https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1uZonxSmtI

Earlier this year, CZ updated its “CZ 75 P-07 DUTY” and turned it into the “CZ P-07.” I happened to have both iterations, new and old, in-hand so thought I’d quickly check out the changes. Actually, I’ll go ahead and call them upgrades. The brief video above highlights the physical changes. Out on the range, I found that…

…I shoot 3-dot sights better than the U-notch rear. Both pistols are equally accurate, mechanically, but I’m better on the range with 3-dots. That said, I know I’d be a bit better still with a blacked out rear.

The new trigger design feels nicer. It’s more comfortable, more forgiving, and I shoot it a bit better for those reasons. I also like the looks.

Interchangeable backstraps are great, and basically necessary to compete in the modern, polymer pistol world. However, it probably won’t matter unless you have gigantic hands. The small backstrap is about equivalent to the old P-07’s grip dimensions, so if you have small hands you’re good with either pistol. I wear size L gloves but prefer shooting the P-07 with the small backstrap just a tiny bit more than I like the medium one. So, that leaves upping the size of the grip to those with sasquatch mitts.

I never really used to, but I have started using forward cocking serrations sometimes and I think this pistol looks better with them. So, in this case, they’re a welcome addition.

Really, CZ didn’t reduce the capacity from 16 rounds to 15, they just stopped pretending like the P-07 magazines fit 16. [EDIT: CZ-USA saw this article and e-mailed some clarification around my mag capacity snark:

Just for clarification reasons, the P-07 mags used to hold 16, but the factory made some modifications to the mag spring and base retainer to give the .40 version more spring tension and greater longevity. Because the 9 and .40 magazines share internals, it had the unintended consequence of reducing the capacity for the 9mm mag. So there was one run of 9mm magazines that were marked 16, but unless you had iron thumbs they were effectively 15. The last few runs of old P-07 Duty pistols had magazines marked 15 rounds, and the new ones all use the 15 round mags.]

The new finish is really durable and looks nicer.

If you’re at work or otherwise can’t watch the video, the changes CZ made to the v2.0 P-07 are as follows:

  • Nitrated slide & barrel finish
  • Forward cocking serrations
  • New trigger design
  • New hammer design
  • Carry bevel on slide and frame (rounded corners/edges)
  • Interchangeable backstraps (S, M, L)
  • Metal, 3-dot sights
  • No lanyard loop on mainspring plug
  • New finish on magazines
  • Upgraded magazine spring and base retainer. Mags now officially hold 15, rather than 16 rounds.

If you’re wondering why I care, it’s because I often think CZ’s polymer guns are overlooked. Maybe it’s because so many people want strikers instead of hammers these days. At any rate, the P-07 and P-09 are pretty hard to beat at any competing poly pistol’s price point, but the fact that you can buy ’em new for ~$445 is just icing on the cake.

Not that I don’t like CZ’s old stuff…

Czechoslovakia?

52 COMMENTS

    • I didn’t get to watch the video (yes, at work) the last comments of the post had me kind of stumped, who’s more into “striker-fired” as opposed to hammers? And who’s more into polymer? None of the issued pistols come that way, and none of their closest competitors do either. I see lots of glocks on the shelf, but cannot put a hand on even an old used Beretta or Sig.

      I know tacticool/tactical doesn’t always (or often?) translate into easy-carry-Sundays but . . .

      • Glock police trades are so prolific because Glocks are carried by so many departments. To my knowledge, nobody around here issues or endorses use of Sigs or Berettas. But, I live in a suburb of Atlanta (hint: Smyrna is a suburb of Atlanta as well), so that may very likely temper the choice many departments make with respect to duty weapons.

        With respect to availability, a big piece of the gun games crowd runs plastic striker guns, and most of those are Glocks. I know fans in Stoeger’s camp do to the 75 clones, but even Glocks are pretty widespread in the USPSA arena.

  1. Good stuff. P-09 might just be the best firearms value purchase I’ve ever made. FDE and Tritium for $500 on GB. Like it so much, now I’m eye-ing up the P07.

    • I managed to nab a NIB P-07 with the extended barrel and tritium night sights for cheap…after auction fees, shipping, and FFL transfer it came to just over $350! What a steal, I absolutely love it. I love my CZ-75BD but it is quite a chunk to tote around all day.

  2. Speaking of the P09, has anyone tried the p09 in 40? I was thinking of getting an fn40 but the p09 looks very tempting, and at a lower price point to boot.

  3. Do the P-07 magazines use the same followers as the metal pistols? I ask because CZ Custom sells their own follower/mag spring combo that adds +2 capacity to any of the standard mags without extending them.

    • Not positive on this one, but I’d have to say it’s highly doubtful. The P-07 magazines are wider than the 75 mags (true double stack rather than just staggered), and the followers and springs are also likely wider to fit the body. If you really need to know, I have plenty of 75 mags here so I can try swapping followers and springs and such later today.

