Last weekend I picked up a couple of new items from the CZ Connection at a local gun show. A CZ-97B in .45ACP that I've wanted since I first saw one about 6 months ago and a CZ-75D PCR in 9mm that my wife has had her eye on. Today was my first chance to try them out and I thought I'd share my impressions with you.
The PCR (as you may know) is an alloy framed version of the CZ-75 Compact with a decocker instead of a safety. Improvements over the Compact include rubber grip panels, snag free sights, lower weight, a loaded chamber indicator, extended magazine release, forward serations on slide and serations on the front & back straps of the grip. With the reduced weight I fully expected this model to have more felt recoil than the standard Compact (which I also have a copy of) but it actually felt like there was -less- recoil. Perhaps it was the rubber grips. Whatever it was, both my wife and I noticed it. Accuracy was very good as was the trigger pull. My wife likes the block style front sight much better than the ramp style front sight on the standard Compact and it showed in her shooting. We experienced no malfunctions of any kind.
Yes Shiro, we did try the Kadet .22LR conversion kit on the PCR. It fit on the frame perfectly and functioned just fine. The magazines stuck out the bottom of the frame just a bit but if it weren't for that you wouldn't know the kit wasn't designed for the small pistol. Even the decocker continued to function. One thing I did notice once we got back home is that you can remove the plastic floorplates from the Kadet magazines and replace them with floorplates from the PCR's 10 round magazines and then the mags fit perfectly in the PCR.
The CZ-97B -really- impressed me today. I was expecting a nice pistol (being as impressed as I have been with everything else in the CZ line) but what I got was a very pleasant surprise. This is easily the best shooting .45 I have ever tried. The trigger pull is what I expected from CZ which is to say it is as nice as the full size or compact CZ-75s. The weight from the large steel frame really soaks up the recoil. This pistol has less felt recoil than my HK USP with HK's recoil reduction system and my Beretta Cougar with the rotating barrel. This made the pistol very easy to shoot well. I had one failure to feed. This was the last round of the first magazine I tried. After that it acted normally for the next 90 rounds. Accuracy was excellent. At 25 feet I was shooting one ragged hole that was about 1½ inches in diameter. At 25 yards I ended up with a group that was about 2 - 2½ inches wide and strung vertically about 6 inches tall. I was shooting this offhand so I have no doubt that in a rest this pistol could get 2 inch or smaller groups at 25 yards.
I really like my HK USP and Beretta Cougar but I have fallen in love with this CZ-97 after just one trip to the range. I'd really like to replace the walnut grips with something in rubber (like a Pachmayr grip) to give it a bit more width but I'll have to wait for that since nobody makes anything to fit the 97s yet, not even CZ.
I'm very impressed with both pistols. I doubt I'll get to see the PCR as much as I might like because it was a Valentine's Gift to my wife and I think she likes it even more than I do. That's OK though as now I get to have the regular Compact she used to use. The CZ-97B is -definitely- a keeper. I was smiling from ear to ear after shooting it. Only problem is now I think my high dollar USP and new Tactical barrel I just got for it from Krept are going to sit in the safe and collect dust while the 97 goes to the range every weekend.
Joe
The PCR (as you may know) is an alloy framed version of the CZ-75 Compact with a decocker instead of a safety. Improvements over the Compact include rubber grip panels, snag free sights, lower weight, a loaded chamber indicator, extended magazine release, forward serations on slide and serations on the front & back straps of the grip. With the reduced weight I fully expected this model to have more felt recoil than the standard Compact (which I also have a copy of) but it actually felt like there was -less- recoil. Perhaps it was the rubber grips. Whatever it was, both my wife and I noticed it. Accuracy was very good as was the trigger pull. My wife likes the block style front sight much better than the ramp style front sight on the standard Compact and it showed in her shooting. We experienced no malfunctions of any kind.
Yes Shiro, we did try the Kadet .22LR conversion kit on the PCR. It fit on the frame perfectly and functioned just fine. The magazines stuck out the bottom of the frame just a bit but if it weren't for that you wouldn't know the kit wasn't designed for the small pistol. Even the decocker continued to function. One thing I did notice once we got back home is that you can remove the plastic floorplates from the Kadet magazines and replace them with floorplates from the PCR's 10 round magazines and then the mags fit perfectly in the PCR.
The CZ-97B -really- impressed me today. I was expecting a nice pistol (being as impressed as I have been with everything else in the CZ line) but what I got was a very pleasant surprise. This is easily the best shooting .45 I have ever tried. The trigger pull is what I expected from CZ which is to say it is as nice as the full size or compact CZ-75s. The weight from the large steel frame really soaks up the recoil. This pistol has less felt recoil than my HK USP with HK's recoil reduction system and my Beretta Cougar with the rotating barrel. This made the pistol very easy to shoot well. I had one failure to feed. This was the last round of the first magazine I tried. After that it acted normally for the next 90 rounds. Accuracy was excellent. At 25 feet I was shooting one ragged hole that was about 1½ inches in diameter. At 25 yards I ended up with a group that was about 2 - 2½ inches wide and strung vertically about 6 inches tall. I was shooting this offhand so I have no doubt that in a rest this pistol could get 2 inch or smaller groups at 25 yards.
I really like my HK USP and Beretta Cougar but I have fallen in love with this CZ-97 after just one trip to the range. I'd really like to replace the walnut grips with something in rubber (like a Pachmayr grip) to give it a bit more width but I'll have to wait for that since nobody makes anything to fit the 97s yet, not even CZ.
I'm very impressed with both pistols. I doubt I'll get to see the PCR as much as I might like because it was a Valentine's Gift to my wife and I think she likes it even more than I do. That's OK though as now I get to have the regular Compact she used to use. The CZ-97B is -definitely- a keeper. I was smiling from ear to ear after shooting it. Only problem is now I think my high dollar USP and new Tactical barrel I just got for it from Krept are going to sit in the safe and collect dust while the 97 goes to the range every weekend.
Joe