The CZ-75B is a great design with arguably better ergonomics than the 1911 Colt. Whereas the 1911 tends to be muzzle heavy and bit square in the grip feel, the CZ has full grips that match the hand contours well, with a front like a Browning Hi-Power. When loaded the bulk of the pistol's weight sits inside the circle of the grip hand. Despite being all-steel, and 35 ounces, the pistol feels surprisingly light in the hand thanks to how that weight is distributed.
[The Czech people have been building forward-thinking and innovative weapons for a long time and many popular military weapons from around the world began in the mind of a CZ design. In fact, all the elements present in modern light machineguns began with the ZB-26 - Britain copied it under license as the BREN, and later adaptations used belt feed. Despite excellent designs of their own, it wasn't the German barrel design that we prefer today, it was the ZB with integral handle, 90 deg throw release, and bipod affixed to the receiver extension versus the early M60 where they had on the barrel!]
On the other side of the world the CZ design has inspired its own share of manufacturers who reproduce the design almost unchanged from the original - even those with polymer lowers!
Unfortunately, the CZ has a rather long, heavy trigger pull. This can be mitigated by placing the hammer on the "safety notch" which makes the first 3rd or so of the trigger's movement simple slack take-up, with actual cocking force appearing when the index finger has much better leverage. But clearly CZ must have decided the option of a thumb safety for C&L carry was desirable, and so added it. With the hammer back, safety on, the trigger is retracted most of the way back with short pull - not as crisp as a 1911, but plenty crisp for a combat gun and then some.
In "condition one" the CZ fits the hand perfectly! The trigger is where it needs to be and the grip feels great. Being located with its hinge-point forward, the thumb tends to land directly on the safety. IMO the CZ safety is better located the 1911, though having said that there have been many modifications along the way that reduces the difference to preference. I've got a Rock Island with a wonderful dual safety with just the right size and shape, AND resistance going up and down! The CZ has the same feel...the safety goes or off easily, but with a positive resistance that denotes surety.
So, with that said, I view the CZ's DA feature as more of a "second strike" capability rather than primary capability. For those uncomfortable with an applied external safety under pressure, the CZ offers that safety notch carry with a sort of "mid-point" pull that will get the first shot off. Since the CZ-75B has a firing pin block safety that demands the trigger be held back during hammer fall, there there is no risk in having the gun on the safety notch - if the parts snapped (HIGHLY NEVER LIKELY), the firing pin would remain locked, and at that point in the hammer's arc, it lacks sufficient force to detonate a cartridge - if it COULD, we just do away with all that needless cocking arc!
The CZ-75B is made better by the use of polymer frames, though there is a lot of comfort in steel...
The only way I know of to make the CZ-75B "better" is to fit an Armscor .22 TCM9R barrel intended for their RIA branded MAPP FS with polymer frame, yet a near "drop-in" fit for the "old original" CZ!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s4sHXBH7BQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s4sHXBH7BQ[/ame]The target in this video was a wedge-shaped section of poured concrete. Shooting was done holding the pistol in one hand and an iPhone in the other to capture the shooter's view which made accuracy a challenge.