CZ

Česká zbrojovka — CZ — was founded in 1936 in Uherský Brod, Czechoslovakia, and has grown into one of the world's most respected firearms makers, exporting to more than a hundred countries. Its defining product is the CZ 75, introduced in 1975: a high-capacity 9mm with the slide riding inside the frame rails, prized for its low bore axis and superb ergonomics. It became one of the most widely issued — and most widely copied — service pistols ever made, and still anchors CZ's competition lineup through guns like the Shadow 2.

The range runs far beyond the 75. The striker-fired P-10 competes head-to-head with the polymer duty pistols, the Scorpion EVO carbine and pistol are mainstays of the PCC world, and the Bren rifles bring a modern military platform to the commercial market. CZ's rimfire and centerfire bolt guns — the 457 and the 600 — are favorites among accuracy-minded shooters, while a deep bench of over/under and side-by-side shotguns (Redhead, Drake, Bobwhite, Sharp-Tail) covers the field and clays.

In 2021 CZ's parent company acquired Colt, forming the Colt CZ Group, with U.S. operations based in Kansas City, Kansas. For shooters who want European engineering and value across pistols, rifles, and shotguns alike, CZ is hard to beat.