This video shows how to adapt the magazines to fit a CZ-52 with the following upgrade. Though it may look different due to the different stages of upgrading, the same gun was used in both the video and photographic examples below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY6PTxMJ5vU
LEGAL NOTICE:
I am not a licensed gun smith and you probably aren't either. This tutorial is entirely an act of kindness. Any actions you take as result of this info, you take at your own risk and are entirely responsible for.THIS PICTURE SHOWS A COMPLETED AND FULLY OPERATIONAL WESTERN STYLE MAGAZINE RELEASE. IF YOU RUN IN TO TROUBLE OR CONFUSION, REFER BACK TO THIS IMAGE TO HELP YOU:
First, lets go over what we will need:
* A piece of shock steel at least 5/32 x 1/3 x 1/2 thick. A pry bar should be sufficient.
* Screw that has a head of: 7/32 thick and two nuts that will fit the screw.
* A push spring that will fit around the screw but not the head.
* A very strong 7/32 drill or milling bit.
* A drill or milling bit that matches the thread diameter of the threads to the screw.
* A Dremmel or or other rotary tool.
* A Drill Press or milling machine
* Either gorilla glue, thread lock or a mig welder.
* Cutting wheels for the rotary tool.
* Vice
If you are very good with a rotary tool, you can get by with using it in stead of the mill/drill press. I will not go in to details as to how as you will know if you are good enough with a rotary tool.
Below is a top view of what the magazine catch looks like assembled and out of the gun.
We start by cutting our piece of shock steel to the dimensions listed above (5/32 x 1/3 x 1/2)
Then you must place it in to a vice and drill a hole through the side of the widest surface. Once you have done that, you must trim the metal at the sides to fit 7/32 diameter leaving a flat surface on the far side of the hole. It is important that you do so as the flat surface is what will hold your magazine in the gun!
This is what the end result should look like:
Now you must adapt the gun it's self for this.
Start by placing the STRIPPED frame of the gun in to a vice and use your mill or drill to drill a whole all of the way through the trigger guard with your drill bit that matches the threads of your screw as shown below:
Then you must drill a 7/32 hole over the previous hole, but it must be drilled from the left side of the frame (the side that the de-cocker is on) and MOST NOT go all the way through but still come close.
Now you must cut a slot for the magazine catch to fit in on the opposite side of the frame with your rotary tool as shown below. I you may have to do some intricate grinding inside of the magazine well to make it fit:
Now it's finally time to put everything together. First, use some petroleum jell very lightly over the right side of the trigger guard to use as a release agent for your glue if you will use it.
Screw one of the nuts all of the way in to the screw. Next, put your spring over the screw.
Now insert your screw in to the left side of the trigger group. If you have done everything right, it should fit. Fitting may be necessary as well as some minor trimming.
Once inserted, place the metal piece you made in the screw threads on the right side of the frame and in to the flat slot you made. If you did everything right, it should fit. Again, if it doesn't, trim and tune where necessary.
Press the screw head in on the left side of the frame all the way and then move the piece we made to where it lines up 3mm inward from the outer wall of the handle of the frame and mark it with either white paint or a tiny cut from your rotary tool (don't worry, a small cut will actually help.
Now, without removing anything, you should screw the second nut over the screw threads. How deep is not important yet.
Now, insert the magazine in to the stripped frame and manually lift the magazine catch to allow the magazine to fit all of the way in.
Next, use a pencil to mark exactly where the magazine catch will fit in on the magazine, remove your magazine and cut your slot in to the magazine accordingly. It may be a good idea to strip your magazine before doing so.
Now you should actually know what to do from here but well get in to some further detail just in case.
You need to remove your magazine catch from the gun and trim the bottom of it until it mimics the shape of the inside of your magazine well plus 2-3mm in.
This next part depends upon whether you are using glue or a welder.
GLUE METHODUse your rotary tool to cut some niches in to the outer surface of the magazine catch as shown below:
First make sure that the right side of the trigger guard is still lubricated.
Now, you must place gorilla glue or thread lock on the inside of the hole and insert it to the exact depth you want and use the last nut to hold it at your desired depth and wait for it to try.
Cut the excess of the screw threads off once finished.
WELDING METHODCut the end of the screw off where you marked it, place the magazine catch on and spot weld the magazine catch and screw head together.
.........
Now, once the magazine catch has been welded or the glue dry (depending on your method), must insert your magazine. There is very little chance that everything will work smoothly right off the bat, so you must tune everything and trim where necessary until everything works smoothly.
Once it does, install the take-down system and slide. DO NOT install the hammer or anything in the handle yet.
Now, load up the magazine, point the gun in a safe direction and make sure that all 8 rounds chamber and extract without any problems. Once you are satisfied, cut the old magazine catch off of the mainspring housing and finish putting your gun together and you're done.
NOTES:
* I didn't have a welder when I did mine back in 2003, so I used the glue method. I used gorilla glue and now 5 years later it has lasted perfectly to this day. Even now that I have a welder, I still chose not to redo it. My reason: "If it isn't broke, don't fix it."
* If you do ONLY what's mentioned in this tutorial, then your magazine release button will be/look like the head of a screw. If you want it to look or feel different, you can always use PC-7 from ace hardware to put new gripping on. Make sure to roughen the surface before applying it.
* You can also use PC-7 to add some "meat" to the baseplate of your magazine.
