Life with the CZ-75 P-01 - A Great Carry Gun

I will preface this by saying that I have become a big fan of the CZ 75 P-01. I'm not sure that I can say I'm a full blown CZ fan boy yet but I do really like this firearm and other CZ weapons. It's not the best carry gun but it's been good so far. I'm having a hard time finding holsters in general and have ordered a custom Kydex OWB holster for it but it's going to be a while before I get it in. Once I have a proper holster I think this will become one of my favorite carry guns and will carry it much more than I have been.

Getting holsters for the P-01 is somewhat of a pain. There are just not many people out there making them for the P-01. I prefer the paddle style OWB holster in general. I especially like the Safariland 5198 model (I have 3 of them) but they do not make one for the P-01. They do for the SP-01 but not the P-01. I was able to pick up two Alien Gear holsters for this weapon, 1x Cloak Tuck 3.0 and 1x Cloak Slide OWB. The OWB has become the main holster for use as carrying the P-01 IWB is a pain. I did try the Galco M5X Matrix; never again. It's essentially trash. It has effectively zero retention. I'd rather have a leather holster than a plastic one with no retention. That said, I have ordered a custom made holster from Contact! Concealment but they have a 4 to 6 week delivery time and I'm around 4 weeks into waiting. I hate waiting for things I paid for. Blame my millennial-ness if you want.

The biggest down side to the P-01 is it's width; 1.38 inches according to the CZ USA website. It's .18 inch wider than the M&P 9c (w/o thumb safety) and .20 inch wider than the Glock 26. It does, however, have more rounds in the standard magazines but it is also a physically larger gun. The P-01 is more of a compact sized handgun where the other two are sub-compacts (even though the M&P9c is labeled as a compact I'd still categorize it as a sub-compact). The P-01 compares more with the Glock 19.That said, I prefer the P-01 for it's ergonomics over the Glock 26 any day, all day. Both are reliable and eat just about whatever you put through it.

An upside to the P-01 is magazine availability. While it doesn't take Glock mags, the P-01 can use standard 14 round CZ compact mags for a flush fit but the P-01 has a specific version that has a rubber base pad which acts as a finger extension. These are a little harder to find.

The trigger pull feels a little heavy but it is a double action/single action firearm with a decocker. To make the double action pull a little less tough the P-01 has a half-cock position that the decocker drops the hammer down to.

Ergonomics! Seriously, this piece feels great. It comes with these rubber grips that don't look that good but make the sidearm very controllable. Access to all the controls is easy. It also aids in accuracy. The P-01 is both accurate and precise and it's a blast to shoot. The trigger feels clean and breaks well when in single action mode. In double action mode is has some oddity that feels like you have to overcome a hump before you even reach the staging point.

One thing I really like about the P-01 I got is that I have the older NSN version. The initial version of the P-01 is what I call the NSN version which is the pistol CZ put through NATO trials. At some point, CZ changed the slide release spring which prevents the pistol from having the NSN on the frame designation. However, mine has the NSN on the frame and that makes me happy.

All in all, I really like the P-01 and would like to have the SP-01 to go with it. CZ-USA has a version of the P-01 they call the Urban Grey edition. It features a custom grey finish, with a threaded barrel for a suppressor, raised night sights and even has their Omega Convertible safety system. I'd rather have the NSN version any day.

Note: This review is short and oddly written. Right now I just want to post something because I'm pissed off about the latest executive order regarding gunsmiths and the DDTC. Thanks Obama.