CZ Scorpion EVO 3 9mm Carbine Review

The CZ Scorpion Evo III carbine, let’s check it out.

 

Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic is legendary in their making of firearms, not only for the military, but also for other countries all over around the world. Of course, the CZ-75 is one of their flagship firearms, but they have had many designs through the years.

The Scorpion Evo III is actually inspired by the original CZ Scorpion that was in .32 ACP, and the military wanted to move up to the nine millimeter and thus the Evo III. But one of the great things about the CZ Evo III is that it is made with the same design as their full automatic brothers. These are tough, robust, made almost completely of polymer on the outer casing, but very solid, already has a proven track record.

These have been in Czech service for a number of years, and it’s great to be able to get these now in the States. Now we did a full review on the Scorpion pistol. A lot of guys are taking them and they’re making them into SPRs because the pistol really is unwieldly.

It’s a fun range toy, but it’s not really practical for many applications. One of the things that I really was looking forward to is getting one of the carbines because it’s just a neat pistol caliber carbine. One of the things I really love about it too is that it has a polymer upper and lower receiver, and of course all steel parts.

This is made to shoot fully automatic as far as the way it’s designed, but obviously this is semi-automatic, and we’re going to look at that when we break it down because the parts are so beefy. But it’s a very ergonomic handy rifle. We’re going to remove the magazine.

Of course the chamber’s already open and it’s empty. With a 30-round magazine, the rifle weighs just about seven pounds. The barrel is 16.2 inches in length.

It’s a 1.98 barrel twist. The overall length of the carbine is 32 and a half inches with the stock extended. With the stock folded, it’s 24 and a half inches.

Now it comes in two configurations. One is with this fake silencer co-made suppressor, and it fits over the barrel. When I first got it, I wasn’t sure if the barrel was stopped right here, but the barrel actually extends.

It’s a 16.2 inch barrel, cold hammer forged like CZ does, and you can get just the regular pencil barrel with a muzzle brake, which is a nice option as well. But I found that with this kind of design, it shot really well. It was, of course, easy to manage because it is nine millimeter, and it’s pretty cool that Silencer Co.

has its logo right here on the suppressor. At the front of the fake suppressor, there’s a lot of cuts right here, but it’s mainly just the barrel coming at the end. But it really looks nice.

If you want to add a shorter barrel to SPR this and then add a suppressor, this is cut so it’ll fit about any kind of suppressor diameter. Now it’s a non-reciprocating bolt, and here’s the charging handle. Very much like the H&K style, it drops down.

And again, it won’t go back and forth when you’re firing. Now the Bren, their 5.56 rifle, it does have a reciprocating bolt handle, so that can grab your thumb. This is going to stay put.

This is a blowback design. One of the things, too, is you can, again, just bring this back and up, and it locks the bolt into place. Hit it, and it drops it in.

And if you have a loaded magazine here, it’ll feed around right into the chamber. One of the things, too, is there’s a little bolt hold open feature right here. So if you just bring it back, you can lift that and lock your bolt into place.

This is also a bolt release, which on the Bren, it doesn’t release the bolt. Trigger pull, a little bit of take up, some stacking, and then you hear the snap. I checked this with the Lyman trigger gauge a number of times, and it was coming in at about the seven and a half pounds, which is not bad.

Then we’re going to check reset. Right there, not bad. Bring it right in.

Accuracy at 50 yards, just had two solid groups using American Eagle 115 grain, full metal jacket, and easy to see targets. Here we have slots at the nine o’clock, six o’clock, and three o’clock position. These are M-lock, which makes it great for all the accessories that Magpul produces.

And just put it on and then tighten it down, and you’re ready to go. Whatever kind of accessories you want to put on here, flashlights, lasers, things like that. These slots here at the back are also M-lock compatible.

Even these smaller slots are made just for M-lock. This will slip right down into place, and then you can attach your accessories in different ways. The Picatinny rail on top is polymer, and it’s actually part of the receiver.

And then we have aluminum sights, both front and back. The rear sight is windage adjustable by turning this. And then we have four different points here with the aperture sight to go from target all the way to just open for close quarter.

The front post is adjustable as well for your elevation, and there are serrations on both the front and back sights to take glare off. And if you don’t like these sights, they are removable. You can put whatever you want to on here.

The stock folds just by pressing this button, and it brings it around. There’s no lock-up, and then when you’re ready, which will make it really quick to deploy, just pull it out, and it locks up. It is a really solid stock.

There’s a nice rubber butt pad at the back, and there is an adjustment here to adjust your length of pull. The grip is large, and it’s flared out here at the bottom, so it allows you to get a hold of it. You don’t have to worry about slipping off.

It does have ambidextrous controls. Your safety’s right here, safe, and then fire, and then mirrored right on the other side. Sometimes this can cause a little bit of discomfort, especially with a pistol.

I think this has been modified just a little bit, but they do make a standard just right or left hand safety and have a button here so this doesn’t interfere with you. I really like it because it’s really easy to use one hand on, one hand off. The magazine release is right here in front of the trigger guard.

It can be pushed with the shooting finger just like that, and it drops the magazine free, or you can just grab it right here with your thumb and pull it right out. The magazine well is flared, so it makes it very easy to slide your magazines right in and, of course, bring them right out. One concern that a lot of people have when buying a firearm, especially with proprietary mags, is they can be very expensive, and that’s one of the great things about the CZ.

