Mushroom Hunting With the CZ-82

I got 75 rounds through my CZ-82 today while I was mushroom hunting and all was pretty well. My wife managed to get it to fail to feed twice, with the round making it about halfway into the chamber both times. I'm thinking it was probably due to the "Liberace hold" which slowed the slide enough to just barely dump the empty case. It never went wrong in my hands, so I have to think it was just a difference in grip.

The double action trigger is long and light, which is always nice. The single action pull is....long and light, but shorter than the DA and also a bit lighter. I was expecting pretty good accuracy, and I was not disappointed. The P64 in 9x18 is very accurate but its small stature make it a little hard to get all of its potential out. The CZ-82 is big enough to be tame and not take chunks out of your hand if your grip is high and firm like mine. It is big enough to be pleasant to shoot, but small enough to be carried all day pretty comfortably. All in all, it is fantastic value for money, and is really a generally very good firearm.

Being a commie-era gun, the CZ-82 isn't without its quirks. The generous plastic grips fit my hand perfectly and feel great with a one-handed stance. But they totally block the mag release, which is annoying. I can get around that problem by slightly cocking the gun to the left in my hand when I go to change mags, but I think I'll just swap out grip panels at some point. I believe they are generally compatible with CZ-83 grips, and the CZ-83 is still in production, and can be special ordered in 9x18 (it's normally a .380ACP).

Above: the oversize thumb rest that blocks the mag release.

A guy might be able to carry a CZ-82 tucked inside the waistband, but it is a bit of a stretch for me since I'm skinny, but even I could get it done if I had a cover shirt or a jacket. The thing is that if I'm going to wear a cover shirt, I'll carry my M&P9C which holds the same number of rounds, is smaller, lighter, has less felt-recoil, and is more powerful. The P64 is considerably smaller and nicer to carry.


But back on the positive, the sights are big and easy to find at speed. Also, the feed ramp is nicely polished, and it was very reliable when my wife wasn't shooting. It even fed a Silver Bear 94gr hollow point, but to be fair, I only tried the one, so I can't say for sure that it will always feed them. And to brag a bit, I was able to launch that hollow point into a 6"x8" steel....thing at the range from about 25 yards.

Over all, I'm impressed and will try to get a whole lot more rounds out of this thing and do any necessary updates. Might want to pick one of these up if you would like a sort of "my first centerfire" training pistol. Ammo is affordable right now and the pistol is damn near cheap.