9x18 and possibly .380 Concealed Carry Decision

[Stringfellow]

Hi CZGuy:

I got them from http://www.grandblue-grips.com. They were a pleasure to deal with, and were willing to make them semi-custom (i.e., no thumbrest, thin, with color and grain that I wanted) for $36 including shipping. I purchased via eBay and PayPal so it was a relatively low risk transaction.

Good luck!

 

[Girodin]

If someone made metal grips, you could go down to right around an inch.

This is what I would really like, some truly thin grips for the CZ- 82

 

[Snowdog]

Some of them come in pretty rough, as mine was. But they are easy to refinish.

By saying that they are easy to refinish, are you implying that you blued the pistol yourself? If that's cold blue on the pistol you posted, I must say I am absolutely impressed!
It seems most folks who "refinish" their CZ-82s go the bake-on route. It's not too often to see a nice blue on these pistols.

I was planning to Gun-Kote my CZ-82, but if that's cold blue I'm seeing on your CZ, I'm going that route!

 

[CZguy]

I think that Gun-Kote would hold up much better than cold bluing.

 

[Stringfellow]

Thanks Snowdog!

Yes, it is cold blued, via Brownell's Oxpho Blue creme. The pictures actually don't do it justice because I couldn't quite adjust the white levels (the blanket behind the pistol is actually beige!). In real life, it is actually a shiny dark charcoal/black.

I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with bluing, and now know how to vary the shade of resulting blue. Basically depending on the choice of oil between coats of Oxpho, you can get it royal blue, blue/black, charcoal/black, or dark silver. The pistol was navy blue up until I got the new grips, but felt that they no longer matched , so I "reblued" it to charcoal/black. The only catch is that it is almost too pretty to shoot--you would generally have to go >$1000 retail for a pistol this "pretty".

I suggest trying the Oxpho before anything else. It is $10 for a bottle that could do 3-4 pistols. If I understand it correctly, it has a mild parkerizing acid in it, which gives it the darker color. And if you end up painting over it, you at least get an additional layer of rust protection.

Send me a PM if you want more details on getting a particular shade, and I would be happy to talk you through as best as I can.

There is a lot of CC potential waiting to be brought out in this pistol. I haven't gotten the guts to break out the Dremel yet, since I don't CC. But I have little use for the ambi safety, and even the left side safety and slide release are about a quarter of an inch thicker than needed. They are begging for a melt job. And if SOMEONE would just spend the time to press a basic sheet metal grip, you would actually have a credible double stack CC weapon with a .82" slide and .98" handle. It might be an interesting niche business considering how many of these mil-surps are out here these days. But for price, it will be tough to justify much money because for the total price of pistol and upgrades you could just buy a dedicated 9mm Kahr, Glock, Ruger, etc., for CC.

 

[Stringfellow]

I am no photo pro, but I monkeyed with the white levels on my camera. These pics are a bit closer to what they look like in real life, except that the metal appears even darker in person:

 

[CZguy]

Stringfellow,

You've really got me interested now. I have a bottle of Brownell's Oxpho Blue creme sitting on my bench. My CZ-82 is in too good a shape to refinish, but I remember seeing them At CDNN Sports for $150.00 with worn finish. I also have no real use for the ambidextrous safety, but I don't plan on concealing mine. I use it as a dedicated car gun.

I do have a couple of questions about your process.

I assume that you bead blasted yours to remove the factory epoxy paint. What grit did you use? Was it aluminum oxide?

Also, are those night sights in your photo?

 

[Stringfellow]

Wow CZGuy--you are are giving me entirely WAY too much credit on multiple levels! I am an amateur. A diligent amateur, but an amateur.

1) Bead blast???? Try citrus-based gel paint remover from Home Depot. I let it sit about half hour, and then most rubbed off with a cloth. About another third or so scraped off with a metal putty knife. And maybe about 5% had to be sanded off with sandpaper.

I wasn't going for shiny, so I tried some really rough sandpaper to get the rest of the paint off and to "rough up" the surface. But I found that the smoother the metal, the better it took the finish. So i ended up using 2000 grit wet/dry auto sandpaper to polish things up. I ended up using a Dremel to polish, but in retrospect, the auto sandpaper gave more uniform results with not a lot much more work.

