CZ P10S OR Holster

Overview CZP10S OR

The CZ10S OR was introduced by CZ USA after the successful launch of the CZ P10C. The CZ P10C has been around in the US for quite a while. After the CZ P10C was introduced in 2017 it quickly gained a decent share of the striker-fired market in the USA. Due to the success of the CZ P10c, CZ introduced both the CZ P10F for full size and the CZ P10S for short or sub-compact. CZ is known for its CZ 75 series of handguns.

And within that series of handguns, they did have the compact CZP01, the CZ75C, and the CZ Rami but in modern times they are not known for their smaller compact style of a handgun. The CZ P10S OR was an attempt for CZ to gather more of the striker-fired handgun market chair. The CZP10c is slightly larger than the most common Glock 19 which is the gold standard of concealed carry/duty guns.

The CZ P10S is slightly smaller than a Glock 19 while being larger than a Glock 26, so it helps CZ appeal to a niche that was previously only filled by the Smith and Wesson M&P9c and the brand-new Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 9C as well as the Taurus G2 series. The Taurus G2 comes in at a much lower price point and isn’t built of the same quality as the CZ and the Smith and Wesson M&P series.

Features

The CZ-75 is sized just smaller than a Glock 19 yet larger than a Glock 26. Some people may be wondering what’s the point of having a gun that size. Many were hoping that the CZ P10S would be able to compete with Sig’s P365 and P365XL and it doesn’t. One thing to take into account is the CZ P10C is much wider than those guns and it’s much larger in overall outline than the Sig P365.

Like the thinner Sig P365XL, the CZ P10S holds 12 rounds in the magazine in a flush fit magazine that is. The CZ P10S will also accept any of the CZ P10 series magazines. So, you can fit up to 21 rounds in a factory magazine. There are multiple companies that make extensions that allow you to get even more ammo in the gun.

The CZ P10s features a magwell that is slightly flared at the bottom since there is enough material around the grips to allow them to do. So, the rear of the backstrap extends down below the grip itself and offers a ramp for you to index the magazine when inserting it. This is a nice feature as that rear of the back strap keeps your hand from impeding the insertion of a fresh magazine into the CZ P10S OR.

Oftentimes with handguns of this length, the fat of the palm of your hand can catch between the base plate of the magazine and the grip itself causing you issues.

Grip/Ergonomics

The CZ P10S comes with three replaceable back straps that mount on the rear of the gun. There is a small, medium, and large so you can easily tailor the grip of the gun to your preferences.

Now there is one thing to take into account, these back straps sit on the lower half of the gun and do not change the trigger reach of the gun. So, if you’re looking for back straps that allow you to increase the distance between the tang or beavertail of the grip and the face of the trigger these back straps will unfortunately not do that.

The tang of the grip like on all CZ P10 series is very well designed there is a nice radius connecting the tang to the frame. So, it’s comfortable for hands of all sizes to hold this grip in the web of their hand. There’s also a fairly high undercut on the CZ P10S. So, what this does just like the P10C and the P10F, is forces your hand up high on the grip. So, if you’re a newer shooter or you’re advising a newer shooter to get this gun, it’s a great choice because it almost forces you to have a proper technique when holding the gun. Whereas other guns like Glocks and Sig P320s are not quite as natural to get the proper grip on the gun.

Texturing

The texturing on the CZ P10S is absolutely excellent. In my opinion, the CZ P10 series of guns have the best texture on the market. The texturing on both the backstrap and front strap are these aggressive little squares that are quite sharp. But they’re not so sharp that they’re annoying any other time than when holding the gun tight. If you grip the gun just slightly loosely, they are not annoying but the second you grip the gun tight, they really dig into your hand. That’s a great thing because it gives you very positive control and traction over the firearm.

There is also texturing on the side and it’s these squares that are much smaller and less aggressive than the texturing on the front strap and back strap. So, it won’t rub against your hand.

Now my one gripe on the CZ P10S as far as texturing would be the area between the magazine release and the slide stop. That area is completely slick. It’s also the area you would rest the meaty part of your palm below your thumb with your support hand. That means you’re not going to be getting any traction on that part of the gun, so you’re going to be relying on the pressure that hand is placing on the front strap of the gun over your shooting hand grip only.

