Sting of the Scorpion

I was looking for a small, easily maneuvered, pistol caliber carbine. I looked at AR platforms, as well as offerings from several manufacturers, and I just couldn't find anything suitable. Until, that is, I saw a CZ scorpion. Being the same length as an AR, the carbine was longer than I wanted. The pistol version was exactly what I was looking for. Many of them were not any more compact than a rifle caliber carbine. If you’re going to carry a firearm the size of a rifle carbine, you might as well carry a rifle carbine and get the improvement in power, range, and accuracy.

 I plunked down $850 and bought one. It came with a pair of 20 round magazines and two 30 round magazines. The pistol has a 7.25 inch barrel, and the end of it has a flash suppressor threaded onto the barrel. The weapon also has picatinny rails and iron sights, as well as provisions for a single point sling. Removing the flash suppressor reveals a second set of threads that fit my Tundra suppressor.

The charging handle is non-reciprocating and has a handy slot to lock the bolt open. You can give it the old H&K slap to put the weapon in battery, while getting that satisfying 80's action movie sound. (OK, just kidding about that last part)  The charging handle on mine is on the left side of the weapon, so it can easily be operated with the left hand, but it is easily changed to the other side in the event you are a left handed shooter.

 The magazine release is mounted on the front of the trigger guard, and is easy to reach and operate with the trigger finger. The safety is mounted on both sides of the pistol just above the grip.

Magazines are an opaque polymer, and there are generic as well as factory versions. Handling the pistol right out of the box,

I only had two complaints: the pistol is too bulky to be fired with one hand, and my hand rested right on top of the safety, and caused it to rub the palm of my hand raw when I fired the weapon.

I wanted to put a stock on the pistol to make it easier to handle, but I also didn't want to make an NFA weapon out of it. I found a solution: a pistol stabilizing brace. I bought mine at preppergunshop.com and it came with 4 generic 32 round magazines for $199.99. This allows me to stabilize the pistol for shooting, and doesn't require the year long wait for approval.

 The second problem was solved with the removal of the safety lever on the right side and replacing it with a right side safety delete from HB industries. It was easy to do: just field strip the pistol, remove the right side safety by unscrewing the set screw with a 1.5mm allen wrench, and replace it with the delete.

I took it to the range and put the Scorpion through its paces. It ate anything I fed it without complaint. I fired over 500 rounds through it. It fired subsonic, +P, and standard pressure loads in 115 gr, 147 gr, and 124 gr. I also varied between round nosed lead, FMJ, and JHP. All of them fed and functioned without a single failure. I fired 100 rounds with the suppressor.

I turned on the laser sight I mounted, and put an entire magazine through the center of the target just as fast as I could squeeze the trigger.