Newly arrived vz2008...good news and bad news

[eric98]

Picked it up today, mags all are brand new, as is bayonet, sling .  I cocked the bolt back and let it fly forward.  I tried to fire it and the trigger goes back, but no "click".  Tried it several times.  I'll have to mess with it later, but whats the problem?

[Gyrkin]

Sounds like the safety is on. On the VZ 2008 down and forward is safe and rearward is fire.

[eric98]

no, thats not the problem.  It doesn't fire with the selector up.  I'm going to take it apart later and try to figure it out.

[Psyklops]

I bought my vz2008 a little over a month ago and it has been at century since then for warranty repair for a failure to fire issue.  I have done quite a bit of reading on the subject over the past month and as far as I can tell the main problems that I have been reading about are:

1.  The "VZ Gremlin"  where the gun will not fire due to the striker not catching the sear on the way forward due to either poor spring tension on the sear spring or the bolt carrier not engaging the disconnector which will result in the sear remaining in a downward position  and not catching the striker.  I do believe this is also called the "Hermex effect"  not sure about that one(if the Hermex effect is different i would love for someone to school me on it).  This is the problem that a lot of people end up having tabs welded to their bolt carriers to fix.  The tab is a czechpont solution to the problem where on the century guns they employ a lengthened disconnector to combat the issue(apparently the gremlin is caused by the conversion from full auto to semi in all VZ flavors)

2.  Having a wonky safety mechanism that is not allowing the internals to work correctly.

3.  The trigger or sear parts "walking"  or moving slightly during fire which also results in a failure to fire, people have been posting info about shimming the parts of their trigger groups to tighten them up to remove this problem.

4. I have also read about failure to fire issues being caused by the overtravel in the trigger moving things slightly. 

My problem was different than yours in the sense that it would go bang one or two times and then not fire due to the striker not catching.

Fortunately, my gun had only been on the shelf for a couple months when i bought it so i have quite a bit of warranty left, if I were you I would send it back for repair and hopefully they fix it the first time.

[omar787]

Erick my advice send your bolt to Morgan get it tabbed and 99.9% if not 100 would b solved and your vz2008 reliable as it can be don't loose your time with cia giid luck hooe u take my advice I did it an everything is working how it supposed.

[omar787]

Sorry bout my grammar lol

[eric98]

I watched a few videos on youtube and I am going to disassemble this afternoon and try to figure out the issue.  Have a lot of experience with AR,s and AK's , but this is a new platform for me so I'm going to take it slow and get this issue identified. 
Also the button to fold the stock is difficult to press.  Funny I can lightly push it down on the surface of the work bench and it breaks free but I can't push it with finger pressure.
On the plus side, everything that came with the rifle is brand new except the magazine pouch.

[JDA70]

I watched a few videos on youtube and I am going to disassemble this afternoon and try to figure out the issue.  Have a lot of experience with AR,s and AK's , but this is a new platform for me so I'm going to take it slow and get this issue identified. 
Also the button to fold the stock is difficult to press.  Funny I can lightly push it down on the surface of the work bench and it breaks free but I can't push it with finger pressure.
On the plus side, everything that came with the rifle is brand new except the magazine pouch.

Here is how I take mine apart.


1. Push out the Pin that goes through the Sear. It's the top
one when you look at the left side of the rifle.
2. Push down on the spring that is pushing on the Safety. It'll have a small
divot almost at the end. You can use that pick that comes with the cleaning kit
to depress the leaf spring to get the Safety out.
3. Tap out the small roll pin from the bottom out the top of the receiver
to get the trigger out.

Use a lot of oil.
What I did was use Ballistol in the Spray can and sprayed a
a lot in the receiver, bolt carrier, bolt, springs...etc ect.

Put it back together in the reverse order.
Then keep racking the Bolt carrier over and over.
It's going to peen 4 spots in the receiver. This is normal.
Then pull the trigger. it should work now.

With the folding stock I had the same issue.
I just put a bunch of oil in there and worked the button
with the handle end of a hammer. Just pushing it down about a couple
hundred times and it works perfectly.

[TJNewton]

Be careful when loosening up the folding stock without taking it apart.  You're likely to strip the threads on the nut or the bolt and both parts are very difficult to find separately.  Some have loosened the folding mechanism by just soaking it with oil/lube and working it back and forth, but it's much safer to take it apart and clean it.  When putting it back together, put some blue Loctite on the threads and it shouldn't ever be a problem again.  It only takes about ten minutes.  Do a search on this site and there are many posts on dis-and-reassembly of the folding stock.

Also, when pushing down the button, don't touch the stock whatsoever, but instead grip the receiver.  The reason the folding stock on the VZ has no or minimal wobble is that the hinge mechanism is machined with very tight tolerances.  The slightest pressure on the arm of the stock will be amplified down to the bolt and make it bind.  The button does have a strong spring under it, making it somewhat hard to push down, but the button will disengage and the stock will swing surprisingly freely if the arm isn't touched.