CZ's Ultimate Carry Pistol, The Pro-Tek I

I have to be honest; I have coveted the pistol that I now hold in my hands for several years and now that I have one I don’t think the descriptor “exquisite” is too much praise for this handgun turned out by the wizards at the CZ Custom Shop.  The instant that you wrap your hand around the grip you know that this pistol was built for speed.  This is the Ferrari (or substitute whatever luxury speedster you prefer) of handguns.

The Pro-Tek 1 began life as a CZ 75 Compact D PCR pistol.  Once it is turned over to the custom shop in Mesa, Arizona the transformation begins!  They completely de-horn the pistol.  They chuck the standard, but excellent, rubber panels and blend a set of textured aluminum grips into the frame so that the fit of the grips is perfect.  This lessens the width of the pistol from 1.34 inches in its original PCR configuration to 1.14 inches in the Pro-Tek version.  The slimmer grip frame seems to accentuate the curve of the backstrap as it melts into your hand and forces you to calculate if you can make it to the range before they close.

The slide is given an octagonal cut with a flat top and this completely changes the lines of the pistol giving it a streamlined appearance.  This pistol also has three-dot night sights (Heinie Straight 8 sights are now available as well).  The rear sight is a low profile wedge type that is adjustable for elevation by means of a large screw atop the sight.  

There is no manual correction dial for changing the horizontal point of impact but don’t worry, the Pro-Tek will shoot dead center for you.  The decocker has been cut back to make it less obtrusive without sacrificing its function or ease of manipulation by the shooter.  CZ’s competition hammer is also installed on the Pro-Tek models.  The slide is given a glossy polycoat finish and the aluminum frame is anodized in a Bronze/Gold color and all in all it is a very attractive pistol.  The Bronze/Gold used to be the only option for the frame color but the Pro-Tek is also being offered with a black frame and SHOT Show scuttlebutt reports that the CZ Custom Shop is looking at other colors for the frame such as gray.  I look forward to seeing what colors are ultimate determined.

A short reset trigger has been added and the trigger has been worked over giving it perhaps the best pull I have ever experienced.  My Pro-Tek breaks cleanly at 3.3 pounds in the single action mode and 7.2 pounds when fired double action.  The firing pin block has been left intact but has been smoothed and polished.  Whether it is the trigger, hammer or slide to frame fit I dare say you will have a hard time finding a smoother operating pistol.

All of the controls (decocker, slide stop lever and magazine release) on the pistol are in easy reach of your right thumb.  The magazine release button is slightly extended but smooth and deburred; when it is activated the magazines fall free.  The magazine well has been beveled to augment the process of recharging the pistol with a fresh magazine.  All in all there is very little they didn’t think of to attain their goal of making the Pro-Tek the ultimate carry pistol. 

As wonderful as this pistol is to hold and look at, the best experience comes once you hit the shooting range.  Whether I was shooting standard or +P loads the Pro-Tek handles recoil beautifully.  The grip frame spreads the recoil evenly across the web of your hand and between the textured grip panels and the beavertail the pistol stays centered in your grasp.  Between the recoil handling aspects of the pistols and the short reset trigger making accurate follow-up shots is far from difficult. 

As far as accuracy goes, if you like all of your rounds to produce one gapping hole in the target then you will like firing the Pro-Tek.  I fired 200 rounds of American Eagle 115-grain full metal jacket ammo and 50 rounds of PMC 115-grain ball ammo with no feeding or ejecting issues.  This was also my experience with defensive ammo including 124-grain Speer Gold Dot Hollow Points, Federal Premium 124-grain Hydra Shok ammo and 105-grain Federal Guard Dog cartridges.

 14 rounds of American Eagle 115 grain FMJ ammo fired at 30 feet.

5 rounds of Speer 124 grain Gold Dot Hollow Point ammo fired at 30 feet.

5 rounds of Federal Premium 124 grain Hydra Shok Hollow Point Ammo

10 rounds of Federal Guard Dog 105 grain ammo fired at 30 feet.

It is difficult to find any fault with the CZ Custom Shop’s Pro-Tek 1.  This is what a custom pistol should be; the design is well thought out, the execution in crafting the pistol is first-rate, and handling the end result is an absolute joy.  As I described it at the beginning, the Pro-Tek is “exquisite”.  These pistols are not easy to come by but be persistent with your dealer, be patient and yours too will arrive. 

Walther CCP

The much awaited 9mm Walther CCP has finally arrived on dealer's shelves and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one.  I'll cut right to the chase and tell you that the pistol is accurate and completely reliable however, there are a few irritations with the design and I'll address those in short order.

