If you’re a fan of striker-fired pistols, then you live in a world where you’re drowning in gun options. If you’re a DA/SA, hammer-fired fan, well, you live in a desert of guns. People talk about food deserts, but the most oppressed class of people in America is clearly hammer-fired DA/SA fans.
Luckily, I’m a CZ fan and CZ still offers some very good hammer-fired options. The CZ 75 is their bread-and-butter gun, and the majority of their handguns are derived from that time-tested design. This includes the modern P-09 series. The latest is the P-09 Nocturne pistol series and CZ makes both compact and full-sized P-09 pistols.
With that said, the compact model used to be called the P-07, but with the introduction of the Nocturne series, they’ve ditched the P-07 moniker. It’s the P-09F and P-09C. Why? I’m not sure. Probably just to confuse me. I have both, but today we’re talking about the P-09F Nocturne.
What’s New With the Nocturne?
With the Nocturne, CZ has finally given modern shooters exactly what a lot of us have wanted in an updated CZ 75…a polymer-framed, DA/SA, hammer-fired pistol. Models have existed for more than a decade, but the Nocturne has slightly revamped the design to modernize it better.
This includes making the slide optic-ready. You have no idea how many times I considered sending my old P-09 off to have an optic cut added. I loved the gun, but I really love red dots on my handguns. It’s a cheat code for speed and accuracy. Nocturne slides, however, are quite shallow, leaving little room for optics.
To mitigate that, the Nocturne uses an RMSc footprint, which is what we see on most micro- and subcompact pistols. The Nocturne is what I consider a true optics-ready pistol because of its combination of a low cut and sights that allow you to absolutely co-witness with the included irons.
Beyond the optic-ready design, they also redid the texture on the grip. It’s much more aggressive now. They took some cues from the P-10 series and instituted those changes on the P-09.
The slide also has much deeper serrations. That’s important because like the CZ 75, the P-09 uses inverse rails. That means the portion of the slide you can grab is quite small. Deeper serrations give you a better grip on what little slide there is above the frame to manipulate.
What’s Not So New
The P-09 Nocturne keeps all the good features of the criminally underrated P-09/P-07. That includes the thin, lithe grip with interchangeable backstraps. This grip is one of my favorites: it conforms well to my hand and doesn’t feel like I’m holding a 2×4.
We get 19 rounds of 9mm capacity it the full-size P-09F with the flush fit magazine, and widely available CZ-made +2 magazine extensions will bring that to 21.
The magazine release is a button that can be pressed inward like any other. However, you can also press it from a ledge at the rear, which will drop the magazine.
Shooters can swap between an ambidextrous manual safety for cocked and locked carry or an ambidextrous de-cocker. The gun comes with both and it’s easy to switch between them. The Nocturne also has a rail for lights, lasers, and chainsaws.
Going Live With the Nocturne
When the Nocturnes premiered, they were hit with a wave of bad reviews focusing on reliability issues. I saw that and instantly knew the problem. The optic mounting screws were too long. I know this because I once had the same issue with the Gen 4 GLOCK 17. Remember, the P-09 doesn’t have much slide to play with.
You need to use short screws or they’ll reach too deep and impact the extractor causing…problems. Stick to 9mm-long screws. I’ve used 9mm M4 screws on both my P-09F and P-09C with a few different optics and haven’t had any problems.
Currently, I have a Steiner MPS-C mounted with 9mm screws and it’s been problem-free. A few months ago, CZ cleared out P-09 magazines for whatever reason, so I have seven of them, which has made this test much easier. I put 600 rounds of cheap Monarch steel-cased ammo through the gun with two failures to fire.
The rounds had a good impact on the primer, so I dropped them into a Ruger P85 I was shooting and got the same result. They didn’t fire. Cheap ammo does cheap ammo things sometimes. The P-09F Nocturne had no issues.
Holding On
A big full-sized 9mm handgun isn’t ever going to have all that much recoil. The P-09 shoots quite flat, and I was able to commit to .21 splits with my strings of fire, sometimes dipping into .20 and .19, but never losing control. My shots are hitting an A-zone at seven yards without a problem. Sure, that’s not impressive compared to a pro, but for a low-skilled, high-opinion shooter, that’s not bad.
The new grip texture feels great and the gun doesn’t slip or slide around in my hand. The P-09 F has a good beavertail to jam your hand against. The trigger guard has a nice undercut for the firing hand, but I’d kill for a second for my support hand.
The de-cocker is massive and easy to reach. A press downward drops the hammer. It’s got solid placement and moves easily. The slide release is large enough to serve dinner on. My thumbs don’t pin it down, and I can easily reach the release to drop the slide when I reload.
Ergonomics are always on point with CZ in my experience, so I’m not surprised.
The Nocturne – A Straight Shooter
The DA/SA design means we deal with two trigger pulls. Out of the box, the double-action trigger was a real pain. You expect a long, heavy first trigger pull, and that’s what I got. However, there are almost three distinct phases: the initial takeup, a heavy wall, then a light wall…then a bang.
Out of the box, it was rough and I disliked it. However, after a good mix of live and dry fire, it smoothed out. It still has three distinct phases, but it’s smoother. It’s certainly not a great double-action trigger (yet), but it’s acceptable.
The single action is, of course, much better. It’s obviously lighter and much shorter, but the reset is fairly long for a single-action trigger.
At 15 yards, I could print five-round groups, initiated by a double-action trigger pull, inside a 3×5 index card. At 25 yards, I could keep a six-inch gong moving. At 50 yards, I could hit an IPSC target with ease and even make most of my hits on a reduced-sized IPSC target if I took my time.
The Nocturne is a straight shooter for the most part. It might not be a 2011 printing one-hole groups, but I’m not good enough to notice that anyway.
Finally
I’m a fan of hammer-fired DA/SA pistols. Why? Well, that would be its own article. Let’s just say I like them and I’m glad someone is out there producing a modern option that’s not all that expensive (under $600 retail). It won’t appeal to everyone, but I’ll keep my hammer-fired guns until you can somehow tempt me away. Good luck with that.
Now, if CZ would only produce a hammer-fired DA/SA micro compact, or an X series Nocturne, we’d be cooking with gas.
– Travis Pike, Shooting News Weekly