Overall, the grip on the CZ P10S feels quite good. It’s slightly short for me, but if I could not conceal a Glock 19 for whatever reason and wanted to go one size smaller this would be the perfect gun for that. Without the magazine inserted I could only get two fingers on the gun. But with the magazine inserted the magazine base plate is fairly thick and my pinky sits three-quarters of a way on the magazine base plate. The pinky is the strongest finger in your hand or provides the most leverage when controlling the muzzle flip of the firearm. So, that’s a very important feature in my mind.

This gun is absolutely the smallest outline as far as size goes with the length of the grip that you can get away with and have a very shootable gun. In my opinion, the CZ P10 series has some of the best ergonomics on the market and the CZ P10S is no exception to that.

Sights

The CZ P10S OR comes with a tritium front sight with an orange ring around it that has a clear coating to protect it from the elements. Then it comes with a blacked-out square notch rear. Honestly some of the better sights on a stock pistol. Non-Optics Ready variants come with standard three-dot sights and they aren’t bad either, but they are nowhere near as good as the sights that come on the OR version. There are also aftermarket options if you want to get different Sights for your CZ P10S.

The CZP10S OR is the optics ready variant but one thing to keep in mind is CZ does not ship the gun with any optics mounting plates. It does come with a cover for the optics mount, but you’ll have to buy the plates themselves separately. They’re available from CZ or from multiple other aftermarket options which we’ll cover later.

Now one thing to take in mind is the Sights that come on the CZ P10S will not co-witness with most dots on the market. So, unfortunately, you will have to replace the iron sights. Considering this is an optics-ready gun it would have been nice to see CZ offer this with slightly taller sights that would work with most optics on the market.

Controls

The only external safety on the CZ P10S and CZP10S OR is the trigger safety on the front of the gun that makes the gun drop safe. It’s a little bar that’s held in place by a pin and a spring. When you drop the gun, in theory, the trigger could be pulled from the momentum stopping and the trigger is going to the rear. That bar is a very light piece of metal held in place by a spring and in theory that bar would contact the rear of the frame when the trigger starts to go the rear, stopping the motion of the trigger being pulled thus preventing the gun from going off by accident.

Magazine Release

The magazine release on the CZ P10S is a reversible metal magazine release. It’s well rounded and has texturing on the top. As a male with medium to large size hands, I can reach the magazine release, but I think most people with smaller hands will probably have a problem reaching it. And as I said before, you can reverse the magazine to the other side if you’re a left-handed shooter. But the magazine is easily reachable using your middle finger or your trigger finger if you’re a left-handed shooter leaving the CZ P10S OR in its stock format.

Slide Stop

The CZ P10S has an ambidextrous slide stop that is perfectly and equally mirrored on each side of the gun like most other slide stops when the last round fired out of the gun the magazine follower pushes the slide stop up and when the slide cycles it holds it to the rear. Now most slide stops catch the gun off a cut out on the left side of the frame. This means that it’s very hard for left-handed shooters to get as much leverage when it comes to dropping the slide.

CZ took a different approach and they use a slide stop that fully encases the mag well of the gun and grabs the slide at the center of the slide right below the breech face. This means it’s grabbing the slide in the middle, so it requires equal pressure from either a right-handed or left-handed shooter to drop the slide.

Now here’s the downside of this design. The slide release is extremely stiff, so when using the slide stop as a slide release it’s difficult. To make matters worse the slide stop itself is very sharp at the top where you come in and press with your thumb. Frankly, it will get a lot better once it breaks in, but it’s not an easy break-in period on this gun. In fact, even as an experienced shooter who handles guns on a daily basis, I find myself wanting to rack the slide manually versus using the slide stop or slide release to drop the slide.

ACTION: semiauto
CALIBER: 9mm Luger
MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 12+1
BARREL: 3.5 in.
OAL/HEIGHT/WIDTH: 6.6/4.5/1.26 in.
WEIGHT: 24.4 oz.
CONSTRUCTION: Black-Nitride steel slide, Polymer frame
SIGHTS: Steel; Black rear, Tritium front
TRIGGER: Striker
PRICE: $577
MANUFACTURER: CZ-USA

Overall Ergonomics

The overall ergonomics of the CZ P10S are excellent. The grip is a little bit short but that’s by design. So, if you’re looking for a longer grip, you’re probably better off going with the CZ P10C. It holds 12 rounds which is a good capacity for a gun of this size, but I do wish it held an extra round or two considering it is a large gun and much thicker than the similar-sized Sig P365 XL, which also holds 12 rounds. The thicker frame does make the P10s feel sturdier than the Sig P365XL.

