In no doubt welcome news to CZ fans everywhere, the company has a new take on a well-liked pistol in its catalog – and it is factory-cut for a micro-reflex sight.
CZ introduced the double-action/single-action hammer-fired polymer-framed P-09 series around 2013, and it has proved popular with "Czechnologists" ever since. However, an increasingly big drawback over the years is that it, as well as many of CZ's other handguns, aren't optics-ready. We heard that feedback when we ran an interview with CZ's CEO, Jan Zajic, earlier this year.
The company also has heard the feedback as well.
From its social media page:
(Photo: CZ's FB account)
Well, we have something to announce.
Meet the Nocturne
While visiting with CZ during Guns/com's European Trip earlier this year, we had the honor of seeing the updated P-09 series while it was still in pre-production. The best takeaways were a factory optics cut on the slide with co-witnessing iron sights, completely refreshed ergonomics, and backward compatibility with both legacy magazines and CZ's Kadet subcaliber rimfire kits.
In a nod to the updated ability to carry a red/green dot, which is a superb sight option for low-light/night conditions, the new P-09 ORs would have a new name: the Nocturne.
The P-09 Nocturne will be offered in both a duty/full-sized (4.5 inch barrel, 19+1 round magazine) and compact (3.75 inch, 15+1 round magazine) variants.
The pre-production Nocturnes side by side at the CZ factory in Uhersky Brod back in March. Be aware that these are prototype guns with 3D-printed frames. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Another look at the pre-production guns. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
And now with the P-09 C Nocturne pre-production compared to a legacy P-07. Note the vast differences in the texture of the frames as well as the design of the surface controls. Also, note the differences in the slides. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Another view of the pre-production P-09C Nocturne and legacy P-07. Check out the differences between that decocker lever and the slide. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Fast forward five months and the Nocturne is in full production and inbound to the American consumer market. We have been testing a production P-09C variant for the past couple of weeks and have a few things to report.
A Closer Look at the Production P-09C Nocturne
The CZ P-09C Nocturne typically would have been called a P-07 in the past due to its more compact size. No matter what you call it, it feels good in the hand and just drips CZ's P series familiarity, but with a few welcome twists.
The new CZ P-09C Nocturne. Note that it has a completely redesigned polymer frame in terms of ergonomics and texture patterns... (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
...As well as slide serrations that are both deeper and more spaced out than legacy models. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
When speaking to specs, we broke out the calipers and found the CZ P-09C Nocturne to run 7.25 inches long from the muzzle to the rear of the grip. The height, from the bottom of the lanyard to the top of the rear sights, is 5.5 inches. It has a 1.41-inch maximum width over the ambi surface controls, while it should be pointed out that the width over the slide and the shallow parts of the grip is right at an inch. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
For an idea of how it stacks up in size to some other 9mm pistols out there, here is the CZ P-09C Nocturne compared to a classic CZ-75, a Glock 49, a SIG P365 XMacro, and a Springfield Armory Hellcat Pro. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The unloaded weight of the P-09C Nocturne, with an empty magazine inserted, is 27.5 ounces right out of the box. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Speaking of the box, it ships in a nice hard-sided zipper case with a foam inlay. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
There are a ton of accessories, including a paper manual – which is rare these days – cleaning tools, two magazines, a dummy round, and an uninstalled manual safety lever. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Our P-09C Nocturne came with an easily accessible, ambidextrous decocker (rear) installed, while the pistol can be quickly converted over to the included manual safety and vice versa. Note the slide stop lever to the left. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The right-side decocker. Of note, the push-button magazine release, which is oriented to the left side of the frame, can be swapped to the right. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Takedown for maintenance is similar to many other CZ pistols and can be done simply and without tools. Simply remove the magazine, ensure the chamber is empty with no brass or ammo on hand, line up the two notches to the rear of the slide and frame, push/pull out the slide stop lever, and ease the slide forward. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Note the slide rails ride well inside the frame, a feature used by the company going back to the CZ 75. It helps give the handguns a low bore axis. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The P-09C Nocturne field-stripped. Want to swap out the barrel for an extended threaded one for some quiet time? Legacy TBs are drop-in. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The 360-degree grip texture is robust and a definite improvement from the older P-07s, without being overly aggressive. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The pistol ships with two interchangeable grip inserts. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The Nocturne has a high undercut at the trigger guard as well as an extended beavertail that yields a very "top-down" grip with good control and fast recovery, especially with the pistol's inherent low bore axis. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
When it comes to sights, the Nocturne ships with excellent suppressor-height dovetailed iron sights that include luminescent inserts. The rear sight is serrated. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Removing the optic cover plate (which was torqued down to the max!) shows off a direct-milled modified Shield RMSc (J-Point) footprint common to Holosun's K-series dots. Besides dozens of Shields and Holosuns, that cut opens up the pistol to the Sightmark Mini Shot A-Spec M3, Vector Frenzy-S, UTG OP3 Mini Micro, SIG Sauer Romeo Zero, and Leupold DeltaPoint Pro, among others.
We easily installed a HE507K X2 multi-reticle (2-MOA dot and 32-MOA circle) and found the iron sights to co-witness without a problem. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The DA/SA trigger is CZ's stalwart Omega series and we found it to break after about a half-inch of take up at 9.9 pounds in double-action mode and right at 5 pounds in a much shorter single action after reset. Cajun Gun Works and M-Carbo have Omega pattern upgrade kits that greatly improve those metrics. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Magazines are 15+1 steel-bodied flush-fit with cutouts on both sides to accommodate left or right-side releases as well as witness holes along the spine. We imagine the full-size model uses 19+1 rounders. CZ advises the Nocturne series is reverse-compatible with P-10 and P-07 mags. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The magwell and grip are crafted to allow a scallop where the magazine meets to allow the user to better strip away stuck mags if needed. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
With a Streamlight TLR-7A light, Holosun 507K, and 16 rounds of Speer 124-grain Gold Dot JHPs, we found the P-09C Nocturne hit the scales at 36.6 ounces. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
How does it shoot? Well, we've only got 100 rounds into it thus far, but the Nocturne has not been a snoozer when it comes to performance on the range.
Stay tuned for an extensive report after we bump up the round count and try to break loose that optic mount.
MSRP on the Nocturne series is $549, and CZ promises that if you ever shoot out the barrel, they will replace it.
