Should I be ok with this? (CZ SP-01)

Kazaam · November 12, 2012, 09:34 PM

So I finally took apart my CZ SP-01 to clean it (took a while to get the cleaning stuff in :P), and noticed a few imperfections. The first one seems inconsequential and nitpicky, and I dont think #2 is actually anything, but #3 seems not right. I apologize in advance for the bad pictures. The gun was sold new in box and wasnt handled by the public. I will number these and you guys can decide whether this is acceptable or not:

1)This I dont really care about much. There are are a couple spots where there is a little raised speckle or two:

(there are a couple other ones to the right of this that I couldnt get in a picture, but they were even smaller)

2)There are like, little notches in the underside of the rail. Here is one, but there are other spots that show too:

3)This, unlike the others, I think actually is a problem. There's a little spot that seems the polycoat is marred under the safety when I raise it. It also doesnt even bother me much because I rarely use the safety.

What do you guys think? For #3, the only one I'm really worried about, it seems almost everyone thinks its completely normal and was probably caused by the people who tested it at the factory. I figured I'd ask because I literally have had zero experience with firearms up until this point.

Thanks guys!

hAkron · November 12, 2012, 09:46 PM

If these imperfections were on a $2,500 hand fitted custom gun, I would be outraged. If they were on a $600 mass produced gun then I would be indifferent. The scratch by the safety could indicate there is some sort of a raised burr on the safety that is scratching the polycoat.

This isn't my gun though, this is your gun. If these things bother you then you can call CZ USA and they can make it right. There will be an inconvienvence of shipping the gun back to them, and being without it for a time, but I would expect them to handle at least the frame scratch if not the other issues as well.

geetarman · November 13, 2012, 09:08 AM

I have a couple of CZs and what you are seeing, IMO, is pretty typical.

My guns function just fine, but they both have these imperfections.

You look at a Dan Wesson, and the workmanship is much better. You pay for that.

My CZ rifle however, seems to be built pretty good and is "pretty."

The handguns. . .not so much. The duty coat on their guns does not compare with Sig or Dan Wesson.

TunnelRat · November 13, 2012, 01:38 PM

CZs are interesting. I cannot for the life of me shoot better with anything than a CZ. It makes me look godlike, when in reality I am an average to decent shooter.

Because of this, I am willing to overlook a few things. And number one of those is finish. They are not finished well, in all the cases I have seen. Now some of the custom guns are, and even the regular models have visually appealing shapes to me, but the finish is often lacking. The fit is usually excellent, slide to frame, barrel to slide, but the finish, especially internally, is just not. I overlook it because the performance is usually still good.

geetarman · November 13, 2012, 01:50 PM

^^^^^^ You nailed it.

Sparks1957 · November 13, 2012, 02:24 PM

I'll confirm Tunnelrat's observations about CZs.

Kazaam · November 13, 2012, 03:49 PM

Got it, these replies are typical of what I am hearing at other places. Thanks fellas!

I will probably email CZ-USA for the hell of it to see what they say.

Walt Sherrill · November 13, 2012, 04:03 PM

If the small blemishes bother you, get a small bottle of Dupli-Color matte black auto touch-up paint and a small brush. Better yet, get a larger can of their spray, spray some on some aluminum foil, and use the brush. (The spray paint tends to be a bit thinner and is more easily applied without build up.) It's almost a perfect match. Done right, you won't see the repair.

If you can't find Dupli-color, just about any matte black auto touch-up paint will work.

Over the years the Polycoat finish has become better and stronger and more scratch and mar-resistant. Over the long run, it seems to hold up better to holster wear than the finish used on SIGs and Glocks; they all show scratches and handling marks unless you treat them like treasures rather than tools.

Many guns in the same general price range with have some imperfections. If it had come to PERFECTLY blemish free, you'd have some on the gun a year from now.

Kazaam · November 13, 2012, 04:05 PM

But not if I never use the safety, right?

