CZ 75 vs Glock 19

Comparing the Glock 19 vs the CZ 75 might seem a little bit odd at first.

They’re two very different guns. The CZ 75 is a double-/single-action steel-frame pistol while the Glock 19 is striker-fired with a polymer frame. However, they do have one thing in common: the roles they filled in their time. The CZ 75 was a very popular and common handgun in its day much as the Glock 19 remains to this day.

Frankly, CZ was ahead of its time with the 75 compared to most other handguns of the era. 

These are both great firearms and it’s easy to see why somebody might be torn between the two when it comes to purchasing one.

Knowing what you want to use the gun for will determine which one is better for you, but there is definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution when comparing the Glock 19 vs the CZ 75.

This is an opinion piece, but I always aim to eliminate bias. Look, we’ve all read them before. Gun reviews that claim to be helpful, but they’re really thinly veiled hit pieces trying to get you to buy something before you’ve even started your research. Or, even worse, a review put together by a content writer who has never even held a gun. 

I’ve trained with some of the best in the business to learn various shooting styles and ideologies to better serve our customers. I’ve purchased guns of all price points, calibers, and action types to build the best products for the market. I want you to walk away knowing you have the information you need to make a sound purchasing decision.

Size: Glock 19 vs CZ 75

Glock 19 vs CZ 75 Concealed Carry

As I said in the overview, there are some obvious differences when it comes to both the weight and size of these firearms. The height is three-eighths of an inch taller and almost a quarter of an inch wider on the CZ 75, so that is going to make the gun just a tad more difficult to conceal.

While that sounds like a lot, it really doesn’t seem to be when it comes to practical concealment. The shape of the CZ 75 grip is a little more rounded, so it doesn’t tend to show as easily as the square grip on the Glock.

That said, it is going to be easier for most people to conceal the Glock vs the CZ 75.

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Weight also plays a role in the easier concealment of the Glock 19 vs the CZ 75. The CZ 75, while loaded with one extra round of ammo, is over 12 ounces heavier than the Glock 19. There is an advantage to that when you’re shooting the gun, but it’s a major disadvantage when it comes to concealed carry. The extra weight, while doable, isn’t ideal. Lighter is always better when it comes to carrying a firearm or anything else on your person.

It sounds extreme, but you have to consider your long-term joint health when choosing a concealed carry firearm. There is a certain extent to which if you carry a very heavy gun for decades, you can expect to have joint issues later on.

Ergonomics 

Frame

The frames on the CZ 75 and the Glock 19 are as different as they get. The Glock 19 is currently produced in three generations, Gen3, Gen4, and Gen5. All of these are a little bit different when it comes to their frame, so we’ll go over each one of them in order. But right off the bat, the CZ 75 has a better-feeling frame than almost all of them.

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The ergonomics on the CZ 75 are exquisite.

Not just great, but exquisite. It has a certain amount of class and wonderful feeling in the hand that you really just can’t beat. The downside is the only modularity on the gun itself is going to be the grips. But there are a ton of aftermarket grip options available. Plus, the grips that come on the gun are actually pretty good. They’re a hard plastic, rubber-like grip that provides a decent amount of texture on the gun and isn’t that slick.

Considering the front strap and the backstraps on the gun are completely barren with no texturing whatsoever, it’s nice knowing you can count on the grip panels to provide some traction.

Glock

The Glock, on the other hand, has no modularity in the Gen3 configuration at all. The grip you get is the grip you’ll have for the life of the firearm unless you’re willing to have a gunsmith alter the frame. Size-wise, the Gen3 grip is fairly large and works well for most people, but if you have smaller hands, it’s probably going to be an issue somewhere down the road. 

Gen4 and Gen5 Glocks both have smaller grips and come with four backstraps that can be added onto the grip itself to increase the length of your trigger pull and add some more mass to the back of the grip.

Two of those grips also come with built-in beavertails. The real difference between the Gen4 and Gen5 is the finger grooves, which appear on the Gen4 but not the 5.

Texture

The texture on the Glock 19 is going to vary, again, based on generation. The Gen3 has a very slick texture unless you’re lucky enough to get an RTF2-finished gun, which is somewhat rare and is not consistently in production, although Glock does periodically release limited-edition runs.

