I shot a Glock in competition for years and was quite happy with it. It never malfunctioned ever! That includes shooting a bunch of horrible lead reloads. If I could squeeze it into the mag, it went bang! I have since gone to the CZ SP-01 and I am happy with it. Initially, I had some issues with the SP-01, a broken slide stop at 12,000 rds and a broken trigger spring at 15,000 rds. I also had intermittent failures, a jam about once every 100rds. Initially I was not very impressed with the SP-01’s at all, I pretty much thought they were Junk! An unbelievable reliable Glock probably spoiled me, but keep in mind all Glocks are not that reliable. I went back to the Glock but soon found out I could not shoot them as well as the CZ’s. For me the CZ’s are really comfortable, point able and generally the most accurate production class of firearms. Almost all the top production guys are using them or one of their clones.
I know feel different concerning the CZ’s. I have a slide stop that I have marked just for matches. I put it in the gun previous to the match and take it out after the match and I use a second slide stop for practice. I think this is actually a week point in the design of the 75 series and their clones. I mentioned this to Angus Hobdell during the Nationals last summer and he implied that it was actually a consumable part. It was like changing the oil in your car every 5,000 km. He believes you should change your slide stop every 10,000 rds. He does this and says he has yet to break a slide stop. He fires about 80,000 rds a year! I guess if you can scrape up the money to shoot 10,000 rds you can scrape up $25.00 for a slide stop.
There were some issues with earlier trigger springs, mine was one of them, it broke and I replaced it fairly easily. The importer is a great guy, Dave at London arms. I sent him the spring and the slide stop and he replaced them free of charge under warranty. So there is great service from the importer.
The last issue I had with the gun was intermittent jams. I turns out it was my grip on the pistol that was causing it. I shoot left handed and my left thumb sometimes blocked the ejection port. I change my grip just after purchasing the pistol. That was the cause.
Over all I am very satisfied with the SP-01 and would recommend it highly. If I were to buy another pistol I would get the Shadow as it has all the “Bell’s & Whistle’s” so to speak. I own several CZ firearms, rifles and pistols and I can they are all very accurate, very reliable guns and excellent value for the money. Just my $0.02
