EDC Pistol Review – CZ P01 (Omega)

In May of 2018, I spent a weekend at the NRA annual convention. It was at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas. It was HUGE, and it took me all day Saturday and a good part of Sunday to see it all. Every major firearm and firearm accessory manufacturer was there. It was like I was a little kid on Christmas morning again!

I walked around the convention trying out dozens and dozens of firearms and accessories. I dry fired just about every pistol on display. There were so many that I really liked. But one kept drawing me back to it. The CZ P01 (Omega). I was really smitten with this pistol! And it didn’t take long for me to become the proud owner of one! That is kinda amazing as these pistols can sometimes be hard to come by.

CZ is a Czech pistol made by CZ, otherwise known as Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod. This company was first established in 1936 in light of Nazi Germany’s expansionism. After World War 2, the company was managed by a single central agency since the Czech Republic was under Communist rule.

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In 1991, CZ entered the free market as the Communist Bloc fell, and by 1997 CZ-USA was born!

The CZ P01 (Omega) is a compact, aluminum-framed hammer fired 9mm. It is designed for military and law enforcement use, but as a compact, CZ also wanted to make it a bit easier to conceal. The barrel is 3.8 inches, with the overall length of the pistol being 7.2 inches. It is about 1.4 inches wide.

One of the most noticeable features of this CZ is the inverted slide system. The slide rides inside the frame. This allows the barrel to sit lower on the gun. This, along with the high grips (more on that in a second) gives the pistol a low bore axis.

The first striking feature I noticed was the ergonomics of this pistol. Its grips are checkered rubber, and the grip frame is grooved on the front and rear. This strap enhances your grip, and it just feels wonderful in your hands. It is somewhat difficult to quantify, but it just feels natural. The grip allows your hand to ride up closer to the frame, which is an advantage when it comes to recoil.

Essentially, the pistol’s recoil is not so much up as it is “backwards”. This allows for rapid follow up shots to stay on target. Typically it is the shooter that determines accuracy, but this pistol certainly aids in that. As far a “accurate” pistols goes, this is one of my favorites.

As I mentioned, the grips are a checkered rubber. This allows to me easily maintain my grip the handle without the aggressive texturing. I prefer these grips over say standard Glock. While there is nothing wrong with Glock, I have noticed it takes a toll on my hands after several hours of shooting. Not so with the P01 grips. I LOVE these grips and I love the way it feels in my hand.

CZ P01 and Gen 4 Glock 23

This pistol is a double action, meaning after the first trigger pull, the hammer is locked. The trigger is curved but smooth. From a double action, the trigger pull is about 12 lbs. But from a single action, it is a VERY crisp 3.5 lbs. It has a solid break and a nice reset. The pistol comes with a decocker, but also has an ambidextrous safety that you can easily switch out. I prefer the safety as I like to carry “cocked and locked.”

The sights are fixed, 3 dot night sights and in my opinion allow for quick target acquisition. There is also a 1913 rail which allows for a variety of accessories to be added. From the pictures, you can see I have added a Olight Mini-Valkyrie. This little light puts out 400 lumens, and can be recharged while still on the pistol. I’ll have a review of this light in the near future.

There are slide serrations both rear and forward. I have heard a few folks complain about not having a lot of room to grip when manipulating the slide. But I have not had any difficulty personally. There is also a lanyard ring on the end of the grip.

I put around 300 rounds through it the first time at the range. Straight out of the box, I found it incredibly accurate. At 15 yards I pretty much cleared out the bottom portion of the center target area. It is such an absolute joy to shoot.

At 15 yards, I would draw, quickly fire 3 or 4 rounds, and then reholster.

This CZ pistol is VERY well made. The barrel is cold hammer forged. And the steel slide is machined from a billet. So this compact pistol is very rugged. And while I prefer smaller framed pistols when carrying concealed, this one is not that hard to carry concealed.

Now there are a few small drawbacks to this pistol. The first is that it weighs over 3 lbs loaded. As I mentioned earlier, the frame is made of a forged aluminum alloy. I didn’t think much about that until in an armed standoff I held this gun up pointed for almost an hour. That was until I was relieved long enough to go back and get my long gun. Yeah…that sucked.

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The other drawback for me is that the safety switch is set a bit high. This makes manipulating it with my thumb a little cumbersome. I find that I have to roll the pistol slightly in my hand to disengage the safety. On the flip side, the safety is ambidextrous, which is nice.

CZs are a bit hard to find sometimes, though that is partly a testament to their popularity. They are currently in stock (as of the publication of this article) on CZs website for $629. So they can be a bit pricey. The mags (14 round) can be a bit pricey as well. And when it comes to holsters, I had to have one custom made to fit it and the Olight. That was after spending hours online looking for holsters.

Still, in the end it is hard to beat CZ’s accuracy and reliability. They have become a mainstay in shooting competitions. I absolutely love shooting this gun, and now carry it on duty about 75-80% of the time. Yes, I still like my Glock. But this CZ is my new favorite pistol!

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