New sights for CZ 75 Pre B

[JCCZPA]

I fired my CZ 75 Pre B for the first time in over a decade, and I want to use it for IDPA. Terrific pistol! I took it out with my son's Beretta 92FS and I slightly prefer the CZ to it. Both are fine shooters. I'd like to put good combat sights on it.

So I want a good smith to do this because dovetails need to be milled, this is no home gunsmithing job. My question is should I use a smith that specializes in the CZ 75 or should I send the slide to a sight manufacturer and have them put it on? And can they effectively zero it with just the slide or do they need the whole gun to test fire it? Maybe I should get an adjustable rear sight, that could solve the zero problem.

Any suggestions on what sights to use or who to have do the work? Thanks!

[JCCZPA]

Hmmmm. I found this on Cajun Gunworks website.

"Any cutting on any slide voids the original manufacturer’s warranty.   Any slide can develop cracks or fail over time in their as manufactured, unaltered state.  Therefore, CGW offers no warranty, either expressed or implied, for any millwork performed.  The customer assumes all risks associated with slide work."

He does not say "Don't do it." And I can certainly understand the notice in today's litigious society. Is a Pre B not a good candidate for this? Maybe I should just put orange nail polish on the front sight and call it good. But I'd love better sights and I suspect there is not much danger in it, and I don't need a warranty.

Anyone else ever had a Pre B slide milled for sight dovetails? What was your experience?

Thanks!

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Well there's obviously no warranty from CZ anymore so there's no worry there. I think CGW is just putting out a standard disclaimer to cover their own tail as most do. That said it is your gun and many people have had their Pre-B guns milled for different sights with great success. To get a good zero you really need to ship the entire pistol and let the smith confirm zero.
Now if it were my Pre-B and if it was in really nice condition I would not modify it in any way that cannot be reversed. That is a choice you need to make for yourself though.

[JCCZPA]

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. Between my last post and now I went back to the safe and took another look at it. The rear sight is actually in a dovetail cut, I don't know why I did not think it wasn't

The front post is machined right out of the slide, it is not removable. And that may be the issue, the barrel is not that beefy up there where the barrel protrudes. This particular gun is in a baked on finish of some sort that is much nicer than the older enamel that used to wear off so easily. I may take your advice and no do anything to it. They are available in large enough numbers, I'm not sure ruining it's collector value is an issue. But weakening it is. I think I'll just put some white or orange nail polish of the front sight and call it good.

However, if anyone has successfully changed out the sights and had no issues after a meaningful number of rounds through it, please do chime in, I want to learn. But I will do nothing for the moment.

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

The front sight should actually be staked on from inside the slide in that there is a tail on the front sight that gets folded over to hold it in place. This is exactly the same method that was used on our military 1911's and Springfield Armory and Colt still use this method today on certain models. You could possibly have a good smith fit a tenon style sight (which is the proper term) to your slide without milling a dovetail in the front.

[M1A4ME]

I have a Pre B CZ85.  My front sight was dented/buggered up (rough exterior over all from hard use some where far away) when I got it.

As SVPP said, it's very much like a 1911 front sight.

Mine had a round hole in the slide and a round hole in the barrel bushing.  The hole in the inside/top of the barrel bushing is tapered towards the hole so the front sight tenon can extend into the barrel bushing but not contact the barrel.  A special tool is required to spread out the bottom of the tenon (it acts sort of like a rivet after that) to hold it in the slide (and barrel bushing in a Pre B model).

I bought a 1911 front sight for mine after finding the Pre B CZ75 front sight I originally bought wasn't going to work as the tenon was made incorrectly.)  The 1911 front sight has a square tenon, the hole in my slide was round.  I used a small file to take the corners off the square tenon and it fit nice and snug into the round hole afterwards.

The 1911 front sight (FO) and the adjustable rear sight (also for a Pre B the ad stated) work very well in my Pre B CZ85.  The front sight had to be staked (is the term I was struggling to remember earlier) and I added some of that black loctite just prior to staking the front sight tenon.  Mine has lasted just fine so far.

A Pre B (CZ85) with a staked in (1911 style) FO front sight.

[JCCZPA]

Thanks very much, guys!