Fett’s CZ
• Based on a CZ 75 P-01 compact
• Boba Fett color scheme, laser engraving by Fire 4 Effect
• Chambered in 9mm Luger
Among pistol enthusiasts, hardware from CZ USA has become an increasingly popular shooting alternative to the usual handheld suspects (we’re looking at you Glock). The C and the Z are short for Ceská Zbrojovka—loosely translating to Czech Armory—a Czech Republic-based armsmaker that has existed since before the Second World War. Since then, in its current configuration, it has flourished making small arms for the hunting and sporting markets. CZ USA is, of course, the North American arm of that international operation.
Fire 4 Effect, established in 2010 in El Paso, Texas, has become an increasingly popular modifier of CZ pistol platforms. Most recently, UN12 featured one of F4E’s customized CZ Shadow 2s in Issue 010, which was essentially a fully fitted example of an off-the-shelf Fire 4 Effect CZ pistol.
This one is a little bit different. While the Shadow 2 is CZ’s full-size offering, this particular pistol is a 75 P-01, CZ’s more compact alloy-frame. And while the aforementioned Shadow 2 we featured was more a general showcase of what Fire 4 Effect does, this one was built for a specific customer.
The CZ’s owner is Tim Seargeant, marketing manager for Kriss USA. Seargeant is a fan of hammer-fired handguns, hence his gravitation toward CZ products. That and CZ pistols’ other signature design feature, which is that the slide operates inside the frame rather than sitting atop it.
When his thoughts turned to planning a custom build he’d originally intended it to be a Kriss Sphinx, which was partly inspired by the CZ design, being a hammer-fired pistol whose slide actuates inside the frame. Through no fault of his own, the project stalled, so Seargeant put it on hold. What he did have was a P-01 lying around that he wasn’t really doing anything else with, so he decided to employ that pistol in a custom build. Fire 4 Effect was tapped to help execute that build.
To begin with, the P-01 received Fire 4 Effect’s Britva (razor) slide package. This includes more pronounced (deeper and larger) front and rear serrations to enhance grip and improve slide manipulation. Plus, it just looks cooler. Dual vents are added to the forward portion to reveal the barrel, which in this case is an OEM unit polished by Fire 4 Effect as part of the Britva treatment.
Laser engraving is another area of expertise that Fire 4 Effect offers, and the treatments made as part of the Britva package include enhancing the factory markings, along with adding the “Britva” script to the slide’s left side and the Fire 4 Effect logo to its right just ahead of the ejection port. To add a bit of custom themed color flare to the build, a Mandalorian-styled Cerakote scheme was mapped out and performed (professional Cerakote application being another facet of Fire 4 Effect’s multivarious talent set).
According to Fire 4 Effect co-founder Will Wingfield, the original idea was to do a Star Wars theme from the outset—tentatively a black/white Stormtrooper motif. Given the ongoing buzz regarding “The Mandalorian” TV series, the Stormtrooper focus was swapped for the existing theme.
“The Boba Fett theme has been done over and over by a number of great shops, we wanted to take a run at it and see how it would turn out,” Wingfield says. “We hadn’t seen one done on a CZ to date; typically you see Glocks and rifles done with this.” Regular readers might recall the Mandalorian-themed AR pistol we featured in Issue 008.
Although the two guns share no common link beyond certain markings and the color scheme, this CZ P-01 would make a perfect companion to that piece. To the uninitiated into Star Wars universe geekdom, Mandalorians were a galactic warrior culture who proved their worth to their clansmen and the galaxy at large through feats of martial strength, both in battle against varying foes and by hunting the most ferocious of extraterrestrial creatures and humanoids alike.
But we digress. The gun’s colors take inspiration from Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armor (although Fett himself was not actually a Mandalorian—but that’s a whole other story). Red and yellow were applied toward the P-01’s muzzle end, trigger guard, and toward the bottom of the front strap in eye-catching slanted bands against a base of battleworn gray. Touches of red were also brushed sparingly across the ribs of the grip panels.
“The process is pretty typical in that we layer multiple colors; the design is really not standardized at all but there’s a definite theme that goes along with it,” Wingfield says. “One big part of this is giving it that worn, beat-up look, so there’s some scuffing and light marking of the paint prior to finishing.”
Further laser etchings on the frame, again toward the muzzle end, include two symbols peculiar to Fett himself: a stylized horned skull often taken as a representation of the Mythosaurs, savage creatures from the Mandalorian home planet. On the opposite side we find another stylized symbol referred to by Star Wars enthusiasts as Jaster Mereel’s Sigil—Mereel being Jango (Boba’s father) Fett’s mentor, and thus representing something of a family crest to the Fett lineage.
Whatever your feeling on the lore behind it all, the very detailed symbols cut into the CZ metal should at the very least be illustrative of the painstaking detailed work Fire 4 Effect can apply to their craft, and that’s something any firearms customizer can appreciate.
