Tag Archives: CZ75

The best known invention of the brothers Koucký

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Designed by brothers Josef and František Koucký at the CZ factory in then-Czechoslovakia after more than six years of development, the all-steel 9mm parabellum double-stack CZ75 was a broadside response in the 1970s to the S&W 59, Browning Hi-Power and Beretta Model 92, the West’s contemporary 1st gen “wonder nines.” It soon became a hit and was a best seller around the globe that has remained in production ever since.

Known originally in the West as “the Brunner pistol” after its West German exporter, Walter Pomeranski began importing the CZ75 to the U.S. in 1979. In January 1980, no less a shootist than Col. Jeff Cooper wrote in American Handgunner, “I think the Brunner is the best of the conventional nines as it stands, and the best conventional pistol if it is modified to a major caliber.” Notably, Cooper would use it as the basis of his own Bren Ten concept.

Besides clones produced by a myriad of Italian, Eastern European and Turkish firms, CZ themselves have made more than 1 million of these iconic combat pistols in the past 45 years.

Speaking of which, there is a limited edition 45th anniversary CZ 75 for 2020.

More in my column at Guns.com.

So a 1911 and a CZ75 swiped right…

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Billed as a dream match using DNA from two of the most iconic handguns of the old and new world, the new Dan Wesson DWX has been announced.

Teased this week, the new gun has a release date only of “2020” and is promised in both full-size and compact variants.

“It started as an experiment — a grand melding of Dan Wesson and CZ pistols,” says the company. “Borrowing the crisp single-action fire control group of a DW 1911 and combining it with the ergonomics and capacity of a CZ, the resulting pistol emerged as something great.”

The Dan Wesson DWX. Concept art firearm vaporware? We shall see…

Using a locked-breech barrel system and a CZ-style takedown, the 9mm DWX incorporates a 5-inch match-grade barrel without the 1911’s link system or barrel bushing. However, it contains many 1911 parts while coming to the party with a 19+1 magazine capacity based on the CZ P-09/P-10 and aluminum CZ 75 grips.

More in my column at Guns.com 

For the CZ fan that has everything

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I give you the exquisite CZ 75 Republika model:

Produced by CZUB to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, just 100 of the guns were produced. They are serial numbered 1918-2018.

Each is engraved with traditional Czech symbols such as the national motto “Pravda vítězí,” which means “truth prevails,” as well as a Czech lion coat of arms.

The guns come standard with a wooden presentation case with a portrait of the first Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Masaryk.

They normally cost about $8K but Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš just made one a gift of the United States, should President Trump decide not to buy it, of course.

More in my column at Guns.com.

The CZ75 Full Auto Machine Pistol: Czechmate

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Ever since 1975, the world has come to know and love the sleek and downright elegant CZ75 combat pistol. This Czech designed and produced firearm has been cloned probably more than any other modern gun with the exception of the M1911 so chances are you are familiar. One variant you probably haven’t gotten your grubby little hands on though is the full auto one, and that’s a shame.

Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) always had a more Western tilt than other Soviet satellite states. This can be seem clearly in their history of firearms manufacturing.

The Czech firearms super factory of Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod (best known simply as CZ) had long been a maker of top shelf firearms that earned the old Communist State of Czechoslovakia hard foreign currency. By 1991, with the end of the cold war and the coming of capitalist freedom to the region, the Czech Republic divested itself of the CZ munitions works and the company began life on its own two feet, as a private entity.

Looking to help push new products out into the world, that could include Western countries without import restrictions, the company looked at two of its bestselling products, the CZ75 pistol and the Skorpion vz61 submachine gun and came up with a novel way to have the first become a new and improved version of the latter. In the early 1990s there was a certain niche market out there for high speed 9mm machine pistols such as the Glock 18 and Beretta 93R, but the CZ’s dated Skorpion design was chambered from the ground up for .32ACP.

Hence: a CZ75 that could sting like a Skorpion.

Read the rest in my column at GUNS.com

Why yes, that IS a 2nd magazine used as a forward grip...

Why yes, that IS a 2nd magazine used as a forward grip…

The Joy that is the CZ75

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One of the neatest designs that have gained traction over the past few years in the US has been the CZ75 line of pistols. These durable and slim doublestacks have an interesting background that has made them available in a huge variety of styles and flavors.

After World War 1, the country of Czechoslovakia rose from the ashes of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. This new country inherited a number of former Austrian military arms factories that became known as the Ceska Zbrojovka (“Czech Armory” in Czech.) This evolved over the years as a powerhouse small arms group that survived German occupation in World War 2 and Soviet occupation during the Cold War, while still turning out a number of famous designs including what became the Bren gun, the Sa vz. 58 assault rifle, and the Skorpion vz. 61 machine pistol.

In the early 1970s, a pair of brothers who worked for CZ started work on a double-stack 9mm pistol for the export market. These brothers, Josef and Frantisek Koucky, had by 1975 perfected a handgun that is known today as the CZ75, after the factory abbreviation and the year of first production.
Read the  rest in my column at Firearms Talk

cz diagram