The Gen4 is slightly more aggressive than the Gen3. The Gen5 is, as you can expect, much more aggressive. The texture on the latest gen is really good and one of the best textures on the market from modern polymer striker-fired handguns. 

Despite the CZ 75 not having texturing, I’m going to actually put it on par with the Glock 19. The grip panels on the CZ do just a good enough job and give you the ability to decide how much aggressiveness you want. The stock grips are great, but for $40 to $100 more, you can add whatever grips you desire and choose your level of aggression.

That’s something you can’t do on the Glock without permanently altering the frame.

Slide

There is no doubt the slide on the Glock 19 is easier to manipulate. Some of the versions have forward-cock serrations that work but aren’t great, and others do not. The design is fairly large and big, so despite not being one of the best out there aesthetically, it works. 

The CZ 75, on the other hand, has really good, aggressive serrations, but they don’t cover a large enough area to get a good grip on the slide, which itself is very short and narrow. The CZ is unique from most other guns in that it uses internal frame rails to mount the slide, which takes away roughly an eighth of an inch or more of the area that you can manipulate the slide within.

Unless you have really small hands to manipulate the narrower slide, this is going to be difficult to use.

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Sights CZ 75 vs Glock 19

We’ll cover all the sight options for both of these guns. The differences are stark.

Stock

The stock sights on both these guns are going to be quite different. The CZ 75 has really old-school sights that haven’t changed any since the gun was introduced in the 1970s. The style on the CZ 75 is reminiscent of 1911 GI-style sights with a very thin front blade and a very small, low-rear notch. They work, but they aren’t great. 

The Glock 19, on the other hand, has a variety of sight options. You can get most of the Glocks with either standard plastic sights (which are downright horrible), Glock night sights (which are just Meprolight night sights rebranded to the company), or you can get them with the above-average AmeriGlo sights, which are an excellent option from the factory.

They come with a bright orange front and square-notch rear that really works well.They’re some of the better sights that come on a pistol from the factory.

Aftermarket CZ 75 vs Glock 19

There aren’t a lot of aftermarket versions for the CZ 75. The majority of your options will come from Dawson Precision and CZ Custom Shop, but there might be a couple of others with sights for the 75. Glock, on the other hand, has every sight ever made available for a handgun.

If you can’t find a set of sights you like for the Glock 19, then you’re likely going to be unable to find a sight you like for any pistol at all.

Red-Dot Optics

Mounting a red-dot to the Glock 19 is easy because of the Glock 19 MOS (modular optics system) variants. Those pistols are widely available and come with mounting plates that will work with pretty much any handgun optic on the market. 

The CZ, on the other hand, is a much older design with no such options.

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Some shops will custom-mill your CZ 75 if you want it. Before, there were not many shops that would do it because of most of the optics’ width and the need to build an adapter plate custom to the gun. CZ Custom Shop was known to do it as well as individual companies like Primary Machine.

There are slimmer optics on the market now, like the Holosun 507K and RMRcc. Both would be great optics for the 75 but realize it’s still going to be fairly expensive to mount them to this gun.

Controls

Safety

As you probably know, there is no external safety on the Glock pistol, but there is one on the CZ 75. Unfortunately, it’s not ambidextrous and only mounted on the left-hand side of the gun, so I would be very wary of choosing this gun for self-defense of any sort if you are left-handed. Right-handed shooters arguably should be wary as well as you never know when you might need to use a gun for self-defense with an off-hand. 

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The CZ 75 is double-/single-action, so you can always manually decock the pistol, but some might consider that to be a bit risky. “Buyer, beware” is all I’ll say on that. It is nice the CZ 75 gives you multiple options at the end of the day.

It should be noted that the safety will only work when the hammer’s cocked all the way back, so if you plan on carrying the pistol in double-action, you don’t have to worry about the safety inadvertently turning on.

Trigger

These triggers are as different as they can get. The CZ 75 is (as we mentioned earlier) double-/single-action, and the Glock 19 is a striker-fired trigger. Depending on the generation of Glock 19 that you get, there are going to be some drastic differences. We’re going to go over the Glock triggers for each model and follow it up with the CZ.