While the Fire 4 Effect package doesn’t modify the pistol’s frame to any great extent, care is taken to polish critical points of contact where the slide fits into and actuates against it to ensure smooth operation. This is especially important when components have been re-coated and their surface dimensions altered, however slightly, as is the case with this Cerakoted P-01. In essence, the pistol’s action now operates more effortlessly than it did from the factory—smooth as glass, as they say.
The final modification is a Pro Package trigger group upgrade curated by Cajun Gun Works out of Louisiana, USA. The package includes a race hammer and new hammer pins, a hammer reach-reduction disconnector, floating trigger pin and reduced-power spring, adjustable trigger, extended firing pin with a reduced-power spring, and a custom-fitted firing pin retention pin, among other things. It’s in effect a complete re-imagining of the fire-control mechanism.
While they’re obviously fans of the CZ’s OEM mechanics, Fire 4 Effect enthusiastically recommends the upgrade for a marked improvement over the original—no mean feat.
Some may note the conspicuous lack of an optic. Seargeant didn’t opt for an RDS cut on the slide, although Fire 4 Effect does offer that option. It wasn’t an oversight. Seargeant, who competes in local USPSA and steel matches (using a CZ Shadow 2 Orange) explains: “When I look at my results in Production Class, or Stock Service Pistol Class, in the various matches I shoot, my times are not too far off from the winners in the Carry Optics Class, despite them having the RDS and more ammo in their mags. Therefore, I don’t feel like the added cost and learning curve to shoot an RDS pistol would benefit me enough to go down that road.”
In addition to the P-01, Seargeant owns several examples of CZ hardware, and, of course, his day job at Kriss has enabled him to handle multiple examples of the Sphinx. The magazine employed in the Fett P-01 is actually one from a Sphinx SDP Compact, which might be viewed as a close analog to the CZ 75 P-01. “The cross-compatibility makes things easy for my pistol arsenal,” he says.
Build Sheet
Fett CZ 75 P-01
Specifications
Caliber: 9mm Luger
Capacity: 15+1
Overall Length: 7.25 in.
Weight Unloaded: 1 lb, 10 oz.
Coating: Cerakote by Fire 4 Effect
Slide: Fire 4 Effect Britva package
Barrel: CZ, polished by Fire 4 Effect
Featured Accessories
Cajun Gun Works Pro Package trigger group, LOK grip panels
About the Owner
Name: Tim Seargeant
Kriss Sphinx
CZs haven’t gained a loyal following through pure chance. The signature slide-in-frame design has inspired a whole new wave of modern handguns, a standout example being the Kriss Sphinx.
“The superiority of the slide-in-frame design is inherently due to the support for the slide running across the entire frame, which then supports the barrel,” Tim Seargeant explains. “The reciprocating slide and floating barrel aren’t ideal for accuracy, which is why the most accurate guns on the market are locked-breach bolt-action rifles. There are a lot of moving parts in a handgun, and the slide-in-frame design does a better job minimizing the variables of the operating system.”
The Sphinx includes standard features like adjustable backstraps, front cocking serrations, and steel sights, but what Seargeant feels really sets it apart are build quality, fit, and finish. Major components are machined from billet and each pistol is assembled by hand. This attention to detail and measured execution of craftsmanship are typically Swiss traits, and amount to what Kriss believes is a superior weapon.
The flip side is that it doesn’t come cheap, and as a result has proven somewhat elusive in the firearms marketplace. “The Sphinx is a bit hard to get hold of,” Seargeant acknowledges. “We don’t make very many of them, in part because it’s very expensive and time consuming doing all the hand fitting.”
If you’d like to keep an eye out, two versions are available: SDP Compact and SDP Duty. For more information visit the company website at kriss-usa.com.
The F4E BAT
In between the ongoing crush of components production and turning out custom projects on a regular basis, Fire 4 Effect has also been hard at work on new product development. This one is not a gun or a gun part, however, but a hand tool developed for a few specific applications.
“We initially were going to call it a ‘Micro Breacher,’ but after destructive testing and coordination with some Tier 1 operator testing we identified a better name for the product as a ‘Breaching Assist Tool,’ or ‘BAT,’” says F4E’s Will Wingfield.
The BAT is essentially a hand-held prying tool that enables the breaching of lightweight structures—aluminum window frames, interior doors, upper car doors for lock release access, and disassembly of items like laptops, desktops, and so on. It also facilitates gaining purchase on heavier structures with heaving breaching tools that simply need a point of introduction.
The BAT is designed for belt, carrier, rear horizontal, or IWB concealed carry. Grip scales are being produced in two styles by LOK, which also supplies custom grip panels for Fire 4 Effect pistol builds. Tool design, machining, and assembly were all performed in-house. The BAT will reportedly be available in four color options, with a Kydex sheath and multiple mounting hardware options included.
Wingfield expects the first-gen BAT to become available on the company website in the next month or two, and Gen 2 and 3 designs are already in progress. Images by Jerry Tsai
