A 9mm in Montana has a different job list than one in a city back east: it rides in the truck, sits by the door at the ranch house, and goes to the range in Billings or Bozeman on a Saturday. CZ's new DUTY 4.0 fits that list. It is a striker-fired 9x19mm with a serialized modular chassis inside a fiberglass-reinforced polymer frame, a 4-inch unthreaded barrel, fixed sights and a slide cut for a direct-mount red dot. CZ's refined SFDA trigger pulls at about 5.6 pounds and resets in 4 mm.

The DUTY 4.0 C compact holds 15+1, or 17+1 with the extended base plate, at 27.2 ounces. The DUTY 4.0 F full-size holds 17+1, or 19+1 extended, at 27.5 ounces. Add MS and you get a manual thumb safety. From Missoula over to Philipsburg and Thompson Falls, down through Ennis and Townsend to Columbus, it is a sensible town-and-ranch pistol.

Where the P-10 had a serialized polymer frame, the DUTY 4.0 moves the serial number to an internal modular chassis. That is the headline. The rest follows the modern service-pistol formula done carefully: a striker SFDA trigger at 25 ± 4 N (5.6 ± 0.9 lbs) (4 mm (0.16 in) reset, 9 ± 1 mm (0.4 ± 0.04 in) travel), a 188 mm (7.4 in) long slide with direct-mount optics cuts, fixed sights and a four-inch barrel without a thread.

Capacity on the compact is 15+1, with a 17+1 option through the extended base plate. Height is 135 mm (5.3 in) and the empty weight 770 g (27.2 oz). If you carry, this is the DUTY to look at; if you mostly shoot at the range, see the F.

MS stands for manual safety. This model adds a thumb safety lever to the passive safeties every DUTY has: the firing pin block, the trigger safety and the trigger bar safety. Agencies and owners who want a positive on/off control choose this version; the trigger itself is unchanged.

Best fit: daily carry, a home-defense gun that also rides along, and new owners who want one pistol for everything. Shooters coming from a CZ 75 will recognize the grip angle; owners coming from any other striker gun will notice the trigger first.

Montana has no purchase permit, no waiting period and no registration. Name the licensed dealer nearest you at checkout, in Billings, Glendive, Libby or anywhere between, and the DUTY 4.0 ships to them; that dealer does the federal background check when you collect it. Ammunition, optics and parts ship to your door. You see the live price and availability before you pay.

Questions buyers ask: Is the DUTY 4.0 a good truck gun? At 7.4 inches long and under 28 ounces, either size stows easily. The MS models add a manual thumb safety, which some prefer for a pistol that rides in a vehicle. Does Montana register handguns bought online? No. Montana has no registration, no purchase permit and no waiting period. Your dealer runs the federal background check and that is it. What does MS mean on the CZ DUTY 4.0 C MS? Manual safety. It adds a thumb safety lever to the firing pin block, trigger safety and trigger bar safety that every DUTY has.