Zastava CZ999 (from cz99 to springfield XD)

journey · 发表于 2013-11-21 20:08

Weekend is almost here and here is my belated review of CZ999. Enjoy.
See my first post with the picture of CZ999.
I bought the CZ999 in 40sw.
Shot 200 rounds and it was trouble free.
THe one I got was factory ported. I paid $340 from claisc firearms. The one I got has a S/N under 100!
Does it worth the money? Absolutely. For what it is, I think it worth up to $550.
Will I buy another one? Absolutely. I will try to find another one with differnt barrel length.
Remember, it is not a sig. There is slide to receiver play, rough edges, bur, and etc. There is rough milling marks on the inside non sliding surface. It is there because of the price. Think about an AK vs AR. You got the concept.
It is accurate and built like a tank. It is heavy and solid. not really a carry gun though.
The grip is on the large side. So, if your glove size is smaller than L, it might not fit you.

I didn't copy this from somewhere on the web. I am the real author.
We can't talk about Zastava CZ999 without the history of Yugo/Serbia/Croatia...

A little history about what was going on in eastern Europe.
The Zastava factory was and still is in Yugo (Serbia). Zastava had made firearms since 1800s and we all know that they make one of the good/authentic AKs even today.
The Kosovo war made a small portion of Yugo became independent and this is nowdays called Croatia. Later Croatia joined NATO.
The remaining part of Yogo is called Serbia nowadays.
The Zastava factory remained in Serbia.

The CZ99 series pistols were designed by Zastava in the 80s by learning/copying from neighbor Swiss and Germany.
It looks like a sig 229 Air Force (M11) but the internal is more like a walther P88. (Walther P88 was designed to participate the American M-9 contract but Beretta got it.) (Later Wather continued to sell it in the civilian market but the sales and production was very limited. Some say that MSRP was $1200 years ago. The design was made in a rush, they basically just took the beretta magazines and altered the location of the notch). CZ99 also copied this.
Back to CZ99 pistols; This pistol, the same pistol was used by both sides during the Kosovo war.
Post war, a company was found in Croatia called IM metal later renamed to HS products. It is safe to say that employees and designers had some influence by the CZ-99.
In 95, they designed HS95 which was basically a copy of CZ99. Just like CZ99, HS95 was reliable but it received criticism due to the heavy casting frame.
In 2000, they designed HS2000 which was only available in 9mm.
You may know from this point forward. Remington realized a great market for HS2000 and started importing them and rebranded as Xreme Duty-XD.
Later, Remington hit home run and developed a lot more models and calibers in the XD line: xdm, xds, xd compact, and etc.

On the other side in Serbia, Zastava continued to produce the CZ99 line products using the same design but name might be differnt (CZ99, CZ999, CZ999 scorpian, and the new CZ999, creative huh?). A few different importers had brought CZ99 into the states, like EAA and century.
EAA named them to EZ9 for 9mm. and EZ40 for 40sw. I am sure there are a few more names and models that all these importers use. Google is your friend here.

So, it is not a stretch to say that CZ99 (CZ999) is a in law side (ex) grandfather of XD.
I put xd and cz999 side by side and had a real hard time believing the fact that they are somewhat related.

check here for the name and model explaination:
http://www.cz99.org/