  4. “Really, CZ didn’t reduce the capacity from 16 rounds to 15, they just stopped pretending like the P-07 magazines fit 16.”

    Yeah there are a few automatics out there that suffer from that fault, often as a result of specially engineered reduced capacity magazines to meet misguided state law.

    All in all, CZ’s handgun line is outstanding. Thanks for the P-07 profiles.

  5. I compete with the P09. It’s is an awesome pistol! I also own the older P07 and it in fact holds 16 rounds. It’s is a really nice pistol itself even without the upgrades. The P09 has the upgrades and it is definately noticeable and worth it. I also can shoot P09 mags in the P07. The P07 is my winter CCW pistol. I can use my P09 holsters for the P07 which means I don’t need to buy more holsters. I also have a P01 that is very accurate and easy to shoot. I don’t shoot it as much, only because I don’t have a holster for it yet.

    • That’s pretty cool to compete with the same ‘manual of arms’ you use for CCW.
      Hmmm, now I REALLY want a P07. I love my P09 (part of my 3 gun kit).

    • “I also own the older P07 and it in fact holds 16 rounds.”

      I added a clarification from CZ-USA to the post above. I’m thinking my P-07 DUTY is from the era mentioned where the spring and base were changed but the body still said 16. It might be physically possible to get a 16th into my DUTY mags, but it results in brass shavings scraping off and sprained thumbs 😉

      15 is pretty much par for the course for pistols this size anyway. PPQ, VP9, G19, etc… all 15-rounders.

  6. Striker fired seems over-rated… With a hammer single/double action, you can get a second primer strike if the first one fails to ignite. Not that it should fail, but it’s extra redundancy.

    • It’s happened to me plenty of times! Mostly with cheap steel-cased Russian ammo. A couple ended up being total duds and wouldn’t fire no matter how smashed the primer got, but even more did fire on a second hit. I honestly do believe there’s something to a true double action mode in a DGU, as I believe the likelihood of you immediately noticing a “click” instead of a “bang” is pretty low, considering the adrenaline and such, and you’ll probably end up pulling the trigger a couple of times after the “click” before it clicks in your head also and you tap-rack. Heck, it’s apparently pretty common for police to keep pulling the trigger a few times even after the pistol has locked back on empty. Adrenaline dump leads to mag dump, etc.

      Anyhoo… I DO like the ability to carry a DA/SA firearm ‘cocked and locked’ or to carry it hammer down in DA mode. I like the excellent quality of a nice SA trigger but the backup you get of a true DA functionality. It’s cool that these poly CZs ship with the option of swapping between safety and decocker. I actually like it even better than pistols that have both functional at all times, as I think it simplifies things and prevents mistakes (safety accidently flipping on). I don’t really see it as a functionality loss because I think 95% of people are going to choose to carry one way or the other anyway. You’re either a cocked-and-locked person or a decocked person, and it seems like really bad training to not choose and practice one way or the other.

      • The advantage to the safety version (of the -75s, where you can’t change out the mechanism) is that if you change your mind later, you CAN decock it (with some care–and there are techniques for doing so much more safely) but a decocker style can never be cocked-and-locked. I’m personally more sympathetic to the argument that I want the same trigger pull every time, than to the argument that I might forget to disengage the safety (I’ve shot under some stress and didn’t forget), so guess what I did.

        It’s worth mentioning (again) the decocker puts the gun at half cock (which alleviates, some, the stiffer first pull), and that half cock notch exists on safety-equipped -75s as well. On -75s the half cock position is exactly where you want the slide to be for disassembly, too, which is handy, since I’ve always had trouble lining up the notches, then keeping them lined up to turn the gun over and push out the slide stop. (Mine require something harder than the ball of my thumb pushing on them, to get them to come out.) (Why they don’t put the marks on both sides so you can see they’re still good when you push the stop out, is beyond me.)

        • (Why they don’t put the marks on both sides so you can see they’re still good when you push the stop out, is beyond me.)

          agreed!

    • Plus you can put your thumb on the hammer when you reholster. How many times have you heard of a thumb strap, windbreaker drawstring or worn leather holster pulling the trigger on a Glock while it’s being reholstered? I don’t care if magical holster gnomes start tugging on the trigger, if you have your thumb on the hammer, it won’t fire.

      • great point (thumb on hammer) that isn’t taught at many shooting courses conducted by ranges.

  7. Small terminology bone to pick:

    “Nitrated slide & barrel finish”

    Nitration refers to NO3 or NO2 functional group addition to an organic compound. Nitriding is the heat-treatment process that case hardens metals.

    • That’s what I thought, about the correct terminology for the slide finish. However whenever tell people about the gun, I have said “nitrated”, even though it feels like I’m talking about nitrates in hot dogs!

  8. Ah…. CZs. I own more than one CZ-75 derivative.

    Not a polymer man but it does seem this is a winner for those who are. Unless they just absolutely hate hammers for some reason.

