ccw9mm

RANGE REPORT #2 for the CZ P-01 9mm

June 22, 2006 -- Second range session, after purchase.

Tally: -- 1 FTF in 975 rounds = 0.1% failure rate = 99.89% reliability rate.

• Goal -- Continue the break-in period of the gun, loosen up the action, note any wear areas. Focus on use of hollow point rounds, to help speed break-in of the barrel throat and ramp.
• Initial Field Strip and Cleaning -- All metal surfaces firmly cleaned with Hoppe's #9, including the barrel. Let barrel sit 3mins. Wiped down all surfaces, grooves and crevices with a lightly-oiled cloth. With an oiled patch, cleaned the barrel, rails, guide rod, magazine well, all magazines and followers. Wiped down all surfaces with a dry cloth. Re-oiled all friction surfaces with a lightly-oiled patch; small drop of oil on the sear/hammer area. Cycled slide 10x.
• Shots -- 500 rounds total, including 150 rounds of Federal Hydrashok JHP +P, 300 rounds of generic (HSM) JHP standard, 50 rounds of generic FMJ (HSM) standard. As of today, the P-01 now has 975 rounds through it.
• Usage -- 100 rounds shot double-action, while the remainder were DA/SA. Three magazines (of 14rds) shot off-hand (right); two magazines, strong-hand (left); the rest, Weaver.
• Trigger Action -- (I shoot left handed.) Trigger action is beginning to loosen up. The original heavy, rough trigger on DA is about 40% smoother. SA still is gritty, with two distinct positions where the sear likes to hang out, "catching" in between those two spots. 500rds+ of snap caps is allowing me to ignore most of this gritty trigger action. Another couple thousand rounds shood loosen it up quite nicely.
• Ejection – Clean and crisp ejects. Every case ejects at about a 20* angle up and behind me to the 4 o'clock position, with brass all landing within ~1ft diameter on the floor about 4-5ft behind me to my right. Today's focus was on +P rounds. The way I read this is that the factory recoil spring is a bit weak to handle hot +P rounds, given the 5ft brass, today. Though, not bad. The factory spring is definitely okay for standard-pressure plinking rounds.
• Feel -- Everything is beginning to loosen up. Still a somewhat gritty trigger feel, otherwise, the ergonomics are great. Everything is within easy reach. Little recoil and negligible muzzle flip, even with +P rounds and the standard plastic guide rod. Able to shoot 400-500rds without tiring or the hands "buzzing." It naturally points on-target, for me, which is nice.
• Grip -- Definitely a tad large for my hands. I have a set of Gabon Ebony 20LPI checkered grips on order from Sam at Omega and have asked that these new grips result in ~10mm less overall grip circumference, which should do wonders for control. The factory rubber grips get a bit greasy with my wet palms; the ebony checkered grips should bite into the hand nicely, for improved control.
• Magazine Eject Button -- Yes, the edges are sharp and it sits higher than needed. I will have this removed and taken down/refinished.
• Aim -- Significantly better aim during this second range session. At 10yds, the gun is now able to shoot 1" groups; occasional fliers are my problem. At 25yds, the gun is able to shoot 2.5" groups. Generally, shots are still impacting down and right ~1.5" of my visual aim, which I mostly attribute to 80% gritty trigger and 20% slight anticipation. A couple of magazines' worth @ 10yds showed that smooth trigger squeeze results in nearly on-point aim, hence the problems are with the trigger and me.
• Jams/failures -- One failure to feed, during the first magazine of JHP +P. It jammed at the top of the ramp at an angle in the barrel throat, failing to go into battery. Cleared and recycled that round as #2 in the magazine, which then fed fine. For the remaining 499 rounds, today, zero further failures. Verdict: The Matt Mink trigger/action job will include throating and polishing of the barrel and ramp and tuning of the feeding mechanisms in the frame and magazines.
• Reliability -- One FTF in 975 rds = 0.1% failure. Not bad, for a brand new pistol. Should improve.
• Non-CZ Testing, Browning BDM 9mm -- By comparison, the 100rds I put through the BDM today shows that the trigger action and accuracy has skyrocketed, as well. Amazing what a thousand rounds can do for smoothing up things. Gotta love that!
• Cleaning at Range -- Wiped the barrel feed ramp once, otherwise I let 'er rip. Again, I deliberately kept shooting in order to see how bullet-proof the P-01 is right out of the box.
• Cleaning after the Range -- I'll let this one sit, since I plan to shoot another 500rds through it tomorrow morning. I want to see what 1000rds uncleaned means for reliability, accuracy.

Overall, I am beginning to really like the P-01. While it's not yet showing the 100% feed reliability of my old Browning BDM (with over 35K rounds through it), it's highly reliable and will continue to improve after the trigger/action job, barrel throating/polishing and continued range work. If things keep improving, the P-01 should soon become my everyday carry piece.

PHOTOS (click here) -- Pics showing accuracy at 25yds and 10yds. The gun is down to 1" groups at 10yds, and 2" groups at 25yds. Any errors are due to me and my trigger work (flinching, anticipating) ... not the gun, really.

- Michael

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