We lead with lever guns and single actions, but even a six-gun house keeps one modern 9mm on the shelf, and CZ's new DUTY 4.0 is the one we picked. It is the newest striker-fired pistol in a family that started with the CZ 75 and continued with the P-10. The serial number sits on an internal modular chassis, the grip frame is fiberglass-reinforced polymer, the barrel is 4 inches and unthreaded, and the sights are fixed. The slide is cut for direct-mount red dots.

For the Fort Worth, Amarillo and San Angelo crowd, the Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Guthrie folks, and anyone up around Cheyenne and Cody, it is a fair trade-off next to a revolver: 15+1 in the DUTY 4.0 C compact or 17+1 in the F full-size, a 5.6-pound SFDA trigger with a 4 mm reset, and the option of an MS model with a manual thumb safety for those who like a lever under the thumb.

Pick the C when the gun has to disappear under a cover garment. It gives up two rounds to the full-size model (15+1 against 17+1) and about 8 mm of grip height, and in return it is 135 mm (5.3 in) tall and 770 g (27.2 oz) light.

The chassis is registered and modular, which is CZ's way of making the frame module swappable. The frame itself is fiberglass-reinforced polymer, 33 mm (1.3 in) wide, on a 102 mm barrel and a 188 mm (7.4 in) overall length. The SFDA trigger breaks at 25 ± 4 N (5.6 ± 0.9 lbs) and resets in 4 mm (0.16 in). Optics mount directly to the slide; the photos from CZ show Holosun, Aimpoint and Shield footprints.

A external safety is the one thing that separates this model from its sibling. It sits beside the three internal safeties, firing pin block, trigger safety and drawbar safety, and does not change the trigger pull.

The CZ DUTY 4.0 C MS suits anyone who wants a modern optics-ready 9mm with CZ's grip and a trigger that is better than the class average: daily carry, a home-defense gun that also rides along, and new shooters who want one pistol for everything.

We ship to FFL dealers nationwide. Name the dealer you want at checkout and the DUTY 4.0 goes to them; your dealer applies your state's law at pickup, whether that is a permit, a wait or only the federal background check. Live price and availability are confirmed as you order.

Questions buyers ask: How is the DUTY 4.0 different from a CZ P-10? The DUTY 4.0 is CZ's newer generation: a serialized modular chassis, a refined SFDA trigger and a direct-mount optics slide. CZ has not confirmed that P-10 magazines fit. Is there a version with a thumb safety for someone used to a single action? Yes. The DUTY 4.0 C MS and F MS add a manual thumb safety to the standard internal safeties. What does MS mean on the CZ DUTY 4.0 C MS? Manual safety. It adds a frame-mounted lever to the firing pin block, trigger safety and drawbar safety that every DUTY has.