Walt Sherrill · November 13, 2012, 05:09 PM

If you think you'll continue to mar the frame under the safety...

Slide a thin piece of sandpaper (emory cloth) face up, under the safety, and work the lever back and forth to remove anything under the lever that's protruding and marring the finish.

The safety itself doesn't have to rub against the frame, and there are both springs and adetent INSIDE the frame to keep the safety lever IN the gun and to allow it to "click" postively into both the on and off positions.

(You could also remove the safety lever and do the job more completely and repaint the underside of the lever when you're done... but unless you've done that sort of work on a CZ before, it's a little tricky. Not rocket science, but more complicated than field stripping.)

Kazaam · November 14, 2012, 11:19 AM

I emailed the warranty department. The warranty guy is pretty cool. So far he says it shouldn't be there, but it's not a big deal and if I go to a gunsmith I should get a drop of blue on that spot and it won't rust (especially since its under the safety).

I told him I'd rather not do that because I'm nowhere near a gunsmith and I don't want to spend more money than I have, and that if he thinks I should send it in I will. We'll see what happens next.

TunnelRat · November 14, 2012, 11:27 AM

You could just buy a bottle of Cold Blue and put a drop on yourself...

Kazaam · November 14, 2012, 11:30 AM

Guess I could. It just sucks to pay more money to get what I shoulve got. I doubt i'll end up doing anything lol...

TunnelRat · November 14, 2012, 12:28 PM

Quote:

It just sucks to pay more money to get what I shoulve got.

Ahh, that age old attitude. I've seen it and used it myself plenty of times. Sometime the fastest solution is to just suck it up and fix it yourself. Especially in this case when you'd be out a gun for likely close to a month, assuming they did take it back, for just a blemish. A wise guy might say you should have inspected it before taking possession.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/419...ue-3-oz-liquid

Your call either way.

Walt Sherrill · November 14, 2012, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TunnelRat

You could just buy a bottle of Cold Blue and put a drop on yourself...

The last couple of responses must be from folks who don't have CZs (or no CZs with the polycoat finish.)

Cold blue doesn't work with the CZ polycoat finish, unless the scratch is down to hard metal, and even then it wouldn't look right. Thinly-applied (maybe thinned, first) matte black auto body touchup paint is the best response.

TunnelRat · November 14, 2012, 03:14 PM

Quote:

The last couple of responses must be from folks who don't have CZs (or no CZs with the polycoat finish.)

I only said Cold Blue because he said the guy on the phone told him to have a smith put a drop of blue on it.

You're right it won't look normal with the polycoat finish. Another option, in addition to body paint:

http://www.topgunsupply.com/birchwoo...lat-black.html

Walt Sherrill · November 14, 2012, 03:34 PM

If the damage to the polycoat isn't down to the metal, cold blue won't do anything -- as the various cold blues cause a form of rust to form (which is what "bluing" is all about.

The black from Birchwood Casey won't work well with the CZ, either, but it's closer to a paint the something that causes rust. That stuff IS us great for touching up black (anodized) aluminum frames that don't have polycoat. Cold Blue doesn't work in that situation, either.

I'm a long-time CZ owner and have tried just about everything over the years. Matte black auto body (or model) touch-up paint, thinned a bit, is the best solution for polycoat. Dupli-Color is an almost perfect match. (It also matches the black used on the Sphinx pistols...)

TunnelRat -- I modified my response above WHILE your were answering... The auto paint holds up better.

TunnelRat · November 14, 2012, 03:38 PM

Quote:

The black from Birchwood Casey won't work with the CZ, either -- but it us great for touching up black (anodized) aluminum frames that don't have polycoat.

I just used it on my P-01 like 3 nights ago...

