The P-07 Duty .40 S&W from CZ-USA

The CZ P-07 Duty in .40 S&W is at least a 9.5 on the coolness scale, and the features that make it so good looking are as much as you can expect from a gun you intend to vest your life in. This was clearly not a doctored up review gun from CZ-USA. They just took one off the pile and sent it, and mine were probably the first human hands to touch it since the assembly line. The decocker on the P-07 can be reconfigured for a drop safety with a simple parts swap. In true european fashion the P-07 Duty comes with a lanyard ring, but the magazine release is on the frame and not the butt  as with most pistols for the American market. 12 rounds of .40 S&W is enough punch for most duty environments, and the P-07 does come with one extra magazine. I feel that these ridges on the slide are the most important feature on the P-07.  All CZ-75s are harder to rack than other pistol designs, and these ridges are perfect in my book for holding onto that slide without hurting your fingers. Even one handed the low bore axis of the P-07 Duty makes muzzle flip manageable for a polymer framed gun. Hornady Critical Defense groups were generally like this one at 10 yards, a ragged hole measuring about one inch across. The actual physical capabilities of a pistol are hard to measure without a machine rest, but in casual shooting the P-07 Duty came out as good as any pistol I have ever shot. The double action first shot pull of the P-07 Duty is extremely smooth and consistent and broke cleanly at just over 11 lbs. The single action pull has virtually no creep and broke at consistent 4 lbs.,  8-10 ounces. The low bore axis of the CZ-75 has resulted in them being called the “perfect pistol.” They are the most popular gun for military and police worldwide, and this P-07 Duty in .40 S&W may be the best CZ-75 ever created.

CZ-USA:
https://www.cz-usa.com/

For many police officers and most security guards, the choice of what pistol to carry is left up to you. There is generally an approved list and it is up to you to pick your duty pistol, holster, and on-duty gear. There are a number of issues to consider, but often it comes back to what you like, what you shoot well and of course, what you can afford.

The CZ-75, which is the steel or alloy gun on which this polymer framed P-07 model is based,  is one of those “preference” guns that people just like and naturally shoot very well. It is  by far the most popular pistol internationally among police and military, and many people refer to it as “the perfect pistol.”  It has also become one of the most copied pistols in history, second perhaps only to the Colt 1911.

The P-07 Duty series seeks to answer some of the needs thought to be missing in the original CZ-75 and the various copies.  This .40 S&W version is the newest addition to the line, and as more and more police departments and security companies move away from the 9mm to the more potent .40 S&W, this P-07 has become the most notable competitor to enter the fray.

The biggest difference between the P-07 Duty and a regular CZ-75 is of course the polymer frame. With the popularity of striker fired polymer pistols, many departments and security companies have put this into their specification for officers and guards, that it has to be a polymer framed pistol. But faced with a field of mostly striker fired pistols, there are few options for for those who don’t care for the spongy first shot and risk of accidental discharge associated with those guns.

To date, there is also only one military that has adopted a striker fired pistol, and it is Austria, where Glock the original striker fired polymer pistol,  is located.  The reliability of a hammer fired pistol and the safety of a heavy double action first shot have won the day as a sidearm internationally, and even 20 years later it will remain to be seen if the striker fired pistol is just a passing fad even here in the U.S..

So while answering the call for a polymer framed CZ-75, for both the domestic and international markets,  CZ-USA also addressed a number of other issues with the gun.  One is the trigger pull.  They completely redesigned and simplified it, resulting in a smooth and consistent pull. This is important for shooters who don’t practice much (as many law enforcement and security professionals do not), because you can pull the trigger from anywhere on it and the pull will always be the same.  The standard CZ-75 trigger is considered very good, but competitors generally slick it up with a gunsmith, and practice holding the trigger in one place so it doesn’t “stack up” which can happen with double action triggers in both pistols and revolvers.  The new trigger system is called the Omega.

