Well it arrived, having traveled across Canada via Canada Post and arriving four days earlier than projected by the post office.
I opening the wine coloured gun case to find:
First the Manual. Well if you have never handled a gun before, a good read explaining how to load the gun, a brief description of the safety and how it works, followed by how to load and unload the gun along with disassembly instructions. There are two pages of warnings with tips on how to be a safe shooter. Good so far. There is a very short 6 step process on how to clean a gun and then an outline of the warranty. I liked the part about returning the gun to Italy for repairs. Nice but I think I might be calling Freedom Arms BEFORE I considered my 86th option and that would be returning the gun to Italy.
Now to the gun itself. The gun kind of reminded me of the day I picked up my Lab pup in Kelowna. Love at first sight. Externally it looked a lot like my CZ 85, with a long nose. The gun is longer than my CZ 85 and weighs more. External finish is deep mat black. A no nonsense colour befitting the gun. External markings on the left frame indicate it is a Tanfoglio made in Italy. On the right side of the frame is an etched message “Read warnings before using gun”. I assume this bit of scripture refers to the previously mentioned “Warnings” in the gun’s manual. I suspect the gun will be around longer than the manual so the purpose of this statement is lost on me but obviously somebody in Italy felt they just had to engrave the message, no doubt the author of the “Warnings”. The Serial number is located on the frame just forward of the trigger guard , while above this on the slide is 9X19 . I should make it clear none of these markings are obvious and Tanfoglio has done a nice job marking the gun while avoiding a neon effect. You have to look for the markings from two feet, a nice feature.
The gun maybe a clone of the CZ but it is no identical twin. Externally one notices a full length guide rod ala 1911 – liking this gun already. The slide stop lever and safety are substantially beefier than my CZ. The operating ledge on both makes access much easier and faster. In looking at the safety lever my thoughts ran to my 1911’s and wished for the same meaty ledge. On/Off safety is crisp easy and fast. Thanks Tanfoglio!
The sights are adjustable and I ordered mine with the FO front sight. The sight picture is clear with the rear sight giving enough space around the front sight to frame what appears to be a big red dot. Picking up the front sight is a breeze, a real aid to action shooting for me. I should also add the rear sight is melded into the slide and is quite unobtrusive. The sighting plane is a tad longer that my CZ which in theory should assist my scoring.
Stripping the gun was standard CZ. Line up two dots as opposed to two lines on my CZ and with some difficulty the slide stop is removed right to left and the slide then is easily removed. This gun is tight! I should also mention that I was struck by the fact the slide rail channels run the length of the slide, a nice feature I think. Internally like the external finish there are no tale tell tool marks and aside from some minor differences on small parts the gun is all CZ inside the frame – remember I am no gunsmith so what looks the same to me might in fact be different to a skilled craftsman.
The full length guide rod is a departure from my CZ . The barrel is a smidge over 4 ¾ “ long (121 mm) not 5” like the Freedom Arms site says. No matter it is longer than my CZ 85..
Well next it was off to the range and I am pleased to report the first 172 rounds consisting of Winchester 147 gr FMJ, and my reloads capped with 125 gr Montana Gold bullets and Lyman 356402 boolits. The gun functioned flawlessly with all variations. Virtually no recoil was noted and double taps were fast with quick recovery. Thought at the time was, “boy this is a kick backside type of a gun”.
Out of the box the gun shot to the right but after a couple of turns to the rear sight and all rounds, from a rest, were going in at less than an inch at 10 yards and just over an inch at 15 yards. At 61 my eyes aren’t the best so that is where my testing ends. I can and did keep everything within 4” at 25 yards but that is me not the gun –“ a man has to know his limitations” as Clint would say. I will likely get one of the young turks in the local RCMP here do some fine tuning with the sights.
I intend to make up several loadings using plated bullets and lead boolits to find “the” load for this gun. Much to early to say and I want at least 500 rounds down range before I get into accuracy tests.
Some notes I did make. The gun will use CZ Mags. I have a Pre-B CZ 85 made in 1988 and the factory mag for it would not lock the slide back on the Tan. The newer mags for the B series worked fine with no problems. The Tanfoglio mags will not fit into the mag well of my Pre B CZ but I am sure they would fit the “B” series. This is a problem with the older CZ’s and not the Tanfoglio.
Trigger pull in D/A is HEAVY and hopefully over time will lesson somewhat. The pull has some take up with a rising resistance until break point. S/A is a different matter with a light crisp pull with an equally crisp break. Again it is much to early to comment until the gun is properly broken in but I suspect a trigger job in time might be in order at some point.. Time will tell, until then I am practicing shooting D/A for IPSC Production and IDPA. If we could carry the gun would go into the holster cocked and locked ala 1911. But then again that is what the CZ 85 is for.
Clean up was relatively easy. Hoppes #9 got rid of the powder/lube residue and a few passes with my Chor Boy wrapped wire brush cleaned up what little leading there was and remaining copper fouling. Clean barrels make for accurate barrels. FP 10 on the rails, pinch of Mil-Tec where the slide runs over the hammer and a rub down with Burke’s Gun Oil and “Tanny” and I are ready for the range tomorrow.
Must remember to order a couple of mags from Sean and also place an order for the mag bumpers.
Only complaint about the whole kit is the brushes that come with the gun. Neither is long enough to run through the barrel and one trip with the wire brush and half of it is reversed and matted. Tanfoglio should either make them longer or don’t send them at all. I would not have missed them but on the other hand if they are to come they might as well fit the barrel. Oh and there was no gun lock with this pistol. Ummm, for $1,100 bucks ($910 GST+FO sights+ Shipping) the gun should come with a gun lock.
