Need CZ owners thoughts

Amps 13

Well-Known Member
Benefactor
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2017
Messages
5,832
Location
Jamestown
Rating - 100%
168   0   0
A few weeks (Maybe more) back I bought my first CZ (75 SP-01 from a member on here. Have taken it to the range a few times and now understand why most love theirs. I am interested in changing a few things on her and wanted to get peoples thoughts before I go and waste money on items that may not be very good.
1st thing I was going to buy is Dawson Precision fiber optic sights from Cajun Gun works.
2nd thing is new grips. I was looking at ones from Cajun Gun Works (full size Orange g10) and VZ Grips (prob the Alien ones).
would their be others that would be better or are they GTG?
Any other parts that should be upgraded while I'm at it?
Thanks for the help!
 
A few weeks (Maybe more) back I bought my first CZ (75 SP-01 from a member on here. Have taken it to the range a few times and now understand why most love theirs. I am interested in changing a few things on her and wanted to get peoples thoughts before I go and waste money on items that may not be very good.
1st thing I was going to buy is Dawson Precision fiber optic sights from Cajun Gun works.
2nd thing is new grips. I was looking at ones from Cajun Gun Works (full size Orange g10) and VZ Grips (prob the Alien ones).
would their be others that would be better or are they GTG?
Any other parts that should be upgraded while I'm at it?
Thanks for the help!

I bought my grips from Amazon. They have G10 grips that are similar to VZ.

I have not changed my sights yet since it seems like a bear to replace them.

I acquired the 3 spring kit from Cajun Gunworks, as well as a stainless steel guide rod, making it feel close to my Factory Shadow 2.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
I bought my grips from Amazon. They have G10 grips that are similar to VZ.

I have not changed my sights yet since it seems like a bear to replace them.

I acquired the 3 spring kit from Cajun Gunworks, as well as a stainless steel guide rod, making it feel close to my Factory Shadow 2.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Which 3 spring kit? and I was wondering about the steel guide rod.
 
Steel guide rod is up to you, I havent put one in any of mine.
The spring kit is almost a no brainer if you dont want to go full blown def carry or pro packages. Its a great little mod for very little money.

https://cajungunworks.com/product/spgk1-3-piece-spring-kit-2/

The sights are not any trouble to replace at all if you have a pusher. Style of sight is just a matter of preference, but they do need replaced. The factory sights are, umm, lacking lol.

I have VZ diamondbacks on one of mine and they feel like sandpaper when I wear it next to bare skin. Unsure how those aliens will be. Most of the others of mine have cool hand grips and a couple have thin aluminum grips.
Most all the bigger manufacturers are gtg.
 
The Guide Rod adds a touch of weight. I think it’s great for follow up shots.

10 yards from holster, controlled pair.
b4521c768678029208cd8209ac427e26.png


The spring kit linked above is what I installed in my 3 CZ 75 pistols. I don’t need any more than the items I listed.

aa4f322cb1295171a2f64b23423354c2.png
1de51b819e7f7453b69bdc9383c602da.png



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
I think the SP01 is pretty great as is for the price point. It was my first CZ and the only other one I've owned is a Shadow 2.

G10 grips are nice, Lok has a palm swell similar to the stock grips.

I like a sereated blacked out rear sight and fiber front.

The break is a little squishy, not sure how to fix that. I know people love the Cajun Gun Works stuff....I just couldn't justify not having a gun for 6 weeks and the $$$

Shoot it a lot and enjoy!
 
I know people love the Cajun Gun Works stuff....I just couldn't justify not having a gun for 6 weeks and the $$$

Shoot it a lot and enjoy!

It's not that bad to do it yourself and save a bundle. First time took me a few hours, now I can do it in less than an hour if the hammer pins cooperate. They're my kryptonite lol
 
I think the SP01 is pretty great as is for the price point. It was my first CZ and the only other one I've owned is a Shadow 2.

G10 grips are nice, Lok has a palm swell similar to the stock grips.

I like a sereated blacked out rear sight and fiber front.

The break is a little squishy, not sure how to fix that. I know people love the Cajun Gun Works stuff....I just couldn't justify not having a gun for 6 weeks and the $$$

Shoot it a lot and enjoy!
No way am I sending it to them for six weeks. I have a local gunsmith who I might need to put the sights on since I don't have a pusher and he can put the springs on if I can't. I think he charged me 40 when I had my sights put on my shield.
 
Last edited:
No way am I sending it to them for six weeks. I have a local gunsmith who I might need to put the sights on since I don't have a pusher and he can put the springs on if I can't. I think he charged me 40 when I had my sights put on my shield.

Caught ebay when they had one of their 20% off everything flash sale and picked up this pusher for right at $40. Now I do all my own sights. Its a Vism by ncstar.


20180619_083733.jpg

As far as doing the springs yourself, if you have a hammer and a couple of punches, you can do it. Its actually really easy, but people talk themselves into it being harder than it is. I was one of those at one point, too lol.
There's a youtube video series by a feller called shootingleft showing how to install a cgw pro package. You wont need to disassemble to that level, but it will show you how to do your springs. And sights, if you ever decide to get a pusher lol.
 
