CZ 75-B 9mm 4.6" 16rd Pistol, Steel Frame, 3-Dot Sights, Black - $649

First and foremost - you're looking at this review thinking "wow that's pretty good" - and it is if you rate the gun with your heart. My heart gives this gun 5 stars and my head gives it 3. We'll start with the good stuff. The gun is super well designed as far as ergonomics go - many people will immediately be accurate shooting this gun due to how intuitive the grip and trigger are designed. The out of the box trigger quality is pretty good and can be made amazing with aftermarket parts - easily one of the best triggers on a duty model when modified. The gun is super soft shooting in hand. The weight at about 35 ounces is a fantastic middle weight that's easy to swing around. The lines on it are classy and it's one of the best looking pistols out there - period. As I type this I'm contemplating buying a new holster for it and carrying it. Then my head kicks in.... The CZ firing pin block guns (any model with a "B" in the title) are not particularly durable as far as small parts go. First - the firing pin block itself introduces a roll pin in the slide. Excessive dryfires can cause this to shatter and seize up the firing pin - DO NOT DRYFIRE PRACTICE WITH THIS GUN WITHOUT A SNAP CAP! When I first got my 75B I broke this learning to pull the double action of a couple hundred pulls a day. The pin is pretty easy to swap out. Next - the trigger return spring. Since the gun is double/single action - most of the stress it's intended to encounter is in the form of single action. Repeated Double action strokes will heat up the trigger return spring and shorten it's life. If you only ever shoot the gun at the range in single action - the spring will last for tens of thousand rounds. Introduce some double action and that sucker becomes a roulette wheel. Generally speaking - the trigger return spring *should* last 10k rounds+ with daily dry fire and they generally do. I've had some last sub 2k rounds with near zero dry fire. When the TRS breaks (not IF) the trigger will not reset automatically - you can manually swing the trigger forward to reset the trigger so the gun is operational - just your trigger speed is in the toilet at that point. This spring is a bit of a pain to swap out. Finally - the slide stop is a sacrificial part and will break between 10k and 15k live fires. The linkless design of the CZ barrel stresses the slide stop - it will eventually crack it in half and you'll need to replace it. Spares are like $45 and it's very easy to swap out. So all of that said - this gun is a truly fantastic gun for seldom use. if this is going to be your only gun and you're going to dry fire practice with it a lot - be forewarned that you'll have to stay on top of parts breakages. There are going to lots of people who say "it's used in militaries, it's the most copied design behind the 1911, you're a know nothing on the internet" and fair enough - but I've also broken 3 firing pin retaining pins, 5 slide stops, and close to 10 trigger return springs through practicing with CZs. The shadow 2 is significantly more robust than any of the block guns - so be warned!