Pond James Pond
New member
First of all, these are purely my own opinions (as such I cannot be wrong), based on my own experiences with two different guns, not a statement of fact (as such I am not saying you are wrong) and certainly not designed to be a polemic of any sort.
I had some time to pass as I waited for the preceding squad to finish and I thought about the gun I shoot now, a CZ SP-01 in 9mm, and the gun I shot when I first started IPSC, that being the only other semi-auto pistol I have owned: a 3rd gen G19
So, what do I think now that the new gun honeymoon has waned and I've had a chance to put some bullets down-range?
Let's start with the grip.
I didn't find the G19 grip uncomfortable or blocky, but I did find that if I gripped it in a way that felt natural that left me with the front sight above the line of the rear sight. What I now know to be the classic Glock Grip Angle that people complain about. By comparison, the SP-01 is spot on: grip the gun, close eyes, bring to bear on the object chosen, open eyes and there are three tritiums all lined up in a row right where I wanted them. The grip panes are a very comfortble and almost adhesive rubber, but the grip is BIG, by my reckoning. Bigger than the Glock's. Although armchair comfortable, this comes with a price which brings me onto....
...triggers:
Perhaps I was lucky, but I always thought my Glock's trigger was very good. I think the previous owner had ligthened the springs a bit but still, there was next to no take-up, the break was crisp, and the reset was miniscule. That was striker fired and the SP is hammer fired. I admit that the hammer is cooler and the trigger does feel very good. It is also DA/SA which the Glock was not. SA there is a little take up after reset. Not much but more than the Gaston Special. It is most noticeable in the last part of the travel where it cams the hammer back an extra few degrees. I don't mind this, and the break is cleaner than the Glock's. Where I struggle is the DA pull that puts the trigger in another county: a long reach, especially with the grip size. So although the CZ break is cleaner, I'd say overall the Glock's trigger was probably easier to work with. It helps that I had a "good one".
Loads and Reloads.
No doubt about it: there is something about the way the Glock was designed that makes quick, clean mag changes far easier for me. When I did matches with the Glock, the mags would just go in as if on rails. With the CZ I am far more prone to catching the lip of the mag well. When it works well, it works very well, but no better than the Glock and not as often.
The mag and slide release, like the trigger, were both easier to reach on the Glock too. There has to be the slightest adjustment of my grip with the CZ to release the slide and I actually flipped the mag release to my strong side which seems to work relatively well, although in the heat of a match twice I had to help the mag out manually, so perhaps I had not fully depressed the catch.
One thing I had always been wary of were the very slim and narorw slide serrations on the CZ, and I must say that here, once more, the Glock has the edge as its slide is easier to grip, the texture is easier on the fingers and in a dicey situation, I could see myself potentially fumbling a rack of the slide on the CZ due to the smaller portion of slide that rides outside the frame.
So for ergos it's CZ 1, Glock 0 in terms of the comfort but Glock 1, CZ 0 in terms of stuff being easy to manipulate with my hand dimensions.
Accuracy.
Based on my shooting, I get tighter groups with the CZ when I really focus. If I don't, they tend to migrate down and left as the mag empties. With the Glock, the tightest were never as tight as the CZs, but even when I was not shooting well, they would just open up around my POA, rather than start to move away from it. For minute of assailant, both are supremely up to the job.
Carry:
G19, G19, G19!! No surprise there. The Glock was designed as a light compact, the CZ as a steel full-size with beaver-tail, and all sorts of other poking bits on it. In fact, appendix carry was about the most comfortable position I could find for the SP-01 and even that felt like seppuku everytime I bent forward to any degree: ridiculously uncomfortable. To be fair to it, I did try to carry it in a Galco IWB Softuk designed for the G19, so it was always going to be at a disadvantage, but still it I can't imagine any IWB holster could make the CZ comfortable unless it came impregnated with local anaesthetic. OWB in a good holster, I'm sure it would be fine.
Build:
Chalk and Cheese. Both seem well put together, but one was milled steel, the other moulded polymer. The slide machining and the final coating is better on the Glock, but neither seems badly made.
Looks:
CZ, CZ, CZ! The SP-01 looks uber-cool to me. I liked the G19 utilitarian simplicity, but the CZ has presence.
So, overall, they both fare quite well for me. One thing that stands out for me is that I grew tired of the Glock because one aspect irked me enough to ruin the whole experience: the grip. But now that the irritation is no longer there I can see the virtues it had more clearly. I would not go back to a Gen 3, but I do know that the modular back-straps of the Gen 4 can give me the grip angle I want.
Meanwhile, I really enjoy my SP-01 and I can feel that it could be an even better gun once I get more used to it, I can now also see that it was not the panacea to all my shooting woes: the natural aim is good, but it brought other foibles to the table.
If my CZ got stolen and the insurance decided to offer me a replacement SP-01 or a Gen 4 G19, I must confess I'd have a really difficult choice on my hands.