Kazaam · November 14, 2012, 04:52 PM

He sent me this:

Quote:

If it was me I wouldn’t worry about it, a gunsmith should cold blue it for next to nothing, if not free, it would take them 1 minute of time. If you really want you can send the pistol in we would probably replace it with a new one, or if you would be satisfied we could cold blue it for you. Up to you, its pretty minor though.

I'll probably send it in later if I'm still annoyed, provided they don't want me to pay for shipping. I don't mind not having it for a while since I don't shoot often. We'll see though; doubt I'll do anything.

Walt Sherrill · November 14, 2012, 08:27 PM

Unless that mark under the safety has scraped down enough to expose metal, cold blue isn't going to do a thing. (Could blue causes a colored rust to form; if there's no metal exposed, it isn't going to do anything.) Ditto the other flaws in the finish.

If the only thing wrong with the finish, 6 months from now, are the marks you see today, you've left it in the safe too long.

Pilot · November 15, 2012, 08:12 AM

Quote:

I don't mind not having it for a while since I don't shoot often.

Maybe you should shoot it instead of obsessing about very, very minor finish issues, or send it back to CZ as they have offered. I don't see what more they can do for you.

Kazaam · November 15, 2012, 12:09 PM

Pilot, this seems to be a common theme amongst the replies I'm getting. Which I am fine with, but I asked just to make sure, since I dont have experience with these things. I am the obsessive type, though, so if it should be one way and its not, I get annoyed.

I probably will just keep it and not worry about it. Beyond excited to shoot this thing!

Here are a few more pictures to see if you guys think its worth it or not. I could swear there is a little sliver of bare metal peeking out but I dunno (tried to show this for Walt); figured I'd show you just to make sure since I am literally clueless lol.

Walt Sherrill · November 15, 2012, 12:18 PM

Goto the CZ Forum and see how to detail strip the gun, focusing on how to remove the safety. http://www.czfirearms.us/index.php

Once you've got it out, smooth the underside and repaint it using slighlty thinned matte black auto body paint. You can touch up the frame the same way -- lightly sanding and then painting with the paint. I've done this sort of touch up on CZs and Sphinxs, and if you do it carefully, it's practically invisible.

Metal god · November 15, 2012, 12:25 PM

I think you should get rid of it as fast as you can .

Send it to

Metal God
1234 Street
San Diego C.A.

Kazaam · November 15, 2012, 12:33 PM

Thanks Walt.

Metal god, do you do warranty work there? Ha ha.

November 12, 2012, 09:34 PM	#1
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	Should I be ok with this? (CZ SP-01) So I finally took apart my CZ SP-01 to clean it (took a while to get the cleaning stuff in :P), and noticed a few imperfections. The first one seems inconsequential and nitpicky, and I dont think #2 is actually anything, but #3 seems not right. I apologize in advance for the bad pictures. The gun was sold new in box and wasnt handled by the public. I will number these and you guys can decide whether this is acceptable or not: 1)This I dont really care about much. There are are a couple spots where there is a little raised speckle or two: (there are a couple other ones to the right of this that I couldnt get in a picture, but they were even smaller) 2)There are like, little notches in the underside of the rail. Here is one, but there are other spots that show too: 3)This, unlike the others, I think actually is a problem. There's a little spot that seems the polycoat is marred under the safety when I raise it. It also doesnt even bother me much because I rarely use the safety. What do you guys think? For #3, the only one I'm really worried about, it seems almost everyone thinks its completely normal and was probably caused by the people who tested it at the factory. I figured I'd ask because I literally have had zero experience with firearms up until this point. Thanks guys!

