Solve your CZ 75 Kadet Stovepipe Problems!!!!

[mapdude]

I've had my CZ 75 Kadet conversion for my CZ 85 combat for about a year.  When I was first getting to know my little conversion I was disappointed by the freqency with which It would throw the spent case directly into the frame allowing it to bounce back into the action and create a stovepipe jam.  A simple fix for this problem is to change the shape of the ejector surface that contacts the rim as the fired case travels to the rear with the slide.  I sloped my ejector back slightly with a file and dremmel so that the cases would be kicked up at an angle from the ejection port. If you don't have experience with a dremmel, some of you guys can probably steal one of your wife's emmery boards to do the job.  No more stovepipes for me. Now if you guys at CZ are listening and I know you probably are, you might consider changing the design of the ejector from 90 degrees to 110 or 115 degrees from the line of the bore so that the cases are ejected at a slightly higher angle.  This will solve 99.9% of the ejection/stovepipe problems from the .22 conversion kit.
           
           
            I still have an occasional light strike problem with some batches of ammo.  Other batches work great and I do have the "new" firing pin and not the original round one.  With good batches of ammo it is 100% reliable.  With cheaper stuff it is not.  I also would like to say that you should avoid poorly lubricated lead ammo like Winchester X-pert which will dangerously lead your barrel within 50 rounds.  CZ uses a very tight bore which I like, just make sure the ammo you use doesn't have a leading problem! No other ammo has caused this problem in my experience. mapdude
           
           
           

[Jim Watson]

mapdude,
           
            This is a matter of great interest to me, I am plagued by stovepipes and other FTE.  This is a real aggravation, and the only one.  Feeding is flawless, even under the trapped brass; and the new firing pin almost eliminated misfires, no worse than my Colt ACE now.
           
            Please clarify, when you "sloped back" your ejector, did you angle it top to bottom or left to right?
           
            Thanks.

[mapdude]

Jim, I sloped it back so that it kicked the brass up at a slightly higher angle.  When you do this the brass no longer kicks at a 90 degree angle directly into the frame. Instead it will arc up at about a 45 degree angle as it is ejected and clear the action.  Look at the 9mm ejector. You will see it is angled up slightly.  Your .22 ejector is at a perfect 90 degrees from the axis of the bore when it comes from the factory and it kicks brass into the frame and not out of the pistol.  It needs to be sloped back so that it is at 100 or maybe 115 degrees from the line of the bore.  Now it doesn't have to be a perfectly flat cut.  Mine is actually rounded back so that the bottom was pretty much left alone and the top of the ejection surface has about 1-2mm of metal removed.   This helps tip the brass up as the extractor pulls the brass against the fixed ejector.  If you want to leave an email I can try to send you a digital picture.  An emmory board will probably work.  So will a cylindrical stone and a dremmel but only if you have lots of experience with the dremmel.   mapdude.

[mapdude]

P.S. If someone tells me how I can try to post a picture here. mapdude

[Jim Watson]

I think I see, top to bottom in my reference.  Send pic to jraw45@bellsouth.net if convenient.  I do not have a license to touch a firearm with a Dremel.  I have my FLG's favorite narrow safe-edge file, though.

[Unregistered(d)]

1. THANKS!!! I've improved my FTEs (Failures to Extract and Failures to Eject) significantly!
           
            After 6 months of nothing but headaches from this sucker, I'm figuring it out.
           
            But ... I still have problems ... I chronically get bullets feeding too high. They jam with their noses against the flat surface of the barrel, above the hole they are supposed to go into.
           
            This happens MUCH more often with lead bullets than it does with plated bullets. I ge the feeling that "pointy tipped" bullets would be better than hollow points. I also get the feeling that high-end ammo might solve it, and will pick up some mini-mags tomorrow.
           
            Also, I am leaving my Kadet mags loaded to the limit to weaken their very stiff springs. (I thought CZ had lied about these 10 round mags, and shipped me 8 rounders for the first month I had them, and I was using a special loading tool.)
           