Take Care
I opening the wine coloured gun case to find:
First the Manual. Well if you have never handled a gun before, a good read explaining how to load the gun, a brief description of the safety and how it works, followed by how to load and unload the gun along with disassembly instructions. There are two pages of warnings with tips on how to be a safe shooter. Good so far. There is a very short 6 step process on how to clean a gun and then an outline of the warranty. I liked the part about returning the gun to Italy for repairs. Nice but I think I might be calling Freedom Arms BEFORE I considered my 86th option and that would be returning the gun to Italy.
Now to the gun itself. The gun kind of reminded me of the day I picked up my Lab pup in Kelowna. Love at first sight. Externally it looked a lot like my CZ 85, with a long nose. The gun is longer than my CZ 85 and weighs more. External finish is deep mat black. A no nonsense colour befitting the gun. External markings on the left frame indicate it is a Tanfoglio made in Italy. On the right side of the frame is an etched message “Read warnings before using gun”. I assume this bit of scripture refers to the previously mentioned “Warnings” in the gun’s manual. I suspect the gun will be around longer than the manual so the purpose of this statement is lost on me but obviously somebody in Italy felt they just had to engrave the message, no doubt the author of the “Warnings”. The Serial number is located on the frame just forward of the trigger guard , while above this on the slide is 9X19 . I should make it clear none of these markings are obvious and Tanfoglio has done a nice job marking the gun while avoiding a neon effect. You have to look for the markings from two feet, a nice feature.
The gun maybe a clone of the CZ but it is no identical twin. Externally one notices a full length guide rod ala 1911 – liking this gun already. The slide stop lever and safety are substantially beefier than my CZ. The operating ledge on both makes access much easier and faster. In looking at the safety lever my thoughts ran to my 1911’s and wished for the same meaty ledge. On/Off safety is crisp easy and fast. Thanks Tanfoglio!
The sights are adjustable and I ordered mine with the FO front sight. The sight picture is clear with the rear sight giving enough space around the front sight to frame what appears to be a big red dot. Picking up the front sight is a breeze, a real aid to action shooting for me. I should also add the rear sight is melded into the slide and is quite unobtrusive. The sighting plane is a tad longer that my CZ which in theory should assist my scoring.
Stripping the gun was standard CZ. Line up two dots as opposed to two lines on my CZ and with some difficulty the slide stop is removed right to left and the slide then is easily removed. This gun is tight! I should also mention that I was struck by the fact the slide rail channels run the length of the slide, a nice feature I think. Internally like the external finish there are no tale tell tool marks and aside from some minor differences on small parts the gun is all CZ inside the frame – remember I am no gunsmith so what looks the same to me might in fact be different to a skilled craftsman.
The full length guide rod is a departure from my CZ . The barrel is a smidge over 4 ¾ “ long (121 mm) not 5” like the Freedom Arms site says. No matter it is longer than my CZ 85..
Well next it was off to the range and I am pleased to report the first 172 rounds consisting of Winchester 147 gr FMJ, and my reloads capped with 125 gr Montana Gold bullets and Lyman 356402 boolits. The gun functioned flawlessly with all variations. Virtually no recoil was noted and double taps were fast with quick recovery. Thought at the time was, “boy this is a kick backside type of a gun”.
Out of the box the gun shot to the right but after a couple of turns to the rear sight and all rounds, from a rest, were going in at less than an inch at 10 yards and just over an inch at 15 yards. At 61 my eyes aren’t the best so that is where my testing ends. I can and did keep everything within 4” at 25 yards but that is me not the gun –“ a man has to know his limitations” as Clint would say. I will likely get one of the young turks in the local RCMP here do some fine tuning with the sights.
I intend to make up several loadings using plated bullets and lead boolits to find “the” load for this gun. Much to early to say and I want at least 500 rounds down range before I get into accuracy tests.
Some notes I did make. The gun will use CZ Mags. I have a Pre-B CZ 85 made in 1988 and the factory mag for it would not lock the slide back on the Tan. The newer mags for the B series worked fine with no problems. The Tanfoglio mags will not fit into the mag well of my Pre B CZ but I am sure they would fit the “B” series. This is a problem with the older CZ’s and not the Tanfoglio.
Trigger pull in D/A is HEAVY and hopefully over time will lesson somewhat. The pull has some take up with a rising resistance until break point. S/A is a different matter with a light crisp pull with an equally crisp break. Again it is much to early to comment until the gun is properly broken in but I suspect a trigger job in time might be in order at some point.. Time will tell, until then I am practicing shooting D/A for IPSC Production and IDPA. If we could carry the gun would go into the holster cocked and locked ala 1911. But then again that is what the CZ 85 is for.
Clean up was relatively easy. Hoppes #9 got rid of the powder/lube residue and a few passes with my Chor Boy wrapped wire brush cleaned up what little leading there was and remaining copper fouling. Clean barrels make for accurate barrels. FP 10 on the rails, pinch of Mil-Tec where the slide runs over the hammer and a rub down with Burke’s Gun Oil and “Tanny” and I are ready for the range tomorrow.
Must remember to order a couple of mags from Sean and also place an order for the mag bumpers.
Only complaint about the whole kit is the brushes that come with the gun. Neither is long enough to run through the barrel and one trip with the wire brush and half of it is reversed and matted. Tanfoglio should either make them longer or don’t send them at all. I would not have missed them but on the other hand if they are to come they might as well fit the barrel. Oh and there was no gun lock with this pistol. Ummm, for $1,100 bucks ($910 GST+FO sights+ Shipping) the gun should come with a gun lock.
Take Care
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