Zev Technologies Background
Zev Technologies originally started as one of the first companies to provide drop-in triggers for Glocks. The company grew by focusing on making customization parts for shooters looking to upgrade their Glocks for competition. Over the years, the company has expanded to make much more than just drop-in triggers.
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(All photos: Alexander Reville/Guns.com)
Eventually, Zev expanded past Glock competition customization parts and became known for its quality in-house handguns, which became popular with everyone from competitors to concealed carry users. With this success, the brand expanded even more to offer parts and customizations for other popular handgun brands like SIG Sauer.
Recently, Zev was acquired by the suppressor brand SilencerCo, which has some big ideas for expanding Zev further and some big projects on the horizon.
Zev P226 Z
The P226 has a rich history that includes service with Navy Special Warfare. It was also one of the most popular handguns for law enforcement agencies across the United States for many years.
This fully customized Zev P226 Z was originally a SIG Sauer construction, but there is no part of this gun that Zev hasn’t touched. The 9mm single-action-only handgun features a grip module with custom stippling from Zev that is a little more aggressive than the standard P226 grips. The grip module also features a polish job on the single-action trigger, making it light and smooth with an incredibly short reset.
The slide features a lot of lightening cuts and scalpel cuts, providing lots of room for gripping the slide when charging the handgun from either the front or rear. The slide is optics-cut and wears a SIG Sauer Romeo 1 Pro, as well as a blacked-out rear/hi-viz front set of sights. The barrel is fluted with some dimpling and is threaded at a standard 1/2x28 thread pitch.
The slide also features an ambidextrous safety and no de-cocker. The placement of the slide release on the SIG P226 is perfect, as you don’t have to break your grip to drop the slide. I used two magazines with this handgun, one original 15-round magazine and one of the newer 17-round flush-fit magazines. Both performed flawlessly.
On the Range
I have had the pleasure of shooting a plethora of suppressed firearms in my time; however, I have not spent much time shooting suppressed handguns. As the SIG P226 is one of my favorite handguns, getting to shoot it suppressed was even more of a treat.
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This P226 build is pretty much immaculate. The optic is dead-on, the trigger is smooth, the reset is short, and the grip is so comfortable. The Banish 45 is constructed of titanium, so it’s incredibly light while still being super quiet. I know some people prefer 9mm cans for 9mm handguns, but the 45 did a great job of dropping the decibels to hearing-safe levels.
While it may look like the long suppressor adds a lot of weight to the front end of the handgun, the Banish 45 only weighs 11 ounces and is hardly noticeable. Not to mention, the modular design makes it easy to use a shorter and lighter configuration if needed.
It’s so much fun to shoot when the loudest thing you hear is the bullet smacking the steel targets. It was almost impossible to miss with this setup. The Zev P226 Z was comfortable and easy to shoot accurately, and I had no trouble scoring hits. In fact, while we were on the range at SCAPSA, a group of law enforcement officers were training and they begged to shoot a few magazines after seeing how quiet and how smooth the platform was.
I shot about 700 rounds through the Zev P226, of which probably 85 percent were suppressed. I did not experienced a single malfunction.
Summary
The Zev P226 Z maximizes the potential of a great classic pistol design. Zev took the time to thoughtfully build on the success of one of the most popular handgun designs in the United States and somehow improved the shooting experience. On top of all that, Silencer Central made the shooting experience safer and more enjoyable by dropping those decibel levels.
There is a major cool factor with this handgun, but that doesn’t mean that you can forgo putting in the work with training. Take the time to dry fire, pick up ammo, hit the range, and master the craft.
