Well, I did it. Last night I ordered a Norinco NZ85B (North China Industries CZ85B clone). Last Sat. I went to a relatively local gun store to try a few different guns for fit. While they are a Norinco dealer, they were sold out of this pistol, but I was able to handle the Norinco Sig clone and a real CZ.
While I'm sure that I could get grips for the Sig clone, the CZ 85 fit me a whole lot better. Anyway, below is a photo of the pistol I just bought; $399.00 Canadian, including case, cleaning rod and two mags/ life-time warranty and free shipping.
There were currently only two Canadian dealers that had these in stock, one is the importer/distributor/warranty center, with an excellent reputation on the west coast; the other a (and I'm not joking about this) a three business company consisting of a gun shop, a pawn shop, and a pot/drug paraphernalia store that does not take credit cards, and after a bit of research, the general opinion is that they really don't care much about the gun business or their gun customers... more money in the other stuff. I went with the guys in BC.
A little concerning regarding the lack of availability... according to the distributor, they have had a large order outstanding for a long time, and the reason that North China Industries has not shipped is their production has been focused on Military Contracts which take precedence over civilian sales. Seems there is a whole lot of arming/rearming going on in the world lately. It seems also to be the case with Zastava; less and less of their stuff is available, and importers are frustrated.
I bought the CZ clone rather than the real CZ for three reasons:
While I'm sure that I could get grips for the Sig clone, the CZ 85 fit me a whole lot better. Anyway, below is a photo of the pistol I just bought; $399.00 Canadian, including case, cleaning rod and two mags/ life-time warranty and free shipping.
There were currently only two Canadian dealers that had these in stock, one is the importer/distributor/warranty center, with an excellent reputation on the west coast; the other a (and I'm not joking about this) a three business company consisting of a gun shop, a pawn shop, and a pot/drug paraphernalia store that does not take credit cards, and after a bit of research, the general opinion is that they really don't care much about the gun business or their gun customers... more money in the other stuff. I went with the guys in BC.
A little concerning regarding the lack of availability... according to the distributor, they have had a large order outstanding for a long time, and the reason that North China Industries has not shipped is their production has been focused on Military Contracts which take precedence over civilian sales. Seems there is a whole lot of arming/rearming going on in the world lately. It seems also to be the case with Zastava; less and less of their stuff is available, and importers are frustrated.
I bought the CZ clone rather than the real CZ for three reasons:
- Price. The real CZ85B sells for $1200.00-1400.00 here in Canada
- Quality. Durability is at least as good as the CZ and while CZ has been using the more economical "Investment Casting" technology to make their frame and slide blanks for some time; Norinco is using their old forging technology to forge both frames and slides of good quality tool steel.
- Compatability. CZ mags, and all other parts, aftermarket custom stuff and OEM are interchangeable.
