While we’re on the subject of perfection, the closest we got to it during this test—at least in our opinion—was the CZ P-10 S. To be honest, this was a bit of a surprise, at least on Terrill’s part, and it kind of sneaked up on us.
The P-10 S is the subcompact 9mm variant in CZ’s striker-fired series, and we received the “Optics-Ready” version. CZ sells different adapter plates so you can install the reflex sight of your choice. With that capability, the P-10 S has just about every feature you could want.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
The pistol comes with 12-round magazines but will work with the 15-, 19- and 21-round magazines made for its larger siblings, the P-10 F and P-10 C. The P-10 S sports superb texturing on the grip, triggerguard and even on the side of the frame, where the shooter’s support thumb would rest. The front and rear cocking serrations are absolutely functional rather than decorative, and the oversized triggerguard is perfect for gloved hands in cold weather—an overlooked feature on most pistols of this sort.
The frame is exceptionally ergonomic, and with the undercut triggerguard and significant relief under the slide, it provides a very high grip on the pistol, which already has a low bore axis. With an extra-crisp 4.53-pound trigger break, the P-10 S has a relatively flat recoil impulse, making it easy to control for fast follow-up shots. The reset is also quite short and positive, further enabling those quick follow-ups. During our testing, the P-10 S also exhibited stellar accuracy, allowing us to shoot sub-1-inch groups consistently at 15 yards with a Trijicon RMR installed.
Because he’s left-handed, the big pluses for Terrill are the reversible magazine release and the ambidextrous slide release. He was also impressed with the sight arrangement, which on our test gun included a blacked-out rear sight and a tritium front sight with a high-visibility orange ring. Despite being an anti-polymer traditionalist, he kept begrudgingly scoring the pistol highly in each category, from value to accuracy. I was stunned when he gave the trigger a “5,” since he isn’t a fan of striker-fired pistols, either.
Despite his high marks, Terrill told me that the P-10 S didn’t really sing to him, though he definitely respected its performance and feature set. As for me, I’ll admit my bias. I think the P-10 series is the pinnacle of modern, compact fighting pistols—even more so when you consider the price. I cannot name a change I would make to this pistol. The only thing I used to dislike was the extra-sharp texturing on the backstrap of the original P-10 C, but that has been remedied with the new U.S.-made pistols and is now much more comfortable. When it came down to it, feature for feature, per dollar spent, the P-10 S was, at least for this round, the best of the breed.