There is also a front accessory rail on the P-07 Duty series, and the polymer frame has been molded with a very aggressive “skateboard tape” feel.  Also, unlike the standard CZ-75 that has a slide made from a cast form, the P-07 slide is machined from solid  bar stock with tapers toward the front to make the gun more evenly balanced.  The result of these changes is a gun that scores at least a 9.5 in the “cool factor,” and an extremely sleek and useful profile that is easy to hold onto and meets the needs of a true law enforcement or security professional.

The lever on the side of the P-07 Duty can be configured one of two ways. Our test gun came in the default de-cocker mode, where the lever is used to de-cock the pistol after you chamber the first round by racking the slide. This makes it so that the firing pin safety never disengages as the hammer is dropped. The “manual safety” built into a de-cocker gun is that first heavy double action trigger pull characteristic of all double action/single action pistols. Subsequent shots are of course fired single action, and if you are done firing but the gun is not empty, you can return the gun to the “safe” position by again using the de-cocker to drop the hammer.

The alternate configuration on the P-07 Duty requires a simple part swap (demonstrated in the CZ Youtube video here) and it re-configures the lever to a manual drop safety, with no de-cocker.  So you can carry the gun as double action/single action with a drop safety, or “cocked and locked” in single action, but you have to manually drop the hammer with the trigger and your thumb.  For those who plan to carry the gun without a round in the chamber, or if you plan to use it for home defense and store it that way,  you may also choose this option so that first round after you rack the slide is fired single action with a drop safety.

With all of these new features it is hard to argue that the most important one is the addition of great serrations in the slide, but in my experience with the CZ-75 as a whole, it is the most important thing that they have added to the P-07. .

The CZ-75 is a very popular gun, and people shoot it well for a reason. It has an extremely low bore axis in relation to your hand because the slide rails are down in the frame, not on the outside of the frame. So where with many guns you feel like the barrel is up on top of your natural point of aim, with a CZ-75 you feel like it is more an extension of where you naturally point.

The downside to this is that many CZ-75s are extremely hard to cock.  The genuine CZ-USA models are generally manageable in this regard, but I have shot some CZ-75 copies that I have actually passed around the range and asked people if they could rack the slide, and many couldn’t.

I have tried to show you from the side the serrations on the P-07. They are the perfect amount of grab, so they don’t feel like they are cutting your fingers, but they are sharp enough so feel like you have a grip on the gun, that it won’t snap out of your hand before you get it all the way back. Combined with the smoothness of the P-07 action, I find that racking the gun is not unpleasant at all, and that the average shooter won’t find it difficult or punishing. The “too hard to cock” problem on many versions of the CZ-75 is a deal killer for many people, and I feel that the P-07 has addressed this handily.

The first thing I would like to say about this particular review gun is more of a general comment on CZ-USA. When CZ sends you a review gun, they literally take the next one in the pile and send you it without even opening the box (other than to verify serial number possibly).  They have 100% faith in their own quality control and every gun goes out the door as good as the last. I personally think this says more than the features or attractiveness of any firearm.  Every CZ works out of the box with no break in or gunsmith purview, and that says a lot. This gun had clearly never been taken out of its plastic wrapper and never failed over the several hundred rounds I was able to put through before sending it back.

It is hard to review good guns. You feel like you have nothing to say other than that it is good. The P-07 delivers on everything it promises and I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase one, wipe off the packing oil, load the magazine, rack a round and drop it in my duty holster, ready for duty (no I am not someone on duty at this juncture). I would put my life in its hands right out of the box.  Many guns that I would normally sing the praises of I would not award with that moniker. So take that for what it is worth.

Every detail of the P-07 Duty was clearly thought out, developed and put into a manufacturing system that accepts no compromises.  In a day to day duty gun that you plan to bet your life on, the P-07 Duty is an extremely safe bet.  The P-07 is “ready for duty.”

CZ-USA:
https://www.cz-usa.com/