Those of you who have been around here know a couple of things about me: I am supremely lazy, and I shoot a CZ Shadow 2 in competition. The former means that the maintenance of the latter is extremely laissez-faire, with me cleaning it once or twice a year, either before a national match or if something feels off about it. And that “cleaning” is removing the slide, wiping down the rails and the inside of the grip and then applying some lubricant to the rails before putting the slide back on. The fact that I can get away with this is one of the many reasons I will never shoot in the Open division, where guns have approximately the usage/maintenance time ratio of an F-35. Seriously. Anyway, up to 20,000 rounds fired I’d encountered four malfunctions/stoppages, all of which happened in the first 5000 rounds. I pre-emptively replaced the trigger return spring at 15,000 rounds, and I broke a slide stop somewhere after that, but that breakage did not cause the gun to malfunction and I only noticed the issue when I took the gun apart for a pre-nationals cleaning after 18593 rounds. This gun is as reliable as anything I’ve heard of. So when somewhere between 20550 and 20642 rounds (sorry I can’t be more precise) when the buzzer went off and I drew the gun, pulled the trigger and heard a click, I assumed I had done something stupid like forget to chamber a round or seat the mag fully or the like. The tap-rack-bang had a live round fly out with an undented primer, so that was an indication that something was amiss (and was malfunction #5). Troubleshooting/experimentation indicated something was wrong with a part called the disconnector. If you shoot this or a similar gun, the signs are as follows:
- The gun always goes bang when the trigger is pulled and the hammer is back. This indicates that there’s nothing trong with the linkage between the trigger and the sear.
- The trigger either does not come back when the hammer is manually pulled back (lots of slop in the single action trigger) OR the hammer does not go back when the trigger is pulled in double action*.
In my case, it was the issue with the double-action pull either not pulling the hammer back at all, or only partially pulling it back before releasing it (causing the click but no bang). Here’s a video of the problem.
Hammer moves the trigger, trigger only sometimes moves the hammer
The disconnector has three parts: a raised area that engages the sear (still works), a hook that pulls the trigger when the hammer is pulled (still works) and a wing that pushes the hammer back when the trigger is pressed (no es bueno).
Since I had a decent idea of what was wrong, I bought a replacement disconnector and watched some youtube videos to get an idea of how to replace it. It seemed within my comfort zone. You know what I discovered? Youtube videos are full of lies. Well, if I’m being charitable they’re created by someone who has a new stock gun and is installing custom parts before they began shooting the gun in earnest. Because in the videos, pins push right out and parts that were formerly held in place by pins life out effortlessly. This… did not happen. The first steps are trivial: confirm the gun is clear, then remove the slide and grips. The next steps were trivial in all of the videos I watched but took me longer than any other part of this process.
Ideally, you press up on the hammer spring plunger [1] (not visible), and remove the hammer spring retaining pin [2]. Then the cap comes out under pressure from the hammer spring [3]. That last bit did not happen. See how freaking shiny that hammer spring is? I’m assuming it was forming some sort of galvanic connection with the cap, because it was corroded and didn’t want to go anywhere. Also, after removing the magazine brake pin [4] the magazine brake [5] is supposed to just fall out. That did not even vaguely happen. Because these removals were supposed to be so effortless, I spent an absurd amount of time trying to figure out why they weren’t moving and not wanting to force things. Eventually I decided to take a pair of pliers to the magazine brake on the assumption that it might have corroded into that tiny little slot it sits in you can see next to the hammer spring retaining pin. Doing that released some pressure on the hammer spring such that creative use of a punch as a prybar let me get out the hammer spring. This experience saved me a great deal of time when the hammer pin pin (not a typo) [6] did not fall out under gravity when the frame was turned upside down that I didn’t futz around and just popped it out with a jeweler’s screwdriver.
That jeweler’s screwdriver was to be used in the next step where you lift a leg of a spring in the sear cage in order to release the safety, that lets you remove the sear cage. Yes, the sear cage is held in place by the safety, and the safety is held in pace by the sear cage. Quite clever.
