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CZ P09 Review

We checkout the this massive gun and the pros and cons in our CZ P09 Review.

Our detailed CZ P09 Review.

Unlike the CZ SP01 Phantom, the CZ P07/P09 were built from the ground up around the CZ Omega trigger systems. The slide and frame on the P07/P09 look sleek, modern, and purpose-built.

The CZ P09 differs from the P07 only in capacity/grip length and barrel/slide length. Besides that, the guns are identical in feel and function.

They accept the same fire control ground parts like the hammer, trigger, sear, and disconnector as well as decockers and safeties.

In our CZ P09 Review, we review the larger brother of the CZ P07.

The CZ P07 was designed to be a more modernized DA/SA(Double Action Single Action options for CZ that wasn’t directly based on the CZ 75 like most of their other handguns.

The P07/P09 features a polymer frame and the CZ Omega trigger system.

This is not CZ’s first entry into the polymer DA/SA market.

Before CZ introduced the P07 they introduced the CZ SP01 Phantom which is a polymer-framed version of their CZ SP01. The CZ SP01 Phantom looks like an older CZ75 series gun that was crudely modified to work with a polymer frame.

Table of contents

Trigger System

The heart of the CZ P09 is the CZ Omega trigger system which allows the user to install either a decocker or a thumb safety.

The Omega trigger system gives the user more options than almost any other DA/SA trigger out there but we’ll touch more on that later in the safety portion.

Much like the CZ75 series of gun that the CZ P09 claims it’s lineage it uses a slide that is mounted to the frame via internal rails. This means that the slide looks extremely short in the vertical direction.

That short slide gives the visual illusion that the CZ P09 has an extremely low bore axis.

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The low bore axis on CZ guns is actually a myth.

You measure the bore axis from the highest point of the web of your hand to the top of the slide and the size of the slide itself does not play a direct role.

The CZ P09 actually has a medium to high bore axis due to the position the hand sits on the beavertail.

On the US market, the CZ P09 has a decent following in the competition circles from shooters looking for a quality DA/SA pistol at a fantastic price with a large capacity. It’s also gained popularity with the general public looking for a fun range gun that also works well for home defense.

There is something about a massive-sized handgun for home defense that just makes sense.

Features

The CZ P09 is a massive gun and with that massive size, you also get a very nice capacity of 9mm ammo.

With a flush fit magazine, the CZ P09 will fit 19 rounds in the magazine and CZ offers +2 extension from the factory for a total of 21 rounds plus one in the pipe.

Unfortunately, that capacity does come at the price of factory magazines that cost right around $40, and at this time there are no quality aftermarket CZ P09 magazines that come in at a lower price.

Like most quality handgun magazines on the market, the CZ P09 magazines are made by Mec Gar but unlike the CZ75 series, they’re a new enough design that Mec Gar isn’t selling them directly so it’s unlikely we’ll see $25 quality aftermarket magazines anytime soon.

The Good news is current production CZ P10F Magazines also fit the CZ P09.

The magazine body on both the CZ P10F and the P09 is identical so the only difference is the cutout for the magazine release.

CZ simplified their production by adding both cuts to one magazine.

These magazines will also fit in the CZ P10c and the P07.

Magwell

There is pretty much no bevel on the CZ P09 magwell. It’s not hard to insert a magazine but you won’t get any help from it either.

There is a slightly deeper bevel at the rear of the magwell that helps more than the bevel on the side and the front so when inserting the magazine I would use the back of the magwell as a target for the back of your magazine.

Grip/Ergonomics

The CZ P09 is a GIANT gun. It’s much bigger than other full-size guns like the Glock 34 and the Sig P320 Legion.

There is a large beavertail that gently bevels up the frame and despite the large footprint of the CZ P09, it feels quite narrow. So if you have smaller hands and want a massive gun where the grip will still work for you than the P09 will likely work.

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The gun comes with three different backstraps so you have some level of customization to the ergonomic preferences of your hand.

The downside of the backstraps is they’ll only change the grip on the bottom 2/3s as that’s where they’re located. So they won’t affect your trigger reach.

Texturing

The texturing on the CZ P09 leaves a lot to be desired. It feels slick.

On the backstrap, there are horizontal lines and dots that are so well rounded they lack the bite needed to get traction. The front strap has a similar texturing design but they sit a little bit taller giving you more traction.

It still isn’t enough if your hands get just slightly sweaty to keep the gun from moving.

On the side of the grip, the texturing resembles a stippling non-aggressive stippling pattern but the only thing that’ll touch it due to the ergonomics are the tips of your fingers on your primary shooting hand.

There is no texture on the portion of the grip that sits between the decocker/safety and texturing on the side of the grips.

That’s quite a large area and the only area of the gun most people’s support hand palm will be able to get some sort of traction.

