think this may actually NOT be the go to gun for shooters with weaker hands. Granted I’m only judging by my wife, but no matter how much she has practiced racking (50+ times) she still has trouble. She can do it… but it takes a lot of effort (even with the hammer back in SA)
Not to pull a hickock45 on you guys and compare this to a Glock, but I kind of have to, because the G19 was the most accurate compact pistol that I’ve fired. The first time out with this CZ, I put tighter groups at 10 yards than I ever did with my G19. So for me, the P01 is definitely more accurate.
On the first mag I ran through this baby the slide failed to lock back… Well I thought it was a fluke and the gun was just breaking in. The next two were good. Then on the fourth mag it happened again and my heart just sank. The feeling of being let down by CZ overwhelmed me. I took it slow, watching for any user errors and only loading two rounds into the mag before firing them off. Then I saw it!!! I was riding the slide release. Very lightly, but it was enough to cause the slide to spring forward after the last round. I use the thumbs forward grip and this was a big surprise as it never happened on any other guns I’ve fired. No big deal, I improvised by resting my strong hand thumb slightly further back on the decocker and the “problem” went away.
What I like:
- 3 dot sights (I prefer this to the standard Glock sights)
- Curved trigger
- Smooth SA pull & hammer break
- Decocker (I’m not a fan of a manual safety on anything except a true 1911)
What I don’t like:
- DA pull is a little gritty (although it has smoothed out noticeably)
- Plastic Guide Rod
!?? (I’m sure the engineers at CZ had a good reason behind that, so I won’t argue)
Overall, I would rate this gun 8/10, with it slowly creeping to 9/10 the more I shoot it.
When I took it home, I have never seen so much grease in a gun. It was beyond bad, it looked like someone just dumped the pistol in a bucket of grease and put it in the case (OK maybe not that bad but you get the point). I wiped off that I could with a rag (no cleaner at this time, couldn’t wait to get a feel for the trigger
) and went at it dry firing with snap caps. About 10 pulls later, this little blob of grease just plops down on my finger from above the trigger. Needless to say, I took out my Hoppes #9 , field stripped the gun, and thoroughly cleaned and lubed it. The outside fit and finish on the gun is superb. I would say it’s comparable to a friend’s H&K USP. On the inside though there is some evidence of machine marks; but as long as the gun is reliable, I could care less.
I really like the curved trigger, I think it looks good and I find it very comfortable. The SA pull was nice and light, no creep whatsoever and a clean break. The DA pull was a different beast; it was really heavy and gritty. I hear it’s a hit or miss with CZ’s but I was determined to smooth it out. After I dry fired the snot out of it for a few hours, it started to smooth out enough for me to notice a difference. Being on a budget, I went with the poor man’s trigger job and got 1000 rounds of ammo. That should get ‘er done… or get really close
. I have already fired 400 rounds of Geco and 100 rounds of WWB through it with no FTE/FTF whatsoever and the DA pull just keeps getting better.The slide on this gun has a low profile because it rides inside the frame to supposedly improve accuracy
. It took some getting used to and I found that racking it overhand is the easiest. It helps to have dry hands as the serrations are small and if sweating it’s easy to slip up on the grip. But, like anything else, it just takes getting used to the gun to be comfortable with it. Because of the slide, I think this may actually NOT be the go to gun for shooters with weaker hands. Granted I’m only judging by my wife, but no matter how much she has practiced racking (50+ times) she still has trouble. She can do it… but it takes a lot of effort (even with the hammer back in SA)Not to pull a hickock45 on you guys and compare this to a Glock, but I kind of have to, because the G19 was the most accurate compact pistol that I’ve fired. The first time out with this CZ, I put tighter groups at 10 yards than I ever did with my G19. So for me, the P01 is definitely more accurate.
On the first mag I ran through this baby the slide failed to lock back… Well I thought it was a fluke and the gun was just breaking in. The next two were good. Then on the fourth mag it happened again and my heart just sank. The feeling of being let down by CZ overwhelmed me. I took it slow, watching for any user errors and only loading two rounds into the mag before firing them off. Then I saw it!!! I was riding the slide release. Very lightly, but it was enough to cause the slide to spring forward after the last round. I use the thumbs forward grip and this was a big surprise as it never happened on any other guns I’ve fired. No big deal, I improvised by resting my strong hand thumb slightly further back on the decocker and the “problem” went away.
What I like:
- 3 dot sights (I prefer this to the standard Glock sights)
- Curved trigger
- Smooth SA pull & hammer break
- Decocker (I’m not a fan of a manual safety on anything except a true 1911)
What I don’t like:
- DA pull is a little gritty (although it has smoothed out noticeably)
- Plastic Guide Rod
!?? (I’m sure the engineers at CZ had a good reason behind that, so I won’t argue)Overall, I would rate this gun 8/10, with it slowly creeping to 9/10 the more I shoot it.
As soon as I find one I like in a FTF deal it's my new EDC.
