GETTING TO WORK:
I started to break it down to clean it and start the project.
I soaked the barrel is acetone and then scrubbed it with a wire brush. When it came out it looked like there were pieces of filthy paper towel stuck to the bristles... But I didn't use a paper towel! I suddenly realized this poor thing had gone far longer than Joe L has probably ever pushed his pistols! I'd never seen or heard is such filth coming out of a barrel. I also gained an immense appreciation that it ran and was "accurate" when I shot it. I wish it was light outside and I would of had time to take a picture.
When the slide soaked in acetone for a while a lot of the finish came off one side. Along with immense amounts of very fine dirt and crap.
When I broke down the frame I ran into the toughness of the metal CZ used and the tight fit they employed on their pins. The trigger retaining pin bent my nice Grace punch. Look closely and you'll see the punch bent off to the right inside the frame. This was the first of 3 punches this pistol would destroy!
Around this time I figured I would try and use this solid trigger retaining pin to make a DIY floating trigger pin. It took way more work than it was worth because of how hard the metal is, but I got it to function.
I very carefully shortened the hammer hooks (using an old post by David as my guide). I smoothed their faces. I set to work polishing all the contact points.
I "pinned the sear cage". That was poopy on this Pre B. The sear cage has a different angle on the face that contacts the pin and it took me 3 pins to get it right. Even then there is still play for single action. As in the safety can be clearly seen moving rearwards during single action pull. It would have to work for now, I'll get tools to drill and tap it sometime in my future...
Then I set to work on the beavertail and the trigger guard undercut. I wasn't great at taking pictures for that part, even though it would have been interesting.
I then went to open up the mag well to accept modern Mags. This part sucked the absolute most! I followed the great instructions of others on this forum and the mags just were not going in right. I realized there was extra material on the front inside of the magwell. This is an example of tolerance stacking, where mine was acceptable but on the tight end. Oh boy was it not fun working the metal to open this up. I went slow to be very very careful, and with how hard the steel is that meant extraordinarily slow. I used files. In the end I got it working and it takes just about every modern mag, including the mecgars. Here's some pictures where the inside of the magwell is visible. The beavertail work is also visible.
I then put it back together enough to "season" the trigger engagement points with Flitz. Then I had to really clean it out from all the polishing and other work.
This was where the waiting really took place. I needed some parts and I had to postpone. By the time I had the money to get parts I also ordered some tan thin Bogie grips from Lok. The wait was almost over....
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