This step let me get a good pic to show you what the inside of the gun actually looks like when owned by a lazy person like me. and why parts weren’t coming out quite as freely as on a brand new gun.
After scraping in the general area, the spring lift/safety extraction went remarkably smoothly. And in fact, one of the small parts that has the potential for flying across the room was conveniently cemented under a few year’s worth of gunshot residue. The next step was lifting the hammer assembly out, where I could finally get a good look at the disconnector that had started this whole project . The encrustation of filth issue continued to the point of me wondering if perhaps the disconnector was not actually defective, but rather just caked with mixed carbon compounds. But, I’m this deep into it, might as well put the fancy-schmantzy Cajunized disco in at this point.
This next step is the first one that even by the videos required whacking with a hammer, because the disconnector pin is staked at the factory. For this application I really love my chasing hammer.
Speaking of specialty tools, I got a cheap watch repair kit when I was gifted a pocket watch and those tools have applications in gun maintenance as well. I use the non-marring hammer in that kit probably more often than my regular one. Anyway, once that pin’s tapped out, it’s impossible to say if the disconnector is the problem or not without some cleaning.
So I cleaned it. And it turns out I was not wasting my time. There was considerable wear compared with the new part.
The new disconnector came with a new pin which did not need to be staked, so reassembly was easy. Before I put everything back together I got out the Ballistol, bore patches and Tipton picks and went to work de-horrifying the surfaces. I also took this opportunity to take some pics of the various parts after cleaning like I did with the 10,000 round review to see what kind of wear is going on here. It makes me sad to think this gun might be wearing out, especially since it was more expensive when I bought it than it is now. Having said that, on a per-BLAM! basis, this gun cost me less than $0.08 at this point, whereas the ammo is triple that. And I am happy with its >99.975% reliability. So yeah, I do recommend this gun.
A few views of the sear cage. This part is important.
After reassembly (that made use of the tweezers from the watch repair kit in order to replace the hammer pin pin (still not a typo)) a reassembly that took less time than the disassembly oddly enough (or maybe not since everything had been cleaned and lubed prior to reassembly), I gave the gun a quick function check. It worked! And then, it didn’t! New problem: The hammer is stuck back. I have heard of people having issues where the trigger overtravel adjustment is preventing it from going back far enough to engage the sear, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Is it a problem with that worn sear? I sure as fuck hope not. The most likely explanation is that I fucked something up during reassembly, maybe let the hook pop off and get stuck behind the trigger bar — that would do it. What I should so at this point is disassemble it again, check to see if there’s anything obviously wrong and reassemble that. But it’s well past lunchtime and I’m frustrated, so I’m going to take it to the gunsmith tomorrow instead.
*Two days later*
So I took it to the gunsmith, who is clearly on the spectrum in a useful way, and he tells me the sear wear isn’t anything to worry about, and more importantly — the problem was not my fault! The issue is with the new part itself. Remember how I pointed out the hook pulls the trigger back along with the hammer? Well, trigger snobs/prima donnas/stubby fingered folk think that the trigger goes too far forward when the hammer is down. The company that made this disconnector also makes one with a thicker hook that prevents the trigger from going forward all the way, which they call a “reach-reduction” trigger. I specifically did NOT buy that one, but apparently I got one. That part requires fitting by filing down the hook until it’s small enough to allow the trigger to go back all the way.
Here’s one of the previous pics, relabeled to show you the issue.
In addition to the tedious, delicate work of filing the disco down until it fit properly, he took the gun down to the frame, soaked and sonicated all the parts in solvent, then lubricated and reassembled it. For $85.** Because of that he gets a free plug: I can recommend Rob Porter at Saratoga Weapons and Tactical.
Then I did one of the most potentially stupid things you can do — take a gun that’s had major work done to a match before you give it a good shakedown. I also brough a backup gun but it was not needed. The gun ran flawlessly. The Person behind the trigger less so.
*Single action means the trigger does just one thing — release the hammer. Double action means the trigger pull does multiple things, in this case it also pulls the hammer back.