            CZ makes the greatest 9mm pistols I have ever seen, but they need help with .22s. Maybe they could hire a few engineers from Ruger.

[mapdude]

Andy, I take it from your post that your ejection problems have gone from frequent to infrequent.  I'm curious if you have had any stovepipes since the modification.  Now I have not had a high feeding problem in my CZ 85 with Kadet but from what I've read about Hi standards, you can tweek the front feed lips a bit so they give a little more tension on the front of the rounds.  When you do this with the Hi standards it keeps the rounds from feeding high.  I would think your CZ kadet mags might also benefit from a litttle weeking to keep your rounds from tipping up too much during the feeding cycle.   A little more work and I think your kadet will be 100% with most ammo. mapdude

[Unregistered(d)]

I have not cycled enough rounds to know for certain yet.
           
            I am still waiting for my favorite range to dry up. It has been flooded (literally 2 feet of water at the firing line) so that I can not shoot at any targets. I have killed plenty of water mocassins. I'm getting good at hitting them.
           
            Tomorrow I will actually get up before 2pm (I'm on vacation until January 2nd) and test my Kadet with some of the same ammo I had been using, and some new 22LR shotshells, and report. (My EAA Witness 9mm will be holstered, just incase I get reliability problems at the same time that a snake gets curious).
           
            Andy

[Unregistered(d)]

Well...
           
            This morning at 8am, I froze my tail off. It warmed up by 11.
           
            My Kadet now stovepipes on every 10th round (once per mag), usually very early in the mag. The first is the most likely, but almost all (95%) of the stovepipes occur in the first 3 rounds.
           
            My firing pin failures (2 to 5 trigger pulls to fire a round) are gone. I get 99% firing with my cheap Wal-Mart Winchester plated-bullet ammo.
           
            I also get very few of my prvious load-the-round-too-high failures to feed. It looks like loading the mags to capacity and leaving them that way for a week fixed the problem.
           
            This is much improved over the previous instance of jamming to the point of requiring field stripping every third round. I can actually shoot it now!!!
           
            If only it came from the factory this way.
           
            Andy

[mapdude]

Andy, sorry to hear it's still jamming every 10th round but glad it has at least improved.  Have  you tried some high velocity ammo like CCI mini mags?  It might be worth a try to see if hotter ammo might clear up your jams.  Maybe you have a stiff mainspring which can be changed if needed.   Aguila plated solids are also great ammo for the money and may be more reliable than cheap bulk ammo.  mapdude

[fusca1]

Thank you Mapdude... my kadet never jammed again!!!
            I've sloped the ejector as it is you told and it works great!

[mapdude]

fusca1,
           
            I'm glad my fix worked on your gun too.  Please post back after you have fired 500 or 1,000 rounds or so and let us know if your gun is still jam free.  I'd also like to hear from others who cured their stovepipe problems with this minor modification.  If I get enough feedback, maybe we can get the guys at CZ to take this modification seriously enough to "improve" the design of the ejector at the factory.  I'm sure CZ can save itself some complaints by shipping new kits with this simple modification.   My gun went from several jams per 100 to zero stovepipes since the modification. mapdude

[browneu-czechpistols82792]

mapdude,
           
            I thought that I was the only one to have FTE problems with my Kadet.  My email is browneu@ameritech.net.  If you could email me a picture of what you did I would appreciate it.  Love the gun when it is functioning but get frustrated when it starts to malfunction.
           

[mapdude]

The best picture that I have with explanation was in this post.  FTE don't have to happen.  Let me know if you have any questions. mapdude

[fusca1]

I have received the new firing pin (chisel point) and went to the range to test it with 80 rounds...
            and again, i've had no stovepipes.
               I still had some missfires, but substancially less... about 6-7 lightstrikes and one powerpoint that didnt fire!
            Thank you Mapdude, and thanks to CZUB, that sent me the firing pin upgrade. Great costumer support!!!!