ccw9mm

CZ P-01 9mm compact: Range Report #1

This is intended to be an ongoing history of working my new CZ P-01 9mm compact pistol at the range. I will track the number of shots, jams/failures, goal while at the range, general comments on ergonomics and performance, and cleanings ... over the life of the pistol, from new. Each ~500rds or so, I will come back and post further comments as to performance, what I'm trying to achieve at the range sessions, how the gun's parts are holding up, how recent gunsmithing changes are working, and so on.

Hopefully, someone will find this useful, either when considering purchase of a P-01 or as a reference for reliability.


Gun: CZ P-01 9mm compact pistol. 28oz forged aluminum frame w/ steel slide, decocker, no safety, Browning-style tilt/lockup, plastic guide rod; 14-rd magazine.
Purpose: Daily concealed carry.
Carry Mode: Left-handed carry with a paddle-style pancake holster, slightly behind hip, high-ride w/ FBI forward cant.

June 16, 2006 -- First range session, after purchase.

• Goal -- Start the break-in period of the gun, loosen up the action, note any wear areas. Prepare for Matt Mink to do his trigger/action magic, in another 3K rounds or so.
• Initial Field Strip and Cleaning -- All metal surfaces lightly cleaned then wiped down 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. Cycled slide 10x; cycled one magazine 10x.
• Feel -- Gun shot very well! Light recoil, despite the 28oz aluminum frame. Felt solid, not "buzzing" due to the aluminum, which was a nice surprise. Kept pointing well, wanting to easily get back on target. Steady during shots, with minimal muzzle rize and moderate rearward recoil.
• Grip -- A bit large for my hands, though not by much. Is correctable, with thinner grips, with some deepening of the "well" underneath the beavertail. Will have the gunsmith consider options.
• Magazine Eject Button -- Extremely sharp edges, IMO. Too "high" off the surface of the gun. Needs to be taken down 1/8" at a minimum and dramatically rounded.
• Ergonomics – Fairly nice. Everything is easily manipulated and within reach, even with my fairly small hands. A few too many sharper edges, despite the light factory “melt” for carry. Could use a severe “melt” from the gunsmith.
• Shots -- 475 Rounds of Remington UMC 9mm FMJ (1135 fps, 329 ft-lbs). 100 rounds shot double-action, while the remainder were shot single-action.
• Usage – 100 hammer drop via decocker; 40 slide release; 40 magazine drop/insert; mostly Weaver style, plus 10% left-hand, 10% right-hand.
• Aim -- (I shoot left handed.) Factory sights set to ~25yds, seemingly, as anything under 15yds was high. Due to heavy, rough trigger action and some anticipation, most rounds fell down and to the right of my point-of-aim by: 1.5" @ 7yds, 2" @ 10yds and 3" @ 25yds, more or less. Fairly tight groupings. The fliers and tendency toward low/right is my own problem, which hopefully will get better as the action smooths up. Otherwise, twice as accurate @ New as my Browning BDM is @ 1500 rds. Has strong potential to be highly accurate. The linked photo (below) shows ~3" Weaver acccuracy @ 10yds, minus occasional fliers. Will definitely improve.
• Ejection – Clean and crisp ejects, with brass all landing within 10” diameter on the floor about 3ft behind me to my right. Whatever springs are stock, they're about right for standard-pressure target rounds.
• Cleaning at Range -- None, other than wiping the barrel feed ramp once. Deliberately kept shooting, to see how bullet-proof the P-01 was right out of the box.
• Jams/failures -- Zero, nada, none. Not one single failure of any kind. Deliberately limp-wristed last 50 rounds, to attempt to cause failures.
• Cleaning -- After the session, field stripped and cleaned all surfaces with light Hoppe's #9; clean cloth; lightly oiled all surfaces; wiped down; lightly oiled all friction surfaces; lightly cleaned magazines; then wiped down exterior and all magazines.

Overall, I like it. It feels good in the hand. All controls are easily manipulated and reached. Not too heavy or large for carry, through noticeably larger than, say, a S&W 442 Airweight 38SPL (which is my other carry piece).

PHOTOS (click here) -- One pic of my holding the gun; one pic of five groupings @ 10yds (Weaver), with a couple of fliers noted with arrows.

Enjoy.

- Michael

__________________
Your best weapon is your brain. Don't leave home without it.
Reports: CZ P01 pt1, pt2.
Thoughts: Justifiable self defense.
Problems? Vote appropriately.

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

__________________
Your best weapon is your brain. Don't leave home without it.
Reports: CZ P01 pt1, pt2.
Thoughts: Justifiable self defense.
Problems? Vote appropriately.

P95Carry

Wow Michael - comprehensive reporting or what!

Nicely structured and most informative. I am not a CZ man but sure as heck enjoy well presented reports - this is valuable material of course for everyone. Thank you.

__________________
Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug

WJP9

Thanks for the info...not an item that I have yet convinced myself to purchase....but non the less enjoy reading about different platforms/manufacturers...this one seems very interesting. Great report!

__________________
-Bill

"I don't step aside. I step up."

-Vic Mackey, THE SHIELD.

DizTbone

Wow! Keep it up. I have a buddy that does this on a motorcycle board and everyone loves it. You might start a culture of note-taking at the range and inadvertantly help a whole bunch of folks make more informed purchasing decisions!