They’re plentiful. You can find them around. The one place I did find a great price was gunmagwarehouse.com, and they had these mags for 15 bucks a piece, the 20s and the 30s, and then they had the 10 rounders for $19.99 a piece.

So because of that, you know that you can get these magazines, and you’re not limited, but with the price that they are, you can stock up on them. Now you have a sling mount here and also right here at the rear, and then it’s mirrored on the other side. So you have plenty of options to be able to attach however you want to, and, of course, you can also go to the M-lock and bring your mounting up front.

There’s also a slot right here that’s also for a sling attachment. Now out at the range, zero malfunctions whatsoever. I mean, the gun is just super reliable.

These magazines, even though they’re polymer translucent, which here in the United States, we have really found that polymer magazines work great. They’re a little lighter in weight, and they’re just tough. And with these, you can see the rounds through here as you’re shooting, which makes it really nice.

The accuracy was excellent. You know, just stayed right on target. It’s nine millimeters, so it’s not really jumping around with a recoil that much.

It is a blowback action, so that bolt coming back does have a little bit of force, but it’s not bad. Weighing in at about seven pounds, it’s really handy and lightweight. This folding stock, which closes, gives you a really nice compact package.

It’s easy to deploy. I love this stock. Sometimes you get folding stocks that are kind of difficult, but even with gross motor skills, I think you’ll be able to get this little button, close it, and definitely be able to deploy it very fast.

Getting second, third follow-up shots or rapid fire is very easy. With the iron sights, they show up very well. You look down, you see the aperture, you see the front post.

If you’re shooting AR-15s, it’s not a big transition. Now, disassembly of the firearm, just remove your magazine. You’re going to make sure that the gun isn’t loaded, and it is.

First thing we’re going to do is retract our stock. Right here, there’s a small button. Depress it, and that will release your stock, and it comes right off.

Bring your charging handle back, and get it set into the notch. Right here is a small pin. Just push it through, and then here with the flat head, just pull it right out.

That’s going to allow for the lower receiver just to pull loose. This is your trigger group. Then we want to take right here the bolt, and push down and out.

Here we have, you can see how substantial this bolt is. It is incredible, this carrier. Then we have, of course, the guide rod and the recoil spring.

Here’s the bolt, and of course, all this can be left into place for regular field maintenance. That’s all you need to do to field strip the rifle. Here you can see the hammer, the hammer spring.

It’s very substantial. Everything is really built for full automatic, so you’re not going to put enough rounds through this to really do any wear and tear on it. For reassembly, take your bolt, place the spring in first, and just bring it up and in right there.

Because the charging handle is cocked, it’s going to hold the bolt carrier into place, so it won’t slap your hand and break your fingers. Then we’re going to take our trigger group, put it in from the back first. Snap it through with the stock still folded.

Bring the plate over, and then depress the little knob, and then you’re set to go. Bring your stock around, hit your bolt release, test fire for function, and we’re all good to go. Some of the things that I see that may be a negative to some about this rifle is the size.

For a nine millimeter carbine, it’s a very light recoil, but with the polymer frame, it really makes this handy. But it is, again, a nine millimeter carbine, so that for some people is going to be a throw off. As far as proprietary magazines, it doesn’t fit Glock mags, which most of your guns out there now are starting to adopt to the 33 round Glock mags, which are so plentiful.

But I think that I really like this magazine system, and for the price, 30 rounds for $15 versus a Glock mag, which is going to be $35. Of course, one thing too is there’s no pistol compatibility between this. It doesn’t take CZ75 mags, and that may be a consideration.

It’s according to what you’re going to use this rifle for. But I think for all intents and purposes, the rifle is excellent. Tell you guys, it is a nine millimeter pistol caliber carbine, and there’s a lot of debate on the uses of the carbine.

Of course, we’re carrying a lot of nine millimeter pistols, but it’s a lightweight, handy rifle. 100 yard shots are a lot easier to get than with a pistol, much more accurate. And then, of course, even 75 and 50 yards.

So the nine millimeter carbine with the extended barrel gives you even more velocity, and there’s just a lot of advantages of having a nine millimeter rifle over a handgun. Now, a lot of guys are going to say, well, if you’ve got that much weight, you might as well go with an AR-15. But you do have a lot of penetration with the 556 or 223 that you don’t have with a nine millimeter.

Yes, you can get out to a lot farther distances, but there are a lot of applications where having a lesser round can really be advantageous. Now, on the CZ website, their list price is $999 for the rifle. One of the things about it typically with street price is it comes down quite a bit.

I really think these will settle in at about the $800 range, much like the pistols. The pistols now are down to about $750. One of the things right now, though, is this is a fairly new offering, and it’s just being released on the market.

So prices are fairly high. But check around. I think you’re going to find these coming down pretty soon.

And I’ll tell you, if you’re looking for a nine millimeter pistol caliber carbine, I can’t think of a better one to go with for the money than the CZ Evo III carbine. You think a pistol caliber’s weak? You ain’t got the moxie. So the CZ Scorpion Evo III nine millimeter carbine, thumbs way up.

Be strong. Be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don