UPDATE Nov 23 GREAT DEALER SUPPORT - CZ 858 First(and last?) day at the range

Ike

Ike

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Hi all,

Like a good gunnut I jumped onto the CZ wagon and bought one of the new batches of this rifle (actually I had been thinking about it for a few years and finally decided to take the plunge), however I have to say my expereince so far has been less than stellar....

But this is not a ##### thread, I would like to get some useful information if I can.

The gun came with one bad mag which the dealer said they will remedy. It also had a bend in the buttstock which I can live with, but the bad prat was that the first time out I had 4 gremlin failures in 80 rounds just now I am back from the range after having 10 failures in 75 rounds!!:mad: Never mind that accuracy was worse than my cheap chinese SKS. :(

So rather than just complaining I want to find out from you folks , hust how prevalent is the gremlin? i.e How often does it bite? IMO 10 out of 75 is unacceptable and I am not interested in keeping this particular rifle, but I am curious as to how often it plagues everyone else. is this common or am I just unlucky? What route would you take if it was your new gun?

I'll follow up with the dealer, (from all on the board is great to deal with) but wanted to check in with you lot first. I really like these and would be tickled pink if it was reliable.

Thanks and Cheers:D
 
Last edited:
Ike said:
Hi all,

Like a good gunnut I jumped onto the CZ wagon and bought one of the new batches of this rifle (actually I had been thinking about it for a few years and finally decided to take the plunge), however I have to say my expereince so far has been less than stellar....

But this is not a ##### thread, I would like to get some useful information if I can.

The gun came with one bad mag which the dealer said they will remedy. It also had a bend in the buttstock which I can live with, but the bad prat was that the first time out I had 4 gremlin failures in 80 rounds just now I am back from the range after having 10 failures in 75 rounds!!:mad: Never mind that accuracy was worse than my cheap chinese SKS. :(

So rather than just complaining I want to find out from you folks , hust how prevalent is the gremlin? i.e How often does it bite? IMO 10 out of 75 is unacceptable and I am not interested in keeping this particular rifle, but I am curious as to how often it plagues everyone else. is this common or am I just unlucky?

I'll follow up with the dealer, (from what I hear on the board will do me right) but wanted to check in wioth you lot first.

Thanks and Cheers

I realy like these.
Click to expand...

Several crates from a VZ58, Abused a lot ( Snow, MUD, Being Cleaned ) never had a problem. I hear soo much bad things about the 858 and made me realized, I made the right choice buying the VZ58.
 
From what I can gather on this forum, you were just unlucky. In your shoes, I'd return it for one that works!! FWIW, I've never had any issues with the Gremlin, but mine did catch a lot of brass early on. I took it back, and they opened up the gas port a fraction. That helped. The running fit of the moving parts was also quite tight, so "shooting it in" really helped too. End result was a really fun piece of hardware. If you can get a replacement for your lemon, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 
That's odd, I bought mine used and put about 200 rounds through it without problems. The accuracy is much better than my norc sks.
 
Hey Ike I know what it feels like to have your new gun fail you at the range. What I can do for you is I will fix the gremlin problem for you no charge what so ever just pay shipping both ways.
 
Actually, I went a different way in the "gremlin" cure. If you look carefully at the spring for the sear, it used to be twice the spring it is now. I simply added a coil spring under the leaf spring and I have not had the gremlin return in several hundred rounds.

I do not believe the problem lies with the carrier, I think it lies with the weak sear spring not holding the sear up hard enough therefore when the carrier go forward and the sear is supposed to catch the striker, it does not. I lets the striker follow the carrier forward.

I have done this simple mod of a couple of 858's now and the same result. Although you increase the trigger pull somewhat, it never gets the gremlin again.

Scott
 
the spring is just the way it is supposed to be only missing the other leaf for the auto sear it is not weaker than a "normal" one. interesting fix tho whatever works i guess
 
I hate to burts your buble but the problem has to deal with the sear that re engages the trigger. Most of the sears where filed down to much and after some wear and tear the bolt carrier does not reset it. Thats y the xtra tab has to be added. I have done this to many guns and no Gremlin has ever came back.
 
Sorry to hear you're having issues, my cz858-2 is sweet. Accurate, no failures, a peach. There's always lemons out there, don't go sour because of one bad gun. Return it if you can, take up an offer by one of these fellas to fix it if you cant.
 
Ike,
Are you certain that what you are experiencing is the "gremlin"? I had a problem with my CZ initially. I thought that I had the "gremlin". After I have read what people described in the posts, I realized that my problem was something different. I had two things happening. One was failure to fire, but it turned out to be due to ammo. Chopper1 looked at my ammo at the range and he found that the primers were set in too deep. The other problem was failure to feed once in a while, actually quite often. Again, Chopper1 to the rescue. He put some CLP inside and it was feeding perfectly. Actually, it even stopped FTF's. I guess what I am trying to say is, before doing any modifications to the gun, maybe try to play with different ammo, different lubrication, or give it some time to break in. But I could be completely wrong and you do have the "gremlin".
 
shogun said:
Ike,
Are you certain that what you are experiencing is the "gremlin"? I had a problem with my CZ initially. I thought that I had the "gremlin". After I have read what people described in the posts, I realized that my problem was something different. I had two things happening. One was failure to fire, but it turned out to be due to ammo. Chopper1 looked at my ammo at the range and he found that the primers were set in too deep. The other problem was failure to feed once in a while, actually quite often. Again, Chopper1 to the rescue. He put some CLP inside and it was feeding perfectly. Actually, it even stopped FTF's. I guess what I am trying to say is, before doing any modifications to the gun, maybe try to play with different ammo, different lubrication, or give it some time to break in. But I could be completely wrong and you do have the "gremlin".
Click to expand...

Hi Shogun,
It appears to be the gremlin described in the FAQ posts. The trigger effectively does not reset as the striker follows the bolt on closing. I did the disassembled dry test test and it all seems fine until I am firing, it has happened in both kneeling and front hand rested positions. There is a light primer strike and the round fires on the second try. I will strip it down, clean it all out again and try some more ammo just to be sure.

The ammo is good and I have fired at least half of the crate in two SKSs without a single bad round. The gun cycles and functions perfectly well other than that.
It would be nice if it was just a 'break in issue'
Cheers
 
Yep...they only thing that works...truly works is a tabbed bolt carrier. It's not that the bolt carrier is faulty but by adding that tab, it retards the timing on the lug pressing action performed by the bolt.

It is a very simple fix and it will completely eliminate the gremlin reliably. Some other methods my work (at least for a while) too but only with the tabbed carrier can you be 100% sure that it will never return.

Otherwise, it is a great rifle. It is not meant for long distance sniping though, so don't expect that from it. Mine puts all rounds (Czech milsurp) inside a silhouette at 300 yards, with iron sights. What more can you ask from it?
 
I have a cz and never had any problem with it. They are truly great gun so maybe you can consider returning it for a replacement if you dont want spend time to fix it. Faulty new gun happen sometime and you may have been unlucky with this one.
 
No gremlin in my 858 after about 1000 rounds.

I knew about the gremlin before I bought it and was prepared to deal with it.

My SKS literally blew apart recently, luckily no one was hurt. So my only red rifle is my 858. I had the SKS for a long time and put a lot of ammo through it.
 
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