Thunder Roads LA/MS Gulf Coast JAN2019 | Page 18

BULLET POINTS H E CZ P -10 C ARTICLE BY: BRODY KENNEN PHOTOS BY: KENNEDY RUNYAN A dedicated customer base will let a company know what they desire in future products. At that point, you will see one of two things happen. The company will either listen fully and apply all the changes appropriately or the company will go their own way. There are two sub-categories to the latter. The company will apply changes in their own manner or not at all. With that said, Česká Zbrojovka’s P-10 series of handguns are everything that the Glock should have been, when they dropped the Generation-4 line, nearly a decade ago. You can go to any Glock post on Facebook and see a laundry list full of simple changes that dedicated buyers would like to see. I chose the CZ P-10C Suppressor-Ready variant to replace my Glock-19. I am hoping that G-Code Holsters expands either the Phenom or INCOG series of IWB holsters soon to include the P-10. The P-10C Suppressor-Ready is boxed with two extended 17-round magazines, multiple back- straps, cleaning kit and lock, and owner’s manual as most other firearms come with. The ergonomics are where the P-10C goes the distance against the Glock. The controls are fully- ambidextrous without the option either being omitted completely (slide stop) or having to be swapped (magazine release). Both controls are enlarged, but still refined and contoured enough that they do not hang-up on clothing. On the Glock, many people enlarge both controls. On the SIG P320, it lacks full ambidextrous controls, but I haven’t had an issue with needing to enlarge them. On the flip side of the P320 coin, the original grip was good, but the X-Carry grip was unmatched by comparison. The magazine releases are smaller than on the Glock Gen-4 line, but shapelier: angled in such a way that you can press from below to engage a release as easily as from the side directly. The slide stop / releases are twice the size of the Glock’s. The top of both sides protrudes away from the firearm for ease of manipulation: providing a shelf that the thumb will press down on when dropping the slide in that manner. Finally, because the takedown is identical to a Glock, the takedown levers are larger on the P-10C. Grip is assured with the P-10C, to put it simply. The grip texture is best described as spiked. I have encountered no slippage while shooting the handgun. It is a highly aggressive texture and may cause discomfort or abrasions to dehydrated skin during prolonged strings of fire. A test of usage with electrical/skater tape lessened the abrasiveness 16 without permanently altering the grip and without any loss of grip. The pattern is more abrasive at the front and back compared to the sides. The frame also has stippled points for thumb placement, when the combat grip is utilized, but I do feel that those points could have been as abrasive as the front and rear of the grip. Furthermore, the P-10C feels like a full-size handgun. Comparing the Glock-17 and Glock-19, the G17 feels better in the hand and the P-10C better still. The grip on the Glock-19 feels like a brick with a hunched-back. The trigger guard doesn’t feature a proper undercut where the middle finger rests and the beavertail is nearly nonexistent. When drawing under duress, you may experience slide bite due to that. The P-10C’s grip is slightly deceptive due to the depth of grip that can be obtained. The undercut and the beavertail are deeper and makes the handgun feel as if it has a lower bore axis than it does. The slide isn’t any taller than the 9mm Glocks, but it’s the suppressor sights that produce the deception. Overall, the handgun fits in the hand far more naturally. The slide is emblazoned with properly angled slide serrations. The depth of these serrations is not too shallow and not too deep. They are slightly deeper than what can be found on the rear of Glock slides. Unlike the serrations on the Glock, they cover nearly fifty-percent of the length of the slide and are angled for proper manipulations. As this variant is marketed for suppressed usage, the handgun does come with the appropriately raised suppressor- height sights. They are Tritium three-dots for night- time shooting. They do not clear the AAC Ti-Rant 9mm suppressor that I regularly utilize and instead heighten evenly with the top of the can. The rear sight would work well as an emergency slide racker if the shooter was injured. As for the trigger. It’s as simple as this. It’s not the lightest, but it is one of the smoother stock triggers on the market. It is not squishy, gritty and it does have a problem with creeping or stepping. While my Glock-19 does not exhibit these issues either, it feels several ounces heavier. “Show me a guy who says Glocks are perfect and I’ll show you a guy with a modified Glock.” That was a quote from YouTube commenter, martinitime1975, on GarandThumb’s CZ P-10C review video. An interesting note is that GT’s P-10C is in the same serial number range as the Omaha Outdoors gun, but he never mentioned having any of the problems. So, the point of the quote. My P-10C came out to around $520, after taxes, from one of my local FFLs. That’s the same ballpark as what I’ve paid, as a civilian with no discounts, for several of my Glocks. Considering the additional ergonomic features that you receive in the P-10C versus the Glock and you’ll wonder why these things haven’t been standard on the Glock for decades. The only semi-legitimate complaint that might be uttered by some is that the takedown in the same at the Glock -- specifically the fact that you must pull the trigger to disassemble it. My rebuttal, to that point, is to get four of your good friends to come over, during every disassembly, to visually verify that the firearm is unloaded prior to the disassembling. If you’re really that worried about it... The fact that Glock hasn’t answered the numerous calls, for these simple ergonomic changes, has spawned a plethora of companies specifically in the business of custom modifications for Glocks. Agency Arms, JagerWorks, Wilson Combat, and Zev Technologies are just a few of the companies recommended for Glock custom work. The cost of just a slide modification package, which will nearly match the P-10’s stock slide, you ask? That would be $250 minimum, on average. In part two, we will cover how the handgun did at the range. So far, the CZ handles like a dream. If you want to see extended versions of these articles, then visit www.thearmednovelist.com. Questions or comments? Email thisistheline3@ gmail.com.