By Scott Smith
Completed, this 40 year CZ will hold its own against any pistol on the market today.
If you are a long time reader of TheGunMag.com back to the days when it was Gun Week and The GunMag, you know I have passion for steel framed single action pistols.
My favorites by far are the iconic 1911 and nearly perfect Hi Power. I own and compete with several of each, most all are full house custom pistols they way the late Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper thought they should be; good sights, reliable, no sharp edges and a decent trigger (4lbs-ish). An extended single side safety and beavertail grip safety eventually became part of his carry pistol.
One other pistol that fits into the practically perfect pistol group, even by the Colonel’s standards; the CZ75. The CZ points naturally, has a good trigger and holds 15 rounds of 9mm. The short coming of the CZ75 is it lacks a decocking lever so you must be careful lowering the hammer to DA/SA or simply carry it in condition 1; cocked and locked.
Our Brownell’s supplied BR9 is a good option for those who want a “Hi-Power”, it just needs a little help. While some may prefer the all black of the factory pistol, I like my pistols to have unique look; Duracoat gave the BR9 its woodland camouflage look.
In the dark ages of the 80s, the CZ75 was as rare as a unicorn here in the U.S. This was because it was built behind the Iron Curtain in the U.S.S.R. occupied country of Czechoslovakia. Very few found their way here and they commanded ridiculous prices.
I was fortunate to get one from a friend who was assigned to a unit in West Berlin. Until last year it sat in my vault, because it was a traditional DA/SA. The sights rivaled those on early 1911s and Hi-Powers and needed replaced.
Since I am not a fan of “safe queens”, it was time to upgrade the CZ. With the front sight being machined into the slide, a new one would need to be machined in and an appropriate height rear sight would be needed. The pistol would need to be converted to single action only as well.
Without a mill, this job was out of my skill set. The obvious choice for work on a CZ was the CZ Custom Shop (czcustom.com). After all CZ pistols is what they specialize in. After a few emails to exchange FFLs, she was off to Arizona. The work order was simple; new sights with a fiber optic front and convert her to single action only with a new hammer and flat trigger.
A few months later I received notice the CZ was ready to ship. When the big white FedEx truck arrived, I was thrilled. It was like getting a brand new pistol, at a substantially lower price.
The sights are awesome. The rear is a Novak style with square notch that mated perfectly with the fiber optic front. I was amazed; there was a visible front sight. I knew this would make the pistol instantly more user friendly and bring out the accuracy CZs are known for.
Gone was the tang hammer replaced by a smaller Commander-style version. Also the long curved trigger was replaced by the flat trigger. CZ Custom also replaced the trigger pin. As instructed the trigger pull was four pounds to match my other single action pistols. I know many folks who run and gun prefer them much lighter, but I am not a fan of two poundish pull weights.
The pistol needed one more item, good looking functional grips. The Hogue rubber grips were serviceable but that was it. When I perused VZ Grips (vzgrips.com) there a pair of blue and black Diamondback G10 grips on clearance that were perfect. A few days later they arrived and fit like a glove. To finish the grip, I applied anti-skid tape to give a secure grip in any weather condition.
With blue and black grips, the all black pistol needed a new look. Thanks to Duracoat (duracoatfirearmsfinishes.com), the CZ would soon sport a blue and black camo finish. I know this will not set well with diehard traditionalists, but I wanted my pistol to be unique. This finish would do that and protect it from the elements as well.
Heinie Sights are vast improvement over the factory sights.
A good looking improved pistol is all well and good, but it has to shoot well too. It was time to head to the range and check the accuracy. I gathered up mixed loose factory ammunition to test the reliability and several boxes of factory ammunition. Test ammunition included Black Hills (black-hills.com), Federal (federalrpemium.com), Hornady (hornady.com) and Sig Sauer (sigsauer.com). Bullet weights ranged from 100 grains to 147 grains and included BHA’s Honey Badger, full metal jacket and various hollow points. This mix would cover ammunition for practice, competition and self-defense.
Not surprisingly the CZ had no feeding or extraction issues. It hadn’t shown any the last time I shot it several years ago. What surprised me is the accuracy. Having functional sights dropped the 11 shot group from 4 inches at 25 yards to 2 ½ inches. I shot 11 because that is the maximum capacity in some progressive socialist states. When I shot 5-shot groups they were all sub 2 ½ inches, for a beat up old GI that’s about as good as it gets.
The other classic warrior I worked on this past year was a nearly exact clone of the Browning Hi-Power Mk III, Regent’s BR9. My buddy Karl owner of KGB Custom told me he had heard of this new “Hi Power” was going to be imported. This helped raise my spirits, because I wanted to do an “at home” custom build of a Hi-Power. I went in search of this new pistol and found that Regent is the importer and found every shooters friend for “gun stuff”; Brownells was a distributor.