So it’d be nice to see the texture in that area.

Considering the lack of effective texturing the CZ P09 feels just a little bit small in my hands from the girth perspective.

You don’t really have a good place to get contact with your support hand palm and going to a larger backstrap isn’t really going to help since it’s only mounted on the lower two-thirds of the grip.

The CZ P09 texturing is unfortunately just ineffective.

For casual shooting, it’ll be fine.

But if you really plan to run the gun hard in environments where things can get wet I would suggest adding some sort of grip enhancement like skateboard tape or having the grip stippled. The same texturing on the side panels is also located above the trigger guard on each side of the frame.

It’s a nice touch and gives you a good place to index your trigger finger. It’s also visually pleasing in my opinion.

Undercut

The trigger guard on the CZ P09 has an undercut of sorts so you aren’t likely to develop “Glock Knuckle.” For a polymer frame, the CZ P09 trigger guard is very thin but it’s also well rounded on the edges so you don’t have to worry about your hands feeling any discomfort on the frame of the gun.

There is a beavertail and the way it’s connected to the frame is quite comfortable.

The slide has both forward and rear serrations and they’re reasonably aggressive but they look much more aggressive than they feel.

Part of that is the narrower slide on the CZ P09 which makes it hard to get a good grip with your hand.

Sights

The Iron sight options on the CZ P09 will change depending on the variant you order.

From the factory, there are factory night sights in both normal and suppressor height and plain painted 3 dot sights.

My gun came with the 3 dot sights and I have experience with the suppressor height night sights from the CZ P07 Urban Grey. None of the sight options are exactly worth class. They don’t offer a supper crisp sight picture but they aren’t woefully inadequate either.

They’re all steel sights but they also don’t have a ledge on the front of the rear sight so you likely won’t be using them to tactically track the CZ P09 slide off of your belt.

The tritium in the night sight models isn’t exceptionally bright and they use the same vials in the rear sight as the front so the front sight is overpowered by the rear.

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Personally, I’d like to see them remove the tritium from the rear altogether.

The good news is that there all more than enough CZ P09 night sights and fiber optic sight options to keep you happy. We’ll cover the aftermarket sight offerings later in the aftermarket section.

Controls

CZ P09 Review Safety/Decocker

As mentioned earlier the CZ P09 uses the CZ Omega trigger system that offers the user lots of options on how they want to run the gun.

The Omega system has the ability to run either an ambidextrous decocker or safety on the P09.

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So if you want to run the DA/SA trigger with a safety cocked and locked or with a decocker you have the options.

Running the CZ Omega thumb safety you could also manually decock the hammer and run the gun in DA with the safety engaged adding even another level of safety.

When you have the decocker installed it’s quite easy to rear with your thumb and it’s mirrored on each side of the gun so right-handed and left-handed users will have the same experience.

The same goes for Omega thumb safety. The thumb safety on the omega system sits in the same general area as a 1911 or Smith & Wesson M&P full-size thumb safety.

It’s very easy to ride your thumb on top of the safety like you would with 1911.

The CZ P09’s thumb safety is around 1/8 of an inch side and doesn’t have a shelf like most thumb safeties so it’s not that as easy to use as a 1911 safety but it is better than most thumb safeties like the one on the Smith and Wesson Shield.

Magazine Release

You’ll likely have to break your grip slightly to reach the magazine release on the CZ P09.

For my hand size, I can just reach it but barely. If I adjust my grip just slighting I can no longer reach the magazine release without breaking my grip. I’m still able to touch it but I’m not able to press it enough to drop the magazine.

The magazine release itself is large enough to use but small enough to stay out of the way.

If I have to get nit-picky the CZ P09 magazine release is a little sharp on the edges.

You can reverse the magazine release to the other side of the gun if you’re left-handed.

The slide stop on the CZ P09 also functions as a takedown lever. Similar to the docker and thumb safety it sits close to ⅛ of an inch off the gun and very high on the slide.

If you have larger hands you’ll be able to hit the CZ P09 slide release with your thumb. The decocker or safety sits right in front of the slide release so your thumb has to reach up and over the apparatus, you have installed on the gun.

I would suggest using the reload method that many people use with 1911s of using their support hand thumb to drop the slide release right after inserting the magazine and before regaining your support hand grip.

Overall Ergonomics

Overall the CZ P09 feels good in the hand but it lacks texturing which is my biggest gripe on the gun.

CZ P09 Review Trigger

Because the CZ P09 incorporates the CZ Omega trigger system we’ll cover it from the standpoint of using the decocker in a DA/SA and the thumb safety in a SA format.

Double-Action Single-Action

When using the CZ P09 in DA you get a slight bit of takeup before you come to a wall where the heavy DA pull starts.