**Either he’s really fast, or he doesn’t value his time very highly. Even if it only takes ten minutes for an experienced person to tear down and rebuild the gun, he had to have put in at least two hours of labor. The function needed to be rechecked after each bit of filing, and if you take away too much metal, the part is ruined.
You gun nutz are weird.
I bought gun nutz to decorate my gun barrel.
Wow, only 5 FTFs in over 20k rounds. That is impressive.
So, is that like a 1911 with ergonomics better than a 2×4? And is it Tupperware?
Anyway, I successfully talked myself out of buying an Anschutz 54 this week. Why? Because, while the difference in accuracy between that and my Mossberg 144 is observable and consistent, it is inside the margin of my shooting error. Also, its accuracy is comparable to my 100YO BSA 12. And as I haven’t mastered either of these guns, I don’t need to be spending that coin.
It’s an all-steel gun, with excellent ergos. The CZ75 was a very popular gun for performance modders, so this model had the mods done at the factory. The beaver tail and trigger guard are undercut for a higher natural grip.
Daaaamn. Knowing me, and seeing this, it’s clear I’d be a revolver guy. Shotgun for anything bigger. I’m guessin’ that’d be too much work for me, let alone a rifle’s maintenance. Especially on something ya kinda want to work properly. Unlike, say, my toilet. It just works. (Only time as an adult one didn’t work was when I lived in an apartment. Made a call. *THAT DUDE* just worked. Same-same.)
I get the workmanship and time invested if one is truly *into* it, or any other thing, really. I sadly don’t have a Make-Something hobby. I’ve fired lots of guns, usually when my dad took me on column stories as a kid. He’d take me along and I got to shoot all sorts and sizes, though I don’t remember makes/etc. Second best childhood ‘activity’ was on some dude’s farm in Illinois: He had a legit, IIRC 8lb cannon, and we spent a bit shooting at an old car he had set up in a field. Damn. That was something. (Best was taking me skydiving for my 18th bday.)
Revolvers are no less complicated than autoloaders. They seem to require less maintenance because it takes longer to put a lot of rounds through them.
This is true, speaking as a revolver man. They still have PIA moments. Even the little two shot derringers can have odd trigger issues.
It’s real easy to see when a revolver is dirty though, so they tend to get cleaned more often. No place for buildup to hide.
“It’s real easy to see when a revolver is dirty though, so they tend to get cleaned more often. No place for buildup to hide.”
Yes. This is what I’m talking about. I’d prefer an AK-47-esque level of durability. The chance of me owning/having a gun is near zero, so I’m replacing your reality with my fantasy. It’s much preferable, the idea of an old wheel-gun hidden away for when shit starts to jet by my face and door. A handy tool, almost never used, but damn handy when it is.
Oddly, revolvers are even worse. The fitment inside a new generation S&W wheelgun is not unlike what you find in a mechanical watch. Run 2k rounds through one without cleaning it, and something *will* lock up hard.
For someone who just wants to shoot and not clean or maintain, I recommend a Heckler & Koch P30, or a Gen5 Glock.
Yep, if you don’t have a cleaning fetish a Glock is the way to go. Revolvers are good too though because cleaning them doesn’t involve takedown and reassembly and if you have a clean one sitting on your nightstand and you don’t hardly ever shoot, not best practice I know, it’ll probably work just fine if needed.
“…and if you have a clean one sitting on your nightstand and you don’t hardly ever shoot, not best practice I know, it’ll probably work just fine if needed.”
This is *precisely* why I lean revolver. “Good enough.” That’s all I’d want. Nothin’ nice, but even a lemon still drives. It will transport you. Not *well,* but it’ll kinda getcha there.
Either he’s really fast, or he doesn’t value his time very highly. Even if it only takes ten minutes for an experienced person to tear down and rebuild the gun, he had to have put in at least two hours of labor. The function needed to be rechecked after each bit of filing, and if you take away too much metal, the part is ruined.
Yeah, he should be charging more.
Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. At 30k, I’ll have him do a detail cleaning and replace the trigger return spring.
Yup. Like I said at A8, I don’t fuck with CZ triggers. I blow mine out with Lucas CLP Aerosol, re-lube as necessary, and change the batteries on my optics, but for anything with the internals I box ’em up and send them to Cajun Gun Works.
