Wormydog1724

End of year 2021 update: Only just over 1,000 rounds put on the Zev OZ9 Compact this year. Since it’s been such a turd I’ve been shooting my 2011’s much more. I haven’t kept track of the total round count anymore because I just don’t care. It was sent back Zev twice in 2020 and came back better, but still not 100%. Now that 2021 is coming to a close the failure to extract malfunction is creeping back, and getting worse. It never really went away but is definitely getting worse, can’t make it through a full mag now without at least one malfunction. Every time I bring the OZ9c out I tell myself, alright this is the day that it redeems itself and works and I’ll love it. And every time I’m let down by it. I’ve tried swapping every part except the actual slide and barrel, which I will in early 2022. It’s just not worth it to keep it all Zev now, it’s just a paperweight taking up space in my safe now.

Imagine being a ‘sponsored shooter’ and swapping all critical parts to different (better) products. I remember a very well known 3 gun shooter sponsored by Stag. The only thing Stag on his rifle was the lower receiver and handguard. Nearly everything else was JP. Lol. Only a few of us knew that, Stag didn’t know but honestly they might not have even cared since he was pretty damn good. So what do I gotta do to get my Zev OZ9 Compact fixed with all these new upgrades enhancements to make it reliable? Send it to Zev again? Third times the charm I guess! I’ve owned it a year and because it’s been back to Zev twice and still finicky I don’t even want to shoot it anymore, and I’m damn sure not carrying it concealed which was my original intent. It has such a s#!tty reputation that I can’t sell it, even at a pretty big discount. But it LoOkS cOoL fOr tHe gRaM!

Since when is Bobby Allison dead?

Ok.

My STI I had built in 2011 has north of 5k rounds on it, literally all 5k without issue. the Staccato P I just bought has about 1,000 on it by me (yes in 2020 with this ‘ammo crisis’) and has had zero, zero malfunctions. Both of my 2011’s even eat the Winchester steel cased ammo that turns the Zev into a single shot. Granted the Zev OZ9C was good for a couple thousand rounds so I’ll continue shooting the Staccato P and will see if it has any issues. But calling it worse? Not yet, not even close. Shoot more. Type less.

I sent mine back to Zev for the second time for the same issue, failure to extract.. It again was experiencing failure-to-extract issues, where the fired case would just remain in the barrel. I again tried to troubleshoot on my own by removing the x300-U, the Zev Comp, the RMR, I changed recoil springs to different weights as well as the extractor and extractor spring/plunger assembly. All to no avail. Zev was more on the ball this time and had it back to me pretty damn fast. I've put 100 rounds of 115gr 9mm brass ammo through it without issue, just like the first time I got it back. I wonder how many rounds it will last this time?? 101? 105? 250? 10.500? Their explanation this time was the extractor was 'over-travelling'. I didn't know what that meant and it was explained that the extractor was slipping off of the case during extraction. They 'hand fit' a new extractor and upgraded the plunger and spring. I asked since it was hand fit does that make it compatible with all other Glock parts, being that that is one of the main draws to the OZ9. There answer was a flat no, because it was hand fit, any replacement part would also need to be hand fit. That sucks. I feel completely duped into buying this turd of handgun. Interchangeability and compatibility with Glock parts was definitely a reason I bought it. And I assumed it would have the same or at least nearly the same reliability as a Glock. This has not been the case and now I'm stuck with a $1,500 single shot Glock-wanna-be-turd.

Pulled the RMR, Comp, and X300-U off mine. It's been 100% since then with all ammo. I bought a Staccato P and the OZ9c will be unused from now on.

Yeah.

Put over 300 rounds through it tonight. It had one failure to extract on brass cased ammo and failure to extract on 95% of the steel cased. ‘But don’t feed it steel cased’. My 2011, VP9, Glock 19, and MP5 all eat the steel cased ammo. There’s just something not right with this gun. Very disappointed. My Glock 19 is gen 5 so I can’t run the slide on the OZ9 lower but I’m going to buy a gen 3 Glock 19 or maybe just somebody else’s g3 Glock 19 compatible slide and try it. See if it’s the lower or the slide that’s causing these failure to extract issue.