Once you start the double-action pull it’s heavy but smooth and then about halfway through the pull becomes stagey and then you start to feel creep.

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As you’re pulling through the creep the trigger breaks and you feel just a slight bit of overtravel. On the reset it feels like an extremely light spring is pushing the trigger back to the reset point. There is an audible reset that you can just barely feel.

From the reset, there is a light springy take-up that turns to a spongy feel right before the trigger breaks.

Single-Action

You have a long springy takeup that transitions to a spongy feel right before the trigger breaks.

It resets audibly but with a little tactile feel. From the reset point, there is light springy takeup and a spongy feeling right before you feel the trigger break.

The CZ P09 double-action trigger is very heavy and not that refined at all. You can upgrade it with a multitude of aftermarket trigger components that we’ll go over later.

Now the SA pull has a really nice rolling break which is my preferred feel on a single action trigger.

One gripe that many might have is the long reset but if you don’t shoot from the reset that isn’t an issue.

CZ P09 Review Accessories

Cain Arms CZ P09 Accessories


Cain Arms makes a magazine extension that adds an extra 5 rounds of 9mm or 4 rounds of 40 calibers. These are advertised as being made from plastic and appear to be 3D printed from the pictures.

Cajun Gun Works CZ P09 Accessories


The 2nd company to start supporting the CZ handgun aftermarket in the USA market after CZ Custom was Cajun Gun Works. Cajun Gun Works makes a variety of spring kits and trigger parts to help you optimize your CZ P09 trigger and action.

They also offer a variety of CZ P09 OEM parts so they’re a good source to get spares.

They offer a variety of gunsmithing services so you can send them your gun for trigger work, optic milling, or custom finishing.

CZ Custom CZ P09 Accessories

CZ Custom sells a lot of CZ OEM parts if you’re looking for replacement parts they’re a good source. They make both baseplates and magazine extensions. Even a 140mm extension and while it only adds 3 rounds to the 19 round magazine it’ll be legal to shoot in USPSA competition.

The two coolest products they make are the CZ P09 Magazine well and a flat trigger that’ll work with the CZ Omega DA/SA trigger system.

They’ll also do full custom work and trigger jobs on the guns. They’re really well known for their trigger work and I’m sure their other custom work is solid but it’ll be more conservative than some of the other options.

Dawson Precision CZ P09 Accessories

Dawson Precision is known for its sights and they make a variety of CZ P09 sights. Including black target sights, fiber optic, and tritium night sights.

They also have the Dawson Precision Perfect Impact Promise that guarantees the elevation on your pistol will be zeroed or they’ll replace your front sight with one that’ll work.

This does not apply to all of their sights so ask them to make sure the product you order is covered.

Fire4Effect CZ P09 Accessories

Fire4Effect doesn’t make accessories for the P09 but they will do custom milling on your slide to mount red dot optics.

They also offer framework such as stippling and rec contouring and finishing. They even work on your barrel! If you’re looking for a shop to modify your CZ P09 Fire4Effect is a one-stop-shop. A couple of my friends have had their guns worked on by Fire4Effect and they’ve been extremely happy with the results.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about their work.

Galloway Precision CZ P09 Accessories

If for some reason the CZ +2 extensions don’t work for you Galloway Precision makes a +2 extension from reinforced nylon.

HB Industries CZ P09 Accessories

HB Industries makes a CZ P09 extended magazine release.

MCarbo CZ P09 Accessories

MCarbo makes a spring kit designed to improve the trigger pull on the P09.

Night Fision CZ P09 Accessories

Night Fision is a sight manufacturer that specializes in tritium night sights. They offer a variety of front sight ring colors and you can get the rear sight with either a square or U notch.

There is an easy to you sight builder on the site so if you’re looking for CZ P09 night sights they look like a really solid option.

Parker Mountain Machine CZ P09 Accessories

Parker Mountain Machine makes a CZ P09 Compensator called the CZ P07/09 JTTC. The P09 compensator is designed to reduce muzzle rise. They have a very good reputation for making quality effective comps.

If you follow the Parker Mountain Machine Instagram you’ll see them measuring the muzzle rise and how the comp reduces it.

They scientifically measure the results in a very transparent manner that a lot of other comp manufacturers do not do.

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Primary Machine CZ P09 Accessories

Primary Machine makes CZ P09 threaded barrels and they also have a comp built specifically for the gun.

They offer slide milling packages as well if you want to lighten up your slide and add a mini red dot to your gun.

Shield Arms CZ P09 Accessories

Shield Arms makes CZ P09 Magazine Extension that adds 5 rounds of 9mm to your 19 rounds CZ P09 magazine or 4 rounds of 40 calibers.