Excellent article. Appalling carbon buildup but I don’t have a lot of room to talk on cleaning diligence.
Thanks for the article on cleaning. Right now I too am cleaning my equipment. I am cleaning the air fryer. The kids made chicken nuggets for a snack and didn’t clean it. Getting that baked on buildup off is pretty tough.
Ahh, dude!?!? Too much information!
These new fangled euphemisms…
Those stuck-on nuggets are hard to get off.
Speaking of fried foods, I really am jonesing for some onion rings.
And mustard, which is the only proper condiment to dip a good ring into.
BBQ sauce is acceptable if the rings are on a quality burger or sandwich.
OT: This man outdoes “hawk tuah” and “that mf ain’t real” with just a t-shirt.
Nice
Am I the only one who has the Block editor automatically try to replace my image with a tiny version necessitting manually changing the code to point to the actual image URL from the media library?
Is there a checkbox somewhere that says “Use the image I told you to”?
OK, here is what I figured out. Image size is damn near random. The adjustment bars for the picture activate after clicking on the picture, then oddly the levers are not on corners, they are on the center of the left and right sides, top and bottom. They are little barely visible dots. Grab and pull. The picture will not distort as expected, it will adjust size and stay as you set it.
I guess I’ll keep pasting over the img src with the real URL. I did all of that adjustment in photoshop already.
Anything that would require a hammer to remove (like that staked pin), its off to the gunsmith for me. Basically, anything much more than a basic field strip, I just take it in and fork over the dough.
“soaked and sonicated all the parts in solvent”
Yeah, the pics of the inside of the gun made me think “ultrasonic cleaner, stat!”.
A pistol of that size won’t fit in my ultrasonic cleaner.
Admittedly, I bought it to remove paint from minis.
The parts might. I have a small to mid-sized cleaner. It could take a pistol barrel and the disassembled bits. I don’t shoot enough, especially since my eye went out, to have anything that dirty. NA has a serious round count going, way beyond me.
My “nope” point is removing metal. No filing or drilling. Exchanging parts, that’s just erector set work, with extra swearing.
I won’t mess with a sear, but I have no problem busting out the files as needed. Mostly playing with irons, as I don’t use any scopes, but still.
Fun article, thanks.
Maybe my years of watchmaking, but when I saw the first picture with the replacement part I noticed the difference and wondered if it was going to be problematic.
They advertised this part as “drop in, no fitting required.”
Liars.
Guns are interesting because a certain amount of slop is desired for reliability and ease of manufacture.
The tradeoff can be accuracy and feel for that reliability.
Yeah, my dad had a BSA International for a while, English bespoke at its finest. That thing had Rolls Royce like fitment. You could get about 10 shots out before you had to clean the chamber as it was so tight.
I cleaned my CZ for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Basic clean, not quite as straightforward as the vids. But I’ve used it since and it didn’t blow up in my face.
I think I’m with Evan: I learned enough here to know I won’t undertake repairs myself.
Something else I’ve learned this week: if I decide to not vote this year, I’m exercising my male and/or racial privilege and mocking those who couldn’t vote for thousands of years (although all the people who’ve told me this have, themselves, voted every time since they turned 18; so I’m apparently mocking their ancestors).
Mockery is a Glib trait. This is good, not bad.
Hey, RJ,l did you see the movie clip AlexinCT posted this AM? Much Glibflix, such awesomes!
H/T AlexinCT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JABdS-HN5A
That needs to be hunted down and shown in entirety!
That is the single best excuse for not voting I have heard.
Bravo.
How dare the white man not have extended suffrage to the world sooner.
Oops, may have mislead people.
I told people of the fairer sex that I was probably not going to vote this year. And they told me that I was doing so from a place of privilege as a white male.
Whoever said that was awful. And overprivileged.
Still stupid as white males couldn’t vote and didn’t have power for thousands of years, either.
@ ‘bro:
The first time someone said that to me I was taken off guard.
