Jaywalker said:
Other reasons included poor positioning (for me) of levers would have necessitated changing my decades-old hold; shooting thumbs up threatened to activate the slide lock/release, but it was too far away for me to use my thumb to chamber a round from a new magazine.
I really also disliked the sights for three reasons. First, there wasn't enough light around the front sight to get a constant sight picture; second, the rear sights seemed to be angled to collect glare, and third, at the time the only replacements I could find for concealed carry were Meprolights, which would leave a gap in the space from which the factory's were removed. (Partly this was an appearance issue, but mostly the gap would be guaranteed to collect garbage.)
Good reasons to be unhappy with the gun. Most factory sights leave me cold, and they end up being changed regardless of the maker. There are now quite a few other sight combinations available for CZs -- but the weird PCR sight (with an overhang in front of the rear dovetail) is more difficult to replace. (The original PCRs had part of the rib in front of the dovetail removed; I don't know if that is still the case. It left a blank spot on the top of the PCR slide if you changed the sights to one made differently.)
When I had a Compact, some years back, I found a Tanfoglio extended slide release that solved the problem of "reach" -- but I'm not sure that it would work in a PCR -- as that portion of the frame is different when you compare the decocker models to the safety-models. (I kept photos of the gun, but not the slide release.)
I've never really understood the reasoning behind a Novak-style sight; I know it's supposed to be less likely to snag, but the sloped front of the rear sight might make it easier to the gun back in the holster but it doesn't make it easier to withdraw it from the holster without snagging. I've always thought that sight design was more style than substance. (But maybe I'm missing something... won't be the first time.)
Jaywalker said:
I found the slide-inside-the frame design more limiting than I expected. Instead of being able to grab the slide with whole hand during drills I needed to carefully use my thumb and first two fingers to rack the slide. Again, this wasn't a show-stopper, but it would have required me to change decades of practice actions. Using the sights as a grab point showed promise, though.
The best approach is probably the hand-over method, rather than pinching the rear of the slide (which seems, unless I misinterpreted, to be what you ended up doing.) With that approach, you just lay your hand on the top of the rear of the slide and let your hand press against the rear sight.
Jaywalker said:
I did consider the Compact cocked and locked operation, but as it was steel it was actually heavier than my Browning Hi-Power and therefore had no advantage over it.
Agreed on that point. It's why I eventually traded my Compact away. I've never understood why CZ didn't offer an alloy-framed Compact (with safety). I think they offered one briefly, and now the P-01 Omega model has that option.
I don't understand why CZ doesn't offer a full-size alloy-framed model, for that matter. The 75B Omega with an alloy frame would be nice. If it works with the compact models it ought to be find with the full-size models. I suspect, however, that polymer frames are what we'll see on any new CZs. (I know they tried polymer with the RAMI and SP01 Phantom, and backed away. The RAMI polymer models had some frame issues (more cosmetic than functional), but I never heard of problems with the full-size Phatom.
None of this addresses the issues that made you go a different route.
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