A film of Breakfree CLP between coats generally made the finish bluer. Eezox stripped out the blue and left it charcoal black. Eezox plus lots of rubbing then took out the black, and left it dark silver. Alcohol paint remover as a degreaser (i.e., no oil) left the finish dark grey, but with a taupe/bronze tint.

2) Night sights???? That would be some sort of Green Apple nail polish from Walmart. In the dark it doesn't glow or anything, so it just looks black like the metal. But with even the tiniest amount of light it is kind of a day-glow lime green. It was only like $3, and if it interests you I will look up the exact color and brand. It works well on the front site of my 1911 in a dark indoor range, so I started painting it on any site that needed some "refreshing".

 

[Snowdog]

Yes, I understand prep work makes all the difference. I've been looking into various types of cold blue to refinish an old Mossberg .22 that I've received with a slightly banged up stock and patina finish (it was manufactured in the 50's).

My only experience with cold blue was with Birchwood Casey Perma Blue and it was lousy.
However, I learned later on that the Winchester 94 I was attempting to refinish had a high nickel content and are a generally considered a PITA to blue.

Those results appear to be excellent, so I think I'll purchase some Oxpho to get the job done.

 

[harmon rabb]

There is a lot of CC potential waiting to be brought out in this pistol. I haven't gotten the guts to break out the Dremel yet, since I don't CC. But I have little use for the ambi safety, and even the left side safety and slide release are about a quarter of an inch thicker than needed. They are begging for a melt job. And if SOMEONE would just spend the time to press a basic sheet metal grip, you would actually have a credible double stack CC weapon with a .82" slide and .98" handle. It might be an interesting niche business considering how many of these mil-surps are out here these days. But for price, it will be tough to justify much money because for the total price of pistol and upgrades you could just buy a dedicated 9mm Kahr, Glock, Ruger, etc., for CC.

Except none of those have a DA/SA trigger, and none except the Kahr have a trigger even close to as nice as the cz-82's. (and the Kahr is DAO, which some may not like). That might make the effort worth it for some.

I've carried my cz-82 a lot without issue. I don't really think it needs the effort of a melt. Just some thin aluminum grips.

 

[pockets]

I own and have carried all of what you mention as 'possibles' (PA-63, P-64, CZ82, Makarov). Of those, the Makarov with Pearce Grips is my favorite shooter, the P-64 is favorite to carry, and the PA-63 with Marshall walnut grips is the nicest looking. Also, don't forget the P-64's cousin, the P-83.
Not to discourage you from purchasing any of those fine Combloc guns ( I love mine also!), but I normally carry a Kel-Tec PF9 now. It is the same basic size as the P-64 (smallest of what you mentioned), a lot lighter, and fires the more powerful 9x19 round instead of 9x18. Felt recoil of the PF9 is no more than my Comblocs. Cost was only about $40 more than what my P-64 cost with shipping and transfer fee.
No I am not a K-T fanboy, but I am a raving pragmatist.
Also, you may want to factor-in replacement part availability when making your decision.

 

[harmon rabb]

Not to discourage you from purchasing any of those fine Combloc guns ( I love mine also!), but I normally carry a Kel-Tec PF9 now. It is the same basic size as the P-64 (smallest of what you mentioned), a lot lighter, and fires the more powerful 9x19 round instead of 9x18. Felt recoil of the PF9 is no more than my Comblocs. Cost was only about $40 more than what my P-64 cost with shipping and transfer fee.
No I am not a K-T fanboy, but I am a raving pragmatist.
Also, you may want to factor-in replacement part availability when making your decision.

The PF9 has an awful trigger. The Makarov and CZ-82's, at least, have much better triggers. That's enough for me. I'm pretty trigger sensitive. (Yes, I know, what I should do is buy a DA revolver in .22LR and spend an hour every sunday sending lead downrange with that thing until I can shoot well with heavy triggers).

 

[nathan]

Get the Bulgarian makarov and be happy. Simple to fix if things do break .Ammo is cheaper and widely available.