[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello.

Here's an old unfired CZ 75 I purchased years ago.

This CZ 75 appears in normal trim for the Pre-B guns made years ago.

Anyone venture a guess about how it might be different than most?

Best.

 

[abninftr]

I obviously can't see the other side, but the only difference I see between it and the one I have of similar vintage is the lack of importation markings.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello, bud. Yes, it's really not a fair question.

Here's the answer.

Best.

 

[Chris Stephens]

Hi Stephen,

Yes, a bit unusual.

Wasn't there a line of high end CZ style firearms marketed back in the 90's under the Sphinx trademark? Or, am I entirely missing the mark on this one.

Chris

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

There were some Swiss made CZ look alikes made and still are in the Sphinx line. I believe that there was also one called an AT84. It was almost exactly like the CZ. The interesting thing about this one to me is that it is marked "CZ 75" with the same CZ logo, same cardboard box, same paperwork, but the gun was made in Solothurn, Switzerland.

Best.

 

[buckshot]

Could be a CZ top end on a Sphinx frame?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. No, it seems that when the Iron Curtain fell, CZ's were more and more popular and were already being copied as those in the east had no understanding of patents and the need for them.
CZ and a company in Switzerland were in a tentative arrangement for the Swiss company to make the guns under license, but it fell through after some guns had been made. I do not know this for a fact, but I suspect this happened when the Swiss companies figured out that they could make the gun w/o having to be licensed by CZ as they hadn't patented the design. The gun came in the same of cheap CZ box and markings w/serial number on the box and test target.

Here's the typical box that the early CZ 75 pistols came in. In this picture, the pistol has aftermarket rubber grips rather than the original plastic ones common to the guns of that time.

Ramos mentions this lightly in his book "Power House Pistols" and the rest I found out by digging around here and there.

Best.

 

[weshowe]

Gents,

The pistol you are looking at looks to be a hybrid of some type, but there appears to be no mixing of small details.
The AT-84 is the Swiss clone of the CZ. It lacks the lightening cuts in the front of the dust cover and has an sight that extends rearward over the slide very slightly.
Mine is NIB with all papers and the original shipping documents as it was imported by Action Arms, at the time.
Wes

 

[abninftr]

Stevo, is it possible that Solothurm may have marketed CZ made guns under their name just as Mauser marketed FEGs under their name?

 

[Guest]

Stephen,

That's an odd bird for sure. I had two Solothurn made AT-84's and I loved everything about them, but they had some serious parts breakage issues. Slide stops on both guns, safety on one and magazine catch on both guns, and a bent ejector on one. Ended up selling them off after they were fixed.

I was really surprised because Solothurn has such a good reputation for quality.

GunGeek

 

[larry]

Hi all

I think these "CZ / Solothurn Switzerland" are genuine CZ, imported at the end of the 70s or beginning of the 80s by AT. As the relations with the maker in Ceskoslovakia were chaotic, AT began to make a clone, the AT84, in standart 15 rounds and compact 13 r. sizes. The design was followed by the AT88. After a few years, production was dropped and the tooling bought by Sphinx (based also in Solothurn) to make his 2000 line, a modified CZ design with locking in the ejection port,

 

[abninftr]

Vielen dank Larry.

I would say that confirms what I believed to be the case with these guns.