November 13, 2012, 01:38 PM	#4
TunnelRat Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2011 Posts: 12,213	CZs are interesting. I cannot for the life of me shoot better with anything than a CZ. It makes me look godlike, when in reality I am an average to decent shooter. Because of this, I am willing to overlook a few things. And number one of those is finish. They are not finished well, in all the cases I have seen. Now some of the custom guns are, and even the regular models have visually appealing shapes to me, but the finish is often lacking. The fit is usually excellent, slide to frame, barrel to slide, but the finish, especially internally, is just not. I overlook it because the performance is usually still good. __________________ Know the status of your weapon Keep your muzzle oriented so that no one will be hurt if the firearm discharges Keep your finger off the trigger until you have an adequate sight picture Maintain situational awareness

November 13, 2012, 01:50 PM	#5
geetarman Senior Member Join Date: November 18, 2009 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,157	^^^^^^ You nailed it. __________________ Geetarman Carpe Cerveza

November 14, 2012, 11:27 AM	#12
TunnelRat Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2011 Posts: 12,213	You could just buy a bottle of Cold Blue and put a drop on yourself... __________________ Know the status of your weapon Keep your muzzle oriented so that no one will be hurt if the firearm discharges Keep your finger off the trigger until you have an adequate sight picture Maintain situational awareness

November 14, 2012, 03:34 PM	#17
Walt Sherrill Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 1999 Location: Winston-Salem, NC USA Posts: 6,348	If the damage to the polycoat isn't down to the metal, cold blue won't do anything -- as the various cold blues cause a form of rust to form (which is what "bluing" is all about. The black from Birchwood Casey won't work well with the CZ, either, but it's closer to a paint the something that causes rust. That stuff IS us great for touching up black (anodized) aluminum frames that don't have polycoat. Cold Blue doesn't work in that situation, either. I'm a long-time CZ owner and have tried just about everything over the years. Matte black auto body (or model) touch-up paint, thinned a bit, is the best solution for polycoat. Dupli-Color is an almost perfect match. (It also matches the black used on the Sphinx pistols...) TunnelRat -- I modified my response above WHILE your were answering... The auto paint holds up better. Last edited by Walt Sherrill; November 14, 2012 at 03:39 PM.

November 12, 2012, 09:46 PM	#2
hAkron Senior Member Join Date: March 31, 2011 Location: Akron, Ohio Posts: 318	If these imperfections were on a $2,500 hand fitted custom gun, I would be outraged. If they were on a $600 mass produced gun then I would be indifferent. The scratch by the safety could indicate there is some sort of a raised burr on the safety that is scratching the polycoat. This isn't my gun though, this is your gun. If these things bother you then you can call CZ USA and they can make it right. There will be an inconvienvence of shipping the gun back to them, and being without it for a time, but I would expect them to handle at least the frame scratch if not the other issues as well.

November 13, 2012, 09:08 AM	#3
geetarman Senior Member Join Date: November 18, 2009 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,157	I have a couple of CZs and what you are seeing, IMO, is pretty typical. My guns function just fine, but they both have these imperfections. You look at a Dan Wesson, and the workmanship is much better. You pay for that. My CZ rifle however, seems to be built pretty good and is "pretty." The handguns. . .not so much. The duty coat on their guns does not compare with Sig or Dan Wesson. __________________ Geetarman Carpe Cerveza

November 13, 2012, 02:24 PM	#6
Sparks1957 Senior Member Join Date: September 4, 2011 Location: Vermont Posts: 1,552	I'll confirm Tunnelrat's observations about CZs.

November 13, 2012, 03:49 PM	#7
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	Got it, these replies are typical of what I am hearing at other places. Thanks fellas! I will probably email CZ-USA for the hell of it to see what they say.

November 13, 2012, 04:03 PM	#8
Walt Sherrill Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 1999 Location: Winston-Salem, NC USA Posts: 6,348	If the small blemishes bother you, get a small bottle of Dupli-Color matte black auto touch-up paint and a small brush. Better yet, get a larger can of their spray, spray some on some aluminum foil, and use the brush. (The spray paint tends to be a bit thinner and is more easily applied without build up.) It's almost a perfect match. Done right, you won't see the repair. If you can't find Dupli-color, just about any matte black auto touch-up paint will work. Over the years the Polycoat finish has become better and stronger and more scratch and mar-resistant. Over the long run, it seems to hold up better to holster wear than the finish used on SIGs and Glocks; they all show scratches and handling marks unless you treat them like treasures rather than tools. Many guns in the same general price range with have some imperfections. If it had come to PERFECTLY blemish free, you'd have some on the gun a year from now.

