Won't do THAT again!

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velocette

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Well, the you tube videos made it look easy. I suppose if you did it again and again, it IS easy.
The victim of this story is my new CZ 75D, PCR. A wonderful pistol and I'm very pleased with it. However, all of my modern firearms have been disassembled, polished, smoothed internally to make them as nice shooting as possible.
SO, I looked at several U tube videos to gain knowledge. The basics are fairly simple and easy. Then I come to the "Sear Cage". This is a metal part containing the sear, decocker, firing pin lifter, and three springs. None of the springs want to go into place, all want to pop out and disappear into nether areas of my shop. But I was smart and had been warned and had spares on hand. I needed them. It seems that you can get two of the springs in and the 3rd makes life difficult. Did I mention that one of them is a tiny little spring that is almost invisible and has wings.
Understand, I have built from parts, a match 1911, tuned dozens of S&W revolvers & 1911s, several Browning Hi Powers, built 3 AR rifles, several bolt rifles & many .22s, so the internals of firearms is not a fearsome mystery to me.
That Sear Cage was 4 hours of "fun".
It finally is together, polished and smoothed BUT with an education and a couple of springs in my shop that will be found someday when I don't need or want them.
 
I have a spring retainer somewhere in the shop that the gremlins recently made off with. It must be precious to them as I had five pairs of sharp female eyes looking and intimidating the little rascals and they wouldn't give it back. Some things just aren't doable in a zip lock bag and this was one of them. I made a tool to hold the replacement when I installed it.
 
OP… to this day I have to psych myself up, make sure I’ve got at least an hour or more, some coffee and the owners manual before even considering taking apart my old Ruger 22/45.

I can relate to your experience to a certain degree.

Glad you got it all straight in the end
 
I did the same thing with a Browning Buckmark. Directions read, "don't remove the grip" so when I removed the grip springs and parts went everywhere. Luckily I found everything, bagged it up and took it to our local Gander that had a gunsmith on site. He was at lunch so I left everything there and on the way back home I started thinking, YouTube might show how to put it together and sure enough it did. I drove back to Gander, retrieved my parts and when I got home I reassembled it watching YouTube and it works like it should.
 
Never dared to take apart a CZ de cocker, but the man safety models are a piece of cake. The trigger pin is flared on each end, so drive it out and throw it away. Buy a CGW floating trigger pin to replace it.
 
Yep my first D cage was a pain, several hours flew by but I didn't lose any parts.

Now I can put those back together in a few minutes.
I find starting at the lifter spring first, than applying a small tab of grease on that spring tends to lock it in place.

A 90 degree pick is your friend on these guys.

A shadow 2 slide release fits the PCR, it comes back and outwards slightly more than the stock one making it easier to engage.
The PCR also has the pear shaped mag release, you can run the Shadow 1 extended or the Shadow 2 paddle mag.

IMO, CZ customs has the best selection of CZ sights, I run either their HTAC or tactical rear sights and F/O fronts.
 
Done it several times. You really need a slave pin to keep the sear cage from unwanted disassembly. And the zip lock bag as you gain practical experience.
 
A sterile room with one bench, a single chair, and nothing else but a vacuum cleaner (Or a large magnet on a string).
 
Some magnification and a purpose built plexiglass box, upside down, with cutouts for your hands ought to do it. But then some parts are bound for the ether despite all manner of deterrence.
 
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I did a Tanfoglio Witness once, it took a long time to get it back together, even with the really well done Youtube video. It was worth it, I guess, as it sure smoothed up the DA pull. I used the plastic bag method and lost no parts.
 
A sterile room with one bench, a single chair, and nothing else but a vacuum cleaner (Or a large magnet on a string).

I delivered carburetors to a rebuilder when working at a AAA garage. That is exactly how he did it - bare concrete floor, no work benches nada. Just the vehicle, pockets with the few wrenches needed in the day, and a bare concrete floor. And he never lost a part.

Watchmakers do the same in miniature. Their workbenches - then - were surrounded on three sides by high wing walls to capture flying springs. They can't go far unless they launch over your shoulder, which is a 75% improvement.

Work inside a large cardboard box on your desk and it will stop a lot of those shenanigans.
 
Bent a punch trying to get out the flared on both ends trigger pin on my CZ75 compact, then said bent punch got stuck, had to step away a few times to get back into my happy thoughts mode. And that was just to replace the trigger spring, has the CGW floating pin in it now. I do like the suggestions given though.
 
Bent a punch trying to get out the flared on both ends trigger pin on my CZ75 compact, then said bent punch got stuck, had to step away a few times to get back into my happy thoughts mode. And that was just to replace the trigger spring, has the CGW floating pin in it now. I do like the suggestions given though.
I learned after the first pin removal, to drill the flare a bit first. One must be very careful to not remove completely, and to drill into the frame finish!
 
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