CZC A01 LD Review - The Ultimate DA/SA Competition Pistol for USPSA????

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

***UPDATE*** Regarding CZ75 Mags - What is required are both their grips and a Shadow 2 Mag Release. It will actually seat with 75 Mags… however they would shake around quite a bit and wouldn’t be good for the long run. Additionally the stock Mag Release is a touch wider… while it can catch… it doesn’t have that much holding it in place and I see why using an S2 Mag release is ideal. Reliability - I’ve ran in two matches thus far along with some practices. In the matches, I have the occasional stovepipe. To be clear that it’s been twice in both matches… so 1 in 6 stages. I can’t find the root cause and I even tried an 11lb spring and still had the issue. Also, for whatever reason, the Buffalo Creek Ammo is hard to extract when you goto unload and show clear… I verified this on my A01C. Optic Cut - Wicked Arms has been fantastic to work with. On time and great work. The owner is very communicative and would highly recommend them. I know you guys/gals are looking at this gun closely… but I’m posting this update as I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with these as my main Competition gun. A major draw back for me is the fact that the extractor and Trigger pins are staked. I’m a guy that does preventative maintenance and the fact I broke 3 punches and some drill bits to try and remove the pins is a major red flag for me. Essentially I’d have to send this off to a gunsmith or CZ Customs if I want to replace springs. For the individual looking for gun to shoot… may not be as big of an issue… but for the serious competitor… not ideal. If I’m wrong on this, please feel free to clarify.

[@randylee4884]

I have run the A01 in CO for the past couple of years. The guns are phenomenally accurate. I run accuracy drills at 25 yds at the beginning and end of my practice sessions. 4 shots from the draw on a USPSA head. 4 Alpha are frequent with sub 1" groups occurring with some regularity.

[@HunterMikeWI]

My A01-SD OR is my favorite competition piece. I also have an LD but my old eyes aren’t doing well with irons. I called CZC and they said I should have no issue running the SD slide on the LD if I wanted. It’s a beast with a 507 Comp. Easy 2” groups at 25yds with 150gr coated bullets at 130PF. I have 4k+ rounds through my SD and it’s still tight. The smoothness of the action is like a SigP210. I sold my Shadow 2 because the trigger break is so much cleaner.

[@CntBckt]

I like the ergos of that frame. The blending looks incredible.

[@r3h4b]

beautiful craftsmanship; rly makes me hate my poly guns no matter the utility. thanks for the overview.

[@LVbibby]

Thanks for the video sir! You are the man Paul and maybe a mind reader. I've been eyeballing the A01 a lot lately the bull barrel and 50 ounce chonker make it dreamy to me glad you liked it! Damn 1500 is nutty going to have to putter around on gunbroker now my wallet already hurts. Keep us updated on these beauties and how they are running for you.

[@BA-oy9uo]

Was waiting for this video to drop!

[@czarmorer]

Great review! I can't wait to see you running this beast next match!

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@czarmorer already sent it off to Wicked for the optic Cut 😎

[@czarmorer]

@@TheGentlemanGunner Nice!!

[@bacanthony3659]

I own three of these, including two of the hard chromed Limited SAO models. They are considerably nicer than anything CZ builds. The frame is actually machined instead of cast and the overall attention to detail to better.

[@Denvco1]

The A01 LD is amazing. I have one in 9mm and another in 357 sig. Absolute beasts.

[@brandon6896]

How do you like the 357 sig compared to the 9mm?

[@Denvco1]

@@brandon6896 ​@brandon6896 absolutely a tack driver. Steady and accurate. Smoking round. Expensive but hell of an investment

[@richardw2801]

A fellow CZC A-01 LD enjoyer 🥂

[@isidrosevier1125]

You can get a tanfoglio defiant limited master for $2200, comes with a bull barrel, magwell, tuned up SA trigger, 4 mags. You can get it optic cut and ported if you want. It is also a gorgeous gun.

[@LVbibby]

If SAO then not Carry Optics legal

[@daniellamon8875]

You can also get a bull barrel that's threaded from the aftermarket for a silencer or compensator. It's a real nice platform that offers a whole lot.

[@isidrosevier1125]

@@LVbibby you can get a double action seat cage for $120 and a disconnector and your good to go. Also, with the tanfoglio, you can get a barrel and magazine for .45 acp, 40 s&w, .38 super, and 10mm and use the same frame.

