Frame modification diary. Beavertail, trigger guard, magwell, flush slide stop, undercut

[rhart]

Some online dealers actually ship guns for free or for $20 - $30...  Maybe they get special rates.

Dealers typically have an FFL.

Ya think?

[badwrench]

Underwhere,
Glad to see you got things worked out, a bit of an eye opening experience to say the least. One thing you showed all of us, was the potential problems you can run into when welding on a casting, pits, inclusions, cracks all can show up in the most unwanted places.. As someone pointed out, now we know why CZ sticks with the polycoat as their default finish...it covers up alot of sins.. I have an example of that on my SP-01 campact, I sent it off to CGW for some work, and part of that was to have the frame, slide barrel  black nitrided, it turned out great! Looking at the right side of the frame however, I found two very small pits on the right side, near the end of the frame, just above the rail.These were on the surface, and had been covered by the polycoat..Myself I don't really care, as you really have to look to find them, the point being, when you strip off the polycoat, you may be suprised at what you find.. This could also explain why for example, stainless guns are hard to get, it could be that getting a frame cast that dosen't have any noticable flaws (pits, cracks, inclusions) may be a little more difficult than we know, after all, the stainless guns are either going to be brushed, or highly polished, so no visable flaws can be tolerated.. I did enjoy watching your journey with this pistol, and can't wait to see the results when it's assembled..

[Underwhere]

Underwhere,
Glad to see you got things worked out, a bit of an eye opening experience to say the least. One thing you showed all of us, was the potential problems you can run into when welding on a casting, pits, inclusions, cracks all can show up in the most unwanted places.. As someone pointed out, now we know why CZ sticks with the polycoat as their default finish...it covers up alot of sins.. I have an example of that on my SP-01 campact, I sent it off to CGW for some work, and part of that was to have the frame, slide barrel  black nitrided, it turned out great! Looking at the right side of the frame however, I found two very small pits on the right side, near the end of the frame, just above the rail.These were on the surface, and had been covered by the polycoat..Myself I don't really care, as you really have to look to find them, the point being, when you strip off the polycoat, you may be suprised at what you find.. This could also explain why for example, stainless guns are hard to get, it could be that getting a frame cast that dosen't have any noticable flaws (pits, cracks, inclusions) may be a little more difficult than we know, after all, the stainless guns are either going to be brushed, or highly polished, so no visable flaws can be tolerated.. I did enjoy watching your journey with this pistol, and can't wait to see the results when it's assembled..

That's a perfect summary and what I believe now as well. Why the Shadow 2 nitride is more expensive than polycoat, why there are so few stainless models etc.
I do hope that they get better with their frames. Perhaps gravity casting or some other methods to reduce the imperfections.

[badwrench]

Underwhere,
Glad to see you got things worked out, a bit of an eye opening experience to say the least. One thing you showed all of us, was the potential problems you can run into when welding on a casting, pits, inclusions, cracks all can show up in the most unwanted places.. As someone pointed out, now we know why CZ sticks with the polycoat as their default finish...it covers up alot of sins.. I have an example of that on my SP-01 campact, I sent it off to CGW for some work, and part of that was to have the frame, slide barrel  black nitrided, it turned out great! Looking at the right side of the frame however, I found two very small pits on the right side, near the end of the frame, just above the rail.These were on the surface, and had been covered by the polycoat..Myself I don't really care, as you really have to look to find them, the point being, when you strip off the polycoat, you may be suprised at what you find.. This could also explain why for example, stainless guns are hard to get, it could be that getting a frame cast that dosen't have any noticable flaws (pits, cracks, inclusions) may be a little more difficult than we know, after all, the stainless guns are either going to be brushed, or highly polished, so no visable flaws can be tolerated.. I did enjoy watching your journey with this pistol, and can't wait to see the results when it's assembled..

That's a perfect summary and what I believe now as well. Why the Shadow 2 nitride is more expensive than polycoat, why there are so few stainless models etc.
I do hope that they get better with their frames. Perhaps gravity casting or some other methods to reduce the imperfections.

Another option would be to forge the frames, and that would solve all the problems, except that forging isn't cheap, and would add substantially to the manfacturing costs..But the flip side is, you'd have a much higher quality product.. There's no easy way out here..

[Ferguson191919]

This thread is amazing! I want to put a significant trigger guard under cut on a CZ 75.  Not just up, but back into the body of the frame a bit too like the Sig Legions.  From what I understand, if I chose the PCR I don't have to worry about the unfortunate surprises?

[rhart]

This thread is amazing! I want to put a significant trigger guard under cut on a CZ 75.  Not just up, but back into the body of the frame a bit too like the Sig Legions.  From what I understand, if I chose the PCR I don't have to worry about the unfortunate surprises?