November 13, 2012, 04:05 PM	#9
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	But not if I never use the safety, right?

November 13, 2012, 05:09 PM	#10
Walt Sherrill Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 1999 Location: Winston-Salem, NC USA Posts: 6,348	If you think you'll continue to mar the frame under the safety... Slide a thin piece of sandpaper (emory cloth) face up, under the safety, and work the lever back and forth to remove anything under the lever that's protruding and marring the finish. The safety itself doesn't have to rub against the frame, and there are both springs and adetent INSIDE the frame to keep the safety lever IN the gun and to allow it to "click" postively into both the on and off positions. (You could also remove the safety lever and do the job more completely and repaint the underside of the lever when you're done... but unless you've done that sort of work on a CZ before, it's a little tricky. Not rocket science, but more complicated than field stripping.)

November 14, 2012, 11:19 AM	#11
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	I emailed the warranty department. The warranty guy is pretty cool. So far he says it shouldn't be there, but it's not a big deal and if I go to a gunsmith I should get a drop of blue on that spot and it won't rust (especially since its under the safety). I told him I'd rather not do that because I'm nowhere near a gunsmith and I don't want to spend more money than I have, and that if he thinks I should send it in I will. We'll see what happens next.

November 14, 2012, 11:30 AM	#13
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	Guess I could. It just sucks to pay more money to get what I shoulve got. I doubt i'll end up doing anything lol...

November 14, 2012, 08:27 PM	#20
Walt Sherrill Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 1999 Location: Winston-Salem, NC USA Posts: 6,348	Unless that mark under the safety has scraped down enough to expose metal, cold blue isn't going to do a thing. (Could blue causes a colored rust to form; if there's no metal exposed, it isn't going to do anything.) Ditto the other flaws in the finish. If the only thing wrong with the finish, 6 months from now, are the marks you see today, you've left it in the safe too long.

November 15, 2012, 12:09 PM	#22
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	Pilot, this seems to be a common theme amongst the replies I'm getting. Which I am fine with, but I asked just to make sure, since I dont have experience with these things. I am the obsessive type, though, so if it should be one way and its not, I get annoyed. I probably will just keep it and not worry about it. Beyond excited to shoot this thing! Here are a few more pictures to see if you guys think its worth it or not. I could swear there is a little sliver of bare metal peeking out but I dunno (tried to show this for Walt); figured I'd show you just to make sure since I am literally clueless lol.

November 15, 2012, 12:18 PM	#23
Walt Sherrill Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 1999 Location: Winston-Salem, NC USA Posts: 6,348	Goto the CZ Forum and see how to detail strip the gun, focusing on how to remove the safety. http://www.czfirearms.us/index.php Once you've got it out, smooth the underside and repaint it using slighlty thinned matte black auto body paint. You can touch up the frame the same way -- lightly sanding and then painting with the paint. I've done this sort of touch up on CZs and Sphinxs, and if you do it carefully, it's practically invisible.

November 15, 2012, 12:25 PM	#24
Metal god Senior Member Join Date: April 10, 2012 Location: San Diego CA Posts: 6,875	I think you should get rid of it as fast as you can . Send it to Metal God 1234 Street San Diego C.A. __________________ If Jesus had a gun , he'd probably still be alive ! I almost always write my posts regardless of content in a jovial manor and intent . If that's not how you took it , please try again .

November 15, 2012, 12:33 PM	#25
Kazaam Senior Member Join Date: June 26, 2012 Posts: 109	Thanks Walt. Metal god, do you do warranty work there? Ha ha.

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