So there we go. Just some thought I decided to air.
You can wake up now.
I had some time to pass as I waited for the preceding squad to finish and I thought about the gun I shoot now, a CZ SP-01 in 9mm, and the gun I shot when I first started IPSC, that being the only other semi-auto pistol I have owned: a 3rd gen G19
So, what do I think now that the new gun honeymoon has waned and I've had a chance to put some bullets down-range?
Let's start with the grip.
I didn't find the G19 grip uncomfortable or blocky, but I did find that if I gripped it in a way that felt natural that left me with the front sight above the line of the rear sight. What I now know to be the classic Glock Grip Angle that people complain about. By comparison, the SP-01 is spot on: grip the gun, close eyes, bring to bear on the object chosen, open eyes and there are three tritiums all lined up in a row right where I wanted them. The grip panes are a very comfortble and almost adhesive rubber, but the grip is BIG, by my reckoning. Bigger than the Glock's. Although armchair comfortable, this comes with a price which brings me onto....
...triggers:
Perhaps I was lucky, but I always thought my Glock's trigger was very good. I think the previous owner had ligthened the springs a bit but still, there was next to no take-up, the break was crisp, and the reset was miniscule. That was striker fired and the SP is hammer fired. I admit that the hammer is cooler and the trigger does feel very good. It is also DA/SA which the Glock was not. SA there is a little take up after reset. Not much but more than the Gaston Special. It is most noticeable in the last part of the travel where it cams the hammer back an extra few degrees. I don't mind this, and the break is cleaner than the Glock's. Where I struggle is the DA pull that puts the trigger in another county: a long reach, especially with the grip size. So although the CZ break is cleaner, I'd say overall the Glock's trigger was probably easier to work with. It helps that I had a "good one".
Loads and Reloads.
No doubt about it: there is something about the way the Glock was designed that makes quick, clean mag changes far easier for me. When I did matches with the Glock, the mags would just go in as if on rails. With the CZ I am far more prone to catching the lip of the mag well. When it works well, it works very well, but no better than the Glock and not as often.
The mag and slide release, like the trigger, were both easier to reach on the Glock too. There has to be the slightest adjustment of my grip with the CZ to release the slide and I actually flipped the mag release to my strong side which seems to work relatively well, although in the heat of a match twice I had to help the mag out manually, so perhaps I had not fully depressed the catch.
One thing I had always been wary of were the very slim and narorw slide serrations on the CZ, and I must say that here, once more, the Glock has the edge as its slide is easier to grip, the texture is easier on the fingers and in a dicey situation, I could see myself potentially fumbling a rack of the slide on the CZ due to the smaller portion of slide that rides outside the frame.
So for ergos it's CZ 1, Glock 0 in terms of the comfort but Glock 1, CZ 0 in terms of stuff being easy to manipulate with my hand dimensions.
Accuracy.
Based on my shooting, I get tighter groups with the CZ when I really focus. If I don't, they tend to migrate down and left as the mag empties. With the Glock, the tightest were never as tight as the CZs, but even when I was not shooting well, they would just open up around my POA, rather than start to move away from it. For minute of assailant, both are supremely up to the job.
Carry:
G19, G19, G19!! No surprise there. The Glock was designed as a light compact, the CZ as a steel full-size with beaver-tail, and all sorts of other poking bits on it. In fact, appendix carry was about the most comfortable position I could find for the SP-01 and even that felt like seppuku everytime I bent forward to any degree: ridiculously uncomfortable. To be fair to it, I did try to carry it in a Galco IWB Softuk designed for the G19, so it was always going to be at a disadvantage, but still it I can't imagine any IWB holster could make the CZ comfortable unless it came impregnated with local anaesthetic. OWB in a good holster, I'm sure it would be fine.
Build:
Chalk and Cheese. Both seem well put together, but one was milled steel, the other moulded polymer. The slide machining and the final coating is better on the Glock, but neither seems badly made.
Looks:
CZ, CZ, CZ! The SP-01 looks uber-cool to me. I liked the G19 utilitarian simplicity, but the CZ has presence.
So, overall, they both fare quite well for me. One thing that stands out for me is that I grew tired of the Glock because one aspect irked me enough to ruin the whole experience: the grip. But now that the irritation is no longer there I can see the virtues it had more clearly. I would not go back to a Gen 3, but I do know that the modular back-straps of the Gen 4 can give me the grip angle I want.
Meanwhile, I really enjoy my SP-01 and I can feel that it could be an even better gun once I get more used to it, I can now also see that it was not the panacea to all my shooting woes: the natural aim is good, but it brought other foibles to the table.
If my CZ got stolen and the insurance decided to offer me a replacement SP-01 or a Gen 4 G19, I must confess I'd have a really difficult choice on my hands.
So there we go. Just some thought I decided to air.
You can wake up now.
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) I think I can safely say grabbing with the SP-01 or my old G19 would fit the bill. I can't fault either in that sense.