The CZ Custom Shop is announcing a gorgeous new pistol that pulls together features from a wide range of CZ handguns. The CZC A01-LD is a high-end 9mm Luger competition pistol with an enlarged frame and extended slide and barrel.
Functionally the CZC A01-LD sticks to the time-tested CZ 75 design but the gun is built in-house from scratch by CZ Custom. The biggest and most obvious difference is the oversized frame. The hammer-forged and CNC-machined frame has a full dust cover that runs the length of the 4.9-inch barrel and slide.
The added mass at the front acts as an integral weight, adding mass and inertia to the pistol that cuts felt recoil to a minimum. Other touches to the frame also help with control including raised 25-line-per-inch checkering on the frontstrap and backstrap and the extended beavertail.
On top the CZC A01-LD pistol has an extended slide machined from 4140 steel bar stock. It uses CZ Custom’s 416 stainless steel bull barrel in place of the conventional CZ 75 barrel and bushing. Also instead of standard CZ 75 3-dot sights, the CZC A01-LD has a front fiber optic sight and a low-mount extended rear sight.
Internally things are a bit different as well. For starters, CZ Custom selected the CZ 85 Combat trigger with ambidextrous safety levers, although it has a standard right-handed slide release. To make the trigger as tight and predictable as possible, the hammer and sear are pinned in the frame.
This gives the CZC A01-LD a factory double-action trigger in the 8- to 8.5-pound range and a single-action trigger at 3 to 3.5 pounds.
One surprise change is that the CZC A01-LD does not use standard CZ 75 magazines. Instead, the pistol uses P-09/P-07/P-10-pattern magazines, which gives the pistol a standard 19+1-round capacity.
See Also: Check out the CZ Custom Shadow 2 and New CZ 75 Semi-Compact!
All that adds up to make the CZC A01-LD weigh in at a tremendous 51.2 ounces unloaded. It’s just over 8.5 inches long and just under 1.5 inches wide cementing it as a range or competition gun.
The gun can absolutely be pressed into service as a self-defense pistol but it is very large and heavy for everyday-carry and can’t use a weapon light or any other frame-mounted accessories because the pistol does not have an accessory rail.
And priced at $2,247 most buyers probably won’t be leaving their CZC A01-LDs in the nightstand, opting to defend these beauties with cheaper, more practical handguns.
I am a CZ fan but at this price I’d take a Staccato instead. I don’t understand a lot of CZ’s decisions tbh. They need to release a subcompact P series. And they need to make an affordable CZ branded version of the DWX.
I agree. I saw mention of a 10mm prototype.
This would be a great platform for 10mm, as well as 9mm.