I can’t say enough how great the ergonomics are from the perspective that they force you to have a proper high shooting grip. It’s really advantageous for newer shooters.

On the slide, there are also front and rear serrations. The serrations on the slide are fairly deep and aggressive. They’ll work well even if you have wet or slippery hands. Front serrations don’t extend all the way to the top of the slide. There is a large chamfer on each side of the slide that blocks the front serrations from going any higher. Since the front serrations only extend on the flats of the slide in my opinion they’re really only good for a press check.

You wouldn’t want to use them to manipulate the slide to its full travel. The serrations on the rear are excellent and they even extend to the chamfer on the top of the cover plate on the CZ P10S OR model; so, you’re going to have no issues manipulating the slide from the rear.

Trigger

The CZ P10s has what I would call a typical striker-fired trigger. One thing slightly unique about this trigger is the shape or at least an appearance. It appears to be a hybrid between a bow trigger and a flat trigger. It’s still technically a bow, but it is much flatter than most other triggers in similar guns. It’s well rounded on the edges, so it’s a comfortable trigger to place your finger on.

Now as far as the trigger pull itself you have taken up as you disengage the trigger safety and then you hit a wall. Once you hit that wall you fill some plasticky creep like you’re pushing against plastic instead of metal or springs. And then the trigger breaks. The break isn’t necessarily a hard break, but it’s not a rolling break either; it falls somewhere in between that is hard to describe. From the reset, it resets right to the initial wall point again and then you feel the creep before the break.

Overall, it’s definitely a good striker fire trigger, but it’s not an excellent striker fire trigger. I would put it within the same category as pretty much all the other popular striker fire triggers on the market. Personal preference may dictate that it’s better or worse than others. But there is nothing overall that makes it a clear winner or loser when you compare it to other firearms. The biggest downside is you can feel the plastic trigger scraping against the frame giving the trigger a plastic toy-like feel.

Maintenance

Taking the CZ P10S down is incredibly easy; it has a takedown lever that is similar to a Glock or a takedown tab I should say that is similar to a Glock. The tab sits right above the middle of the trigger guard.

To take the gun apart you want to first take out the magazine, check to make sure the chamber is clear and then you’ll need to dry fire the gun to disengage the striker before you slightly pull back the slide around an eighth of an inch. Then take your thumb and your trigger finger of your support hand and pull down on the tabs releasing the slide and then you can pull it off the frame and then disassemble it down into the slide, the barrel, and the recoil spring assembly.

It’s easy to clean and then you just do the reverse order to reassemble the gun.

Aesthetics

Overall, the aesthetics of the CZP10S are fine, but nothing great. It’s not a drop-dead killer looking gun which is the same for pretty much every other gun in this category and price range. There are some features on it that look great like the rear and forward serrations. Texturing on a thumb pad area and above the trigger guard that does add a nice little bit of balance to the gun.

And the slide chamfers are a nice touch as well. That said there’s nothing that makes this gun stand out that well. And the hump at the rear of the gun depending on what size backstrap you have installed could be considered a con from the visual aspect and make the gun look grip heavy. That said I don’t think most people buying this gun are buying it for looks they’re buying it because they want a really effective carry gun that’s made in a size that works for them.

Shooting

Shooting the CZ P10S is probably what you’d expect. It has slightly less recoil than say something like a Glock 48, 43 x or a Sig P365XL just due to it’s a slightly larger gun in width. That said it’s still not a soft recoiling gun considering its size it’s a small compact firearm and you will expect a certain amount of recoil.

That said this is where the gun really shines in shooting and the reason, I say that is again that ergonomics. The ergonomics on this gun are excellent and it comes with a decent set of Sights which always makes the shooting experience more pleasurable. I can’t wait to add a red dot to this gun to really see how it does at distance.