The second time I had two main responses: (i) so if I had privilege and you didn’t, aren’t I giving up privilege by not voting thus making your vote worth more? (ii) my class of people (property-less working class – as I grew up) couldn’t vote for hundreds of years either so how far back do you want to go in the privilege game?
Only to whatever date gives them the oppression points to abuse you.
My question is: why are you even talking to people that delusional and broken?
Meh, one’s my hairdresser and the other’s my pastor’s wife.
Happiness is a
warmclean gun.This is my rifle, this is my gun,
Now I’ll have nightmares, some things can’t be forgotten
I don’t shoot a lot anymore, mostly a wipe down with an oily rag at the end of the day. My go to gun these days is a Thompson Contender though I took on a porcupine with my 80 year old Hi-Standard 22 a few days ago, I won.
I took a Mitchell reel apart one time, for whatever reason. Somehow it ended up with no parts left over but I haven’t done that again nor will I ever try.
My garden is looking great with the rain but some problem with the apple trees. I sprayed them yesterday with bug killer, maybe that will help. The rain has brought lots of flowers, bees seem to be enjoying the warm weather. 2 months ’til Honey Harvest
some problem with the apple trees
Ive had my apples and pears almost entirely defoliated in the second week of July both this year and last year. No sign of who’s doing it. Last year we were lousy in grasshoppers and Japanese beetles. This year not so much.
Fourscore,
Of the 4 apple trees you gave me, miraculously, all 4 are still alive. One (planted to the north of my property in sandy soil) grew at least 6 inches last year. The other 3 got crowded out by flowers or high grass, but are still growing, just less vigorously.
Rhubarb (that you also gave me) is doing lackluster. I think I need to move it to a different spot.
Still growing, and pulling, lots of %@#&*^# thistles.
Throw a little fertilizer on the rhubarb.
Sunshine, water and fertilizer. I moved 5 apple trees outside the garden, They are surviving but the blight is visible. I keep saying I’m not going to start any more but I know in January I’ll be antsy to see some green. Cabin probably needs some apple trees.
Bad News — Hickok 45
new bullshit rules from youtube
Grrrrrrrrr
I want to switch to rumble, but the non-political content is so lean
Not a lot of cat videos on Rumble.
On the plus side, it is probably free of Jack Black videos now.
So, you are saying it has become a bit of a Black hole?
Rumble. Shitty server. I have to wait forever for the videos to start playing.
It’s better than it used to be but they’re not quite where they need to be yet.
The more I see and hear about the Trump shooting, the more I lean toward complicity. The problem I have is how many people would have had to be in on it. The guy didn’t just pop up and take a shot – there is cell phone video from the ground of him positioning and repositioning ,and he is obviously not a police officer if any kind.
Why did the counter snipers wait so long? One report said they didn’t need permission to shoot. Were they in on it?
The team that was supposed to be securing that roof, but were inside the building – were they in on it?
The overall agent in charge – was he in on it?
There were so many failures, each of which would have had to be either almost inconceivable incompetence if it wasn’t complicity, that the required conspiracy is just unwieldy. I think.
Too many moving parts to be a conspiracy.
I assume weak leadership and a bunch of people thinking someone else is taking care of business.
It’s been 40 years since Reagan. Two generations ago. And the current generation is crippled by DEI and incompetence.
Exactly. Nobody _really_ believed that guy on the roof was going to take a shot, it was totally going to turn out to be some yahoo from the local PD / county sheriff / and nobody wanted to be “the friendly fire guy”.
100% on the SAIC, who is supposed to be coordinating all these groups and ensuring they’re all talking.
On the DEI front – they physically grabbed Reagan and threw him in the limo. There was no chance half the USSS agents could pick up Trump. The ladies weren’t even tall enough to be a bullet-shield, as game as they were.
His current detail look like they’re all well north of 6 foot and any 4 of them could physically pick up Trump and run with him, as it should be.
Trump’s detail clearly changed, and coincidentally RFK Jr suddenly got a security detail. The only guy in the race who has lost an uncle and a father to assassination.
Politics of the moment, for sure.
Yeah, I agree it was collective disbelief that something would actually happen.
