CZ Shadow mag tuning

Snowboy

Snowboy

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St-Hubert, QC
Hi Guys

Does someone has any tricks to make my mags more reliable ?

I adjusted the lips and cleaned them but have lots of FTF/FTE on 2 of my mags, the others are working well but when I look at them I cannot see any difference between the working ones and the bad ones, they're all about 1½ year old/2k rounds each

the springs look the same tension of all of them (I don't mix parts from one to another)

thanks

Snowboy
 
if I remember correctly,...+5% mag springs for tanfoglio are equal to +10% mag springs for CZ from Wolff springs....FYI.
 
How heavy is your recoil spring? Don't use anything less then 11lb.
With the heavier springs in your mags you may need either really polished mags or heavier recoil spring. The way I tested it at the range, insert the loaded mag and then rack slide back and let it go. Repeat 10 times and see if spring is enough to push the round down to the chamber. Also check that rounds are not being scratched by the magazine lips.

BTW, with the heavier spring mag lips will be spreading quicker, so you may want to consider getting Tanfoglio mags, they are much better.
 
Tanfo mags need a thicker baseplate installed in them to work properly in a CZ. Otherwise you beat up the mag catch hole in the mag by being able to over insert the mag during a slide lock reload.
 
You will drive yourself mad trying to fix those problems, if you're unlucky enough to get one of those guns. Just forget about CZ mags, get Tanfoglio, and live problem-free.

Anything which anyone is likely to give you, advice wise, here, I tried, with those of my CZs which were giving me extract and/or load failures, from time to time (of course always in the most annoying moments, mostly in matches :) )... I tried anything and everything anyone suggested (weaker springs, strong springs (mag, extractor, and recoil), I tried polishing various parts, in the mags and in the gun, etc, etc, etc). NOTHING was able to get it to function 100%. So I sold it - I had two others, and I was using Tanfoglio mags at that point anyway... So, save yourself the grief...
 
11# recoil spring is good enough for +10% mag springs. I used those +10s at a match last Sun and had zero problems while I'd have an ocasional stovepipe with factory mag springs. Well, I started to pay more attention to extractor's claw being clean too. It seems that the front portion of the factory mag spring gets weaker over 1-2K shot from the mag and front of the follower 'dives'. It binds it inside the mag body and causes FTF as bullet that is being stripped dives too. When extracted, since front of the next round in the mag is lower, it misallignes the angle at what empty case is pulled out and case binds on the extractor claw. Widening the gap a tiny bit and beveling extractor helps too. See similar for 1911s: http://www.m1911.org/technic2.htm
FTE may as well be associated with gummed up extractor claw. The gap is fairly tight and if gummed up from dirty powder, may cause rim to hang on the claw a bit longer and then slide catches the case.

It helps to polish the mag lips so that round gets stripped smoothly. Polishing may need to be done once in awhile as reloaded brass' rim may not be perfectly smooth and thus scratches the lips overtime.
 
One thing about 10% stronger mag springs is that they will make the mag lips go apart faster (usually when you drop the mag). So, you'll have to get to tuning your magazines sooner.

CeeZer said:
11# recoil spring is good enough for +10% mag springs. I used those +10s at a match last Sun and had zero problems while I'd have an ocasional stovepipe with factory mag springs. Well, I started to pay more attention to extractor's claw being clean too. It seems that the front portion of the factory mag spring gets weaker over 1-2K shot from the mag and front of the follower 'dives'. It binds it inside the mag body and causes FTF as bullet that is being stripped dives too. When extracted, since front of the next round in the mag is lower, it misallignes the angle at what empty case is pulled out and case binds on the extractor claw. Widening the gap a tiny bit and beveling extractor helps too. See similar for 1911s: http://www.m1911.org/technic2.htm
FTE may as well be associated with gummed up extractor claw. The gap is fairly tight and if gummed up from dirty powder, may cause rim to hang on the claw a bit longer and then slide catches the case.

It helps to polish the mag lips so that round gets stripped smoothly. Polishing may need to be done once in awhile as reloaded brass' rim may not be perfectly smooth and thus scratches the lips overtime.
Click to expand...
 
Glock_2010 said:
I'd used Aluminum oxide grinding stone comes with the rotary tools.
Click to expand...

And if you do you'd remove WAY too much metal or require such a light and delicate touch that it would be difficult to control.

At most the lips just need to have the edges rounded slightly. You can do this far more easily with either a fine india slip stone or with some hand held 600 grit wetordry paper using some light gun oil as a lube. If you must use a Dremel or other rotary tool then use one of the abrasive rubber tips to just slightly round the sharp edges.
 
Felt and polishing paste from say Home Depot, remember - you are not sanding but polishing, no need for it to be abrasive.
 
Gee, I don't know what to say except I have cycled about 12,000 rounds through six CZ mags. I have not done any polishing or spring changes (mag) and have dropped loaded mags on cement floors. CZ mags have worked fine for me. K-Mag out of South Africa have been good to me also. Some guns seem to operate trouble free, others not.
 
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