So, I got an EVO S3 carbine with the fake can.
My bench impressions weren't all that favorable but not necessarily bad.
First thing is that the trigger pull SUCKS.  The EVO has what has to be the WORST single trigger pull since H and K's VP-70.  This is more like a staple gun than a firearm.  It's hideous.  This is the third EVO I have handled including one pistol and another carbine.  All had utterly terrible triggers.
Next, mags drop free ONLY when YOU lock the bolt and charging handle fully back and up OR if the bolt is in the closed position.  If the gun locks back on an empty mag, the mags do NOT drop free.   This is the case with the factory mag release AND the HB.  This is a design issue with the gun, not the fault of the components so to speak, just the design.  Now, I strip mags on most rifles anyhow....so, not a big deal but you guys should know this if it may or may not affect your decision.
Iron backups are okay...but the ghost rings are very.....VERY ghosty.  The third thcikest aperture seemed to be the best for me.  HOWEVER:  at the range, the gun with IRONS shot 6 inches low at 30 feet.  No biggie, right?  Well, I could only use the little sight tool to move the front sight down ONE single notch and then the whole assembly froze.  I can no longer move the fronts sight down OR up because the detent is too long and does not compress enough to move the sight either way.  Removing the front sight shows that the stem of teh sight post has bottomed out and could not move any further anyhow.
Well....thank GOD i bought a Vortex Spitfire AR the night before I went to the range.  I had it in the bag with me and mounted it after futzing with the sight for ten minutes.  I first thought that the Vortex would be too high once I mounted it....BUT....it turned out to worked REALLLLLLY well.  I love prism sights and the AR model of the spitfire was GREAT!  Mind you, this scope, like other Vortex optics that are affordable is MADE IN CHINA.  I have two of these and I do NOT expect them to last...BUT they seem very well built.  To clarify, I only own these because NO ONE makes a prism sight that I like even remotely....a lot of prism sights suffer from crooked reticles.   Even Leupolds.  The Sig Romeo that I was going to buy was not a prism scope but a projected reticle.  Crooked.  Well, the Vortex just has a Saturn reticle......kinda hard to make circles look crooked.  I am surprised the Chinese have not figured a way to screw up even that, the pride-less bastards.
Anyhow, even leaning over the lane "bench" I had the gun zeroed in under ten rounds.
FIRST: you guys should know that, even fighting the trigger....at such short range, I was putting bullets right int he same hole.  ....and I kept doing it.  These things are ACCURATE at close range.  With the Prism sight from the rest position...it was just too easy.  Leaning over he lane bench and trying to shoot like that for any length of time is just too uncomfortable...so I suffered from a bit of boredom and went to standing fire once I had the Vortex zeroed.
When I chambered the first round....I made the mistake ( why, I do not know ) of lightly riding the bolt home.  So when I went to fire the first round....all I got was a CLICK.  LOL...when I went to eject the round...it stayed in the chamber.  I was sure that I was doomed BUT I let the bolt fly home and then ejected the round successfully.  I didn't make that mistake again.  The next 99 rounds ( plus the ejected, unfired round that I did fire later ) were not only hitch free.....but were the smoothest I have fired out of a 9mm carbine to my recollection.  Only the MP 5, for me, comes close or exceeds it.  This gun runs STONE DEAD COLD RELIABLY.  It is friggen' SMOOOOOOTH.
NEXT: I really thought the fake can would be a hindrance....but it turned out to be an asset!  The fake can is a very effective heat sink and the gun runs fine and actually....due to the barrel length, very moderate noise-wise....nowhere near as aloud as a pistol, which made it fun!!!!

