Taking a Peek at the First CZ 75, SN 00001

Guns.com recently had the honor of visiting CZ's historic flagship factory in Uhersky Brod, in Czechia, the Czech Republic, and we got to take the first CZ 75 out of its resting place.

Designed starting in 1969 by the brothers Koucky (Josef and Frantisek) for CZ as a 9mm parabellum chambered pistol made for commercial export, the handgun known as the CZ 75 was finished by early 1975 (hence the designation) with five pre-production samples (serial numbers 00001 through 00005) carefully assembled for testing and evaluation. Some of these T&E samples chalked up over 11,000 rounds in testing with no breaks or serious issues, and the gun soon went into full-scale production with a few minor, mostly cosmetic revisions.

Of those five, CZ 75 expert David Pazdera notes in his book that number 00004 disappeared into history, while 00002, 00003, and 00005 were sold on the commercial market in the early 1980s, leaving just 00001 as the sole remaining sample gun left in CZ's inventory. They keep it locked inside a display case deep inside a secure vault.

Even with a 50-year-old design, you can easily spot the hallmark geometrical "Golden ratio/Golden section" in length and height used in the CZ 75 to produce an aesthetically pleasing firearm offering a natural point of aim.

CZ 75 Serial Number 00001. Note the slab-sided milled slide, duraluminum grips, and large hammer spur. Also note the very deep scallop to the front of the slide, something that would carry on to the First Model CZ 75s. Other than that, it is easily recognizable to any fan of the 75. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

And the rest is firearms history, as they say, with the CZ 75 going on to win fans around the globe.

CZ Shadow 2 — You can still easily see the CZ 75's DNA in the company's most popular products today, such as the **Shadow 2** series race guns. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

And they are still painstakingly made, one at a time, in Uhersky Brod, as we will cover in an upcoming factory tour of the CZ plant. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

While CZ only reached the 1-millionth CZ 75 produced mark in 2007, there were probably twice that many unlicensed copies made in Europe (Swiss Sphinx, Italian Renato Gamba G90, Pardini GT series and Tanfoglio TZ-75/Witness/Springfield P9, British JSL Spitfire, Turkish Canik 55 and Tristar C-100), the Middle East (IWI Jericho 941 and BUL Cherokee in Israel, and the MIC Marra in Sudan), Asia (the Chinese Norinco NZ-75, Philippine-made Armscor MAP series, and North Korean Baek-Du San), and America (Bren Ten). Then, of course, there are all the CZ 75 direct descendants both official (CZ 85, CZ 97, RAMI, P-07/09, SP-01, Shadow 2, Dan Wesson DWX, etc.) and unofficial (Benelli MP90/MP95, Laugo Alien, Creapeiron Elysien, FK Brno PSD), which use the gun's characteristic extremely low bore axis, grip angle, and internal slide rails.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

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