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@isidrosevier1125 that’s good to know, I may have to experiment with that

[@doggmansnapperdude3405]

I admit not to know too much about tangfolio but for $2,200 wouldn’t it be better to pay the extra $400 for the CZC I’m also new to CZ’s I just got my first cajunized P-01 with a RMRcc direct mounted on it and love it but may buy an A-01 LD just bc I think it would be so fun to shoot and look at as well I’ve never shot in a competition and am not the best shot either but want to be I’m waiting on confirmation of membership to an amazing gun club with an amazing range of ranges and a 24hr indoor pistol range so I aim to start practicing

[@a7riii518]

I personally own a A01LD and have shot it in various matches. I like it very much and think it is the best CZ75 series pistol. I hope this will be helpful to those who are considering purchasing one, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Since the A01 has a machined frame/slide and tight fitting by hand, it defenetly needs some break in shoot, plus original finish is in blue finish (since that tight fit, CZC wanted thin coating for smooth function). This will wear off quickly, so CZC also offer something like DLC coating and various other finishes. I recommend to choose other finish or pick one that already finished which ever you like.

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@a7riii518 this was helpful. I actually plan to send both off and have them PvD’ … coats are typically thin, but ready to polish that if needed. Thanks again for sharing!

[@a7riii518]

@@TheGentlemanGunner oh, that's very nice! I hope your A01s turn out good. By the way, the grip screws that come with them break right off. They are compatible with 1911 screws, so please replace them with custom 1911 screws.

[@richjarvis348]

Just in time for Christmas!

[@CeylonShooter]

I am excited to see how you convert this to carry optics and shoot with it…. I am watching you😅

[@GunProfessionals]

Thank you for the excellent A01LD review video! Have you seen the movie "Bad Boys: Ride or Die"? The villain played by Eric Dane uses a A01LD in hard chrome finish. Originally, they plan to shoot it like a corner shot gun with a camera mounted on the slide and/or magazine base pad and VR goggles, but they peobably cut it or didn't shoot and there's no such scene in the movie, only a brief shot of a sniper scene with a pistol scope attached. Even so, you can clearly see CZ Custom marking on the slide. The A01LDs (they made a couple) were originally built for John Wick 4 but they changed prop master and didn't happen and then they went to Bad Boys 4.

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@GunProfessionals sure did… once I saw that… I went looking into these for fun and this where I landed.

[@jknewb6276]

That dust cover is legit a reason to buy it in itself. Just my opinion! 😎

[@Robert-wt5jw]

I really enjoy your videos. Thank you very much. I shoot a TS 2 Orange. Various brands of 115 and 124. Over 5000 rounds and have never had a single failure of any kind. I’m interested in buying the CZ A01-LD but a few of the KZbinrs say it’s not very reliable. Have you had reliability issues that you can share? I would hate to buy an expensive pistol and find that jams a lot. Thank you so much.

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@Robert-wt5jw as of this video, I’ve gotten to run my A01 in two matches. Both times I had stovepipes. The first time the gun was stock and the 2nd time I dropped the recoil spring to 11lbs to see if I could get a quicker ejection… still the same results. For me… this is typically part of the process of both learning the platform from a shooting and mechanical perspective. As I’ve dug more into it, working on it isn’t difficult… but what dislike is how the ejector and trigger pin are staked which means I have to give this gun to a gunsmith if want to change my Ejector and Trigger return spring as I do proactive maintenance on things like this. The fact that I broke 3 punches and a couple of drill bits… as well as the nice guys at Wicked Arms mentioned they had challenges with it… is something to take note of.

[@colin8601]

Yoy can buy a ts2 orange, have a bull barrel stock from factory, and send it off to be milled for a dot all for cheaper than a a01

[@LVbibby]

It's also SAO so not carry optics legal plus he has MPA double stacks for limited optics.

[@a7riii518]

The TS2 is certainly a good choice, with a bull barrel and a thicker, heavier frame. Just as the Shadow 2 Orange bushing was inspired by the CZ Custom AccuBushing, the TS2 was designed and inspired by the A01 (I think). As others have answered, TS2 on the SAO trigger does not fit if you are shooting in the Production or Carry Optics division. So I feel that each model is well segregated.

[@bacanthony3659]

I have a few A01’s, as well as the TSO and TS2. The A01 is a higher quality pistol. They also use a forged frame, while the CZ’s are cast.

[@garyokie4893]

I have an A01 LD and it’s scary accurate. Wow! You got a great deal OP! Most people don’t realize that the A01 takes a lot of break in time, 500-750 to even 1K rounds. It’ll be accurate as hell right out of the box though. I’ve seen a lot of shooters give up on the A01 just because they didn’t understand the break in period. I have a lot of high end handguns and the A01 is close to my most inexpensive and it’ll outshoot most anything out there. The first couple times I brought it to the range it completely astonished me how pinpoint accurate it is. I’m thinking very seriously about buying another and pimping it out.

[@pablofortain4945]

Why all gun channels has almost the same type of music intro??