Just so you know, the sling loops that are held by the barrel trunion get MIGHTY DAMN HOT.  Yet the fake can was not bad at all.  I was surprised by that.....not by the sling loops, though.  I could tell that was coming.
The STOCK the stock is best in the extended.....but works just fine short, too, if you are in a hurry.  The stock is held by a magnet in the closed position....there are so many better ways this could have been accomplished...but it's semi serviceable.  Open lock is fine and fairly sturdy.  Cheek weld for open sights was great.  Too bad the sights can't be adjusted for elevation.  Windage adjustment was fine, by the way.  No problems.
The cheek up position for the Spitfire AR was actually great....think of it working more like a heads up sight.  I had no issues with it at all despite my initial  trepidation.
In fact: here are fifty rounds as fast as I could transition and fire with the Spitfire at 30 feet.

This gun RUNS!  Mags are fairly easy to load and the feed ramp on the trunion is generous indeed.  I will try some hollow points next time.  I expect no issues.
With the duckbill mag release by HB industries, mag changes are smooth.  It is really easy to rip out the mags.  I like it!  HOWEVER: at the end of my last string the mag release pin started to walk out.  I am going to try to make a KNS type pin at work tomorrow to fix that.  NOTE:  when you replace the mag release, be careful to position the spring on the trigger pack ledge correctly before installing the pivot pin OR YOU WILL CRUSH THE RELEASE SPRING.
So, once you have this thing set up the way you want....these things ROCK.  They are, despite the trigger, super easy to shoot and very accurate from the standing or benched.  Once I make a KNS pin for the mag release and once I get some GOOD backup irons and maybe the Lage left side folding stock.....I'll be good to go.
At the end of the day, all of the weaknesses are fixable and by and large....this thing has tons of strengths.  It appears that the polymer construction is VERY high quality and durable, the gun is actually surprisingly very easy to wield and it shoulders and shoots like a dream.  You can FEEL the reliability of the feed mechanism.  It is STUPID simple and as reliable as the simplicity.  After one hundred rounds...I fled the range or I would have been there all night.
All in all....I love this thing.

