New to me import CZ 75 "pre B" 1987 RANGE REPORT ADDED

[Teddydogno1]

Bought this from a local shop recently.  Was in picking up a transfer and NOT shopping for a 75.  I have previously owned a 75B in 40 S&W, but didn't care for the caliber and didn't keep the pistol.  Have always liked the 75 and was even considering one of the "clones" in 10mm.

So the pistol was made in 1987. The serial numbered parts that I can see all match.  The importer (CAI) added a second serial number on the frame that matches the main SN but with two added letters.  HUGE importer billboard on the front strap.

The pistol appears to have all pre-B features (round trigger guard, spur hammer, fixed front sight).  The paint/sprayed finish is heavily worn as you can see, but the mechanics looks good to me.  Not much sign of wear on the internal parts.  The bore is very good.  The trigger, both DA and SA, is FANTASTIC!  That's actually what sold me on the pistol! 



It has the early logo plastic grips which are unfortunately both cracked by the screw hole.  When I got it, some dumb-a$$ didn't put the front edge of the grip panels in place properly and just screwed them down in the back!  Don't know if that's when they cracked or if that happened earlier.  I put a little super glue in the cracks to keep them from cracking more hopefully.  They are also a bit warped at the top and bottom of the back edge so they don't lay completely flat.  The are fairly solid when screwed down snug but not TIGHT.

The pistol was rather grungy inside the frame and slide, so I did a full strip down.  I was a bit worried about the early safety, especially when the paperclip slipped out leaving the spring and detent (the arrow-shaped piece) loose on disassembly.  But otherwise I found the pistol easy to detail strip and assemble again.  Even the safety detent gave me little trouble...I used a dental pick to push it in place against the spring and post AND IT STAYED THERE!

It came with one 16-round magazine that is blued and has a flat steel bottom plate.  No markings other than the round count marks.  It fits the pistol, but is a little tight and only drops about 3/4 inch when released, even with the mag brake removed!  I have modified the inside frame so ACT-MAG 17-round mags fit (but left them a little tight).  I did leave out the mag brake when I reassembled the gun after a full frame strip for cleaning.

I paid $399 for the pistol, which I'm pretty sure is too much.  But the trigger is nice!  And the shop doesn't charge for transfers, so I don't mind giving them some other business.  I will replace the grips with a pair of factory rubber panels and set aside the originals before they deteriorate further.  Looking forward to shooting it soon!


Rob

[bang bang]

congrats on your CZ

with regards to the mag, is a crap shoot on the mags since you have no idea if its a really Pre-b mag or not.

but what i have found with my CZs and mags is that if you can try some of the newer mags, you may find one or many that work.  Or if you have alot of CZs, you can try those too.

and last comment. Try removing the grip panels and see how well the mag fits/drops.  Sometimes those grip panels will interfere too.

what i found is that if you are not a  gun person and have no idea on what a gun is other than it goes bang, people look at the cosmetics and not the internals.  I have found that many of the surp guns may look like crap, but where it counts, are really nice.

with regards to price, if i told you, you stole it at that price, im sure you would be so happy and proud of yourself.   however if i told you, you could have got one for 200 bucks, you would be a really POed person.  If you live long enough, you will find that sometimes you get a good deal and sometimes you dont.  So again, why worry?  You have it and its yours.  Enjoy it. Shoot it and do what you want to it.  If you want to sell or trade it, its yours to do so, its not a toy sitting in a gun shop case where you are wishing it was your.

[Froggy]

I would have bought that Pre-B as well ... 
Tell us how you get on ! That?s what counts ...

[ejb1975]

Try an Sp-01 mag, they are narrower and fit most pre-b?s


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[Blackwatch]

Nice find! Don't think you paid too much, especially with little wear on internals and good trigger action.

[eastman]

If you are happier with what you bought than you were with the money you spent, then the deal is OK.   

[Teddydogno1]

congrats on your CZ

with regards to the mag, is a crap shoot on the mags since you have no idea if its a really Pre-b mag or not.

but what i have found with my CZs and mags is that if you can try some of the newer mags, you may find one or many that work.  Or if you have alot of CZs, you can try those too.

and last comment. Try removing the grip panels and see how well the mag fits/drops.  Sometimes those grip panels will interfere too.

what i found is that if you are not a  gun person and have no idea on what a gun is other than it goes bang, people look at the cosmetics and not the internals.  I have found that many of the surp guns may look like crap, but where it counts, are really nice.

with regards to price, if i told you, you stole it at that price, im sure you would be so happy and proud of yourself.   however if i told you, you could have got one for 200 bucks, you would be a really POed person.  If you live long enough, you will find that sometimes you get a good deal and sometimes you dont.  So again, why worry?  You have it and its yours.  Enjoy it. Shoot it and do what you want to it.  If you want to sell or trade it, its yours to do so, its not a toy sitting in a gun shop case where you are wishing it was your.

