Glock 17 vs. CZ 75B at the range

This weekend I was able to finally get down to a local range that doesn't have rules about 1 shot per second, drawing from a holster, movement, barricades, etc.  The idea is that at this place I won't be simply punching holes through paper while standing in the middle of a bunch of people who may or may not have ever had a gun safety lesson.  Basically at this range I'll have an entire outdoor bay to myself in which I can practice more dynamic IPSC/IDPA style shooting.  Quick note:  If you like to shoot, you owe it to yourself to get into some pistol competition.  Whether it's IPSC, IDPA, Cowboy Action shooting, whatever, just do it.  The only downside is that you'll find simple target shooting a little pedantic, but the benefits are huge.  You'll see which techniques seem to work and which ones don't.  You'll get to test your gear and see other people test theirs.  You might meet a few people.  Mostly you'll see just what is possible for a person to accomplish with a pistol.  It's pretty incredible, and gives you something to strive for in your practice and training.

Anyway, onto the content.

So the purpose of my visit to the range this weekend was to shoot back to back the Glock 17 and the CZ75B.  I wanted to get a feel for which one would be better suited to competitive use, which I shot better at different distances and different speeds, etc.

First, the general comparison of size, etc, and then onto the range impressions.

As you can see these pistols are very similar in overall size, with the Glock being slightly, slightly smaller.  They both have 17 round magazines.  The Glock sight radius is only 3/16" longer with the sights i have installed, but with stock sights it's a good half inch longer.

Here you can see the difference in barrel length.

They're both equally easy to field strip, though the Glock is about 100 times easier to detail strip.  The CZ just has seemingly endless numbers of tiny little springs that can be very difficult to work with.

Ok, on to the range report. 

For me, the Glock was the winner.  But it was so close that I can see why the CZ is becoming so popular, and I think ultimately I'd be happy to own either of these (if I couldn't have both!).

Sight radius.  As you can see in the picture above, the Glock has a longer sight radius despite the slightly shorter barrel.  And as I mentioned before, if you keep the sights on both stock, the difference is even more pronounced.  As always, longer is better.  Slight edge to the Glock.

Trigger feel.  I was shooting the CZ with a competition hammer and single action trigger that is adjustable for take up and over travel.  The Glock has a stock trigger, but with a Ghost Recon 3.5 lb connector, with overtravel stop.  This connector both reduces trigger pull weight, but also has a tab that one files down in order to reduce over travel.  Both features work as advertised.  However, after getting some feedback from the range master, I took it out.  Ultimately, the point at which the trigger breaks is really spongey.  The trigger feels like it's rolling over something, then comes to rest against the overtravel stop, then a tiny amount of pressure causes it to break.  Sometimes.  Sometimes it feels like it breaks as soon as it rolls over the "bump." If you've shot certain Glock triggers you know what I mean.  It's just not consistent, which is a shame.  So I went back to a Scherer 3.5 lb. connector that is more consistent, and feels almost exactly like the connector on the popular Glock 34.

The CZ trigger is consistent, but the pull distance is just so long.  It does have a sort of "two stage" feel which I like.  It's nice to be able to stage the trigger, and then be able to feel that last little bit of resistance that means the shot is about to break.  I think ultimately this trigger is pretty good.  After shooting it against the Glock, and having meaningful data on split times (see below), I think the two are equally good.  However, the edge still goes to Glock because the Glock cost $30 in aftermarket parts, and the CZ cost over $100.

Accuracy. I think it's pretty much a wash.  If you can't hit what you're aiming at with either of these, it's you, not the gun.

Muzzle flip.  This is so subjective.  If people disagree, I think it's completely fair.  However, for me the Glock, despite its lighter weight, has less muzzle flip.  That's just how it feels when I shoot it.  The sights are easier to track, and the gun feels like I get it on target faster.  The numbers don't quite conclusively support this (see below), but that's how it (subjectively) feels.

Time to first shot.  The Glock had a significant advantage here.  The CZ has a thumb safety that has to be deactivated in order to get the shot off, and that slows it down a bit.  I've never had a problem deactivating a 1911 style safety, but the CZ safety takes a little more effort because of it's position and rounded shape.  My average time to first shot with the Glock was 1.41 seconds, and with the CZ it was 1.81 seconds.  That's almost a half second slower, which for competitive shooting could be pretty significant.

Here you can see how the thumb safety is kind of rounded over.  I don't know why they would design it this way.  A flat thumb pad is easier to deactive, and gives you a place to rest your thumb while gripping the pistol.

Splits between shots.  This category was pretty even.  My Glock splits between shots averaged around .38 seconds, and my CZ splits averaged around .44 seconds.  I'm not fast enough with either yet to really call this one.  A better shooter would definitely have a better opinion.

Reloading.  This one is pretty much a wash as well.  The Glock is definitely easier to power stroke after reloading because it has bigger and better slide serrations.  The serrations on the CZ are small and not sharp, and there is always the chance you'll grab part of the greasy rail and your hand will slip off.  On the other hand, even with the extended Glock slide stop installed, it's easier to actuate the CZ's larger slide stop.  Each pistol has minor advantages in this category, but to be honest I've never had any trouble either actuating the Glock slide stop or powerstroking the CZ.

Here you can see the Glock's small controls (and this is the extended slide stop!).  Though small, I find them very easy to use, even at speed.

The CZ slide serrations (with potentially greasy rail).

The Glock slide serrations.

Finally, an interesting thing happened while I was shooting.  The owner of the range happened by on his golf cart, and watched me practicing Mozambique drills.  He then rolled up and asked if I wanted a tip.  "Sure," I said.  He watched me shoot a few more, and started asking about how I pull the trigger, what my order of operations is for breaking a shot, and whether I had ever taken any training.

I answered the last question first, and admitted that my only training in dynamic pistol shooting is from competing in IDPA and from reading stuff on the internet.  I said for breaking a shot, I take the slack out of the trigger as I align the sights, then press to the rear as the sights line up.  After the shot breaks I only let the trigger reset as far as it needs to in order to break the next shot (called riding the reset), then break the shot as soon as my sights are realigned.

His suggestion was to let the trigger all the way out between shots, then as you're aligning the sights take the slack up, then get the final alignment, take one more step, and then break the shot.  That one more step was to purposefully relax the strong hand immediately before breaking the shot.  The reasoning for his changes were the following:  By letting the trigger all the way out, we eliminate the chance of short stroking the trigger. By relaxing our hand immediately before breaking the shot, we get rid of those pesky left and low left pushes.  He claimed that these steps can be done just as fast as riding the reset.  Hopefully that's true.

He then said, "Try it."  I thought, "why not," and started the process of taking out the slack and beginning to align my sights on the center of a paper plate I was using as a target.  He said, "I want you to shoot the staple that's holding up the target."  This was at about 8 to 10 yards.  I thought, "Oh crap."  I was taking a while to line up the sights, and just before I took the first shot he chided me for being slow.  I hit about an inch high.  Trying to be quicker, I took up the slack, aligned the sights, relaxed my strong hand, and broke the shot.  I'll be damned if I didn't hit that staple!  Because I never remember to bring my camera to the range, I made sure to bring the target home.

So who was this mystery instructor?  It turns out he's Len Baxley, a two time IDPA National Champion and one time winner of the IDPA International Championship.  I'm now trying to get into one of his rare civilian classes, as it seems he spends most of his class time instructing military and law enforcement.  For that class, I'll be bringing the Glock 17.