Many years back, CZ's head gunsmith, a fellow named Mike Eagleshield, said that the use of a steel guide rod in an alloy framed CZ could cause problems, by causing wear to the receiver stop (i.e., the place where the guide rod rests as the slide goes back). Any such damage would not be covered by warranty. That is why, at least at the time, CZ would not knowingly sell a CZ-made metal guide rod to someone with a PCR. (The P-01s came later, and that alloy frame was forged, not cast -- that frame might have been more wear resistant. Mike said he had seen a case or two of that sort of damage -- but nothing widespread. I've not heard of a definitive answer from CZ on this topic in the years since that original disussion (which can be found in the archives, here). Someone on a different forum said that he had heard that CZ now says it's OK, but that's hearsay.
That said, Mike Eagleshield also suggested using a heavier recoil spring if we were concerned about breaking a slide stop. I've since come to believe that his advice is likely to increase the possibility of breakage, not lessen it -- as that slide will slam closed (against the stop) with greater force when a heavier spring is used. But maybe I'm wrong?
Does ANGUS HOBDELL have anything to add on this subject? He certainly has the right kind of connections to get a proper answer if he doesn't know the "official" CZ line. David Milam at CGW is a wizard with CZs, and knows a lot, so his opinion (cited earlier in this discussion) can't be ignored.
IBut I'm not sure that everything we know about CZs is EVERYTHING we need to know.
Case in point: a recent discussion here on the forum about damaged firing pin retention roll pins kind of made that clear. For example, it may be that the notch cut in the firing pin (which allows the use of a roll pin rather than a fiirng pin stop plate to retain the firing pin) is simply not long enough -- and lengthening that notch may make the problem go away. (Some years ago, that was a solution used by members of this forum. One of the forum members modified the pins for forum members, and the problem seemed to go away for THOSE owners/guns. I used one of those pins, and promptly forgot about the issue. I later broke a firing pin retention roll pin in a 40B...and didn't even remember about the earlier "solution.")