+1 on the LOK grips. Excellent folks to do business with, good selection for different tastes, and great quality fit and finish.

I would at least swap out the hammer spring. Not sure why you would go with the steel guide rod (other than perceptions mentioned here); I highly recommend just shooting it a LOT and then see how it feels.

I have 3 different 75's, have done minimal mods, and all three have smoothed out nicely in a short time.

If you have money to do it and don't mind turning a $500 pistol into a $1200 pistol, send it off to CGW.

However, if that is really your ideal, you are MUCH better off just buying a Shadow - less expensive than upgrading an SP-01 in the long run.

Good luck and enjoy!
 
Caught ebay when they had one of their 20% off everything flash sale and picked up this pusher for right at $40. Now I do all my own sights. Its a Vism by ncstar.


View attachment 85196

As far as doing the springs yourself, if you have a hammer and a couple of punches, you can do it. Its actually really easy, but people talk themselves into it being harder than it is. I was one of those at one point, too lol.
There's a youtube video series by a feller called shootingleft showing how to install a cgw pro package. You wont need to disassemble to that level, but it will show you how to do your springs. And sights, if you ever decide to get a pusher lol.
That might be a really good idea considering I have 3 guns now with night sights on them and one that looks to be dimming and will need changing soon. How hard is it yo use? I don't want to scratch or break anything while installing sights. YouTube has def made me more confident to try things myself. Even a drop in trigger for a AR had me nervous but with the help of YouTube I got it done in no time. Worse thing that could happen is I can't put the springs in and bring it all to my smith telling them my wife did this of course ..
 
That might be a really good idea considering I have 3 guns now with night sights on them and one that looks to be dimming and will need changing soon. How hard is it yo use? I don't want to scratch or break anything while installing sights. YouTube has def made me more confident to try things myself. Even a drop in trigger for a AR had me nervous but with the help of YouTube I got it done in no time. Worse thing that could happen is I can't put the springs in and bring it all to my smith telling them my wife did this of course ..

I have a universal sight pusher. They’re easy to use. I put felt on the points that contact the frame. They’re worth their weight in gold. I use them for all of my pistols.

I have seen problems with people getting those custom CZs because they get really light trigger pulls.

If you do the three spring kit, you will be shocked. My double Action Trigger is 9 pounds and single action is 3 lbs. but it feels very smooth. Me and my friend do these springs in about 15 minutes.

The front sight is a touch tricky because it interacts with the bushing. The rear sight is pinned which can get tricky but not hard.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
+1 on the LOK grips. Excellent folks to do business with, good selection for different tastes, and great quality fit and finish.

I would at least swap out the hammer spring. Not sure why you would go with the steel guide rod (other than perceptions mentioned here); I highly recommend just shooting it a LOT and then see how it feels.

I have 3 different 75's, have done minimal mods, and all three have smoothed out nicely in a short time.

If you have money to do it and don't mind turning a $500 pistol into a $1200 pistol, send it off to CGW.

However, if that is really your ideal, you are MUCH better off just buying a Shadow - less expensive than upgrading an SP-01 in the long run.

Good luck and enjoy!
I ordered the rod already but might run with original for awhile. Not looking to turn into a $1,200 pistol at all. The springs, rod, sights and grips will prob set me back $180 and with purchase price of $525 will have $705 into gun. Maybe a shadow will be in my future though ;)
 
That might be a really good idea considering I have 3 guns now with night sights on them and one that looks to be dimming and will need changing soon. How hard is it yo use? I don't want to scratch or break anything while installing sights. YouTube has def made me more confident to try things myself. Even a drop in trigger for a AR had me nervous but with the help of YouTube I got it done in no time. Worse thing that could happen is I can't put the springs in and bring it all to my smith telling them my wife did this of course ..


Its super simple. Set height with bottom screw plate, use top and side clamps to hold in place, twist the pusher to remove. Take slide out, start rear into groove, tap in with hammer/nylon tipped punch a little bit to make sure its straight and not cockeyed, put back in pusher.
It comes with flat and angled rubber pads for the side clamps. Widen the pic out, you can see them and the dovetail they slide in.
Hardest part is putting the slide in, taking out for a test shot, putting slide back in pusher for adjustment if needed, etc. Most sight manufacturers, at least the reputable ones, are obsessed with symmetry, so I have a really small metal ruler in millimeters I use to center up the sights in the dovetail. This puts me dead on in most cases.
 
Last edited:
Curious what type of problems you've seen? What should I be looking out for with mine?

My CZ Custom has about a 3.6 lb SA pull. No issues. My guess would people that request a very low pull weight for competition may have a leanting curve. Mine is for carry so it is fine where it is. I wouldn't want it any lower. CZ Custom won't make it too low unless it is requested.
 
