CZ97B on the way

[Ohioguy]

I have a CZ97B on the way. I have been looking at them for awhile, and I finally found one resonably priced.

Reviews have been good, saying it as generally very accurate. Trigger needs a little work (or breaking in), but so does everything, right?

Opinions, suggestions, and observations are welcome.

Plan on using it in L-10.

[DoubleDelta]

I hope your hands are big. That being said mine is a tack-driver that soaks up recoil pretty well. I thought the SA trigger was allright out of the box and has smoothed out over time. It is one gun that could benefit from slide-lightening. If somebody makes a magwell, that is going to be a must for L-10.

[eerw]

neat gun. a little too big for my hands with the DA mode.

have played with some that have been converted to single action only and perfect for my hand.

[Gary1911A1]

In DA it does have a long reach. The feedramp is also steep and might need some adjustment to feed some rounds. Angus can fix any issues you have or CZ can if it's new. I myself like many find it to big and heavy for conceal carry.

[SteelShooten]

The gun is big but it shoots well and accurately. I have one of the earlier ones and after some trigger work to achieve a cleaner break, it was pretty fun. I bent the magazine brake so the magazines fall free.

You may find that the pistol won't like certain overall length cartridges. Mine didn't like hardball at 1.260. Oh, it didn't choke all the time but when it choked nothing short of a complete magazine change would revive it.

During feeding, as the slide returns, the nose of the cartridge apparently dips before it contacts the feedramp. If the cartridge was of a certain length the bullet would still be nose down when it struck the bottom of the feed ramp... and stopped everything cold with a round trapped between the slide and barrel. TRB worked once in a while but usually failed. Typically it was with 7 or 8 rounds left in the magazine. The mag wouldn't drop free with this type of stoppage, it had to be yanked out.

I put up with it because it was an occasional problem and I couldn't pin it on a specific magazine.

After it failed miserably during a stake shoot, I spent a lot of time trying to sort this thing out. Polished the feed ramp to a mirror and fed countless rounds by hand and then started measuring the cartridge lengths to see if it helped. Making the rounds longer would cause trouble with another pistol so perhaps shorter...

It ran like a top after I shortened the COL to 1.245. The new length must give the cartridge enough space to bounce and meet the ramp on the way up.

So it worked great until about the 3000 round mark when the barrel lug sheared off. I'm not loading 45 Super here. 230s @ 820

CZ was very helpful. I sent them the gun and the pistol was returned rather quickly with a new barrel fitted and a new bushing. After a bit of test firing to confirm that the sights agreed with the new barrel, I took the gun to a steel match and was thoroughly embarrassed stage after stage by the same old feed problem.

The ammo was at 1.245 and having frequent trouble getting past the new feed ramp. Not interested in going through the ordeal of making further changes to the cartridge, I pulled the barrel, wrapped some 300 grit sandpaper around a Ø3/8 rod and recontoured the center of the ramp at the bottom by deepening the curvature in the center and then re-established the mirror finish. My resurfacing of the ramp did not go far enough up the ramp to effect the chamber, it blended with the existing contour before then.

So far its workin'.

[Gary1911A1]

I remember reading on the CZforum that CZ would modify your barrel to feed all .45ACP loads. Why they just don't do this at the factory is beyond me.

[Ohioguy]

It just arrived today.

It is defintely a bit long in DA, but nothing I can't overcome. The SA trigger pull is OK, but could use some work. It was extremely dirty internally, so I will spend some time cleaning it. One thing I did notice is that the slide won't lock on an empty mag. But looking at the crud inside, it might just be too dirty.

Thanks for the tip on OAL. I will keep that in mind when I start to load for it.

Any particular loads that you might have found that it really likes Steelshootin?

[SteelShooten]

It just arrived today.

It is defintely a bit long in DA, but nothing I can't overcome. The SA trigger pull is OK, but could use some work. It was extremely dirty internally, so I will spend some time cleaning it. One thing I did notice is that the slide won't lock on an empty mag. But looking at the crud inside, it might just be too dirty.

Thanks for the tip on OAL. I will keep that in mind when I start to load for it.

Any particular loads that you might have found that it really likes Steelshootin?

I can't say I used anything special. My primary criteria was to find a load that would work in any one of several guns. I use 5.7gr of W231 and a Zero or MTG 230gr FMJ first loaded at 1.265; then later at 1.245 when the CZ97 turned out to be a prima-donna and I had to recheck everything again.

It clocks at about 820 and seems to be a compelling argument versus a reluctant popper just about every time its tried.

Depending on which manual you look at this is either a max load or a moderate one so the usual caution should be applied when seeing if it works in your own gun.

[Carlos]

Watch out for the MG 200 FPs - they have to be loaded short or they will hit the rifling in the 97b. Many folks feel the stock recoil spring is a little too light.

Also, the wood grips - do not get them too wet while shooting in the rain. The insides are not coated/shelaked so the wood will absorb enough H2O to swell up & trap the mag in the gun.

[Ohioguy]

Watch out for the MG 200 FPs - they have to be loaded short or they will hit the rifling in the 97b. Many folks feel the stock recoil spring is a little too light.

Also, the wood grips - do not get them too wet while shooting in the rain. The insides are not coated/shelaked so the wood will absorb enough H2O to swell up & trap the mag in the gun.

Thanks for the tips guys.

I have read several threads about using short OAL, so it is dully noted.

It seems I might have weak mag springs, so along with new mags, I have to order some springs as well. That might be my problem with the slide not locking back. Followers seem tight as well, plus I might just have an issue with the slide stop (will try the new springs before I delve into that).

Aaron