[@henrywong3871]

To use cz 75 magazines, you need to switch the magazine release also. Cz custom has it on their website. Lok grips makes nice grips with a slight palm swell. You can email them to make the inner side of the grips thicker to work with cz75 magazines. Be careful with the grip screws. Just snug, no lock tite. The screw head breaks off easily. Had to use easy out to extract broken screw. For holsters, don't use the cz custom one. The holster cracks easily. Blade tech for Shadow 2 will fit and better designed to not crack. I use gx products holster but that takes like 7 months to receive. Red Hill tactical is solid

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@henrywong3871 let me get the parts installed and I’ll follow up on this. But nothing was mentioned about mag releases other than you can damage them if you don’t use the correct grips.

[@henrywong3871]

My fault. I haven't looked at the cz custom site in the three years since I bought my a01. They used to say you need to replace the magazine catch also. Now its suggested that you replace with a cz75 mag catch. I bought the cz custom a01 cz75 mag catch but they don't sell it anymore

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@henrywong3871 it’s good you bring it up, because what I would hate is to say I’m missing a step regardless… once I got the other one… I’ll slap all the parts on it and go from there.

[@jamespeters11603]

I’ve owned 6? A01s, currently running a SD. Use the shadow 2 mag catch, the a01 mag catch doesn’t grab as much of the mag. I was having issues with mags hanging up in my patriot defense grips with the inserts so I removed the insert. Custom grips aren’t 100% needed. Buy a bunch of screws from CZC, the heads like to break off if you reuse them a bunch. I typically replace them after tightening them 2-3 times. A slave pin for the sear/ sear cage is going to be needed, much easier to put together outside of the frame

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@jamespeters11603 this is the information we’re looking for… thank you sir! 🫡

[@jblack128]

Please elaborate on your statement at 15:50, lighter bullet weight equates to exiting the muzzle faster making it more accurate… if that’s the case I’m switching to 95 grain to shoot laser beams 😅

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@jblack128 sure… to give you an idea… most factory 115s are typically around 1150 FPS… where as most 147s can land around 850-900 fps. I’ve played with a friends 95gr load… sub 1400 fps… feels great out of comped/ported 2011s we run for IDPA

[@Gun_Dork]

That’s a steal!

[@LVbibby]

Also as another shameless CZ and Shadow enjoyer and homer never apologize we have it figured out the others are just behind haha.

[@RiggidTactical]

You look short in this video 😂hope you are staying hydrated

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@RiggidTactical I wonder if I just over-hydrate and I get bumped by the SO/RO then pee… is not only a Re-shoot… but a new gun as well? 😂 (Inside joke for y’all looking at this 😂)

[@RiggidTactical]

@@TheGentlemanGunner 🤔 I think it is worth a try!

[@RiggidTactical]

@@TheGentlemanGunner hahaha can't give away how some of us get free guns!

[@gedspeed6009]

Try the Tanfoglio Stock II Optic Ready :)

[@jdontcare8520]

Just started watching, but the new TS2 Orange has a bull barrel.

[@johnelder7449]

Great video and i subsribed

[@saintmichael753]

👍

[@leftyo9589]

at the price, i think id be more inclined to buy a dan wesson dwx even if i have to pay someone to cut it for an optic.

[@LVbibby]

The DWX has an optic ready version available now.

[@Stormtrooper_Accuracy]

Classic firearms theme music?

[@DTWCT]

Came to comment about this. I doubt that classic owns their intro song, but he needs to make his intro unique

[@oslobodjenja3948]

What kind of camera do you use on your hat?

[@colin8601]

That is a insta360 go. Maybe the go3 version not sure. It's a solid hat cam, been rocking one all this season. And the editing app it comes with for your phone is easy to cut up your clips

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@oslobodjenja3948 I use either an Insta360 go2 or go3

[@oslobodjenja3948]

@@TheGentlemanGunner Thank you. Looking into getting a camera to see a different angle for when I practice but got tired sifting through pages of stuff.

[@DTWCT]

Gotta get your own unique intro song dude

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@DTWCT you can pay and make it for me

[@awokeone7997]

Only thing im not a fan of it, its the rounded trigger guard, dislike that in the CZ 75. They should of gone with the Shadow 2 squared trigger guard.

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@awokeone7997 I’m with you on that

[@johnkoppi1960]

Is this gun IPSC legal?

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

@@johnkoppi1960 possibly Standard. I cannot find anything on the minimum weight. But everything from a 30k foot perspective would suggest yes. Double check this though

[@jimhovater8755]

Ultimate DA/SA? Only if you have LARGE hands.

[@MassJass]

The A01 takes CZ P-09 mags.

[@MrKlein83]

P-09/P-10 magazines

[@davidarnold7295]

Can you please flip the pistol around a little more often...geez

[@TheGentlemanGunner]

This must be how “1 shot per second” at the range was born 😂

[@pablofortain4945]

Why all gun channels has almost the same type of music intro??