Pre B just arrived

[03car31]

I just picked up my poor condition surplus Pre B from my FFL. They did admit to me, they wondered if I knew what I had ordered.

The gun is dirty enough I felt like I needed a tetanus shot after opening. Someone thought silver paint would look good on it at one point. It is thick enough that it filled in some of the roll marks. The paint was so bad, it was actually coming off on my hands. On the plus, the roll marks on the left side look great. The ones on the right it is hard to tell with the paint as thick as it is there.

Original finish is gone so this will either be a cerakote or blue depending on how the metal looks when the paint is gone.

Having said that. The metal I can see looks good and everything functions. The trigger in both double action and single action are smooth. Single actions isn't as nice as my original 1911, but it better than most guns I have handled. Safety work and has nice positive clicks for on and off. No rattle to the gun when I shake it and it seems to lock up tight.

I will work on a good cleaning and full inspection this weekend and assuming it all still looks good I will take it out for some test firing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qsgoc6re786hz4z/20171207_154623-800x600.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cypmms5clpwj8w/20171207_154600-800x600.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwtvsm95xfsrx43/20171207_151956-800x600.jpg?dl=0

[M1A4ME]

Field strip it.

Remove the grips.

Get a can of carb cleaner or brake cleaner.

Wear safety glasses/goggles and rubber gloves and spray that thing down good inside and outside (while you're outside) with the carb or brake cleaner.  Keep spraying till the crud stops running out.  Use the little tube that is taped to the can to reach back in the cracks/crevices and blow that old dirt/oil/crud out of there.

Let it dry, spray with some kind of spray oil/lube to keep the bare metal from rusting (the carb/brake cleaner may remove the rest of that old paint, too.  It also removes the protective/lubricating oil from the metal surfaces and it'll rust quick if you don't get some oil back on it.  Spray oil of some kind will let you work it back in places you can't wipe it on/into.  Wipe off the excess oil/lube as it runs out.

Then you'll be ready to inspect the parts once they're good and clean.

Lots of folks will probably speak up about recommendations for replacing springs, etc.  You can either try it as is to see how it works or just take it on faith that lots of use/firing and lots of years will make spring replacement a good thing.

You may find the cleaning, inspection, selection of new parts, installation of new parts, and "tuning" it up lots of fun.  Hope so.  I did when I got my "ugly" Pre CZ 85 a couple years ago.

[Joe Allen]

I thought your description had prepared me but...



That's going to be a fun project. You can respring it and clean up the internals and keep it as a "sleeper" or restore it to its rightful glory. Either way, I expect you'll have a lot of fun with it!

[03car31]

Cleaned her up some. This will be nice when I am done. Unfortunately who ever painted it scraped off the original enamel finish and there are lots of surface scratches. Media blasting may remove those.

On the bright side, just look at those roll marks. They are in great shape.

The barrel locks up nice and the bore looks good. Don't see any thing that would make think it won't shoot well.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xgzjz8edyqxpuvg/20171207_194638-800x600.jpg?dl=0

[Mister Coffee]

Very nice, 'car. For the final finish, do you think deep bluing would allow you to see the roll marks better than the Cerakote?

[03car31]

A deep blue would be my first choice. If I can get the metal even colored and the scratches cleared up I will get prices on that. I can do the cerakote, but haven't really blued a gun before. Just done touch ups with cold bluing.

[M1A4ME]

If done well, the cerakote shouldn't make the numbers/letters on the slide/frame hard to see.  Primary Machine cerakoted my Pre B CZ 85 for me.

The "G" in LUGER wasn't stamped right in the first place.  It wasn't the cerakote that made it fuzzy.  Even the letters on the frame area easy to see/read.

[Joe Allen]

That's going to clean up nice!

[03car31]

That cerakote does look nice.

The shootability is my first priority so I can decide on the finish later. I think springs are a great idea. Time to start the research into spring weights for best performance.

[03car31]

Went to the range today. This is my first CZ, so let me say, WOW. I didn't know what I was missing before.

This gun can shoot. First time to shoot a gun that I wasn't even 100% sure would go off when I pulled the trigger and I shot it well. They point so natural it might actually be hard to shoot bad with them.

I had feeding issues. It looks like it may be the lips on the magazine. I will have to work on that. And look in to a few more.

I guess springs will probably be my first parts to replace. Has to wait until after Christmas now.

[M1A4ME]

Great news.  The only reason I replaced my barrel was bad pitting in the chamber.  I knew the barrel was pitted and shot it that way a time or two, then while cleaning it after one of the range sessions I turned the barrel upside down and saw how badly pitted the top of the chamber was.

Again, good luck with it.  They can be great "shooters" even when not pretty.

[redlightrich]

That reminds me of a car I bought long distance. The delivery truck driver was concerned that I would be horrified. The bones look good. If you put in some effort, and a very small investment, it will be as nice as you like.

I love a project like that.

Good luck, and show us the "after" pix.

Merry Christmas

Rich

[Mister Coffee]

I had feeding issues. It looks like it may be the lips on the magazine. I will have to work on that. And look in to a few more.

I guess springs will probably be my first parts to replace. Has to wait until after Christmas now.

I agree. I would start with springs and mags. Then see how things go.

All best.

[Scarlett Pistol]

There are threads explaining how to open up the mag well so it will take modern Mags.

A fellow by the name of SPO1SHADOW has some incredible restoration threads on here where he describes all the steps and details. I'm restoring one right now and the finish was just flaking off. Got everything back together and just need to shoot it and take some time figuring out what to do for the finish. You'll have some fun and welcome to the addiction!

[03car31]

I had ordered two of the CZ 75 B magazines when I ordered the gun. I did the modification on the frame to accept then last night. They lock up better in the gun. No movement. The original could move some. Not a lot, but some. Comparing the lips on the original to the new, the original looks like they have opened up some. Hopefully the new magazines will help with the feeding. I will also change the springs in the gun and see if that helps some.

I did some research on hot bluing at home. That looks like an art form. I don't know that I have the skills to pull that off right now and I want this gun as more than just a project. I may have to go with cerakote. I have coated a gun before and at least know what I am doing with it. Of course I also know that bluing is easy to remove if it doesn't turn out nice so I don't really have a lot to lose trying it.