Zastava CZ99

The Zastava CZ99 was designed in 1989 by Božidar Blagojević and entered production the following year, replacing the ageing Zastava M57 - a Tokarev derivative - in Yugoslav military service. The CZ in its name stands for Crvena Zastava and has no connection to the Czech manufacturer Česká zbrojovka. Its advantages over the M57 were substantial for the time: a fully chromed barrel, tritium night sights, an indicator showing when three rounds remain in the magazine, and a loaded-chamber indicator.

Visually the pistol is often taken for a SIG Sauer P226, and the external appearance and the absence of an external extractor were indeed borrowed from the SIG. Mechanically, however, it owes far more to the Walther P88, from which it takes its slide serrations, magazine and magazine release, and its ambidextrous combined safety-decocker. Unlike the P226 of the period, which used a stamped and welded sheet-steel slide, the CZ99 has a machined steel slide. It is a short-recoil operated pistol available with DA/SA or double-action-only lockwork, chambered primarily in 9x19mm with a 15-round magazine, with a .40 S&W version taking ten rounds.

The original CZ99 is no longer built, but the line continues through updated designs. The CZ999 has a slimmer grip and redesigned panels, wider slide serrations, a serrated backstrap, standard three-dot sights, a squared trigger guard and a longer hammer spur, and is also offered as the CZ999 Scorpion without the DAO/DA-SA selector. The fourth-generation EZ9 adds an under-barrel Picatinny rail and a larger ring hammer. Both accept CZ99 magazines, though not all other parts interchange. Two foreign derivatives exist: the Israeli KSN Golan, built after rights were purchased when Zastava halted production, which is virtually identical internally though it lacks the loaded-chamber indicator and has a shorter slide and barrel; and the South African Tressitu TZ99, a licensed copy produced briefly in the early 1990s before the company folded.

The CZ99 family remains in military and police service across the Balkans and has been exported widely. Users include Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia and the Palestinian security forces. Its designated successor in Serbian service is the Zastava PPZ.