ZEV TESTING RESULTS

On May 5th, 6th and 7th, in response to safety concerns from members about the adoption and rollout of the ZEV 9mm pistol, armed WFSE members from the Department of Corrections joined together in Oak Harbor to conduct a test with protocols selected from established NIJ testing to determine if the issues with the ZEV 9mm discovered in November had been corrected. 

CCO’s, GRE Specialists, Reentry Specialists, and CRU Specialists, spent three days testing agency selected ZEV pistols, provided by the Department from the pistols designated for issue, through the selected National Institute of Justice pistol testing protocol. During this NIJ test: one portion included six guns shooting 10,000 rounds each, with a max number of malfunctions for all six guns being 30. Other portions included subjecting the pistol to water immersion, sand intrusion, cold and heat all while continuing to measure its reliability.  

Unfortunately, across the ZEV pistols tested in the 10000 round reliability test, there were 117 total malfunctions where the pistols failed to fire a round, with one pistol rendered inoperative when the slide lock lever broke during testing. The ZEV pistols also failed to successfully pass either the water immersion or sand intrusion tests. 

A complete report of the testing, including all records, documentation, photographs, and an explanation of the testing protocol is available at the link below. 

This report is over 340 pages and fully details how testing was conducted by our members along with observers from both the administration and the Teamsters union watching for short portions. Your Union would not have been able to conduct this extensive testing without our close partnership with DOC administration.

Due to the poor performance of the ZEV pistol in testing, WFSE leadership met with DOC administration on 05/09/2025 to share our results. At the conclusion of this meeting, the administration acknowledged our concerns and has canceled the roll out of the ZEV to WFSE members in the community, while continuing the roll out to the prisons division. The tested pistols will be returned to ZEV to receive their second evaluation to determine the source of the ongoing issues.  

WFSE will continue to work with the agency to address this issue, and welcomes your questions and concerns to help further the process.