The trigger definitely feels better. I can tell the firing pin and ejector plunger rod are new. I’ll try a mag of the Winchester steel cased crap right off the bat. My 2011 runs it fine so there’s no reason this shouldn’t run on it also.

And wouldn’t you know, it’s being shipped back to me now. I wonder how much longer it would have dragged out had I not gotten impatient and asked for an update.

Mine is still at Zev. It was delivered to them on 4/13 and I've been sending emails every two weeks asking for status updates and all I've received is excuses. "Oh the pandemic" "oh our focus is on the rifles and new pistols now" "oh the gunsmith said he would be working on it this week (that was three weeks ago)" "oh I only answer emails in the order that they're received..." It's been 7.5 weeks and I know of two other guys who are instagram famous that got theirs back within two weeks, probably because they try harder on being more insta-popular and pimp zev every chance they get. I've been pretty cool through this whole thing but I'm straight outta patience. My OZ9C was a turd and their customer service is s#!t. Zev will not be getting anymore of my money.

I have tried the 13# spring Zev sent me, along with the Suarez extractor and plunger/spring. Still no jive. Zev sent me a return shipping label and I will be sending it back to Zev this week.

I guess I may have found a combo that makes my OZ9c 99% reliable with all ammo but it’s not ideal. Zev extractor, Suarez extreme reliability extractor depressor plunger unit, 15# ISMI recoil spring, no comp. As soon as I put the comp on its back to the failure to extracts. I ordered a Suarez extreme reliability extractor but he sent me a Glock 43 extractor instead. Waiting to hear back from him on the solution there. I have between 2,500 and 3,000 rounds through it now.

I have about 2k rounds through my OZ9-compact that's in a Roland Special config. It has an RMR, X300U, and their Zev V2 Comp on it. It did really good for about 1k rounds, no issues at all, but now I'm getting failure to extracts at least 2 to 3 times PER MAG, sometimes nearly every round. I contacted Zev on IG and was told to send an e-mail and I did. Their reply was to check the RMR screws as the right one may be too long and be in the ejector plunger channel. The first thing I always do when I get a firearm is completely disassemble and inspect it. In the initial inspection I noticed the screw was too long as I couldn't remove the plunger. So I shortened the screw and took this as an opportunity to replace the battery. So in the first 1k rounds there wasn't an issue, now there is and they told me to do something I already did and they should have done before it went out of their door. In the meantime I have tried different recoil spring weights, different ammo, and running with and without the comp. I am running 115gr FMJ Geco, Blazer Brass, and S&B ammo for general range plinking. All brass cased. I know the comp robs some energy so I bought some 124gr FMJ S&B ammo and 124gr HST Federal ammo for carry. Everything has had failure to eject problems, with all the different ammo, with the stock recoil spring, 18# spring, and 15# spring, with the comp and without the comp. I've cleaned it down to factory new clean, I've ran it slightly oiled and dripping wet with oil. I've tried factory Glock mags, Glock mags with extensions, the Magpul mags it came with. Everything has had some failure to extract issue, some way worse than others. I emailed them again yesterday and will hopefully hear back soon. I'm sure they'll want it sent in. I know there's at least two other guys on Instagram I've talked to about this because they ere experiencing the same thing. One of them has his OZ9c back at Zev right now. I really like this pistol when it works, I was really wanting it to work but I cannot in good conscience carry this thing or even shoot it in a competition until these issues are fixed and even then that will always be in the back of my mind. It's literally the second most unreliable firearm I have ever purchased behind a Mossberg 930SPX lol, and that's saying a lot. Hoping to hear back from Zev soon and I'll try to update here once the situation has been remedied, or not.