How reliable are early CZ-75's?

[Metal Wonder Nine Guy]

Yes, the newer CZ 75's have been quite reliable for me, and I imagine that's a similar experience for most people. 

However, I don't have any trigger time on the early CZ-75s and Pre B's. Looking back to the 70's and 80's, autoloaders were starting to be considered reliable. From what I've heard and read, only a handful of autoloaders at the time were considered reliable- Hi power, Beretta 92, Sig P220/P226, Smith and Wesson 59/459/5900, and the HK P7 and P9.

It seems that the CZ-75 was reliable for the time, but given that only a handful of gun enthusiasts and writers were able to get a hold of those pistols, the gun wasn't really considered or known by many people until the 90's and 2000's. By then there were more reliable autoloader options on the market.

[skin]

 I have a cz75 I bought new in 1980. Number of rounds through it ? The only problem with it, or should I say with ammo were the old speer 125 gr soft points ammo and the sierra 88 gr jhc (which are no longer made). At one time I used it for bullseye comp. Practiced with it 3 times a week, 500 rounds a day. It has had all springs replaced I don't know how many times. Still shoots great.

[jwc007]

I had a Pre-B that I had refurbished from it's previous two owners and with new springs, particularly the Extractor Spring, and it always ran well, with properly loaded ammunition.
It served For Target, Home Defense, and Carry, and I would not have trusted it, were it not reliable.

[Blackwatch]

I have one from 1977 which functions consistently...

[Metal Wonder Nine Guy]

Also forgot to ask- did the old CZ75s feed hollow points  reliably? Not all autoloaders could successfully feed JHP ammo back in the day. I forgot to ask that in my opening post on accident. Some pistol designs like the Beretta 92 and HK P7 didn't  have much a feed ramp and as a result could easily handle hollow points. Other guns like the 1st generation  Smith and wesson  autos choked with hollow points.

[Psyop96]

I have a cz75 I bought new in 1980. Number of rounds through it ? The only problem with it, or should I say with ammo were the old speer 125 gr soft points ammo and the sierra 88 gr jhc (which are no longer made). At one time I used it for bullseye comp. Practiced with it 3 times a week, 500 rounds a day. It has had all springs replaced I don't know how many times. Still shoots great.

New in 1980 [emoji44]....short-rail or pre-B type? I’m always on the lookout for the 1980 transition between the two. Would you mind sharing the first three of the SN (can PM me instead)?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[M1A4ME]

I have a Pre B CZ85 (CZ75 with ambidextrous safeties and slide release levers.)

When I got it the insides were full of old oil, powder residue and a fine tan/light brown dust that had mixed together to form a sort of paste/mild abrasive.  Under the grip panels, where there was no oil/lubricant the dust was just a powder of tan color.  The barrel was pitted, the chamber was pitted (corrosive ammo?  Hard to believe there was enough moisture in the middle eastern desert countries to cause pitting in the barrel/chamber.)  The finish was in pretty bad shape and there was some pitting on the outside of the slide around the grooves milled into the slide to help you get a grip on it.

I tore it down, cleaned it up, replaced the springs and the barrel as well as the front and rear sights (forgot to mention the front sight was damaged.)

It is an extremely stout design.  It feed 115 grain hollow points 100% for me.  No issues.

Stout design....one day I had a case head separation while practicing with it.  I had no idea what had happened until it would not chamber the next round.  I racked the slide back and it still didn't chamber.  I looked at it closer that time and saw something funny on the bench in front of me - the whole rim/base of the 9MM case.  I dropped the magazine and could see the next round (3rd from the top when the case in the chamber blew apart) was covered in powder residue.  I locked the slide back and then I could see the curled remains of the bottom of the case walls still stuck in the chamber.  I field stripped it, pulled the case out of the chamber with my finger/thumb nails, put the pistol back together and kept shooting it.  Zero damage to the pistol.  Took a little extra cleaning inside when I got home.



Not sure what would have happened if it had been a plastic framed pistol.

Since that happened I've bought seven more metal framed CZ pistols in 9MM and .40 S&W.  Oops, make that 8.  No issues with any of them even though they are later CZ75 types.

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Also forgot to ask- did the old CZ75s feed hollow points  reliably? Not all autoloaders could successfully feed JHP ammo back in the day. I forgot to ask that in my opening post on accident. Some pistol designs like the Beretta 92 and HK P7 didn't  have much a feed ramp and as a result could easily handle hollow points. Other guns like the 1st generation  Smith and wesson  autos choked with hollow points.

The selection of hollow point ammo in 9mm and for alot of auto loaders  was pretty sparse when these guns were designed and very few auto loaders were reliable with hollow point ammo back then. The hollow point ammo that was available was more of an issue than the guns since most were wide mouthed with huge holes in the end that would crash into feed ramps. Most called those bullets flying ashtrays. Guns made overseas were never intended for hollow points either since they are generally not allowed across the pond.
Today's hollow point ammo is highly reliable even in old guns that normally wouldn't feed the early stuff. My WWII era 1911 will feed Hornady Critical Duty just like it was ball ammo. Look at how modern hollow point bullets mimic ball ammo in their shape.

[AndyC]

My dad bought a short-rail in 1978; we lived in South Africa and this was probably one of the first anyone had seen in the country. It ran flawlessly with FMJs and HPs - I don't recall it ever failing to feed or eject. I used that pistol in IPSC in the day with conical lead 115gr handloads - no issues.

In the mid-80s I bought one of my own (Pre-B, not a short-rail) and I ran all the fancy (for those days) HP ammo through it that I could - Silvertips, Hydra-Shoks, etc. Again, I can recall no FTFs or FTEs other than some reloading screwup-ammo.

Now I have a '78 short-rail and it's been flawless as well.