Glock Trigger

The Glock trigger is going to be fairly consistent across the three models with one key difference apiece. Overall, the feeling of the trigger is going to be light take-up to more resistance before the break and subsequent short reset. All the Glock triggers will have that main feel. What’s going to be different is how the break of the trigger itself feels once that resistance is met.

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Gen 3 Glock Trigger

The Gen3 Glock trigger right after light take-up is going to have a very heavy, stiff wall. That is the only difference model-wise. It’s also going to have an extremely authoritative reset. The other guns also have authoritative resets, but none quite as authoritative as the Gen3.

Gen 4 Glock Trigger

The Gen4 Glock does not have quite as hard of a wall, but it’s also not a rolling trigger either. It’s somewhere in between its two counterparts.

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Glock Gen 5 Trigger

This is my favorite Glock trigger. It doesn’t feel the best when you feel it in the store, but it’s a very shootable trigger. It’s very consistent with a nice roll and breaks once you reach that point of resistance. I really like this trigger.

Despite having a little more creep than the other triggers, it just seems to shoot better. I know a lot of trigger-snob shooters who have always replaced the triggers in Glocks but managed to keep the Glock Gen5 series stock as they seem to really like them.

CZ 75 Trigger

With the CZ 75, we’re going to look at it in the double-action and then single-action trigger. They’re different, so it’s just easier to compare them side-by-side.

Double-Action

On the double-action trigger, you’re going to feel a light little bit of take-up since the hammer will be on half-cock. From there, you’re going to immediately feel heavy screen resistance.

However, that resistance is very smooth and I really like the double-action on the 75. It’s one of the smoothest double-action triggers I’ve ever felt and honestly, it’s my favorite stock double-action trigger. I won’t cover reset because we’ll discuss that in relation to the single-action below.

Single-Action

When you’re shooting the CZ 75 in a single-action, again, you’re going to feel some take-up that’s fairly short and light before immediately hitting a wall. Once you hit that wall, it goes into a nice rolling break, and from the reset, it comes out fairly short.

It’s not very positive. There will be just the slightest bit of take-up before you reach that wall again and can pull the trigger. Overall, I really like the CZ 75 trigger, but the single-action is not as much of a standout as the double.

This is meant to be a trigger comparison, but you’re looking at two different triggers when you’re comparing the CZ 75 vs Glock 19. At the end of the day, I can’t say which one I like better.

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They’re just so different and have different purposes to boot. The CZ 75 is more fun to shoot at the range, but if I had to get into a self-defense scenario, I have a lot of time behind the striker-fired triggers like the Glock 19 and that’s what I feel the most comfortable with. 

I think it really comes down to what you’re looking for and what gun you have experience with. If you have experience with neither, you’re probably going to be better at shooting the Glock 19 quicker than using the double-action/single-action trigger in the CZ. Alternatively, if you’re an experienced double-/single-action shooter, it’s going to be really hard to beat the CZ 75.

Slide Lock

The slide lock on the CZ 75 has a more antiquated design and sits much farther forward to the point that  I cannot reach it with my primary hand thumb. Not only do I have to use my support hand thumb after inserting the magazine to drop the slide on the CZ 75, this method will also only work for right-handed shooters. 

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Considering the width of the slide on the 75, this is a pretty major downside if you’re left-handed. It’s nice to have a gun that you can easily manipulate using the side lock since the slide is so hard to manipulate due to its size. 

The Glock 19, on the other hand, allows the shooter to easily reach the slide stop with average size hands. Bonus: if you’re using a Glock Gen5 variant, the slide stop is ambidextrous, making it even easier to use. It’s not that it’s a super good design, but it’s better than the difficulty of the CZ 75.

Magazine Release

The magazine releases on both of these guns are just basic releases. I find the CZ 75 to be a little bit quicker and authoritative. A lot of that’s just due to being a metal magazine vs the Glock’s polymer-coated magazines. The magazine release on the Glock works well. Mags do drop free, but they’ve never been what anybody would call a super slick-feeling magazine release.