UPDATE FOR ANOTHER 250 ROUNDS  07  28  2016
WHEW!  Another 250 rounds downrange and YUP, I killed the Vortex
Spitfire AR...LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOOL......there's Chinese quality for
you!!!!  I think it was the 124 grain Winchesters that did it in!!! LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!
This is why I run prismatics, as the dead reticle
still worked fine And I just kept on running with it.  Had I a red
dot....I would have had to have used a tool to pull the sight because no
one has a QD for the Spitfire AR...yet.  Due to the fact that most 1X scopes are actually NOT a true 1X, I could not get front sight focus through the sight.  The MBUS DOES, however, co-witness in all other ways.  Honestly, I expected this.  There is not a chinaman on this planet who can make anything worth a damn.  It's a shame the Spitfire optics are not Japanese....I WOULD pay the money as I LOVE the design.  But China is as China does.
Now, the gun.
Accurate as all bloody hell.  I got the trigger pack drilled out ( BUY THE HB BIT, TRUST ME! ) and got thelighter springs in.  Much "better trigger" BUT, I am gonna be honest, it WAS much easier to shoot but a shitty break is a shitty break.  That being said, the HB kit made my life SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier.  Hope and pray for a Geissele for this gun.  This is exactly AK quality as far as trigger pull goes.  Those of you who have AKs will recognize the trigger pack very quickly.
HB AK safety, by the way....totally the way to go.  I am sooo in love with that.  Also, the bolt release is a sweeeeeeeet tool!!!!!
The MBUS sights from Magpul rocked!  I semi co-witnessed the sights at the house ( that non focused front made it dicey ) and just had to put a bit of left windage on them at the range.  In five rounds I was rocking the irons.  Boring!  On went the Vortex....whose illumination started cutting out at about 200 rounds total.
Reliability:  BREAK IN THOSE MAGS.  I used too always take a wooden dowel and compress new mags a few times before running them in a gun.  Now I know why, if you start, as I did, with just 10 or so rounds in the mag, you can run the gun all day at 100 percent if you start with a cleaned and lubed new gun.  Once I put more than 15 in, I started getting failure to fully seat.   NOTE: this gun does not fire out of battery.  VERY handy.  A rack, tilt and fresh chamber got me back in the game.  Now, interestingly, once I had fully loaded the mags a couple of times....back to 100 percent reliability.  Once you have mags broken in, mark them and start on the next few.  
I love this gun....it is sooooo much fun once you have the HB trigger springs in it!  Wellllll worth the very teeny investment.
Also running an HB charging handle......so nice and smoooooth and so much easier to interface with!!!!  LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Really changes the dynamic of the gun, along with that trigger!!!!
Again, though Vortex disappointed in one way.....the fact that I had a dead reticle allowed me to keep shooting......a projected dot would have left me high and dry....except for the fact I brought my tools.
So, big thumbs up for the gang at HB Industries.....goooooood gear and smoooooooth1!!!  Thumbs down for Vortex taking the cheap route and ruining a good design by having it made by people who have NO SENSE OF PRIDE.  Same goes to Burris and Bushnell FOR THEIR CHEAP LINES which will give you the same compromise.
Start with a clean and oiled gun, get the trigger springs replaced, put on the HB AK safety and break in those mags and you are off to the races!!!!
Rounds so Far:  Remington UMC 115 grain FMJ  200
           Winchester 124 grain FMJ  50
             Winchester 115 grain FMJ 100
Next up:  I think I will run some Sellier, some Aguila and maybe of Fiocchi hollow points.
I'll get ahold of Vortex and get a new Spitfire on the way.  Let's see how long it takes me to kill another.  
SO: THE NAME OF TONIGHT'S EXERCISE:  RUN TO FAILURE.
Okay, with about 600 rounds down range; member Walther22lr joined me at the local pistol club for tonight's session.  I am VERY happy to report my sight mods were SPOT ON.  In fact, I only needed to run a bit of windage and I had the perfect close range, six o'clock hold.  From the rest, both Walther and I shot teeny one hole groups.  
Here was a another plus:  I had a funny feeling about the Vortex's OEM battery.  After inspecting it, even though my optic failure was not indicative of the barrter leaving the terminals, I felt taht the chink, oem battery was possibly the problem.  In went a Duracell.  At no time tonight did we have a single issue with the Vortex.  It ran like a champ, needing just a couple of clicks of elevation and we are off to the races.
The first hundred to one hundred and fifty rounds were a mix of Remington, Winchester and Fiocchi 115 grain ammo.  After starting the mags light and then breaking into high round loads everything initially ran like a dream.
I am also happy to report that Hornady American defensive hollow poitns ran like butter.
So, I decided to take a chance and run some Aguila thorugh the CZ.  This is where the chokage began.  I started getting really hard feed ramp hits and bent cartridges.  The Aguila felt ultra weak...so we downloaded the mags....same result.  Then Winchester wouldn't run either.  I'll get some pics of the ammo tomorrow...it was ugly.  
So, at about 750 rounds or so, with NO CLEANING and only a bit more oil before the session the gun started to choke and choke HARD.  Like I said, you will see the pics tomorrow.  Now, the condition of the malf was as follows:
Round chambers but extractor does NOT snap over the rim.




Weapon clicks.  You can FEEL the fact that the chambering cycle is incomplete.




Gun is cleared by rolling the bolt back to the manual lock position and then pulling the mag.




The round is left in the chamber, Your best bet is to tilt the gun and let the round drop through the mag well or out the ejection port.




