by Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical, retired US Army 1st SFOD- Delta combat veteran

Hey folks, if you’ve been around guns for more than five minutes, you’ve heard of the CZ 75. And if you’ve shot one, you get why it’s a legit legend. This year, 2025, the old girl turns 50, and instead of resting on its laurels, CZ drops seven limited-edition 50th Anniversary models that are flat-out gorgeous and shoot even better than the originals. So let’s talk about why the CZ 75 is still one of the greatest handguns ever made, half a century later.

First off, the CZ 75 is the original wonder-nine that actually works. Introduced in 1975 behind the Iron Curtain, it was a single-action/double-action steel-frame 9mm that could be carried cocked-and-locked like a 1911. That alone made jaws drop. Then people started shooting it and realized it was freakishly accurate, soft-shooting, and stupid reliable. It’s arguably the most copied handgun design on the planet. Tanfoglio, Sphinx, Jericho/Baby Eagle, Bul, Armalite AR-24, even SIG tried to get in on the action with the P220-series slide-inside-frame experiment. None of them quite nailed the magic of the original.

Why does it shoot so good? Simple physics. The slide rides inside the frame rails, not on top like a Glock, SIG, or Beretta. That puts the bore axis lower and cuts slide mass way down. Result? Less muzzle flip, less felt recoil, and lightning-fast split times. In practical competition circles, only the 1911 has more wins than the CZ 75 and its clones. That’s not internet hype; that’s IPSC and USPSA history talking.

The barrel and slide assembly? Straight-up lifted from the Swiss SIG P210, which many (including me) consider the most accurate service pistol ever made. So CZ basically said, “Let’s take the best barrel ever, wrap it in a high-cap, DA/SA, low-bore-axis package with grips that feel like they were molded to the human hand.” And then they did it.

Ergonomics are damn near perfect. The gun points like your finger, the single-action trigger breaks clean (and can be tuned to ridiculous levels), and the double-action pull is smooth for a service gun. Accuracy out of the box usually hovers around 1.5–2 inches at 25 yards with good ammo. Reliability? I’ve seen CZ 75s with high round counts still running like the day they left the factory.

The man who put the CZ 75 on the map in America was none other than Jeff Cooper. He hated 9mm with the fire of a thousand suns, yet when asked what 9mm he’d trust if he had to carry one, he said without hesitation: “The Czech 75.” High praise from a guy who basically wrote the book on combat handgunning.

Fast-forward to 2025 and CZ celebrates the 50th with seven limited-run pistols: a full-size and a compact. These aren’t just roll-marked cash grabs. You get a round hammer (no more spur hammer bite), enhanced sights that actually work in daylight, and refined controls, all while keeping that iconic CZ 75 profile and the exact same sublime shooting characteristics. Special 50th Anniversary markings on the left side of the frame, limited production only through 2025, and then they’re gone forever. If you’ve been on the fence about a steel-frame CZ 75, this is your shot.

Look, I’ve been fortunate to shoot pretty much everything worth shooting in the last 40 years, and the CZ 75 remains one of my all-time favorites. It’s the pistol that proved you could have 1911 trigger and handling characteristics in a high-capacity 9mm that you could actually carry “Condition One.” Fifty years later it’s still doing it better than almost anything else.

My buddy Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer for CZ-USA, has let me in on some of what’s coming down the pipe for 2026 and beyond. Sorry folks, my lips are sealed, but trust me when I say I walked away from that conversation grinning ear to ear. The future of CZ and the 75 family looks very, very bright.

So happy 50th birthday to one of the all-time greats. If you don’t have a CZ 75 yet, fix that. And if you’re lucky enough to snag one of these 50th Anniversary models… congratulations, you just bought a piece of history that shoots like a house on fire.

Stay armed, stay safe, and we’ll see you on the range.

LAV out

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