Hi Dasmi,
I started shooting the CZ's in 1991 and started out with a CZ 85, which operates just like your CZ 75 except for an ambidextrous slide stop. I now carry a CZ 75B .40 cal. as well. Both are DA/SA pistols with sear blocking safeties instead of decockers, which I assume yours to be as well.
So I have been decocking these guns on a regular basis for about 16 years. In 1994 I fired an 80 hour, 1,200 round instructor course, which required almost constant decocking of the loaded pistol, and usually in a rapid manner, so I can attest to the fact that care and attention to what you are doing are the most important parts of decocking these pistols. No distractions allowed and don't ever do it in a hurry or when you're tired or ill. (I was required to do it in a hurry during the instructor course I mentioned and I really didn't like it much.....taking your time is always best.)
As Spad said, if you're going to use your CZ in a single action or "cocked and locked" mode like a Colt 1911 or BHP, then just set the safety. Decocking is unnecessary. When carried in this manner the CZ's are very safe and will not fire until the safety is released and the trigger pulled. However, I prefer a double action first shot and run into the decocking issue very often, as I assume you do from the nature of your question. The procedure you outlined is very similar to my procedure except for stopping at the half cock notch. Here is how I do it during routine, everyday use of the gun.
1. Empty the gun and lock the slide to the rear on the slide stop.(All this assumes you are right handed) To load your chamber for loaded carry, place one round in an empty magazine, lock the magazine into the pistol while gripping the grip in your right hand with the trigger finger OUTSIDE THE TRIGGER GUARD. Make darn sure you don't have any oil or other slippery stuff on either hand.....this is critical. (Use an empty mag when you can....use a loaded mag only when you must.)
2. Point the pistol at something big and substantial like a big tree or embankment. Make sure your TRIGGER FINGER IS COMPLETELY OUTSIDE THE TRIGGER GUARD and release the slide stop to chamber the round. I use my left hand to do this by dropping the slide stop so my right hand can keep a good grip on the gun. You'll also need to take care to keep your left hand fingers out of the trigger guard while dropping the slide stop.
3. As you described, grasp the sides of the hammer firmly with your left thumb and forefinger and pull the trigger, lowering the hammer very deliberately and carefully.
4. Replace the now-empty magazine with the loaded magazine you intend to use in the gun while still pointed at the tree. You are now loaded and decocked, ready for a double action first shot.
Opinions differ on carrying the gun with the hammer fully down or on the half cock notch. It is certainly tempting to stop there so you can get your finger off the trigger before the hammer gets to the firing pin. However, despite this, I don't see it as a good way to carry the gun for the following reasons - (a) When you carry the gun on the half cock position you run a greater risk of hanging the hammer on something while it's holstered and pulling it back to the full cock position, in which case you now have a fully loaded, cocked pistol resting in your holster just waiting for something to get in there and fire it. (2) When the hammer is on the half cock notch, the slack in the double action trigger pull is increased somewhat, giving you a different DA trigger pull than if the hammer is fully down. Since most of us practice our DA trigger pull from the hammer-full-down position, this can throw a variable into your first shot that you certainly don't need in a defensive situation, or at any other time really. So from those standpoints, half cock can be a distinct liability. I'm sure some of these sharpie friends of mine on this site will put up a spirited opposition to certain aspects of my view, heh.
Like anything else in handling and shooting a pistol, practice is the best accident prevention device ever invented, and decocking these pistols is certainly something you want to practice.....but only with an empty pistol and with it pointed in a safe direction.
Hope these ideas are useful to you. Best.
Jerry