The round is inspected to make sure there is not a squib condition.   Confirming a fully ejected, bent but whole cartridge; re-insert the mag and reload.
Now, with fully loaded mags that have not been broken in, this can happen with some ammo but goes aways after the mag is cycled a couple of times.
However, after several hundred rounds without cleaning, I feel I may have run the gun to the choke point.
Here is my plan of attack:
Good mags are separate from the session mags we used tonight.
Gun will be deep cleaned AND the feed ramp ( which IS smooth ) is going to get a good polish.  I will inspect the mags to see if there are any hangup points in front of the feed lips.  honestly, they look just fine.
I may pull the extractor and hand cycle the extractor spring so that it can snap over easier.  A few solid compressions should do the trick.  After a full inspection, I will head back to the range next week and bust out some more remington UMC and Green Box, which seems to be the top runners.
After that, then Winchester, and Blazer.  Both of which ran GREAT until after the Aguila issue....  I think that coincidentally the gun just got too dirty to run at that point.
We shall see.
SO:  750 rounds from a cleaned,b rand new gun until I ran into real issues.  Prior to that I had only three rim related and mag spring related issues that cleared up for hundreds of rounds.  The Vortex is back to working great with a new battery and my OEM sight mods worked awesome!  Gun is still as accurate as all get out for close in work.
Initial, cleaned and oiled reliability was fantastic with Remington ammo and got very good with Winchester once the gun was used to it.  After about 750 rounds....the gun starts choking and eating bullets.  Accuracy is great with 115 and 124 grain bullets.  Seems to love hollow points but the gun got too chokey for me to waste any more on that.
More for next week.  I'll post pics of the BOLT, the HAMMER group and the jacked up bullets tomorrow.
 

first thing to do is swap out the trigger and springs. get an extended mag release

though I never have a issue with mags , they jump out when released

I was wondering if mine was one off OR if it is a condition with certain guns...like the soft hammers.





Definitely getting the HB spring kit.....



ETA: just as an experiment....can you do me a favor.  Take your EVO and insert an empy mag.  Pull back the bolt handle and let it auto lock but do not push the handle to the manual lock position.  Hit the mag release.  Does yours drop free in that condition?  Mine does not regardless if I have the factory or the HB unit installed.





 

Yes, mags don't drop free when the BHO engages holding the bolt open. I'm a bit disappointed by this. I found if you kinda rotate the gun quickly on the long axis, you can kinda fling the magazine out.

Haven't shot my fauxpressor carbine yet, but I really like it so far. I slapped a Lucid M7 that I have on it. Inexpensive and OK RDS... but yeah,  the reticle is tilted a bit. It's got a dot with a circle around it, and the circle is interrupted at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, but it's canted a little bit. Would be nicer without the breaks in the circle.

The trigger isn't great, but I still expect the gun can be stupid accurate.

I'll probably get out to the range next weekend... I have a CZ PCR coming in this week, and I want to get trigger time on it, too.

Looking forward to getting mine out of layaway soon

How's your hammer wear?
Can you post a picture of the muzzle threads?

Hammer wear seems to be exactly as it came from the factory...it hasn't advanced yet...BUT....I have only have a hundred rounds downrange.



Looks like this:  ( sorry about the bad pic but you get the drift )







I am surprised it didn't get worse.  I thought that was odd.



The next thing I tackled today was the "walking" mag release pin.  Turned this on the lathe at work then parked and painted it with KG Gunkote PTFE when I got home.  It's the same dimensions as the HB pin or the factory pin BUT I drilled and threaded each end of accept a 3mm X .5 button head screw.  







 One side is red loctite to always stay put, the other is blue.  



Now I don't have to worry about that roll pin walking.....and trust me...it walked.  'Bout came all the way out!!!!  No more of that!!!!







So, just think KNS pin...that is useful!!!!  Worked like a charm!!!!



Now....I gotta run and get some Magpul BUIS sights because the factory front on this thing ain't coming apart.    So, the only fix is to omit them!!!
 

Nice work with anti walk pin, I'm sure soon that will be an aftermarket must. great work thanks for sharing.

I think if anyone is gonna run anything but the factory mag release, I have a feeling this might be a necessity.  I was going to just turn one end large like the trigger group take down pin but then I would not have had a way to cinch down on the pin if the screw didn't want to budge ( I could have milled flats but time was of the essence ) ....hence fixing a screw on one side and then just blue loctite on the other.



