You may recall when the original CZ-75 was unavailable in this country due to Iron Curtain trade embargoes. Reviews out of Europe always praised the pistol and a few were circuitously imported through Canada and brought high prices. Since there was a demand, clones, often from Italy, began to appear almost at once. Scarcity doubtless made the CZ-75 more desirable and the Canadian imports were probably surpassed by guns coming here as personal property of servicemen returning home from assignments in Europe.

That’s how it was for Mark Westrom, president of ArmaLite, who served as an ordnance officer in Germany and really liked the one he brought home. Fast forward a bit now and we find many of the clones have come and gone, but the real ones are still popular and, with the dissolution of the Iron Curtain, available here as well as the rest of the world. In fact, a version known as the Kilinc (Turkish for sword) is the issue sidearm of the Turkish military. It is made in Turkey by giant armsmaker Sarsilmaz whose name may not be known here but some guns they make carry very familiar names. Their headquarters is in Istanbul and the plant in Duzce.

The three main components of the AR-24, barrel, frame and slide, are all machined on modern CNC equipment from solid forgings rather than castings as were used on some clones. ArmaLite reports the raw forging for the frame weighs over 31⁄2 pounds before it is machined. The finished frame, complete with guts and grips, weighs only a tad over a pound. A generous beavertail spreads recoil nicely and both front and backstraps have 20 lpi checkering. Some variations will have serrations instead of checkering. Grips on this test gun are wood with cut checkering, but later versions will have plastic grips. The grip has a pronounced — and very comfortable — palm swell on both sides and they extend outside the frame a little, which provides a great place for your thumb.

Mechanically there does not seem to be any differences from other CZs and fieldstripping is exactly the same. It is worth mentioning because it is a bit different from more common designs. On the left side of both frame and slide are a pair of witness marks just forward of the hammer. To fieldstrip the unloaded pistol, all you have to do is draw the slide back about 1/4" to align the two witness marks and then push the slide stop pin out from the right. The recoil spring and guide are not a captive unit so a bit of care is needed when removing it.