One of the tough things about “guard duty” of any kind is that most of the time it’s incredibly boring (as it should be!) but it takes a special type of diligence to keep tight and ready just in case something really does happen.
These folks didn’t have it. They were complacent.
Power is out. At least the temperatures moderated. Don’t need to think about starting the generator until morning.
We have no AC in the big warehouse where we are testing a system that involves some ignitrons (yes, those big mercury beasties still have some uses—for now).
The temperature has really been starting to eff with our ability to pound out “shots” (capacitor discharge).
I look forward to replacing these things with advanced solid state doo dads.
Will the Solid State Doo-Dads have a name nearly half as cool though?
Kinda, yeah! 👍
Great article, NA!
Concise, full of info, and with a bit o’ humor, just the way we like it.
👌
Gun articles! Yay!
Mornin’ all y’all.
🌞✊
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G6vc3CgHt2s
🎶🎶
Morning.
Good morning, Sean, U, Teh Hype (::braces for argument about the quality of the morning::) and hayek!
How goes?
Well so far, thanks! This is the boss’s remote work day…which doesn’t mean he’ll leave me alone. The real test of the day will be when I open the Zoom recording of last night’s Board meeting and see how long it is. 😕
How about you?
We get to try again today something that should have been done last wednesday but the pre-requisite work hadn’t been done despite the tickets having been completed.
We’ve verified that it’s now in place for us to start again.
Good luck with it! 🤞
In other office news, noisy employee got moved (with the rest of her group) to another building. While it is objectively quieter, I now notice the more distant voices of people further away in the office.
I need more white noise.
🙂
Yay!???
It’s this sort of gun culture glorification that gets people shot.
Good grief—is Sugar Free writing for Babylon Bee now??
https://buff.ly/4f6iidF
That is dang funny.
Good morning, ‘bodru! How’s everything going?
It is still a struggle. Multiple lawsuits imminent. Wife….wife is in a very bad place right now.
I’m so sorry. 😟
I got JD Vance’s audiobook.
Diving in…
How far in are you? I’ve started chapter 5.
Mornin’ all!
I will stipulate that it is, in fact, a morning.
It’s always morning somewhere
Most of those somewheres are inapplicable to the conversation at hand.
Good morning, Beau!
Mornin’ GT! Good luck with the Board meeting length!
Thanks, Beau! The good news is that we’d dropped “Board Succession Planning” from the agenda, so that improves the odds that it didn’t get ugly.
10:24:02 – [board member 1] made euphemistic comments about [board member 2]’s parentage.
10:26:15 – [board member 2] indicated that [board member 1] might be inclined to copulate with canines.
10:27:30 – [board member 3] insinuated that coments to that effect could open the organization to liability.
10:28:40 – [board member 1] questioned whether [board member 2]’s family tree branched.
Ah! Would that it were that interesting! 😄
Good morning all! Another glorious day in the woods!
Just starting on the first cup o’ java. Soon all will be better.
Good morning, 4(20)!
Morning, GT.
The bees will soon be up and at ’em. Some critters work the day shift, others prowl at night. Game camera always has some surprises.
Good morning!
Off to SIGland in a bit.
Totally not jealous.
>.>
Maybe a tinge.
Was over on the rpg site (the one run by the rpg pundit), and a poster was making the claim that Trump was a child molester. Someone challenged him for evidence, and he posted a transcript of a court proceeding.
Trump’s name was brought up thrice. The first time, the witness (who worked as a masseuse for Jeff Epstein) testified that Epstein said they should call Trump while they were in Atlantic City, because he wanted to gamble at Trump’s casino.
The next two times were when the witness was asked if Trump asked her for sex (witness: “No.”) and if she had given Trump a massage (witness: “No.”)
It’s fairly obvious he has a type, and it’s post-pubescent.
Also, Trump’s kids seem stable and happy. They are not snorting cocaine off the bodies of dead hookers while being filmed.
You’d think a pedophile daddy would cause issues.
*slowly turns and stares at Hunter Biden*
So what you are saying is that Trump is a child molester
If the Qanon conspiracy theory turns out—after all—to be true, then Trump’s about to be a child molester molester.
🙄