I forgot to send myself the print.....if I remember next week, I'll put some GD and T on it and post it.



 

I got the front sight unstuck......and then realized that no matter what I do, the factory sight will NEVER EVER be able to come down low enough to raise impact to where it needs to be at close range.  The lower the skirt of the front sight, the more the detent is depressed.  I would need to remove material from the detent AND deepen the detent hole a LOT in order to get enough elevation to bring my close range sight picture to where I need to be and have room for the skirt to keep moving downward.   It just isn't worth it.  I'd have to do a full layout, dimension it and then plot several tool paths to coincide with the features that already exist.  SCREW THAT!!!
No such problem with MagPul's standard BUIS setup.  I had my windage and elevation co-witnessed in like....I dunno....40 seconds?   The factory sights could not co-witness to the Spitfire AR due to its' height.  That is no fault of the sights....BUT not being able to adjust irons for close up work IS the fault of the sight design.
I may just go to the range again tomorrow and test those irons independent of the scope and then co-witnessed.  Mind you that the Spitfire AR is NOT a true 1X scope so the front sight cannot focus nicely with he optic in the way....that being said....unlike my .308.....this comes in almost focused so I will play with it for funzies.
If I go, I will also report on the hammer and bolt wear after the next 100 rounds.


 

Agree.. I prefer my gen1 stock (held in closed position by a hook) and the european LPA sights.

If you need the impact higher, just file down the front sight post a bit.


What've you got to lose? You're gonna trash it or replace it anyway.

I'd love to see pics if you have them.



 

       Good writeup, thanks.  I have a EVO pistol that I made into a SBR and while I like it at least on mine the recoil impulse is harsh and nothing like the MP5 I fired in a class.  Still it is a really nice gun and mine has been 100% both suppressed and not and I imagine yours will be as well.

 Being straight blowback, I figured the pistol would be more "abrupt".  I was actually surprised how well the rifle ran....I was expecting more of an issue with getting back on target.  There is just enough mass up front with the fake can that it really seems to mitigate it really well.



 

Well!  As I said, I got that front sight apart and.....by God...I think I can pull off trimming the threaded post AND cutting about a millimeter off of the bottom of the detent!  I also have a huge selection of various gun springs if I need to have a thinner wire diameter to compensate for the deeper skirt travel!!!!
Since the front sight post is round, I am going to also move the tangent radius where the post and skirt meet down a bit, giving the perception of a longer, taller post, that way if I need to trim the post, as Matthew_Q pointed out,  it won't look like an Armalite AR-180B front sight.

So, the plan is this:  trim 1.5mm off of the treads on the post and re-dress.  Move the tangent radius down about 1 millimeter.  Thread trimming is going to be tough because I am not sure of the best way to mount the front sight in a lathe to get a good hold on it while I cut the threads off and then reverse that to redo the front post radius.
The detent, while, teeny, should be no problem if I can keep from losing it while I put it in a collet.  We'll see.  I am gonna shoot for taking 2mm of length off of it, IF I can still maintain some of the "cup seat" for the spring.  May use a slightly smaller wire diameter spring to compensate for compression length.
Hoping to do that next weekend....Lord willin' and the creek don't rise.


 

While you got it apart could you get a close-up pic of the muzzle threads?

Here you go.
The front sight is fixed but replaceable I guess with a different color or maybe a tritium version.
The rear sight is fully adjustable for windage & elevation..
The hook style locking mechanism is solid and keep the stock folded firmly in place. The only downside is that both the hook and the magnet work only in the fully collapsed position.

Frenz, thank you for the pics.  Those are some VERY nice components!!!!!  That is a great looking weapon!!!

Not to side track or be a smart ass, but why a 30 foot zero? That's going to give you a pretty rainbow-like trajectory. I've always liked the 25 yard zero for 9mm carbines, since you have a rough return to POA at 100 yds.

