CZ 75 gun was first introduced by the Czech company Česká Zbrojovka, in the year after which the gun got its name. Its success lies in its excellent quality/price ratio. Furthermore, its mechanical design is inspired by the already tested models, giving this gun reliability and accuracy. This is why this gun, with no doubt, boasts all primary characteristics of a good defense weapon.
With the passing of time, many versions of this gun were created, however, the shooting systems, calibers, as well as safeties, and aiming devices differed greatly.
This gun’s accuracy, together with its possible use in practical shooting, has pushed the company to develop models specifically made for sport. One of these is a gun with a playful name: CZ Czechmate.
CZ TS (Tactical Sport) model was the starting point for this sophisticated Czechmate gun that, just like a racing car, needs to be factory adjusted, before being released onto the market. Its price exceeds 3500 euros that are, however, justifiable since its manufacturing reaches the highest standards of the 75 series.
The gun comes with a shock resistant, soft padded case containing three magazines, an oil bottle, two barrel cleaners, various additional parts necessary to adapt the gun to the Limited specialty, as well as printed and CD manuals of the gun and its C-More sight.
The Czechmate slide and frame are made of high carbon steel with a matte black finish.
The magazine well and the grips are in aluminum and the checkering on the frame and the grips allows a good grasp even with sweaty hands, due to the competition-induced stress.
The magazine release button is oversized. This weapon is made for practical shooting competitions in the Open division, so it features a four-port compensator.
Perfect ergonomics of the CZ guns is proverbial, due to the contour of the grips that adapt to hands of different size, and the same can be said for the well-designed and appropriately placed commands.
Czechmate is a semi-automatic pistol with external hammer and trigger in single action only. This gun boasts a trigger weight of about 800 grams, which is much lower than most olympic shooting guns.
CZ guns of 75 series are inspired by the famous SIG Sauer P 210 and share a similar breaching system. The link between the barrel and the slide is made by two protruding lugs on the top of the barrel, which fits in matching millings on the top of the slide.
The lower lug of the barrel has an L-shaped hole that guides the backside of the barrel downwards during a shooting cycle. SIG Sauer P 210 served as an inspiration for the slide guides, positioned internally in the frame.
The increased sliding surfaces improves the link between the frame and the slide, for a better accuracy.
We will not discuss the gun’s usage in this article as it has been described several times, nor the gun’s disassembly, which is a little more complicated due to the fact that the compensator is located on the barrel with threads.
The pistol features an ambidextrous manual safety located on the frame, which allows you to carry the gun, or better – to start your trainings in condition one (with the cartridge in the chamber, cocked hammer and the engaged safety). It lacks an automatic firing pin safety, which is a favourite option of most sport shooters.
The pistol comes with three steel magazines manufactured by the Italian company Mec-Gar. Their capacity is 15 cartridges. Furthermore, there are eyelets allowing to visually check if they are full. They also feature a distinctive blue plastic follower.
The gun is factory equipped with a C-More red-dot electronic sight. C-More sight is one of the most frequently used devices in IPSC competitions.
However, iron sights can be mounted on the pistol. Rear sight is fully adjustable in windage and elevation. A conventionale front sight, mounted on an adapters is also enclosed and is easy to install.
The C-More sight is mounted so low that prevents the manual cycling of the slide, thus it requires a charging handle. The handle is applied in the dovetail indent made for the rear sight. The handle is kept in place by an Allen screw and can be mounted both ways.
The weight of the Czechmate is around 1.400 grams (around 3 lbs) and this requires some extra effort to the shooter. You also have to get used to the C-More red dot wich despite being mounted very close to the slide, is higher than metallic sights.
On the other hand the recoil of Major power factor ammos is mitigated by the weight of the gun and by the compensator that leads the combustion gas upwards, thus contrasting the muzzle rise while shooting.
As previously mentioned, the gun is very flexible. All you need to do is to remove C-more sight, install the front and rear sights that come with the gun and Czechmate is ready for Limited competitions. The possibility of using one gun for both divisions will greatly reduce your initial costs.