Michael

__________________
XD9 Service, CZ-75B, Glock 21, Kel-Tec P3AT
Rifles...yes...and shotguns....and
"Unofficial Legislative Attache...er...Watchdog...er...Agitator."
"Yes, I vote...but not for the candidate I prefer: None of the Above."

AnimalKracker

Although , I don't know anything about the pistol that you are posting on. I do like CZ as a brand. I have a CZ100, and I like to read a good report as it may influance me in the future.

soonerjh

Thanks for the imformative report! I have carried a P-01 now for close to a year and its become my main carry gun. The edges you describe are hardly noticible with my holster, which is an IWB from HBE, Eric does a really good job on the fit. although I haven't kept track as good as you (because my gun was bought used, the guy said there were 400 rounds put thru it) I have tried various types of ammo without any failures to feed, though I did have 3 stovepipes when I used CCI Blazer aluminum ammo, but that is all. I have put apprx 2500 rounds thru it so far.
I would like to see the difference once you get yours worked on like you want. I have nothing special done to mine except ss guide rod, Wolff spring and thinner custom grips by Omega.

__________________
RKBA

John

ccw9mm

RANGE REPORT #3 for the CZ P-01 9mm

June 23, 2006 -- Third range session, after purchase. Apologies for the tardiness of this post.

• Goal -- Continue the break-in period of the gun and loosen up the action. General-purpose bangin' session, with cheapie FMJ ammunition.
• Initial Cleaning -- Deliberately left it dirty from the previous range session (yesterday), to see how the P-01 can handle getting cruddy over multiple hundreds of rounds.
• Shots -- 300 rounds total, all generic Remington UMC FMJ standard-pressure (which is reasonably dirty stuff). As of today, the P-01 now has 1275 rounds through it.
• Usage -- All magazines' worth were 1st shot DA, subsequent shots SA. All Weaver stance, medium speed. Another three magazines are coming from CZ, next week. All five will be sent to Matt for his gunsmithing/tuning magic.
• Trigger Action -- (I shoot left handed.) Trigger action is still a bit gritty, but is slowly getting smoother. Full-travel DA pull still sucks. SA isn't bad at all, now, with the midway "crunch" gradually disappearing. 500rds more snap caps, that evening.
• Ejection – Still wonderful. About 3-4ft to my right/rear, landing within a 1ft circle on the floor.
• Feel -- Still feels wonderful in the hand. Still has a reasonably gritty trigger pull, to be resolved soon. C'mon, Matt Mink trigger job!
• Grip -- Sam at Omega is crafting the Gabon Ebony grips as we speak. Should have it by mid-September. 18LPI checkering, and a bit smaller overall circumference on the grip. Ooooooh.
• Magazine Eject Button -- Having shot so much, recently, one of the Curad bandages is over the left-hand "ring" finger, due to this bad boy. Yikes.
• Aim -- Getting pretty darned accurate. On the "US Army Official 50ft Small Bore Rifle Target," which contains 11 small targets on the paper, I'm able to hit about half the mini-targets within the rings, which is about 2" groupings. A flier here and there, but accuracy is way, way up.
• Jams/failures -- Not one, this session, despite not having cleaned it since round #475 a week ago. That's 800 rounds straight, uncleaned, with only one transitory failure to feed (initial, virgin hollow point, which subsequently fed just fine). Amazing.
• Reliability -- One FTF in 1275 rds = 0.078% failure. In other words, 99.92% perfect.
• Cleaning at Range -- Didn't touch a thing. When I do clean it, the gunge is going to eat my hand alive!
• Cleaning after the Range -- Only wiped down the exterior with a microfiber cloth then a coated gun cloth, after the session was done. Again, I will deliberately leave the gun dirty through the next range session, to see how well it holds up. 800 rounds "dirty," so far.

This P-01 is a monster, in terms of stellar accuracy, great control, small size. Very, very nice gun for me. At this point, other than the minor trigger issue (to be resolved by Matt next month), I can't find anything wrong with it. And I'm certainly trying. I'm convinced this will become my general carry piece, when venue and clothing (ie jacket) allows. Otherwise, the S&W 442 Airweight will likely remain the go-everywhere piece.

No photos, today, as this was a simple shooting session with little concern for shot placement.

Next installment will likely be this weekend, as another couple break-in sessions are planned. Will shove another 800-1000 rounds of mixed ammo through it, over this weekend. After that, it's off to Matt for the trigger work, throating/polishing of the barrel, smoothing of the overall action, polishing of the extractor. Should be back in time for the LFI course in a couple months. Wheee!

__________________
Your best weapon is your brain. Don't leave home without it.
Reports: CZ P01 pt1, pt2.
Thoughts: Justifiable self defense.
Problems? Vote appropriately.

P95Carry

Michael - nice further addition.

This sorta reportage has to be so so useful for other folks wanting to know about a specific gun - excellent. Thank you.

__________________
Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug

Boomer45

Hi Micheal,
First, let me thank you for some excellent feedback on the CZ P01. I own and carry this same pistol and thoroughly enjoy it. It fits my hand very well and I have yet to experience a FTF or FTE in over 1600 rounds shot. For those who like a 9mm with a decocker this is a pistol not to be overlooked. CZ has some excellent pistols and I would encourage members of the forum to give them a look.

__________________
USAF Retired