I have been shooting since I was 11 and collecting since I was 16, so I'm very familiar with pricing, win some/lose some and "its a good deal if you feel good about it."  My buddy that was with me thought I was crazy for buying that beat up old gun.  He's the type that needs everything to look great while I care more about function and I'm fine with the "diamond in the rough."

Regarding mag fitment...  I don't think the included mag is an original "pre B" mag.  It fits acceptably, but don't know yet about function.  When I was working to adjust the frame to fit the newer mags, I was doing all the work with the grips off, of course.  When I put the pistol back together, I was shocked to find that ALL of the mags were tight to VERY tight to DOES NOT FIT.  That's when I took out the mag brake, without making a change.  Then I realized it was the grips that were the new problem.  There was a little bit of super glue in just the wrong spot on both sides from where I had glued the cracks.  I cleaned that up and solved the problem.

I don't have any place around that has a bunch of CZ 75 mags for me to do trial and error.  I gotta play the Internet Roulette.  I may bring the gun with me to the next big gun show to see if I can test fit.

Thanks for the thoughts so far, guys.


rob

[Earl Keese]

 Aside from OEM pre-ban mags, the only ones likely to fit are OEM SP-01 18rd mags and MecGar 16rd. The SP-01 mags will often fit and drop free w/o modding the frame. For drop free, you'll need to swap or remove the mag brake. If you mod the frame to fit MecGar 17rd mags there is a high likelihood of removing too much material which allows the mags to tilt in the frame. The 17rd mags are oversized and rarely work in the old frames.
 At $399, you may have over paid slightly for the condition. However, I would allow a little extra for the ability to hold and dry fire before purchase. On GB, they're bringing $335 to $350 in similar condition. After transfer fees, you're not far off and you knew exactly what you were getting. I bought my first pre-b at a pawn shop for $425 a couple years ago. It was a '92 in factory phosphate finish, good shape with some patina. I've bought a few since for less money but I have no regrets whatsoever about what I spent on the first one. Congrats on your you gun, it's a good one.

[Teddydogno1]

Took the pistol to shoot yesterday and it was excellent! 

Experienced no failures at all using 5 different magazines: the one that came with it (16 round blue steel with steel base plate, no maker info), a Mec-Gar 16 round blue with steel base plate and 3 ACT-MAT 17 rounds mags with thick plastic base plates.  All fit the pistol great (after moding the frame) and fed perfectly.  The range only allows 5 rounds loaded, so additional testing with full mags will still be needed.  None of the mags actually drop free, but none take much effort to extract either.



The target pictured was fired at only 20 feet offhand.  The lower bunch is 10 rounds fired all double-action using a 6 o'clock hold on the orange bull.  The centered group is 15 single-action holding at the center.

The pistol handles really well and I love the trigger.  The recoil impulse is really nice and easy to control (compared to other 9mm pistols, which are all pretty easy to shoot).

Rob

[briang2ad]

Bravo to a man who practices DA WHICH IS the purpose of a DA/SA GUN.  Thank you sir and good shooting!

[Blackwatch]

Nice groupings - single and double action!! Bet you're glad you picked this one up 

[earlykyler2012]

Thanks for sharing! Love me some range reports.

[Blaiwayw]

I really enjoy refinishing these banged up CZ?s.  I?ve had great success at parkerizing and cerakote.  Parkerizing is not difficult, or very costly.  Cerakote is much more difficult, and expensive.  The result, when attention to details, can be very nice.  These are Jericho?s, much like the CZ.






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[Blaiwayw]

Jericho in cerakote od green.




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[Sulpgnir]

Bought this from a local shop recently.  Was in picking up a transfer and NOT shopping for a 75.  I have previously owned a 75B in 40 S&W, but didn't care for the caliber and didn't keep the pistol.  Have always liked the 75 and was even considering one of the "clones" in 10mm.....

Nice find!

............I bought my first pre-b at a pawn shop for $425 a couple years ago. It was a '92 in factory phosphate finish, good shape with some patina. I've bought a few since for less money but I have no regrets whatsoever about what I spent on the first one. Congrats on your you gun, it's a good one.

Man, I need to visit my local shops more often