    • As another 75-B person, I believe you’ll find they don’t point the same (they didn’t keep the same frame shape at all), but even the range rental I used functioned without a bobble for a box or two. The reason I don’t own one of them is personal taste, not anything wrong with the gun per se.

      (Lots of range rentals don’t, which to me guarantees I’ll never buy the gun, since I as the shooter can’t tell the difference between a gun that jammed because they didn’t lube it, and a gun that jammed because it’s a piece of junk. My range has learned when I start thinking aloud about renting a gun, to make sure it’s lubed.)

      )

  9. Thanks for the information. I tend to prefer TDA pistols (SIG P22x and CZ 75 in particular) and have been eyeballing the P-07 for awhile.

  10. I have the P-09 and the P-07 Duty V.1 .. Love both. They are hands down my 2 favorite guns with the new Steyr L9-A1 a very close 3rd.

  11. I had the first run P 07 DUTY and loved it. I recently sold it and picked up the new 2.0. What’s weird to me is that mine has a lanyard loop and yours does not. Why do you think that is?

    • Some distributors request certain changes & custom configurations, or maybe CZ made a change based on feedback or something. I like the loop, as it makes detail stripping easier, but if you prefer it the other way you can buy a non-loop mainspring plug for a couple bucks and swap it out.

  12. Thanks for stating which backstrap makes the new grip closest to the old. I have been unable to finds this information in previous P-07 articles.

  13. Did they fix the soft polymer, frame bulge (I do realize it’s cosmetic) and mag drop issues from the earlier models?

  14. Is it possible to get custom barrels for the P07 2.0? Or is it still too new? On their website I noticed CZ doesn’t offer a factory threaded like you could get with the 1.0… did the 1.0 run ok suppressed? Would the 2.0 do well?

  15. Being new and considering the P07 as a first gun purchase…my question relates to the decocker. When used it only moves the hammer to the half cock position. I like the decocker so I do not have to worry about manually decocking. However, since the decocker only moves hammer to the half cock position, what step/process is needed to get the hammer back to the home position, fully decocked. Do you still have to “manually” decock the hammer the last half with trigger pull and hammer release? Thanks in advance.

    • The half cock position that the decocker sets the pistol to **is** the decocker position. There is no reason to decock it any further.

  16. Can the new P-07 able to install Truglo TFX Pro Sight? I love the fiber optic and tritium both in one. Thanks.

  17. So, we are are a holster manufacturer that offers holsters for the CZ PO-7. It is the ONLY mold available for that model. we recently had a very good customer order a holster for his “PO-7”. When he received the holster he called and said that the holster was too tight and didn’t “click” like a Kydex holster should. We had him return the holster, thinking that perhaps we had sent the wrong model to him. Upon receiving the holster,m we test fit using the PO-7 mold that we have and it fit like a glove. After some discussion with the customer we were able to determine that the mold that we have is for a CZ 75 PO-7, the first generation. The customer has the gen 2 CZ PO-7. The customer loves our products and wants to keep the holster even though it’s a bit snug, but we don’t operate like that.

    My question; Does anyone know the exact dimensions of both models? We could make some modifications to the PO-7 gen 1 in order to loosen the holster up for the Gen 2. Actual width and height of the slides would be great, as well as where the Gen 2 might be larger than the Gen 1 and if there were any changes to the trigger guard. Grip size, trigger, and backstraps have no bearing on the actual holster, so those differences are insignificant.

    Sorry for the long explanation. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

    Dave
    RedX Gear

  18. No where in CZ’s literature does CZ refer to the P-07 as (v2.0). First CZ offered the 75 P-07 Duty, then they made changes to the pistol and offered it as the P-07.

  19. Thanks for your post to clear out detail comparison about Cz P07 G2 and G1.
    Ps: Cz P07 G2, Decocker and manual safety can use at same time like Beretta F92 or just one at the time setting?Do I need adjust anything to change from decocker to manual safety?
    Thanks
    Ryan

  20. Remark from Europe (Germany): The P07 g2 offered in Europe has still the Lanyard Loop. The magazines have at the back 14 little holes. So you can always see the actual number of loaded rounds.

  21. Additional remark from Europe: In the gun box you get also for free for each of the two magazines an extension, by which you can increase the capacity to 17 rounds. Installing of the extension is very easy by the instruction shown on the added CD.

  22. I note that many online posts refer to the P07 g2 as the 2014 model. It must be that manufacturing and distribution of the gun actually happened before 2014 since I was able to purchase mine in mid-December 2013. It’s a great gun. I later had CZ night sights installed and added a +4 CZ mag extension to one mag. For me, slow shooting at 50 ft, this gun compares well with the CZ-P01, CZ-P10C, CZ-75D, M&P, HK VP-9, and Walther PPQ.

  23. Hello,
    I just received this gun as a gift (bought from Gun Broker). It was manufactured by CZ-USA with a mfr date of Jan 2019. It has all the v2 changes discussed above except that it still has the lanyard loop , manual also shows it as part # 27. Any idea why? Is this considered another variant?
    Thanks in advance!

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