A few weeks (Maybe more) back I bought my first CZ (75 SP-01 from a member on here. Have taken it to the range a few times and now understand why most love theirs. I am interested in changing a few things on her and wanted to get peoples thoughts before I go and waste money on items that may not be very good.
1st thing I was going to buy is Dawson Precision fiber optic sights from Cajun Gun works.
2nd thing is new grips. I was looking at ones from Cajun Gun Works (full size Orange g10) and VZ Grips (prob the Alien ones).
would their be others that would be better or are they GTG?
Any other parts that should be upgraded while I'm at it?
Thanks for the help!

That's a heavy gun so a steel guide rod probably isn't needed, but won't hurt. Unless you carry that gun everyday then your back may get sore.

Depending what your planned use for the gun is a CGW package and the sights and grips you prefer is all it really needs. I find the stock CZ SA pull fine after a few hundred rounds, but the DA can be pretty tough. That's where the CGW parts really shine. My CZ Custom Protek has about a 8.5 lb smooth DA. I enjoy the heck out of shooting it in DA. My new P07 has a DA off the scale. If I had to guess it is over 12 lbs. I'm going to just shoot the snot out of that one for a while and see where it settles in. Maybe someday I'll upgrade the springs and parts.

Another point made to me by a knowledgeable CZ guy is that one key to the trigger pull is the hammer and how the hooks fit. Upgrading the hammer is important IF you are trying to really perfect it. I'd suggest calling CGW. And speaking to the owner, David IIRC. They are known for being pretty good and honest. Tell them what you want to accomplish and they'll guide you in parts selection. They have some good looking sights too.

Enjoy.
 
Curious what type of problems you've seen? What should I be looking out for with mine?

My friend had problems with failure to eject and extract. She does USPSA and IDPA, and shoots a ton. But it was a new pistol less than a month old.

Now she is not all that technical so she can’t explain to me what exactly was wrong. We told her to send the thing back to the factory.

With my simple mods I haven’t had any issues. Again, I didn’t replace my firing pin, trigger assembly, use very light recoil springs, or other stuff done at the custom shop.

Another competitor was having failure to feed and eject at a match.

My thought is that tighter tolerances can make a gun less reliable, even though they may be easier to shoot and are more accurate. I’ve see 1911s and 2011s fail at matches, too. Never saw a Glock fail at a match, though.

Those things made me so nervous about my CZs that I brought a spare pistol just in case mine failed.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

However mine did not.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
My friend had problems with failure to eject and extract. She does USPSA and IDPA, and shoots a ton. But it was a new pistol less than a month old.

.......

Another competitor was having failure to feed and eject at a match.

Thank you
 
I had a problem with the trigger hurting my finger after only a few rounds. I got a new trigger from CZ in case I screwed up the old one and went to work on the old one with some files. It is much more comfortable now. I have heard that there are some replacement triggers that are much easier on the finger but am so far satisfied with my DIY fix.
 
My CZs are tuned about as much as you can and been the most reliable guns I’ve ever used.
Seen all guns fail at matches including Glocks.


With DA pull, the most common thing can be getting light hammer springs to touch off all primers, especially hard ones. This can be made worse by reloads with high primers.

Thanks, Gonna check them out since I still am not sure which I want. Just ordered the stainless steel guide rod, 3 spring kit and fiber optic sights all from Cajun Gun Works.

I think this is all you need man. The CZs are over sprung quite a bit from factory. Just put new ones in and sit around (no loaded mags in room) and just pull that DA trigger a couple thousand times and it will all break in nicely. Use it as an opportunity to focus and track front sight through trigger pull. You’ll get used the the DA and it will make your trigger press better, imo.

I’ve used the CGW ezdrift sights and I think they are my favorite sights ever. Big notch and slimmer blade.
 
My CZs are tuned about as much as you can and been the most reliable guns I’ve ever used.
Seen all guns fail at matches including Glocks.


With DA pull, the most common thing can be getting light hammer springs to touch off all primers, especially hard ones. This can be made worse by reloads with high primers.



I think this is all you need man. The CZs are over sprung quite a bit from factory. Just put new ones in and sit around (no loaded mags in room) and just pull that DA trigger a couple thousand times and it will all break in nicely. Use it as an opportunity to focus and track front sight through trigger pull. You’ll get used the the DA and it will make your trigger press better, imo.

I’ve used the CGW ezdrift sights and I think they are my favorite sights ever. Big notch and slimmer blade.

Yep. CGW used to have a statement somewhere on their site that their Pro Package may not set off all primers, but their Defensive Carry Package would. Not sure if they still distinguish them that way.
 
Yep. CGW used to have a statement somewhere on their site that their Pro Package may not set off all primers, but their Defensive Carry Package would. Not sure if they still distinguish them that way.

Indeed. Glocks actually suffer the same problems in competition, as people chase that light pull and ise lighter striker springs etc.
Many competition guns, including striker, DA/SA, and DA revos can only use well seated Federal primers and won’t really set off anything else.
 
Back
Top Bottom