It’s about time I become active again in the best section of this fine forum.

Just as the title states, I would love to know your thoughts & experience with the CZ Scorpion.

I am quite tempted to pick one up as it seems the aftermarket support is decent and right out of the box it’s pretty darn interesting.

Lastly, to the Scorpion owners here, what modifications do you recommend? It looks like the ambidextrous safety lever would be the first thing I would change. I’ll be interested to read your thoughts and feedback on the CZ.

That Battleship Grey Scorpion EVO is calling my name.

I'm a big fan of mine as a fun range toy, after some aftermarket tweaking. As noted, there's a ton of aftermarket support.

Out of the box, the safety selector levers are straight terrible and dig into your shooting hand while firing, which demands immediate action to either replace one or both with aftermarket alternatives, or else at least just delete the right-side selector. From there, I'd also recommend looking at the grip and trigger spring as nearly-must-have aftermarket replacements, and the trigger shoe, magazine release, and charging handle as nice-to-have replacements.

But even if you do all of the above, that's only like $150 in aftermarket parts. Most of the aftermarket parts on mine are from HB Industries, with a Magpul grip.

Accuracy is great. Felt recoil is slightly higher than you might expect, due to it being a straight blowback with a heavy reciprocating bolt, but not obnoxious. Magazines are inexpensive and very functional and robust.

You should consider grabbing one and a brace now, and then if the ATF's rumored upcoming "pistol brace/SBR amnesty registration" thing ends up coming to fruition over the next year (and faces the inevitable barrage of lawsuits), then you could either potentially SBR it for free (if the lawsuits fail and the rule stands) or continue shooting it as a braced pistol (if the lawsuits succeed and the rule is quashed).

I like mine alot, plenty accurate and fun to shoot. As mentioned, the recoil is a little more than you would think due to the blowback design. I put a folding SB brace on it, did the right side safely delete because the stock one dug into my trigger finger. Changed the pistol grip for the Magpul one because I didn’t care for the angle of the original one. I put an Sig Romeo 5 red dot on it and it’s almost like cheating at the indoor pistol range. My only other suggestion is get the black windowed CZ 30 rd mags, the clear or smoke poly ones do crack over time at the feed lips.

I bought the EVO 3 S2 Micro 4-5 years ago when they first came out and it was a really fun gun to shoot. Of course I spent some bucks on HB Industries parts, including safety levers, charging handle, paddle mag release, grip, trigger, etc. But when HK came out with their SP5, I bought one at MSRP and never really shot the Scorpion again. I t basically belongs to my son now.

If I were to spend some money, rather than the Scorpion, I would seriously look at the Zenith ZF-5, an MP5 clone. Based on reviews, it seems to be an excellent firearm, and at approx. $1500, I would spend a little more for the Zenith. Pricing I have seen for the CZ is around $1200 for the Micro, a grand for the S1.

I also at I have an Evo 3 S2 micro and I really like it. Though the consensus seems to be that you will need to change out a few parts and I agree. I changed the grip, the safety levers and the mag release. I also SBR’d mine and added a collapsible stock and a vertical forward grip. It’s an absolute blast to shoot.

I’d rather have an MP5 though for sure, but not for the cost. I don’t know anything about the clones offered so I can’t comment on those.

It really depends on what you plan to use it for, and your priorities of the various factors involved in any gun. Of the mainstream similar guns the CZ is the worst of them as a gun, but its also practically the lowest priced mainstream one. Given the funds I'd buy almost any of the other options. I personally in order of priority prefer the MP5 (and clones), the B&T APC, the MPX, the AR9 types that take glock mags (particularly the CMMG version), Striborg roller version and probably something I'm not thinking of at the moment. But I have a number of the CZ's they are cheap, the aftermarket is huge and mostly they are reliable (there are some issues). On mine I delete the safety that is unbelievably irritating, do what you can with the trigger (I used HBI) without spending big money (there is a timney option), fix the pistol grip, replace the handguard with an MI one, add a "brace" plus an optic and put a trilug on it. And that is a perfectly workable and usable setup. Very cost effective among the available choices. The CZ mags are cheap and available and mostly solid (feed lips can be an issue). Right now I would worry about the strategy on any braced pistol since we are so close to the scheduled ATF rule, but maybe I'm too sensitive on that.
In any case given your propensity to tinker this is a very good base with a zillion options.

The comments you've received are spot on. I would add that the newest version has a button magazine release. If you do not want a paddle release, that is an option I'd consider.

Nothing is as smooth as an MP5. But, it isn't any more reliable than a Scorpion. Parts and magazines are easy to find and relatively inexpensive for the CZ too. Not so much for the HK and others. It's hard to justify $70 or more for a HK magazine when you can get Magpul magazines for the Scorpion for around $17.00 and they are completely reliable.

I'd love a properly set up and 922r fitted SP5. But I also don't want to mortgage the house either to get one.

Scorpion is top of my next gun list.

Funny enough I just got an email from a local chain here in FL. They have the Evo3 S1 Scorpion on sale for $749 here.

It’s black though.