Good question.  This is set up for home  defense or close quarters.  I will probably run it out to 50 once I get the trigger pull adjusted.  Spring are on the way....also on the list for a new trigger pack or I may just get a new hammer.  Remains to be seen.

 

So the EVO carbine - is the faux suppressor removable or can one be added to the carbine model that doesn't have one?
 

Totally removable.   Just use a strp wrench and you can pull the "can".   You end up with the "non can" version and you can drop any 9 mil muzzle brake that is 1/2 X 28 as far as I know.



I haven't done this yet, but got that info from the gang at HB industries....I may just get a normal 9 mil brake and run it that way.  They say the "can" really doesn't add much weight...that it is extremely light.



Gonna run some more ammo through it tonight.  I put some Magpul MBUS sights to reblace the factory sights that I can't get to go low enough.  I'll fix that this weekend if I can get a collet small enough to hold the detent in the lathe....the wight itself shouldn't be an issue.
 

 
How about adding one to the model that doesn't have it?

Should be doable.  I like that concept.



 

NOTE 07  28  2016  UPDATE IN OP.

Hammer is starting to look rough.  About 350 or so rounds through the gun.  Time to call CZ, I think.  This is NOT acceptable.  That being said, gun's still running fine.







 

OST

Sight mods successful!!!!



Original:









Post Mod:

Got mine out to the range Sunday morning. 150 rounds shot... my trigger finger has a blister on it from the safety lever. That will be swapped in a couple weeks!

Trigger isn't great, that's for sure... so I'll be doing some upgrades there, at least eventually. Recoil impulse is a bit more stout than I expected, but there is a big heavy bolt slamming back and forth in it.

Not a single operational problem. 150 rounds ran like a top. 2 magazines of Blazer Brass, 1 of WWB, 1 of Perfecta and 2 of Wolf steel case. All ran like a top.


After payday this week, I'm going to order something for the safety (probably the AK style thingie), an extended charging handle, sling mount and probably some trigger stuff. I THINK mine has the welded nut in the trigger group. I'll have to check. The trigger def. needs some sweetening up.


I haven't cracked it open to look at the hammer face. I'll try to do that tonight and update here.

Can you explain the recoil a little more? How's it compare to a 556 AR for example? I'm close to getting one. Think it'd be fun and a good home defense gun, but if the thing recoils a ton for what it is it gives up some of the pros compared to an AR IMO.

115 grain ( in my case, Remington UMC ) runs like a kitten.  124 grain AND 115 grain Winchester was a bit "thumpy" per se.  BUT, even though it is lighter....the factor carbine is a HELL of a lot easier to run than a metal stocked Uzi.  These guns are reallly fun and easy to shoot.
SPEAKING OF THIS VERY THING:  I picked up some other different ammos today.  I got a selection of 115 grain and 124 grain bullets to see how they run.  





I want re-iterate that when I first ran both 124 and 115 grain Winchesters, the extractor was not snapping over the rims when the next round in line was dragging on the bolt at the beginning of a full mag.  HOWEVER: in each instance that issue went away at the NEXT full mag.  I think the mags AND the extractor spring just need some break in cycles.  This is a pure "push feed" gun, like an AR and the extractor must snap over the rim of the case during chambering.





This week I am testing German MEN 9 X 19 115 grain FMJ, Remington Green Box 115 FMJ, Blazer Brass 115 FMJ, Aguila 115 grain FMJ and some Hornady American 115 grain XTP hollow points.  For some odd reason....a crapload of the 9mm was out of stock this week.  I want to run more 124 as there is definitely more of a recoil impulse with it.  That begin said, the polygon rifling throws them very accurately so far.
 

Trust me when I tell you, order the HB Industries bit and then sell it on the EE.  You will need it....some of these carbine screws are seriously welded.  With FILLER metal.   Make sure to get the HB spring kit with the new screw for the trigger pack cage.  The springs make the trigger MUCH more manageable.  



 

Ak style safety imo is a great upgrade and very easy to manipulate.

