What is a CZ Tactical sport? Part.2 The CZ-TS Sear Cage.

[Tok36]

Link to part one of this post ----> What is a CZ Tactical sport? My Observations. (http://www.czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=70860.0)


   Hey all, i have been meaning to add to my original Tac Spot post for a while now. This post will concentrate on the Tac Sports unique sear cage assembly. As can be seen in the pictures below the CZ Tac Sports sear cage is unique in that it has two dedicated springs located at the rear. These spring sit inside two holes on either side of the sear. The other end of these spring push up against the inside of the frame when the sear cage is installed in the frame. This leads to more rigid sear cage stability within the pistols frame which in turn effects the pistols trigger dynamics.

   Here is a picture of the CZ TS with the sear cage installed. In this state it looks much like a Shadow or non-FPB sear cage, with a wide body sear and no FPB lifter arm or spacer. You can also see in this picture that the TS uses a safety retention set up like a CZ SP-01 with a spring loaded safety detent on the left side and a insert with no spring on the right side. In contrast a CZ75 and other short dust cover CZ75 variants have spring loaded detens on both sides of the sear cage.



In this picture with the safety levers out and the sear cage rocked back you can see the sear cage springs and how they line up with the rear of the frame.



   Here are a few different pictures of the inside of the TS frame. The hole on the left inside the frame is an unused remnant of the two spring detent safety retention set up of a short dust cover CZ that i mentioned above. Because that side uses a plain insert there is no spring in that hole (like an SP-01). The sear cage springs contact the frame just to the right and left of the sear on flats inside the frame. For clarity they contact the frame on the protruding rib that is also used to hold the rear of the sear cage in place and limit its upward and downward movement.



You can also see the end of the TS single sided trigger bar that trips the sear when the trigger is pulled. In a CZ75/SP-01 and other similar variants the trigger bar is much larger and has two sides.



Here are several pictures of the TS sear cage uninstalled from the frame so you can get a good look at the sear cage spring arrangement.









This is what the holes look like with the springs removed. There is allot of factory goop in those holes.


   This unique design element is interesting to me. I hope to learn more about it in time and better understand the effects of the use of springs to stabilize the sear cage rather than using a hard stop (custom modification, link below) to stabilize the sear cage.

Link to Loose Sear Cage Fix - CZ 75 Variant Safety Models. (http://www.czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=85892.msg641223#msg641223)

[MoRivera]

I was taking out the stock safety lever to install the Shadow-2-style lever in my Tactical Sport Blue.  I had the hammer back and let it slip/spring forward and it hit the sear cage, since I still had the hammer spring installed.  I heard something small hit the wall across the room and of course started cussing my head off.

I looked at everything I had in front of me and could not see anything missing.  All pins and springs accounted for.  Looked over by where I heard it go, and of course it's at the most cluttered part of the room with boxes of stuff and things you could lose a beachball in.  Just felt futile and I didn't even know what I was looking for.  Wasn't a part of the slide since the slide was off, wasn't the left or right safety detent (thankfully!), wasn't the keeper pin for the hammer pin, and the sear cage seemed complete.  Maybe I imagined the sound?

So I put the new safety in, put the gun back together, and again nothing was lost so nothing was missing.  Put the slide back on and cocked the hammer....seemed to cock just fine.  The safety lever worked, should be all good.  Then something caught my eye on my table on a white envelope.  Looked closer....and it was teeny-tiny spring.  And when I say tiny, I mean around the size of the little screws that are in a pair of eyeglasses.  Smaller even than over-travel adjustment screws on a trigger.  Something that could easily be mistaken for a grain of ground pepper or just dust.  Could that be it?

I looked at a PDF of the owners manual to see the schematic, to see if there were any tiny random springs I didn't recognize.  And what I saw right by the sear cage is this......



.....the 'Ejector Springs'.  The Shadow 2 and SP-01 (which I've disassembled before) don't have those springs, so that's one of the reasons I didn't recognize anything missing.  The problem is there are supposed to be TWO of them...and I've only got one!!!

So that little sound I heard across the room where all those boxes of stuff....I didn't imagine it.  And there was no way on earth I was going to find that little speck in all of that.  But I went over anyway.....and there it was...on the flap of one of the boxes...stuck on by the grease it was covered in, which made a little stain around it.

What are the chances of that?

The fact that the first spring happened to fall on a white envelope on my table was a miracle considering how cluttered my table is, the second one sticking to a box flap is....inexplicable.  So I put them back in the sear cage (luckily didn't drop the hammer before), and everything is how it should be.  I think I may have used up my luck for the year.

[M1A4ME]

Mo, YOU NEED TO BUY A LOTTERY TICKET - QUICK!!!

First time I tore my (used) TAC Sport down the two small springs fell out on the white towel, I thought they were the remains of a broken right side safety retention spring (like my CZ 85) and tossed them in the trash can.  A day or so later when I figured out (from the forum here) what they really were - I'd already installed a spare spring in the right side of the frame to help hold the safety retention plate in place against the safety.  I ended up cutting another spring into two equal number/length coil springs and installing them.

I probably will never feel the need to take it apart again.

I wondered if the reason for the single leg trigger bar was friction reduction. 

[MoRivera]

I have some clear 1-gallon storage plastic baggies handy for whenever I disassemble my guns now.  Even though I've been somehow lucky (I actually found a FPB lever spring two days after I lost it), that's bound to run out.



That tiny little loop spring will literally disappear/teleport away right in front of your eyes.

[Grizzlie]

I have some clear 1-gallon storage plastic baggies handy for whenever I disassemble my guns now.  Even though I've been somehow lucky (I actually found a FPB lever spring two days after I lost it), that's bound to run out.



That tiny little loop spring will literally disappear/teleport away right in front of your eyes.

Now that is a neat idea! I haven't had any mishaps yet in taking apart my TS or S1 but it only takes one to have a really bad day...or, God forbid, a month because the LGS takes that long to order stuff in.

[tony34]

Hi I lost the spring loaded detens on both sides of the sear cage. Where can I buy a new one. Thanks

[midaltantic44]

try CZ's own store or cajun gun works or CZ custom

[dabljues]

Huh, today I was switching out the plastic trigger in my TS2 for an aluminum one. After putting the trigger bar in, it was the time for the sear cage assembly. And whoopsie, I lost a spring too (I didn't take the main spring off, so when I lost control of the hammer - it hit the sear cage and the spring went flying).

I basically ransacked my own apartment trying to find it, took 3 hours, nothing. Got angry, ordered 4 of those springs off the internet. But then, for whatever reason, I thought about cleaning the dust off my PC case. I took the front dust cover off - and boom, here it was. Somehow it managed to fly into a small gap between this cover and the case itself. It felt like a miracle

I wanted to ask - are those springs actually necessary? I will put them in of course, but when I thought I lost it, I put the gun together without any of them. Seems to be working, checked the ejection with snap caps - also works. Is it something that somehow improves the ejection? Or maybe these springs are a leftover from .40S&W guns? (like some people say about the recoil spring buffers)

[tdogg]

Those tiny springs stabilize the sear cage and help eliminate the sear cage moving during trigger pull.  This helps provide a crisp repeatable trigger pull.  You could do the same thing by pinning the sear cage with the hammer pin mod.  They are not necessary but do provide value and I wouldn't run without them.

Cheers,
Toby

[dabljues]

Thanks!