First of all let's start with the operating platform of the pistol.  It is a gas delayed blowback pistol with a fixed barrel. The slide rides on top of the frame without any rails on either the slide or frame.  Fixed barreled blowback pistols generate a lot of recoil, which is why you don't normally see them chambered for anything hotter than the .380 ACP or the 9X18 Makarov.  The most popular way to make a fixed barrel blowback work with the 9X19 Luger cartridge is to employ a gas delay system by putting a small port in the bottom of the barrel that bleeds some of the gasses into a frame mounted under barrel cylinder.  As the gasses fill the cylinder they slow a slide mounted piston as it enters the cylinder thereby dissipating the recoil.  This is the same operation used by the excellent HK P7 and the short-lived Wilson Combat Advanced Defense Pistol (ADP).  Walther calls this operation their "Softcoil" system and yes, it does dampen the recoil but let me put that in perspective so that the proper expectation is set.  It lessens the recoil compared to similar sized pistols.  It does not have less recoil than a larger, heavier pistol such as the Beretta 92.  The end result is that because of the gas delayed blowback system the CCP does not need a complicated recoil spring system and because of the fixed barrel design the CCP does not need a guide rod either.  This allows for one large recoil spring to be used which rides around the barrel.  This makes the slide very easy to rack.  Those with hand injuries, arthritis or other ailments will probably find this slide action much to their liking.

As to other specifications: the CCP is 6.41 inches in length with a 3.54 inch barrel.  It is 5.12 inches high, with a width of 1.18 inches and a weight of 23.5 ounces.  There is a safety mounted on the left side of the frame.  You push the safety up to engage it and down for disengagement.  There is also an accessory rail beneath the forward frame should you wish to mount a light or laser and the sights are of the three dot variety.

  

The rear low-profile sight is adjustable for windage and the pistol comes with two additional front sights.  One is shorter in case the pistol shoots low for you and the other one is taller so that you can make an adjustment if the pistol is shooting too high.

One of the true design highlights are the pistol's ergonomics.

The underside of the trigger guard is generously undercut to allow you to get your entire hand on the grip with the highest hold possible.  The shape and texture of the grip is near perfect for helping you attain a firm grasp that keeps the pistol from shifting in your hand during recoil.  It does this without employing an aggressive waffle pattern that is seen on the grips of some of the other sub-compact handguns on today's market. All of the controls: magazine release, slide release and safety are in easy reach of your right thumb.  

When Walther first announced this pistol about a year ago many shooters, myself included, thought that this would be a smaller, single stack version of Walther PPQ M2.  While that is certainly what the appearance of the CCP conjures up there are vast differences.  The PPQ is not a piston driven gas delayed blowback operated pistol, there are slide and frame rails, and the PPQ does not have a safety.  There is also one additional profound difference: the CCP does not share the same light, smooth trigger pull and quick reset of the PPQ.  The trigger pull on the CCP has a weight of 5.5 pounds which is fine for a self defense pistol but it comes out of the box with a long, gritty pull and the trigger must but let out to its original position in order for it to reset. There is some good news however; after firing a little over 200 rounds through the pistol the trigger pull has smoothed out considerable.  This will probably continue to get smoother but it will likely not improve the lack of any type of an enhanced reset.

Disassembling and reassembling the pistol is also slightly disconcerting at first.  To field strip the pistol you must first remove the magazine and triple check to make sure there no live round lingering in the chamber.  At this point you need to locate the supplied take-down tool.

Then:
1. You then push the this tool in toward the metal tab at the top of the circle on the rear of the slide.

2. When the tab is depressed you push the entire tool into the rear of the frame as far as it will go.  
3.  Keeping the tool depressed in the slide you then retract the slide about a quarter inch, pull the rear of the slide up until it clears the fixed barrel and then push the slide off of the barrel.
4. Pull the recoil spring off the front of the barrel and you are ready to clean the pistol.

Here is the pistol disassembled for cleaning:

Reassembly is completed by merely reversing this process except you must align the piston, mounted inside the front of the frame, with the gas cylinder under the barrel.

The assembly/disassembly process takes a little time to master but once you have the knack you can do it pretty quickly.

The pistol is also accurate as shown by the targets below:

The first four targets were all shot with American Eagle 115 grain FMJ ammo at the distances noted on the targets.  The last three targets were shot at 21 feet with the defensive ammo noted on the image.

Upon my first encounter with the CCP the trigger pull and disassembly/reassembly process gathered worried me.   I am glad to say that I am now an expert with the disassembly and reassembly process and the trigger pull has smoothed out nicely.  Add to that the excellent ergonomics and great accuracy and I give this pistol a thumbs up.