Magazine Well

This is one area where the Glock definitely shines, at least if you have a Gen5.

That generation sports a massive magazine well, which makes it really easy to do reloads. If you’re shooting a sport like USPSA in production or carry optics, this is a major deal if you’re doing reloads.

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For the average person using the gun for concealed carrying or just shooting at the range, it’s really not that big of a deal. The CZ 75 has no real magwell or flare to speak of. It’s a straight insert, and you’d better nail the insertion angle every time or risk missing your magazine insertion.

Glock 19 vs CZ 75 Quality

Both of these guns are of a decent quality, but the CZ 75 is what I would consider “old-world” quality, which always beats the “new-world.” The CZ 75 is a very elegant firearm, and frankly, the Glock 19 lacks that elegance being a polymer-framed pistol compared to one made of steel. There really isn’t going to be an argument here, at least in my opinion.

Aftermarket

There are some aftermarket options for the CZ 75, but not nearly as many as the Glock 19 has. You can build a Glock 19 without using a single Glock part. While there are a bunch of CZ 75 copies that don’t use any CZ 75 parts, the aftermarket for that gun is simply not as large as the Glock 19.

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If you don’t like parts on the CZ 75, you’re probably going to be stuck with factory options or otherwise only have a couple of places where you can get something different. With the Glock 19, there are multiple manufacturers for every part and update you can imagine.

CZ 75 vs Glock 19 Aesthetics

Don’t get me wrong. I like my Glock 19, but it lacks the elegance of the CZ 75 series. The CZ 75 is an elegant, great-looking firearm. If you’re nostalgic like I am and can imagine yourself being somewhere near the Berlin Wall holding a captured CZ 75 handgun back in the day, then the aesthetics of the 75 are going to warm your heart.

The Glock 19, on the other hand, just seems like a cold, mass-manufactured modern gun without much character.

Shooting

Shooting these guns side-by-side is a very different experience. The Glock 19 has a slightly faster cyclic rate and is very easy to keep flat and shoot quickly. However, the CZ 75 is just amazing in the way it shoots. I’ve had multiple people shoot my CZ 75 Compact and immediately go out and purchase one right afterwards. The CZ 75 series of guns is just insane when it comes to shooting. 

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The slide cycles really smoothly, and, despite having a little bit more muzzle flip than the Glock, the gun settles back right where you want it. It just feels so natural in the hand with a lighter recoil and less violent action.

Simply put, the CZ 75 just shoots better. You’re going to be hard-pressed to find somebody who doesn’t agree with that.

That being said, you can probably run a Glock 19 100% as well as the CZ 75. It’s just going to feel like a little more work.

CZ 75 vs Glock 19 Price/Value

Price and value will be pretty subjective when comparing the Glock 19 vs. the CZ 75. MSRP on the CZ is $725 while the Glock it ranges from $599 to $745 depending on the options available. 

Street price on the 75 Compact is normally $650, but can be higher or lower depending on demand and supply. CZ imports and manufactures guns in batches, so there isn’t a consistent supply and it’s not uncommon to see prices rise between $50 to $75 in a normal year without political turmoil increasing prices further.

You can often find Glock 19s for somewhere between $500 and $620 depending on what the gun comes with. 

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You’re almost always going to get a Glock 19 cheaper than a CZ 75, but that doesn’t mean it’s a better value. With the CZ, you get what I would call an “old-world” gun that you’ll feel good passing down to your grandchildren, but the Glock is probably more practical to throw in your carry holster and keep on your person 14-16 hours a day.

It really depends on what you’re looking for and in my opinion price is close enough it likely won’t be the deciding factor.

Related Articles

• CZ 75 Review
• CZ 75 Compact vs Glock 19
• CZ 75 Compact Review
• Glock 48 Review
• Glock 43 Review

Pros/Cons

CZ 75 Pros

• Recoil impulse 
• Quality
• Ergonomics

CZ 75 Cons

• Weight for carry
• Sights

Glock 19 Pros

• Sights
• Aftermarket
• Weight for carry

Glock 19 Cons

• Quality 
• Ergonomics