Matthew_Q:  Is your gun as accurate as mine?  I saw a youtube video of a little girl shooting one from the standing and she was also punch a single ragged hole in the target.  Granted, like me, at CQB range....but my point is that this gun is FAST to get back on target....and mine doesn't even have a brake.

It does seem to be accuate, if I can do my part and SEE. I'm not sure if it's the dot sight, or the slight astigmatism I have in my right eye, or the size of the targets I was shooting at 25 yards....

For accuracy, I have an old Leupold 4x scope... I may try to get some QD rings and then slap it on, zero it and test for accuracy. Otherwise, I'm really only going to use it in carbine matches, so distances will be relatively short. Even for HD. shooting from the back of my house all the way to the front is well within 50 yards.

I'll be ordering stuff from HBI probably this weekend. Will probably get the bit and do the trigger stuff while I'm in there. Might as well get all the bits I want.

Gonna be working on some CZs soon... I want to swap the trigger out on the PCR I just got. It's way too curved. CJW parts will be incoming for that one soon, too!

LOL...yer gonna be busy!!!!



I actually dorked around with my Spitfire AR last night and on a whim I changed from the factory battery to a Duracell because I noticed the Duracell was a longer, more robust feeling battery...( surprise ) now I can't get the optic to die on me.....back to the range it goes.....let's see how another 300 rounds pans out.



Testing my modded sights first....then back to the prism scope.



Dear American Defense.....PLEASE MAKE A QD FOR THIS THING!!!!





 

Go to OP for more updates.



Short:  Vortex back in action.  Sight mods worked AWESOME.  Gun ran hollow points VERY well.  Gun started choking BAD after 750 round with only the original initial clean and oil.  See post for details.

 
I'm not familiar with the spitfire but I have found that certain battery types (Energizer) can be problematic in my EOTech mounted on an AR. It seems that the metal is soft and starts to indent slightly with recoil. Eventually the sight will just shut off, usually right after a shot.  I have been using Duracell Pro-Cells for a few years now and haven't had the problem again. There may be others that will work better too but I have just stocked up on the Pro-Cells...

In full auto they are a lot of fun............had a chance to shoot one at Battlefield Las Vegas, and it was a blast

Yeah, I am thinking that the cheapo battery developed an open circuit someplace in its guts.....the Duracell ran great through the whole string.
 

Okay....so first, here is the hammer at 800 rounds or so:











It's getting pretty darn beat up.  This needs some fixing.  Gotta email CZ about this.
Now, take a look at these two rounds.  One is Winchester and the other is Aguila:











This was the severe smackdown these were getting.  Tis first happened only twice during the inital break in but disappeared quickly.  Once the gun got dirty and I tried to use new mags...cartridges would smack the RMAP ( or a part of it ) really hard and get bent.  They would still try to chamber but the extractor would not snap over and the gun would fail to fire.  The more I thought about this, the more I realized it seemed to occur at a particular "meter"...like "bang, bang, bang, jam.....bang, bang, bang, jam".  I began to wonder if the rounds on one side of the mag were always the culprit.  When I analyzed the feed ramp area I noticed that the left corner had this nasty sharp projection right on the left side of the ramp.  Too, the extractor spring was SOOOOOOO STRONG that I could not even begin to move the spring tension with my fingers.  The extractor was REALLLLY digging into the base of teh cartridge during the end of the feed cycle.





I decided to kill two birds with one stone....and a few dremel bits.  First I stripped the gun down and washed the damn thing...it was filthy.  Then I first took the upper and lower sharp edged off of the extractor and polished the FRONT ( only ) of the hook to a mirror sheen.  I then found a gunsrping with about 75 percent of the OEM diameter but the same length.

















I installed the "new" spring and found that it was MUCH easier for the round to sanp over the case head....but it seemed ejection was a bit weak.  After re-installing the OEM spring....hand ejection was the same.  I have the thinner spring saved but left the OEM one in because of the things I discovered a bit later.









