The CZ 75, along with the Browning Hi-Power, SIG-P226 and Glock 17, is rightfully regarded as one of the world's great 9mm pistols. And although Ceska Zbrojovka's product line has expanded beyond the service auto that made it famous in the United States, the CZ 75 is what most American shooters reflexively associate with the company.

Naturally, over the years CZ has tweaked the original platform in an effort to offer model variants to the 75. But the new P-01 (despite the nomenclature) is the first such 75 offshoot to be offered in the new millennium. It's also the result of three years of development and exhaustive testing and will be the new sidearm of the Czech national police.

It features an aluminum alloy frame, a decocker, a firing-pin block and an M3 rail for tactical lights and/or laser sights. It's shorter overall (7.2 inches vs. 8.1 inches) and lighter (27 ounces vs. 34.3 ounces) than the standard 75B. It's also easier for the short-fingered to access the P-01's reconfigured trigger in the DA mode (which was just about the only complaint I've ever heard in regard to the 75, besides the fact that there's not quite enough slide to grab and rack back comfortably).

The frame of the P-01 is slightly wider at the top than that of a 75 for added rigidity, necessitated perhaps by the light rail. And the slide release has been reconfigured and is now a bit quicker to access.

Since more than 60 countries now use the CZ 75 in one official capacity or another, anything purporting to be an improvement had better be pretty good. I recently put close to 500 rounds through the new gun and was extremely impressed. I fired Winchester USA 115-grain FMJs, Black Hills 115-grain JHP Plus-Ps, Winchester Supreme SST 147-grain JHPs, Remington/UMC 124-grain FMJs and Speer Lawman 115-grain JHPs through it without a single hitch (and not even a cursory attempt at cleaning the pistol).

At 25 yards, five-shot groups ranged from acceptable (three to four inches) to superb (two inches or less). And all loads printed close enough to point of aim so that you'd feel confident using any of them. The best performers? Black Hills' 115-grain JHP Plus-P and Winchester's 147-grain SXT. My best effort with the Black Hills stuff would've been an honest 11⁄2 inches were it not for a single flyer. The Winchester stuff averaged slightly under two inches.

The double-action trigger pull was a smooth and hitch-less 12 pounds. In single-action mode, it broke at five pounds after considerable take-up.

I liked this pistol a lot, which is understandable because I'm a big fan of the CZ 75. The 75, however, is a full-size pistol, and I can certainly understand the appeal of a shorter, lighter variant. Since I'm a semi-casual sport shooter, the hammer drop, light rail and lanyard ring aren't much use to me. But make no mistake about it, CZ's P-01 appears to be an outstanding duty pistol. It's dead reliable, more accurate than it probably needs to be and a bit friendlier to the small-handed than the time-honored 75. Whether its appeal extends beyond its East European service niche remains to be seen. But it's definitely on the short list for "Most Desirable 9mm." --Payton Miller