The Czech arms maker commonly known as CZ has earned an impressive reputation for their steel-frame semiauto handguns. As market trends shifted, the company also moved into polymer-frame models, and its new P-10 series has earned similar accolades. The newest P-10 version, the P-10 F Competition-Ready model, should have a lot of appeal to action shooters.
First Look
The P-10 F Competition-Ready 9 mm model (MSRP: $999, CZ-USA.com) is built on a full-size P-10 fiber-reinforced polymer frame sporting aggressive stippling on front strap, grip panels and backstrap. Three interchangeable backstraps are included to allow a degree of hand-fitting.
A striker-fired action with a trigger bar safety set into a well-designed flat-faced trigger provides ignition. The slide and cold-hammer forged barrel are lengthened to five inches for an increased iron sight radius. As for the dust cover, it includes a short section of Picatinny rail for mounting light or laser. Generous scallop cut-outs on the slide, front and rear, make slide racking easy.
Iron sights consist of a fiber-optic front with a replaceable red rod that I measured to be 0.040 inch. The rear sight is a windage drift-adjustable plain black model with a generous rear notch. Similar to the other P-10 models, the P-10 F Competition-Ready is cut for mounting plates to slide-mount many popular reflex sights, including the Trijicon RMR, Leupold Delta Point, Doctor, Vortex Venom, RTS Razor, Burris and others. The plates are not included with the gun, but can be ordered from CZ-USA or C&H Precision.
Magazines of 10 or 19 rounds are available, depending on local regulations. The gun arrived with three 19-round mags so that I could shoot a match. I did try one of my CZ-75 magazines and they didn’t fit, so the P-10 magazines are required.
Overall length is 8.5 inches, with an empty weight of 30 ounces and a maximum width of 1.26 inches. The gun ships in a foam-lined fitted plastic case with backstraps, appropriate magazines, cable lock, plastic cleaning rod, soft bristle brush and operating manual.
Range Time
My first step after taking the gun out of the box was to field strip the gun to assure proper lubrication. It was ridiculously easy. All that was required was to do a chamber check, pull the trigger to de-cock the gun, pull the slide back a short distance, push the frame-mounted field strip levers down and then slide the upper unit off of the frame. It doesn’t take much of a slide retraction. The manual says no more than 5 mm; about the diameter of a .22 LR bullet. The barrel and recoil spring are then easily removed for cleaning and lubrication. Reassembly was equally easy. Put the upper unit back together, slide it onto the frame and rack the slide to the rear.
Getting an accurate trigger pull measurement proved to be beyond the capabilities of my digital trigger pull gauge. The P-10 F Competition-Ready trigger is decidedly Glock-like. Pressing it slowly engages the trigger bar safety, then some creep, then a slight hitch, then a bit more creep, then a solid break point. That frustrated my gauge, with the trigger take up giving heavier readings than my trigger finger told me.
Treating the trigger like a Glock, I used a forceful trigger prep that pulled straight through the preliminary take up and arrived at the solid break point. From there it was a crisp break and a fast reset.
I was unable to measure that with my gauge, but I “guesstimated” the pull weight on the clean break to be between 4.5 and 5 pounds. A conversation with CZ-USA Customer Service confirmed that to be the spec pull weight on the gun. Although the trigger is similar to the Glock, I consider the HB Industries trigger on the CZ to be a distinct improvement. A five-pound pull weight won’t appeal to many competitive shooters. I would prefer something in the three-pound range. Spring changes can easily do that with this trigger system, and the folks at CZ Custom can provide that service.
A medium backstrap was installed from the factory, and I felt no need to change it. It put the pad of my trigger finger on the center of the flat-faced trigger and was a perfect fit for my average-sized hands. For test ammunition, I located some partial boxes of leftover test loads with enough rounds for accuracy tests with a wide range of bullet weights. They were Federal American Eagle 147-grain FMJFP, Federal 150-grain Syntech, Federal American Eagle 124-grain FMJ and Aguila 124-grain FMJ. I also got lucky during a gun shop visit and managed to snag a 250-round box of new manufacture Remington 115-grain FMJ. Many shooters, myself included, prefer coated lead and I had plenty of my 130 Power Factor 125-grain DG Bullets coated-lead-bullet handloads. No mounting plates accompanied the gun so I ran the tests with the factory iron sights.
Moving to my backyard range, I set up white cut-out targets to simulate Steel Challenge stages. Next, I went to my 25-yard bench rest to check the point of impact. The gun was shooting about three inches low and slightly left with my DG Bullet handload. The windage was easily corrected by loosening the set screw and drifting the sight. However, given the sight setup, elevation adjustments would require a different front sight. The P-10 F Competition-Ready uses a narrow front sight dovetail that installs from the front. Dawson Precision has those front sight blades, and my previous experience with them tells me they can find the right front sight height to zero the gun.
Knowing that a Steel Challenge match was coming up, I located a suitable holster and started running transition drills with my DG Bullet handload at 15 yards. Three 19-round magazines were provided, and all loaded easily to capacity and functioned perfectly.
The grip angle, grip stippling and trigger let the gun run smoothly. Using a firm trigger press, the gun zipped through the targets quickly and positively. Shooting slightly low isn’t really a handicap in Steel Challenge, since my front sight tends to rise on recoil and a lower impact point helps on fast transitions.
Using all three magazines, I made two full runs with each, and then went back to the bench for the accuracy tests. The gun stayed about three inches low with all loads. But the accompanying table shows that the gun has more than enough accuracy for action games with quality ammunition.
At the Steel Challenge match, the P-10 F Competition-Ready purred right along. By the conclusion of the match, there was slightly more than 450 rounds through the gun, with nothing other than my original field strip and lube. Throughout the test there were no malfunctions of any type. With a slight tweak on the trigger, a bit of tuning on the front sight height and the appropriate optics mounting plate, I could see the CZ-USA P-10 F Competition-Ready as a viable and effective option for Production, Limited or Carry Optics division competition.
All photos by Forrest MacCormack unless otherwise indicated.
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