Thinking of purchasing a CZ P-01. Are they reliable weapons?

B

Bennett Richards

New member
Hello,
I am Thinking of purchasing a CZ P-01. Are they reliable weapons?
I own H&K USP and P2000sk 40s and a Kimber compact stainless V1.... But I am looking for a good CCW 9mm that bot I and my wife can use.

The grip on the H&K's is a bit big for her and the recoil on the 40 a bit too snappy.

Are the CZ's well made? I have heard about breaking slide releases and FP roll pins wearing out.:eek:

What has been your experience with these weapons? :confused:
Thanks!
 
I have several CZs including a P-01. I also have several HKs including two USPs, and lots of other guns. Among handguns, CZ is my favorite.

Grip size is a major consideration and I always felt CZs fit my hands perfectly, better than any other handgun. So if that's what your wife considers important then I think it's an easy decision. The P-01 is also easily concealable.

CZ makes very reliable guns, personally I have never had a failure of any kind. The firing pin roll pin will wear after an excessive amount of dry-firing. "Excessive amount" here means thousands of trigger pulls, after which you may find the stock roll pin has deformed.

Whereas most modern guns can be dry-fired thousands upon thousands of times without concern, if you're going to dry-fire a CZ use a snap cap or (what I prefer) simply insert a small O-ring to cushion the impact. The obvious concern is remember to remove that O-ring when you are finished dry-firing!

An improved replacement pin can be purchased from Cajun Gun Works for $5: https://cajungunworks.com/product/61100-tempered-spring-steel-firing-pin-retaining-pin/ That permanently fixes the concern.

I have never heard about slide releases breaking but I suppose anything is possible.

CZ factory support is terrific. I sent a gun in to have factory night sights installed. Most people do that themselves but I wanted to be sure it was done right. It was perfect. Read about it here:

"This gun is more accurate than I am"
 
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The grip on the CZ with the factory grips may be too big for your wife. A number of companies do make thin grip panels that you can use as a replacement.


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I've had my P-01 for a long time, it has been stone cold reliable, and I mainly use reloads. Very robust, the frame is forged not cast. Mine is an earlier model with the NATO stock number.

A Dawson fiber front sight really helps. The 'cokebottle' grip shape feels like it is custom to my hand. My wife has fairly small hands and she really enjoys shooting it.

Really the only nitpick is the decocker, would rather have a safety. Also racking the slide takes practice as it sits low in the frame so not much real estate to hold.
 
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Thinking of purchasing a CZ P-01

The CZ compact 9 is very nice to shoot minimum recoil, might be another choice.
 
I don't have a P-01 but I do have a 75 and a RAMI.

The 75 likes everything, the RAMI has a very tight chamber which is why it's so accurate. It also means that it's picky about bullet profile and seating depth. Get it right and it's 100% reliable.
 
Take down lever breaking is on the Tactical Sport/Shadow, I don't think so on the P-01.

The P-01 can break the pin, but if it's the double roll pin you are likely okay.
 
The slide stop breakage comes from guys in competition, tens of thousands of rounds per year and often ammo rated at +P.

The firing pin, yep they break. Guys on the CZ forum have reported damaged pins with less than 1 hundred dry fires. Place a foam ear plug behind the firing pin and it becomes a non issue.

I own over a dozen CZ pistols, a pcr is my ccw, a tricked out P09 resides by my bed.
 
I don't think that's true. Brian Enos has lots of people shooting minor (super light) 115gr only for competition with busted take downs at low counts.

I don't think they include 3 extra with the TS because they expect the normal person to go through 30,000 rounds of +P
 
Hmm, after decades of shooting CZ pistols, including PCR, P01, Compact, P-07, P-09, SP-01 Phantom, P-10 C, S, F/CR and M...I haven't broken any firing pins or slide stops. I had a P-01, carried it for probably 15 years, great pistol - it went away to pay for an emergency medical bill. :( I will say the Phantom had a roll pin that walked out slightly, took it to CZ Custom and it was fixed on the spot.
That P-01 probably had well over 10,000 rounds through it.
Edit to add, in all those CZ pistols I never saw one come with an extra pin of any kind, though I did buy a modified slide stop to use the Kadet Kit.
 