After working over the bolt, I then polished the feed ramp.  I got the left side much smoother and though I got that nasty edge.  Then..when I reassembled the gun...there it was again!!! WTF????  It was then I realized that the trigger housing uses a metal core for the trigger housing front pin and it was the sides of the housing block that were wrapping around the trunion and resenting the nasty edge.  Soooo.....I profiled that to blend with the feed ramp.











Above each pin lobe you can see where I rounded the metal off.  All of my damaged bullets have a nice ding on the nose that I am GUESSING was from those lobe projections.  Now the ramp and the lobes blend nicely.  In this lousy pic you can see the polished lobe corner in conjunction with the feed ramp.











The gun now feeds from both sides really well but that left side is a LOT better.  A LOT.  I also polished the throat while I was at it.  The gun feed very smoothly.





So, with those details taken care of, the gun was fully sink and soap washed and rinsed.  I flushed it with WD and then oiled it with Break Free.  I will go out again on Thursday and test it with the ammo it hates the most: Winchester and Aguila.  We'll see how it goes.  The feed ramp should self clean now....it's smooth as glass.....instead of holding filth residue.





More to follow next week.

 

Excellent diagnosis; I eagerly await your updates.

Thank you.  I spent a bit more time on those pin lobes this morning, shaping and dressing them for a bit more optimum performance.





Dry cycling a full mag of Winchester and Aguila ( my two biggest problem children ) I noticed that the projectiles now do not have dig marks on them.  Too, the cartridge bases are not gouged by the extractor either....even though I am running the full strength factory spring.





I'll update function on Thursday night.

 

Thanks for those updates.............I like the Evo, but this is making me reconsider the one I have on layaway...........it shouldn't have those kinds of issues right out of the box

No crap, that's what I was thinking.  I have two waiting to get paid for.

I was also thinking how do these things work in full-auto if the semis keep going down.

Is it maybe QC issues with this year's rush to get stuff out the door?

I was thinking the same thing.  Don't get me wrong...the Evo is a gun with GREAT potential.....but this gun is NOT a fully developed piece.  No way...no how.  That being said...it is annoyingly close.  Fortunately, the aftermarket support on this gun is already outstanding....unlike, say the ACR ( though that is improving no thanks to Bushmaster or Remington )





That being said;  CZ needs to get off of their collective asses and get that hammer issue addressed first.  The other stuff isn't THAT critical.
 

How much of a PITA is it to replace the trigger springs. I have the springs just need a stress free day to attempt it.

I have about 3 weeks till my layaway is paid off to decide whether I want to stick with it or not...............I will continue to watch this thread for CZ responses.........

The weird thing is I haven't read any similar experiences with the Evo pistol..............

Ya know....though there are things such as the safety DIScomfort and the hammer issue and some other things.....let me say some positive things about this gun:



SHOOTABLE AS ALL GET OUT.



ACCURATE AS HELL!!!



With the HB accessories or accessories offered by some of the other groups out there, this gun goes from "meh" to "verrrry cool" in short order.



I think my reliability issue is something you may or may not see in some guns.  I DO believe I have it licked but won't know till Thursday for sure.  That being said, the magazine, feed ramp, bolt and barrel design are definitely a very GOOD general design but the trigger group lobe issue should have been caught a long time ago.  Again, the DESIGN is sound but the execution is a bit lacking.



The carbine should have gone under a bit more development....it could have been perfect.....like I said, it is ANNOYINGLY CLOSE.



Once I get my Thursday testing done, I'll definitely update as to the performance.  I have enough Winchester and Aguila to make a good diagnosis.



After that I am going to make a comprehensive addition to this thread addressing all of the positives and negatives I have about this gun from the user, design, manufacturing and engineering aspects as best I can..  That is going to be one long post.  I should have about 1000 rounds through the gun by that time, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise.



 

Looking forward to reading the final assessment