CZ’s 75 ranks third in new gun sales in this month’s GunBroker.com Top Selling Report, presented by GunGenius.com, an impressive jump from its eighth-place finish last month. Only SIG’s P365 and P320 pistols outsold the CZ 75 this month, but both of those pistols are relatively new. The CZ, which debuted in 1975, is an entirely different design with all steel construction and a DA/SA design with an exposed hammer. It’s the only semiauto pistol on this month’s list of the five top-selling models that isn’t striker-fired and doesn’t come standard with a polymer frame.

The 75 Has Always Been a Winner

This honor is just one of the many accolades the CZ 75 has earned during its lifespan. Since its inception, the CZ 75 has been popular, particularly in Europe where it was one of the best semiauto pistol options readily available in Warsaw Pact nations. But the CZ’s design was reliable, the ergonomics were outstanding, and it was one of the most accurate high-capacity 9mms on the market. Not surprisingly, it also became one of the most copied pistol designs of the twentieth century.

The CZ 75 has been a huge success, and over a million of these guns have been sold (not including the millions of knock-offs that exist). It’s served as a sidearm for LE agencies and military units all around the world, and clearly the 75 remains a popular choice among shooters despite a sea of newer polymer-frame competitors.

But what makes the 75 so good? Many shooters believed that the rise of polymer-frame pistols like the Glock G17 SIG P320 represented the end of the SA/DA pistol era, and there’s no doubt that striker-fired polymer guns have eroded the popularity of most SA/DA designs. However, CZ has continued to evolve the 75 line of pistols so that they remained current and relative, and shooters have never lost their faith in the brand or its flagship autoloading pistol.

Part of the 75’s success has to do with the reliability of this gun. There’s no question that the CZ 75’s design will last for tens of thousands of rounds, but perhaps just as appealing is the way these guns feel in the hand. The 75’s bore sits very low in the hand and the gun is therefore easy to control and shoot quickly. Myself and several other IDPA shooters got a lesson in how well the 75 handles while shooting a match in Ohio. One of the nation’s top IDPA shooters showed up at the event to spectate and didn’t have a pistol. One of the competitors allowed this shooter to borrow his backup CZ 75 and he won the entire match with that borrowed CZ. I was squaded with that shooter during the match and can promise you that in the right hands the CZ 75 yields nothing to newer pistol designs.

Keeping Up With The Times

One of the primary reasons the CZ 75 remains so popular is that CZ has continued its commitment to this pistol model. Each year it seems that CZ adds a new model to its 75 lineup that is a new twist on the original concept. The modern CZ Shadow 2 Black & Blue is a dominant pistol in USPSA Production Class competition and there’s also an optics-ready version of this race-ready pistol available as well. The line-topping TS 2 Orange comes with a hand-fitted slide, barrel, and frame and a bull barrel design for faster follow-ups and less muzzle rise, which make it an ultra-smooth shooting semiauto 9mm that’s perfect for competition. Some of the modern features that have found their way onto CZ’s 75 pistols include ambi controls and front and rear slide serrations.

It's not just the full-sized 75 versions that attract attention from shooters. Carry guns are extremely popular and CZ’s P-01 is an outstanding option for shooters. Rather than steel, the frame is made from 7075 T6 aluminum so the overall weight of the gun is just 28 ounces. With a 3.75-inch barrel, the overall length of the pistol is 7.2 inches, making it a concealable and easy-to-carry take on the original 75. Despite being light and compact the P-01 boasts a 15+1 capacity of offers the rugged reliability we’ve come to expect from CZ 75 pistols.

The 75 isn’t the only CZ to make this month’s list of best-sellers. The company’s 457 bolt-action rifle ranks second in overall sales among new bolt-action rifles this month, moving up from sixth place last month. CZ’s Drake ranks fourth in new over/under shotgun sales this month while the company’s redhead shotgun ranks fourth, up from fifth and seventh (respectively) last month. CZ is also a dominant player in the side-by-side shotgun market: the elegant Bobwhite ranks second among new side-by-side sales this month and third among used SxSs, and the very cool Hammer double gun from CZ ranks third in new side-by-side sales and fifth in used sales.

CZ recently acquired Colt, so if you had impressive sales numbers this month for the Python (number one in new revolver sales, third in used sales) and the Anaconda (fourth in sales among new revolvers), it’s clear that CZ is a major competitor in a broad range of firearm markets. But it’s hard to say how much of that success would be possible without the longstanding success of the company’s 75 semiauto pistol. It was a great gun when it came to market in 1975, and despite almost five decades of fierce competition the CZ 75 remains on top.

Top Selling Guns Sold in June 2023

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

Editor's note: In the report, guns are rated from one to five within each category, with the number one gun being the most popular that month. The numbers are color-coded to show any changes in the ranks from the previous report.