The CZ-75 Family

Book excerpt: Touted by arms producers and designers world-wide as the finest combat handgun ever made, the Czech Model 754 pistol is in a class of its own. It is the most widely copied autoloading pistol in existence -- rivalled only by the legendary US war-horse, the Colt .45. The book opens with a brief but complete historical perspective, beginning with Czechoslovakian rifles introduced in the early 1900s and progressing through submachine guns, machine guns, and automatic pistols and revolvers, from the CZ Model 1927 to the CZ Model 1950. This is followed by an in-depth discussion of the early- and late-model CZ-75s, as well as the newest addition to the Czech pistol family -- the Czech army's newly adopted CZ-82 service pistol and the current-model CZ-85. Also included are a sneak preview of the upcoming CZ-90 line and a look at the exciting line-up of CZ-75 clones.