Just back from the range...

manwithagun · Post by **manwithagun** » September 16th, 2007, 11:17 am

I put 50 rounds of PMC ball through it. Problems I encountered were: the safety moves under recoil; several times this produced a free-swinging trigger until I noticed the safety lever out of place. Several times the pistol just didn't cycle properly making follow-up shots impossible. I had to monkey with the trigger, safety and slide in order to ready the trigger.
These failures are critical in my book. the mark of a combat handgun is the fact that it goes boom when I pull the trigger. I'm not there yet with this one and that has never happened to me before. I'll have to spend a whole lot more time and effort with this before I would ever feel comfortable relying on it as a lifesaver.
On the brighter side, feeding, ejection and accuracy were fine. I was able to keep it under 5" at 25' even with the first double action shot. Recoil was entirely manageable. I would even call it pleasant. That may change when I proof Powerball in it!
So, all in all, a bargain handgun for those who like working on handguns. Far too many 'issues' being discussed to consider it for anything other than casual use, IMO. I'm sure that when all is said and done it will be a fine shooter but that will only come after hours of trial and error gunsmithing with the lack of replacement parts hanging over my head.

stibnite · Post by **stibnite** » September 16th, 2007, 11:30 am

You're right about the safety problem being critical.

Not sure if you saw the post about replacing the safety plunger and spring with Walther parts, here is the thread in the sticky book:

http://p64.proboards67.com/index.cgi?bo ... 1186018933

manicmechanic · Post by **manicmechanic** » September 16th, 2007, 6:59 pm

Once you work out the kinks and get a couple hundred downrange thought it, you'll be able to trust it. When you say it wasn't cycling, do you mean it wasn't going into battery, or something else. Like I'm sure you've read all over this and many other forums, most guns need a couple boxes of ammo run through them to get broken in and loosened up. Not only does the feed ramp get better, but the trigger and all the other mechanisms get slightly polished, or is that Polished, any way I think you'll be happy with your CZAK once she breaks in and you get the safety working correctly.

manwithagun · Post by **manwithagun** » September 16th, 2007, 7:40 pm

Manicmechanic - no, the slide came back into battery every time. The problems are either with the sear or trigger. After the action cycled, the trigger remained 'disconnected'. When it was not safety related, I would either have to play with the trigger (like a cap-gun) or slightly move the hammer back until the trigger engaged.
Again, this could disappear with use but for now it's just not something I would bet my life on. Some more action work will be needed before it gets the 'reliable' stamp.

manicmechanic · Post by **manicmechanic** » September 16th, 2007, 9:05 pm

I saw in one of your other posts you had a little trouble on your trigger spring assembly. You may want to look at this thread to make sure yours is in correctly.
http://p64.proboards67.com/index.cgi?bo ... 127&page=1

Also look at Norm's pics of his spring installs to double check yours. He is the man :-*.

http://p64.proboards67.com/index.cgi?ac ... 1179953781

manwithagun · Post by **manwithagun** » September 16th, 2007, 9:40 pm

Yes, I did see that. That is the way the spring went back in, we just wound up doing the install differently. It is pretty difficult getting the spring and trigger into the trigger well so we cut a 'slave pin' to hold the spring in place while the trigger got lined up.
Once it was lined up, the trigger pin was pushed through, displacing the slave pin. It eliminated a lot of the cursing and swearing that accompanied the first few attempts...
I will continue in my quest to make this a slick-shooting-self-defense pistol. I'm waiting for delivery of my new grips and promise to post a picture when they come. Grips won't help in this part of the quest, but they'll sure make it look kewl, as the kids would say.

Post by **normsutton** » September 17th, 2007, 10:46 am

manwithagun

I didn't know that PMC made any 9 x 18 ammo, should be good ammo

NORM

nbender · Post by **nbender** » September 17th, 2007, 11:07 am

PMC does not list a 9x18 cartridge. I hope you weren't firing .380?

manwithagun · Post by **manwithagun** » September 17th, 2007, 12:50 pm

Oops, my mistake. I meant to say Blazer (95 gr TMJ). I don't know why I remembered it as PMC...?

manicmechanic · Post by **manicmechanic** » September 28th, 2007, 7:57 pm

manwithagun,
I just remembered this other thread that sounds kind of like the problem your describing. Take a look and let us know.
http://p64.proboards67.com/index.cgi?bo ... 911&page=1

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