(This is a cross-post from GD.)

OP-

The first handgun I ever bought was my CZ 85B. In the time since, I've had Berettas, Glocks, S&Ws (M&Ps and old style autos), Rugers, a Sig, and probably something else I've forgotten about, but my CZ 85B has been, without question, my favorite semiauto pistol to shoot.

It's also been extremely reliable. Years of use, dozens of range trips, and who the hell knows how many rounds, and before today, the only malfunction it's ever had was a failure to eject from a round of Winchester White Box. The recoil was so light I cleared my gun and made sure the projectile cleared my barrel. I was sure it was a squib.

It's a great gun, but there are a couple areas with plenty of room for improvement. One is sights, which I've bought but not installed, and the other is the trigger. Out of the box, most CZ triggers are just "okay." They're good if you're shooting at speed, but if you slow down, you'll find some grit, creep, and camming as the sear drags across the hammer.

So, a few years ago (2010 or 2011?) I sent it off to CZ Custom. I ordered their adjustable flat SAO trigger, competition hammer, and trigger job. They emailed me a waiver and suggested that I have them delete the firing pin block to make the most of the new parts. At the time, this CZ was my only practical pistol, so I declined.

Here's an old photo I took sometime after I got it back-


In that state, the trigger had a good clean break somewhere around 3lbs. The not so good part was that the trigger still had a fairly long reset and pre-travel. It was also still completely reliable.

I knew the next step was to buy a spacer, get that firing pin block out, and re-adjust the trigger. I just never got around to it until last week.

Once I had that done, I was astonished by the results. The difference was significant. The reset was MUCH shorter, and I was able to adjust all but maybe 1-2mm of pre-travel out of the trigger. If this isn't the best trigger I've ever felt in a semiauto pistol, it's pretty damn close. It's somewhat like having a nice bolt action rifle trigger in a semiauto pistol. I'm pretty sure I heard a chorus of angels singing when I first function tested it. It's simply amazing.

This is the pistol as it sits today-


Note the position of the trigger in comparison to the older photo above.

What went wrong? Today, I took it to the range for some quality time shooting on paper. It's been a while since I've done that with any regularity (I've been shooting plates), and it shows. I need to get back to fundamentals, but that's another story. Anyways, over the course of fire, the pistol cycled perfectly.  The problem was that several times, it failed to reset. There were a few times I was able to pick a spot on the berm and tap the trigger a few times until it broke loose and fired. But there were also two times that I needed to rack the slide to get it to reset.

I can't replicate the problem with dry-firing. It only happens when firing live ammo. I'm hoping I can fix it by backing off the pre-travel adjustment a hair or so, but I won't be able to verify it works until the next range trip. I hope I didn't screw with something else while I was in there.

This sucks.

1st Update-

Round Two:

After my previous experience, I relaxed the pre-travel just a little bit. Today, I took it back to the range. I made it through the first box of ammo with no issues, and was excellent to shoot. On the first mag into the second box, I started to experience a bunch of failures to reset again. In most cases, slapping the bottom of the mag well was enough to knock it loose. With one round, even cycling the slide didn't quite get it. I had to play with it to get it to reset.

My theory at this point is that the tolerances are still set too tight. In burning through that first box, I'm guessing that either thermal expansion, carbon/sediment, or both interfered with the FCG. I'm hoping that relaxing the pre-travel just a little more will fix it as I have no other ideas.

Link to original thread- http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1778113_.html

As I said in that 1st update, I'm still somewhat banking on opening up the pre-travel a bit to loosen the tolerances, but I'm wondering if there's something else I should be looking for, and this is the place to ask. Thoughts?

Call Cajun Gunworks and ask them about it.
From what i have read, they will be glad to help.

You can trim the sear leg a bit, but right now you don't have enough pre-travel dialed in...

I bet both you guys just need to adjust pre or over travel screws some and see if it fixes the issue.

Maynard, your over travel probably needs to be backed off a good bit if the hammer won't even drop reliably.

In my case, the issue is the pre-travel screw.

I opened up the pre-travel a little bit after my last range trip. Yesterday, I made it about 30 rounds before I had any sort of issue. That seemed to reinforce my thermal expansion theory, but playing with it today, there's almost no forward travel after the reset. At this point, I'm fairly confident that the screw moved.

I'm thinking the next step is to probably let the pre-travel way out just to see if it proves reliable again. If that works, I'll need to figure out a way to get it to stop moving. It's a pretty small and difficult to reach screw, so I'm not sure how comfortable I am with removing it entirely or applying Loctite.

this same issue has me thinking about going back to the standard trigger

I just got back from yet another range trip. I really underestimated just how much that pre-travel adjustment screw was moving.

Before going out, I opened up the pre-travel pretty much all the way. The trigger was well forward of the trigger's reset or break.

At the range today, I basically just pumped holes into paper at 10 yds just to see how it would run. I deliberately got the gun hotter than I'd get it in a normal range session, just in case that was a variable. Around 80 rounds in, the FCG failed to reset. I inspected the pistol, and the pre-travel adjustment screw had come far enough out the front of the trigger to put the trigger's resting state at the reset.

I guess the next step is figuring out the best way to keep that screw from moving.

I have the same trigger and set up.  I used Loctite on the screws.  After many k's of rounds still no issues.


Every time my eye wonders I just shoot my pimped out SP01.  Nothing like it.  

Which type of Loctite did you use?

How did you apply it? Did you completely remove the screw, or did you back it out and apply it in place?

Have you tried to turn the screw since then?

I used the blue Loctite, covered all the threads.  Completely removed the screw and screwed it on.  I have not tried to unscrew them, but from previous experience they will be hard to take off.  Lot of surface area on the threads compared to the tiny screw.

http://www.amazon.com/Vibra-TITE-VC-3-Threadmate/dp/B008D6GHY6

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Ok, just swapped out triggers on my cz 75 SA, same thing is happening to me in dry fire. If I rack the slide trigger fails to reset, but cocking the hammer sets it back OK.

For those who have fixed this issue, how far back are you threading the over travel screw?

I think I've got this thing ironed out.

A week or so ago, I adjusted the pretravel leaving a decent margin. I left the screw in place, and I used a toothpick to apply a little bit of blue Loctite to each end.

Today, I got a chance to take it out to the range. I fired 100 rounds without any issues or signs of movement. As far as I can tell, the pretravel is exactly as last set it.

I'm really hoping this hold out. This thing is AWESOME.