New to the CZ world...

[Mr Grass Stains]

Hey guys! I just bought a CZ 75 compact here in California from someone on another forum and I have got to say, I am impressed. It's taken every round I've hand from cheap Bulk FMJ, to FMJ +P, Hollow Points +P, and even hand loaded rounds that I was having problem with in my Star Model B (also a good gun btw) and Beretta M9. I do have some questions though and hopefully some people can chime in and help me out on this. First of all, the magazines. I do have two magazines but I always like to have a total of five for any firearm I have just in case I lose one or what have you. Since I live in California, I can't have magazines over 10 rounds and because of that I am stuck with spending $40+ for just one magazine. However, I saw on CDDN that Baby Eagle Compact magazines and Jericho compact magazines are going for $20. I've searched the forum but I couldn't find any confirmation that these work on the compact. Does anyone have any experience with using these two magazines in their compact? Another thing I've noticed is I have rubber grips. Am I right in assuming that rubber grips are aftermarket and never came standard with the pistol? I also seem to have aftermarket recoil springs and I'll post a few pictures to show what I mean. But my question is, is there any way to know what the recoil spring is rated for? I can't seem to find 18lbs or any other lettering on the spring so I was just curious to what they are rated at. My buddy came over and verified that I had a factory spring, I was just confusing it with his because he has Wolff springs on already which I didn't know about.

Also, I'll try to put pictures up by tonight or tomorrow. Sorry for the long post.
Have a good one guys and thanks in advance.

Edit: Thank you skipper and chimera8 for answering my questions. I really appreciate the help guys. Got photos on post #5!

[skipper]

Welcome Mr. Grass Stains, the factory standard  for the compact is 17 lb. Check out gunsprings.com they have a variety of CZ springs by Woff gunsprings. There are some knowledgeable compact owners that can help you with springs. By reccomendation I have changed to a 20lb. recoil spring, but have not had it to the range yet.

[Mr Grass Stains]

Hey Skipper, glad to be onboard. So the factory recoil spring is 17lbs huh? Than the person i bought the gun from has changed the spring for sure because it doesn't feel like it. Feels more like 20lb but i won't know unless there's a way to gauge the pressure. Verified it is factory. Thanks for the quick reply Skipper, I appreciate the help.

[skipper]

Is the current recoil spring a flat or round wire spring?

[chimera8]

Tanfoglio compacts hold fewer rounds than CZ compacts so I believe those magazines will be too short to lock into your pistol.

[Mr Grass Stains]

Hey guys I got some pictures of my CZ earlier in the morning. Forgive me for the iffy quality, had to use my camera phone couldn't find my camera anywhere. To skipper, I put a picture of the recoil spring below but it does look like a round wire spring. To chimera8, thanks for the heads up. As soon as I read your post, I went ahead and bought two full size CZ 75 magazines from another member from the classifieds since I don't really mind the base of the magazine sticking out. BTW, the last picture has a full magazine because the spring on that one seems like it's new. Apparently the previous owner shot it so little that he only used one magazine, go figure.

[tekarra]

Hello Mr. Grass Stains and welcome ot the forum.  The Compact is a great pistol IMO.  I purchase spare Mec-Gar magazines from CDNN.

[skipper]

Mr. GS, nice pics, I am not familiar with that twisted 2 wire spring. Your compact is an 2002 year model and may have came with that type recoil spring. Mine is a 2007 year model and came with a flat wire spring. Looks like you bought a clean lightly used compact. Sounds like it is running good with the current spring. I'm sure another there is another memeber that can identify the recoil spring.

[Mr Grass Stains]

Thanks Skipper. i am glad i bought it. It was $410 out the door so i was happy to get it. Though, I did have one issue.

Just yesterday i was shooting at my local range and my slide would lock up with rounds still in the magazine. Now I know about this issue because i have a 1911 as well so I made sure that my thumb didn't hit the slide release and sure enough it locked up. I will try shooting ball ammo just to eliminate if its the rounds hitting the slide release or not and physically check the gun tomorrow when I clean it. Does anyone know if there is anything else that could do this? I am using the factory 10 round magazines.

Also, there is a nick on the slide itself from the previous owner. You can see it on the fourth picture sort of in the middle. Don't know if that is the problem but it does bother me a little so I'll probably file that down tomorrow as well. However other than that I have been extremely happy with the little fella.

[75Plus]

Mr. GS,  while they are currently out of stock CZ-USA carries base pads that will make the full sized magazines into Compact magazines. They are listed on page 2 of this link. http://shop.cz-usa.com/SearchByKeyword.aspx?word=magazine+base  The item number is: 0430377001
These base pads will also fit on the Kadet magazines (when, not if, you get the Kadet Kit ) to make them fit flush also.

As for the slide locking back prematurely, check to make sure the slide stop spring is applying enough pressure to the SS. Any looseness can cause the problem.

Joe

[Bret]

Just yesterday i was shooting at my local range and my slide would lock up with rounds still in the magazine. Now I know about this issue because i have a 1911 as well so I made sure that my thumb didn't hit the slide release and sure enough it locked up. I will try shooting ball ammo just to eliminate if its the rounds hitting the slide release or not and physically check the gun tomorrow when I clean it. Does anyone know if there is anything else that could do this? I am using the factory 10 round magazines.

I had this problem with several CZ75's and my Caniks.  It was easy to tell that the bullets were activating the slide stop because they left copper marks on the slide stop.  The solution was to carefully take a little off the slide stop so the bullets would not be able to activate it while at the same time leaving enough so the magazine followers will activate the slide stop.
http://www.czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=38489.msg212405;topicseen#msg212405

[Mr Grass Stains]

Thanks 75Plus and yea you must be a psychic 75Plus, the kadet is already on its way haha. Also, thanks for the link Bret. That was exactly what i needed. I did have to do the same to my 1911 so i knew what it was but i didn't know the tolerances of the CZ so I was a little apprehensive. But that link you gave is perfect thanks.

Also range a report. I put a variety of types and brands of ammo through it yesterday and it seems that my Compact likes Sellier & Bellot 9x19 NATO Police the best. I thought this was funny and so did my brother since Sellier & Bellot is a CZech company too.