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Exactly what I said. BUT it is a CZ 75 design problem that all can have. The Browning Peter modified design in the CZ just wacks this area.
https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/280431-cz75-broken-slide-stop/

Return trigger spring from dry firing is a problem with the DA/SA triggers too. (problem in, that isn't a failing area for others (P99, 92, P226)).

CZ Custom isn't supply 6 slide stops in "parts" kits for fun:
https://czcustom.com/cz-parts-all/spare-parts-sets/sp01-sp01tactical-spare-parts-kit.html

https://czcustom.com/cz-parts-all/spare-parts-sets/sp01-shadow-spare-parts-kit.html
 
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I will take a broken slide stop pin every day of the week and twice on Sunday just because they are SO EASY to replace. Five seconds later gun fixed!

If the lockup parts on a 1911, Glock, Beretta, or most other design I can think of break, it is more involved to repair. Better designs? Maybe, maybe not, but more difficult to repair.... at least a little. Five seconds for a CZ might be 60 seconds for a Glock, I honestly don't know.

I have thousands of rounds through several of my CZs and have yet to break a slide stop. Perfectly aware it CAN AND DOES happen. As pointed out it is a common repair part to have on hand and there is a valid reason for it. Mechanical things fail, that's a fact. It's how they fail and how they can be repaired that makes a difference.
 
Just saying it's an area on the CZ specifically. True of Kahr design too. That will likely take it out. It's not like a broken extractor. A Browning Peter design is nearly 100% locked up at the lugs which the take down pin holds some play with.

The double action return spring is a real flaw on the DA/SA 75 design if you dry fire.

But I too like the idea of the P01 Omega. Like TunnelRat said, they are a little junky. I'm mulling over the the Omega but only stopping because my smaller hands will need to buy slim grips which adds $ to the purchase.

Good luck!
 
I wouldn't say that CZ Custom supplying 6 slide stops in a parts kits automatically means they will fail - the same kit includes 6 magazine base pads and 12 magazine springs as well. Haven't worn out a mag spring in anything yet either, but, competition pistols are expected to get shot a lot. I rarely shot competition, yet usually a few hundred rounds a month for years without issues. The same kit includes three extractors - that is an area that builds up gunk fast, for certain, especially the 75 based models, just because of the design. My brush got a workout cleaning that out every few range trips. I also agree everyone should have some spare parts - the only thing that was visibly worn in several thousand rounds through the P-01 was the recoil spring - it shortened up a bit. Still worked, but I replaced it anyway.
Don't know about Kahr - only knew one guy who carried one. He loved it, but I have no idea how much he actually shot it. We had a CZ83 on the rental range I worked at, but it was stolen before it could break.
I agree dry fire can damage a lot of pistols, and I was a little unhappy when CZ quit supplying the three snap caps they used to have in every box they sold.
 
I got slide stops for all my CZ clones almost as soon as I bought them. They were all well used and I figured one of them would break. So far, I have a nice collection of slide stops. None of the ones that came on the guns show any signs of stress at all. The one gun, over 33 years old, with a lot of finish wear, did break a firing pin a while back. I ordered one and waited a week for it to show up. I got a bonus, a bag of grip screws. I didn't order or pay for them. I said nothing.
 
IIRC the P01 carried a NATO ID/part number and was chosen because of its superior test results. Went WELL beyond the required minimum failure specs. CZ later changed out a spring to improve the design, which would require another round of testing, which also caused it to loose the NATO part number. My recollection may be fuzzy.

Yeah, its a reliable gun. PCR is my EDC, CZ nut here. I don't personally own a P01 because it has the rail, don't want one on my EDC. Though if I found one with the NATO stamp I'd buy just to have.

https://cz-usa.com/cz-p-01-gets-nato-approval-the-next-generation-of-perfect-pistols/
 
The testing was part of Czech police trials, not NATO. It doesn't make the testing less impressive, it's just a misunderstanding that seems to persist.
 
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