Funny you should mention this.....
I have a full-sized BHP and it's replica, made in Israel, called a Kareen. Admittedly, I have loved the BHP since 1973, after I saw Al Pacino obtain one in the movie "Serpico". But these guns are too large for me to conceal although others are very good at it.
Thus, I recently acquired a CZ75 Compact which looks to me to be about the same size as that Girsan compact BHP. I know I can carry that concealed!
It's similar in some respects to the BHP. It is a TDA, not strictly a single action pistol, but it doesn't have a decocker so, once you load it and rack the slide, you're really expected to carry it cocked and locked like the BHP. BUT, if you're brave, you can lower the hammer, carefully, to get back to traditional double action.
Still, it greatly reminds me of the BHP.
Let’s talk about this a minute.
If a Hi Power fits your hand a CZ 75 will probably fit it well too.
The CZ 75 comes in a couple different flavors in terms of operating systems the pre-B and B models were DA pistols with a manual safety. It can be argued they were meant to be carried cocked and locked, but it isn’t correct.
In the first place it defeats the purpose of a DA trigger. The only advantage it would give if carried cocked and locked would be another attempt to fire a reluctant cartridge.
Secondly, the ergonomics of that manual safety are wrong.
It’s too low profile and too far forward to consistently and cleanly disengage. Just compare the 1911 and Hi Power safety levers to the CZ 75 and the difference is clear.
Finally, the original pre-B CZ 75 was one of the early “wondernines”:
- Heckler & Koch VP70 (1970);
- Smith & Wesson Model 59 (1971);
- CZ-75 (1975);
- Star Model 28 (1975); and
- Beretta 92 (1976).
This is a pre-B CZ 75:
And here it is again with a a much later alloy frame CZ 75D Compact PCR. Note the manual safety on the pre-B, compared to the decocking lever on the later CZ-75D compact PCR:
Here is a steel frame CZ 75B compact with the manual safety and a decocker equipped CZ 2075 RAMI. As you have noted the CZ 75 “B” models both full and compact, can be carried cocked and locked, but you need a pretty long thumb to reliably disengage the safety without shifting your grip.
Interestingly, when you decock a D model, the hammer ends up resting in the same position as a B model with the hammer on the quarter cock notch, and they also then have essentially identical trigger reach. Since the B and the D variants have firing pin safeties I have no issue carry a B on the quarter cock notch in DA mode to get the same short trigger reach as a decocked D model.
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That’s all back ground for the statement that there isn’t any big risk to manually de cocking a CZ 75 and no bravery is required, just a reasonable amount of care.
The Pre-B and similar clones such as the AT-84 and other Tanfoglio made copies of the pre B CZ 75 are no less safe than de cocking a 1911 or Hi Power. On any of the pre B or B CZ 75s you just control the hammer by lifting it off the sear with your thumb, then pull the trigger, lower the hammer just past the sear, then release the trigger and lower the hammer the rest of the way to the quarter cock notch, which will catch the hammer if it slips with the trigger released,
In the B and D models it is safer still given the incorporation of a trigger activated firing pin safety, which adds another level of protection as long as you have released the trigger.
S&W used a de cocking lever on the Model 59, just like it did on the Model 39 but it was by no means a universal feature on DA pistols, and CZ still sells models that use both the B or D system.