No guarantees even with a forged part which can have internal forging bursts from hot or cold forging or other imperfections - some of which could have their origins in the forging stock prior to forging that either did not 'heal' or were exascerbated or propagated by the forging process. Even if nondestructive testing (NDT) is performed, most engineering specifications allow for a certain amount and/or size of imperfections to remain in the material. Specifications on surface discontinuities permissable in a part like a gun frame are usually more stringent than internal or subsurface discontinuity specifications for aesthetic reasons. A discontinuity is not necessarily a rejectable defect. There are flaws in everything - it is just a matter of acceptability or 'fitness for use'. The minor flaws uncovered by Underwhere (and others) did not harm the fitness for use of the gun, but were aesthetically unpleasing after being uncovered.

[Underwhere]

This thread is amazing! I want to put a significant trigger guard under cut on a CZ 75.  Not just up, but back into the body of the frame a bit too like the Sig Legions.  From what I understand, if I chose the PCR I don't have to worry about the unfortunate surprises?

Or just do it. What fun would it be if you didn't try.

Make your own thread. We can grab some popcorn and follow along.

[1SOW]

Supersonic jet aircraft can have or develop similar flaws that show up especially as they age.  Regularly scheduled Non-Destructive inspections are religiously done to find those flaws.  X-Ray, RotoScan, Oil Analysis, Mag Particle and more sometimes can't detect those flaws until they become physically visible.

That a pistol sometimes has more flaws than expected is not a surprise.  If CZ did a mag particle inspection on each and every frame,  the OP's pistol flaws would have been seen.  $$$$

[Underwhere]

Fords finished 4 weeks ahead of schedule.
Then gun parts will be back early this coming week.

No idea what they look like.
I sent a detailed parts list and the finish I would like applied to each part.

They never called to confirm but their reputation is top notch. I'm hopeful it came out perfect.

Knowing my gun is coming back I started to polish up all my parts in preparation for assembly.

I may heat color the trigger. Considering it.

I want to make sure all the tiny parts that are exposed are polished. Slide stop spring  pin that is exposed. The pin that captures the  hammer pivot pin. The back of the sear cage. The rounded top of the hammer strut etc.

I still have the sear cage, firing pin block and maybe a few tiny parts left.

I also will need to fit the grips. I've never been good at that.

[Underwhere]

Some more pics. I've finished up polishing. The only thing left is fitting the grips once the gun is back and assembled.

I also heat colored the trigger. It has an overall rust brown color to it with the tip and top of the trigger spotted with blue/red. It should match the grips and then hopefully appear to have some blue accents. If it looks ugly I can always polish it.

Pics of the exposed end of the slide stop lever spring pin.

Pics of the pin the holds the hammer cross pin in place.

I did parts of the sear cage and associated parts as well tonight.

All the parts in this bin have been polished in some way. Another bin holds the remainder of the parts for install.

[Underwhere]

OK it's back. Fords did a wonderful job and they packaged it very well.

The only places I found even the slightest issue is where the polished edge meets the matte finish. It's not razor sharp but it's totally fine.

The gun is very difficult to photograph.

What I noticed. The matte finish does add texture and friction. On the parts that I polished to ensure smooth action, they were noticeably more rough. Light sandpaper.

I was able to buff out some of the matte finish and bring them to mirror shine. I didn't expect to be able to. I may need to put more effort into this later.

 I don't know whether Fords hard chromed first then polished or vice versa. I think that's an important tidbit to know.

There were some imperfections on the beavertail but I can live with it. Those are war wounds for me.

The trigger had some issues with travel. I barely could get the trigger to break so I took a bit off the disconnector wing and it seemed to resolve things.

The trigger is very heavy after all these Cajun parts. I need to inspect why. I was expecting a 4.5 DA and a 2.5 SA but am around 6.5 DA and 4 SA. I feel some resistance in the trigger and trigger bar. I may need to do some repolishing.

This is with the CGW pro kit.

I also had issues with the front sight and bushing fitment. I ruined a roll pin. I need to open the hole a little bit before I attempt another roll pin.
 

[Underwhere]

Some more pics

[sberres]

Wow!  What a delightful contrast between the matte and the mirror finishes. Looks amazing!  Hope to hear next that it is equally delightful to shoot!

[Underwhere]

Wow!  What a delightful contrast between the matte and the mirror finishes. Looks amazing!  Hope to hear next that it is equally delightful to shoot!

I think I'm going to take it apart tomorrow and work over all the action parts and review the frame fitment as well. Trigger pull just seems way too heavy for a CGW pro kit.

The finish is growing on me.

Maybe someday I'll get to shoot it.

[Underwhere]

I forgot a pic showing the trigger which appears to match the wood grips.
And for comparison sake, the original gun.