Dang, that's a good deal! $200-$300 less than the going rate these days, and only $54 more than I paid for mine back in 2017 ($695).

Were I in the market for an Evo, I'd be all over that.

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions.

Is the recoil of a Scorpion similar to a 9mm AR15? Years ago I built a 9mm AR and remember the blowback operation recoiling more than I expected but it was not too bad.

I’d love to pick up one of H&K’s new civilian versions of the MP5 but that price tag is rather substantial. I have also been quite tempted by the more affordable clones as well.

Yeah, similar to a straight blowback 9mm AR. Perhaps a little bit more.

As noted, not obnoxious, but many people who try a Scorpion (or a 9mm AR for that matter) assume it will have less recoil than an 5.56 AR15 because it's "just a 9mm", or have shot something like an MP5 with its soft recoil due to its delayed blowback, and are thus surprised when it has more felt recoil than expected.

As hrcjon states, the Scorpion Evo is the "worst" of the modern 9mm PCCs. But that doesn't mean it's bad, and I also personally think that it represents the best bang-for-the-buck out of the modern 9mm PCCs. Especially if you can get it for $750 instead of $1000. To me, the B&T/MP5/MPX/etc. aren't "better enough" to justify the higher price tags, but then I got mine purely as a range toy.

I have been very happy with it. All-in with the gun and the various accessories/aftermarket parts/optic/etc. I've added, I have less than $1000 in it ($700 gun + $250ish in add-ons), and it's great value for the money.

Perhaps if I was planning to use it for more serious purposes, I might be more inclined to spring for one of the fancier models.

Love the Scorpion. I ran it for 800 rounds without so much as an initial cleaning just to see if I could induce a failure. Cleaned it just out of pity for the poor thing. You do have to throw some parts at it to make it "right", but that doesn't bother me. Some of my favs:

Manticore Arms charging handle
Shooters Element flat trigger
HBI AK style safety selectors
HBI duckbill mag release
Parker Mountain Machine QD sling mounts
Magpul grip
Magpul AFG
Inforce light
Factory stock with tailhook brace
Troy Micro HK style BUIS
Aimpoint Micro

I know there is a ton of Stribog love, but I know the Scorpion has been used in the field by many services.

I SBRd mine, and engraved it a couple of weeks ago. I have the Reptilia Link/Zhukov stock ordered, as it was the only way to get FDE w/o modifying it myself. I added a 3-lug and Magpul AFG2, but will add a vert grip later.

Only thing I changed on mine was the trigger.

I had one, and it was great! Swapped the grip and safety levers, and added the sb tactical folding brace! Ran flawlessly! Only sold it because I traded into an MPX!

I like my scorpion, but I haven’t tried any of the others y’all are talking about.
The grey called my name too….

We have a couple of them. Neither one has ever had a malfunction and they are very accurate. There may be more expensive options out there but I don't think any of them will hold up better or be more reliable than the CZ Scorpion.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
As noted, not obnoxious, but many people who try a Scorpion (or a 9mm AR for that matter) assume it will have less recoil than an 5.56 AR15 because it's "just a 9mm", or have shot something like an MP5 with its soft recoil due to its delayed blowback, and are thus surprised when it has more felt recoil than expected.

Yeah, the Scorpion bolt is just big and heavy, slamming back and forth will result in more recoil than one would expect. Not a big deal, it is still an accurate shooter, mine I left with iron sights and it is a nice little shooter. But I have to admit I haven't really shot it since buying an SP5, which is a very soft shooting firearm.

I didn't find the Scoprion to have that much recoil compared to other similar guns I own. The have an MKE Ap5 and it recoils similarly. If it was full auto, I would tend to agree with the recoil felt being different. After all, it is only 9mm and semi-auto. My EVO S1 has been nothing but reliable and fun to shoot with any ammo type. My wife loves to shoot it and it is amazingly accurate. I owned a KRISS, granted it was in .45 acp, when they first came out and everything they said about recoil being less due to the action of the gun was a load of garbage. If anything, it seemed like it was more harsh. It was also a heavy gun and a pain in the behind to charge. I thought mine was broken when I got it, as I literally had to put the charging handle against the loading bench and push down on the gun to load the chamber. Turns out that was a common problem with the first batch. I have not tried the newer models, as I lost interest in it.

I did replace the grip on teh CZ, as it offers an odd angle and the safety mechanism does dig into your hand but a dremel can make quick work of the offending side without having to replace a lot of parts.

Mags are the cheapest I have found, around $20/mag for the CZ and Midway has sales often for factory mags. Hk mags are stupid expensive for what they are, even though MKE sells there mags for $40/mag but some can be hit or miss. Other manufacturers have proprietary mags which a can get expensive and hard to find.

The gun is much lighter than the HK/clones or other comparable guns of it's size.Even if you put a bunch of extras into it, it would still be lighter and more compact.

Shoot Straight has some great sales with the EVO S1 being only $750.00 and they are a big retailer here in Florida. I believe they have like 8 of more stores around the state and are making more. I don't know if they ship but if they do, that is one heck of a price deal for a great gun.