Strike Industries CZ P09 Accessories

Strike Industries makes what they call an extended magazine plate for the CZ P09. Their magazine extension also adds an extra 5 rounds of 9mm or 4 rounds of 40 calibers.

CZ P09 Review Aesthetics

With its chamfered slide and forward serrations and the texturing on the frame above the trigger guard, the CZ P09 is an attractive gun in the girl next door kind of way. It’s not a drop-dead knockout but few would say the gun is unattractive.

Shooting

Shooting the CZ P09 doesn’t really stand out. The DA trigger can be a bit to work through and it’s easy to throw that first shot if you don’t have a solid grip.

The CZ P09 is a relatively light gun for its size so the mass of the gun doesn’t soak up a ton of recoil but the gun does track straight up and down during recoil.

CZ P09

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The CZ P09 is a good shooter and definitely the best value in polymer DA/SA pistols but don’t expect it to shoot like a CZ Shadow 2 and only cost a third of the price.

Please leave a comment on what you think about the CZ P09.

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11 Comments

  1. Perfect big brother to the P07. You must be willing to put in the time to learn how to run a DA SA gun. Fantastic pistol for Home defense or competition.

    • what is your method for learning how 2 run da/sa gun?

      and do u have po9? or po7?

  2. “Running the CZ Omega thumb safety you could also manually decock the hammer and run the gun in DA with the safety engaged adding even another level of safety.”

    sorry but this above statement is confusing to me.

    i thought that in manual safety when u cock the slide, da/sa is in SA unless u decock & and the safety has 2 b desengaged 2 shoot in SA. sorry 4 noob comment.

    i thought

    • If you’re running the manual safety version you can hold the hammer with your fingers, pull the trigger and let the hammer down manually to the half cock position. Most will also place a finger between the hammer and the firing pin. Not the safest method but people did it for years on the 75 series guns before decockers were offered.

      • thx 4 approving my comments.

        i guess my confusion is w your stated comment for us noobs. but your comment implied that one can run DA on po9. and run on SA. but it can only be DA on first shot w decocker. and all subsequent shots are in SA.

        but on manuel safety, it is SA only.

        am i correct.

        in addition, it would be wonderful if u could also weight the barrels & compare w trigger pull . and state where you feel less recoil if barrel weights more.

        • You could manually decock with the safety modification. But I’d only suggest running SA and using the safety. Trigger pull feel doesn’t have a lot to do with weight. It’s really characteristics and smoothness.

  3. girsan mc9 has a 4.5 or 4.6inch barrel but total length is 7.3/4inch like cz po7.

    wouldnt the velocity be higher vs p07?

  4. Thank you for this excellent and fair review. Nice to read about the drawbacks (e.g., texturing) and find them to be exactly as described. Other reviewers appear to be more interested in advertising revenue. I ended up buying the P-09 and really like it. I know it’s just personal preference but the DA/SA feels so right to me, allowing a level of safety that goes well beyond what my H&K offers. It is now my favourite 9, just edging the XD for top spot.

  5. I bought my suppressor-ready P-09 mostly as an occasional range toy and full-time nightstand gun, partly because of the decocker, and I like it. While I’ve put all of 100 rounds through the pistol, I agree with your comments regarding the janky SA trigger pull, ineffective grip texture, barely adequate slide serrations, and the CZ low bore axis myth. Still, the grip dimensions are good for my small, arthritic hands. (Talon Grips, including for the rear slide serrations, are on the way; here’s hoping.)
    Thanks SO much for listing so much P-09 aftermarket support!
    I know this is a gun review, not an English paper, but wow. I can live with the bad punctuation, sort of, but autocorrect strikes again. Pretty sloppy in places, which detracts from an otherwise solid review.

    • TALON GRIPS UPDATE: I reently put Talon’s PRO texture grip on the grip and put slide grips on the rear slide serrations. It’s like I have new, strong hands! Seriously, racking the slide from the rear is SO much easier and safer than before. The slide grips are so small that I was concerned they’d be ineffective. Wrong; they’re great. Justin Opinion has a short video about this, He give a rave review of slide grips. Legit!

  6. I’ve had my P09 FDE for some years now, and have a Garrett Silent Thunder IWB holster, and 8 mags for it. I’m well satisfied with the accuracy, and often shoot at long range targets. It’s probably the most accurate 9mm I own. It has the factory night sights which I can live with.

    The author was being objective about the P09 in many areas, texturing, sights and trigger were his main complaints and I can see his viewpoints. But for meI can live or correct these items. My sights shoot to POI. Talon Grip for texture, I’m no trigger snob, the trigger is smooth enough for my shooting practice.

    Lastly 2 things, reliability and the large grip fits my small hands perfectly. And its a well made pistol. Thanks for the review, the pistol is large for sure, that’s why I bought it ! 20 rounds !

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