A quick email to send my FFL and to verify the Regent BR9 is available and one was on the way. Fit and finish were typical of Turkish imports, flawless. When I put the BR9 next to any of my various Hi Powers it looked like a factory twin. All the lines were perfect, it even had that damnedable trigger disconnect safety and the blood drawing large ring hammer; yep a perfect P35 clone.
I wanted to see how it ran and how well regulated the three dot factory sights were. I was pleasantly surprised to see the sights were dead on at 25 yards. Even with the magazine disconnect the pistol fired a decent 5-inch, 10 shot group. I fired over 100 rounds without a hiccup. The one thing I did notice was the hammer bite. I suspected the large ring hammer was going to be painful. The blood on the web of my hand verified that; so I call it a day. The BR9 was going to need some help to make it a shooter.
Returning home, I gave the pistol a more detailed inspection, I found it was not a perfect clone. An email to the importer verified my hunch; two areas were not to Browning Mk III specifications; the safety/hammer strut and dovetails of the sights. I asked why they did this, will they be correcting this? The answers were brief if not blunt; because we did and no we do not. As a Hi Power aficionado I told the importer that not using Browning sight dovetails, they could see sales fall flat. Browning dovetail sights would allow the table top gunsmith to install sights for the cost of the sights. Having non-traditional dovetails adds at least an extra $200 plus to the job.
Fortunately, Cylinder & Slide could help with the hammer bite and terrible trigger pull. C&S has a no bite, Drop-in Trigger Job and it is offered with a safety/hammer strut to fit the BR9. I also ordered C&S’s Wide Trigger because it reduces the felt trigger pull weight. Knowing the way C&S pays attention to details, I knew all the parts would fit perfectly. The trigger pull was reduced to 5 lbs. I chose to keep the OEM mainspring instead of the C&S reduced weight spring that would have reduced the pull weight to 4ish pounds. This would help reduce frame to slide impact if you get some hot loads.
For heavy use the no-bite hammer was the most important part of the DiTJ. While the reduced trigger pull is great, the OEM ring hammer makes shooting painful and unpleasant as it draws blood when shooting. I shoot with a high grip and have big hands, the flesh in the web of my hand just gets ripped up. This led me to learn how to modify a ring or tang hammer or just install C&S’s no bite hammer.
CZ Custom worked wonders installing these sights to bring this old pistol into the 21st century.
With the trigger pull and hammer bite addressed, it was time to fix the sights. Since the dove tails were not traditional I needed another option. Over the years, I have been a fan of Heinie Sights. They give a sharp clear picture, with The Ledge you can rack your pistol off your belt or a prop is need be and they are tough as nails. A couple of emails later, just the slide was off to Heinie to have sights installed. Normally this is a quick out and back job, but the non-standard dovetails, required Mr. Heinie’s evaluation of the slide. He sent me an email back and told me the slide was not as hard as a Browning or FN slide so the dovetails might not be “Heinie perfect”. I do not know how much better the cuts could have been, they looked outstanding to me. The Ledge rear and fiber optic front were dead on for Point of Aim/Point of Impact at 25 yards. Overall cost of the sights was around $250, check with Heinie.com for cost and turnaround time.
The last addition to the BR9 was a set of grips from VZ Grips and some anti-skid tape on the back and front straps. This combination gives a rock solid grip surface and it looks good too. I also topped the entire BR9 off with a Woodland Camouflage job using DuraCoat.
The modernized CZ75 showed no preferences with any of our test ammunition.
Finished pistol in hand it was off to the range. We used the same ammunition we did with the CZ; Black Hills, Federal, Hornady and Super Vel. Bullet weights ranged from 100 to 147 grains. Even the unique bullet design of the Honey Badger did not affect feeding. Over 200 rounds were fired and there were no reliability issues.
Accuracy wise, there was no stand out. The average size of the 5 shot groups fired at 25 yards was just over 3 inches. Since many of these groups had a few rounds touching, it is a safe bet this pistol could should 3-inch groups. At nearly 60, I am more than happy with these groups.
I am hoping our friends at Brownell’s will be able to get Regent’s importer to change the dovetails and safety strut to a standard Hi Power dimensions. With those two changes the BR9 could become a perfect pistol for the home gunsmith. If you are looking for a quality clone of a Hi Power, get Brownell’s to deliver the Regent BR9 to your local dealer. Whether you choose to upgrade an old warrior like the pre-B CZ75 or improve a new one like the BR9, remember to shoot safe, shoot accurately and have fun.
