Slide catch issue

[Unregistered(d)]

I have had a CZ85 Combat for a couple of months now.  Gotta say I love it!  

It has been flawless except for one thing.  Some how the slide catch will get activated when there are still rounds in the magazine.  It has happened with 3 different factory rounds (all 115 grain) and my reloads (134 grain).  

All rounds seem to come very close to hitting the slide catch and because of the variety of ammunition that it has happened with I am having a hard time figuring it out.  

At first I thought that maybe I was doing it as I shoot right handed, put my strong thumb as high as possible and then put my weak thumb on top of my strong thumb.  It would ride very close to the bottom of the slide release lever and I thought I could be pushing it up.  I modified my grip so that I was no where near the slide release and it still happened.  

Any suggestions, comments, ideas?  I really don't want to send it in for warranty repair because I doubt there is anything wrong with it.  Any help appreciated.  Thanks.

[Walt-Sherrill]

Possibly a magazine problem.  

Check, and I suspect you'll find it happens with the same magazine, every time.  

(That said, it could also be a slide stop that is slightly out of spec -- mine came that way, and my local gunsmith tweaked it a bit.  No problems since...)

[Ds75]

Hi,

I have the same problem!
I have tryed multiple mags but the problem stays!

I will have a talk with my gunsmith and maybe he will fix the prob, but if someone has an answer to this prob please post it!

Greets,
Ds75

A proud CZ85 combat owner!

[Walt-Sherrill]

Quote: At first I thought that maybe I was doing it as I shoot right handed, put my strong thumb as high as possible and then put my weak thumb on top of my strong thumb. It would ride very close to the bottom of the slide release lever and I thought I could be pushing it up. I modified my grip so that I was no where near the slide release and it still happened.

 While I'm sure there are several PROPER ways to keep your thumbs from causing problems, the one recommended to me for the CZ-75/85 line by a pretty knowledgeable (and high scoring) professional shooter is the same grip used with 1911s...

Put the strong hand thumb ON the safety, pressing down.   It should rest on the safety and your other thumb.   This keeps them both out of trouble.  If you start cocked and locked, this is a natural place for the strong-hand thumb to be.  If you start hammer down, it hurts nothing, and keeps you from nudging the safety up, which can happen easily.  

I really don't think your thumb was hitting the slide stop lever...

[Unregistered(d)]

Walt,
I only have 2 Mags but the problem is just as frequent with both.  When you say the slide catch was slightly out of spec and your gunsmith tweaked it what does that mean?  I have been tempted to take a file to the slide catch "and tweak it" to make sure the rounds are clearing it but I think I would send it in before I did that.

Thanks for the tip on hand placement.  I'll have to give a try.

Ds75,
If you talk to your gunsmith and he comes up with something please post it.  I would hate to ship off my firearm and have to shoot only my CZ70 for a while.

[Walt-Sherrill]

I was having similar problems with mine.  I took it to the gunsmith.  He fixed it.  He said he took some metal off the slide stop, but didn't show me where.   I was in a rush that morning -- on the way to work -- and didn't get him to explain further.

You might try calling the gunsmith at CZ, Mike, and ask him about the problem.  He's generally very helpful, and might have a quick fix for you.

(My gunsmith has a minimum fee of $30 bucks.  Most of the stuff he does for me generally costs that.  For something simple, I'll take it to him rather than send it to CZ, simply because it'll cost me only a few buck more than shipping it to CZ via FedEx or UPS 2nd Day, will keep my gunsmith employed, and I'll get the gun back a lot sooner.)

[Unregistered(d)]

Walt,
I'll bet dollars to donuts that I know exactly where he took the metal off.  

In my trouble shooting I took of the slide and then put the slide stop back in.  I then put a round in the magazine and put it in the gun.  It was pretty obvious that the bullet was very close and even touching the slide catch at times on its way to the feed ramp.  

The follower on the magazine catches a large chunk of the slide catch.  You could easily take a few thousands off the slide catch and not even come close to affecting the correct slide catch mechanism.  Thank you very much for your time and trouble.

[Unregistered(d)]

Walt,
I guess I forgot to mention that I had emailed CZ with this question attempting to avoid shipping my gun out.  It took about 3 days but they did email me back.  Guess who?  Yep, the venerable Mike of CZ gunsmithing fame.  This is his response.  Sorry about the length but I thought it was important:

While OAL may appear to be the culprett, in reality the slide stop spring has a lot to do with this problem.This is the spring located in the frame, just above the trigger on the right side. It is held in place by a short 1/8" long pin with a groove in the middle. Its sole purpose is to hold the slide stop down, and out of the way, while rounds feed past it.  It is overridden by the follower/magazine spring, after the last round is fed into the chamber.  It keeps this downward pressure by its rearward facing leg pressing downward on the flat spot that is ground on the right side of the shaft of the slide stop.  To cure this problem, pop out its retaining pin and remove it from the frame. Then give its long rearward leg a sharp downward bend, at the knee. Then re-install it. It is that simple.

[MoNsTeR]

what address did you e-mail Mike at?
I have a few questions I'd like to ask him, and e-mail is sooooo much more convenient than the phone...

[Unregistered(d)]

Monster,
I went to www.cz-usa.com and clicked on the contact link.  They have an internal email system that does not use your email client that will get you started.  Mike emailed me back at the email address that I put in the question and we have been doing the "reply" thing ever since.  I am not at my PC now so I don't have the email address he responded from.  I will post it as soon as I get back to my PC.

Note on progress:
I followed the instructions and found that "easy as that" was not that easy.  After bending the spring I found I could not re-insert the pin without 2 men, a boy and a high lift jack.  After making adjusments on the bend I got the thing put back together to find that now I have no pressure whatsoever on the slide catch.  

If I cycle the slide with no clip and the gun upside down it will catch.  I have not made it to the range but suspect I have made it worse.  I questioned Mike via email and he said I need to rebend and install the spring by putting pressure on the "knee" of the spring.  I will re-attempt with assistance.  It seemed it would tak a Mac truck to install the spring by pressuring that point.

Question:
I'm sure it was this way new but now that I look it does not make sense.  The "knee" of the spring we are talking about actually is raised above the slide rail and when installing the slide it pushes it down.  It seems that every time the gun is fired the slide is riding on that spring.  Can that be right?  After 200,000 rounds or so something will have to give.  I have questioned Mike on this and will let you know what he says.  Does all of your CZ85 Combats hit this "knee" when installing the slide?

[Unregistered(d)]

Monster,
The secret email is:
gunsmith@cz-usa.com
That is the address that Mike has been emailing me from and I have been replying to.  The one off the web site goes to info@cz-usa.com and then I believe it gets forwarded to Mike if it is a gunsmithing issue.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Mike got back to me on the spring/slide issue already.  This is his response:

The slide will normally contact this spring, but in no way should it impede slide travel.
I have never seen it wear a slide, as this spring will not contact the slide in normal operation.

I am still interested in whether or not everyone's hits this spring during slide install.  Thanks.

[Unregistered(d)]

Fixed it!!!  It was just like Mike at CZ said/wrote.  I just had to get the bend right.  It took a couple of times but now the slide operates perfectly and the slide release lever has a nice snap down when pushed up and released.  I would recommend a vice or 2nd person if attempting this fix.