My 1ST CZ70 Hammer Problem

[Steveo]

Bought my first CZ70 7.65mm. Cleaned and lubed it. Feels good in the hand. Took to range to test fire, low and behold it won't fire. Back home to study the problem . It seems the hammer will not make contact with the firing pin. Cocked and decocked, cocked as single action and dry fired. Then tried double action dry fire. Hammer only comes down to the position as if the safety were on and you decocked. Also, it is a little hard to decock, you need quit a lot of pressure to do it. Anyone CZ 70 experts out there run into this problem and can offer some HELP. Should I need ti replace any parts?  One more thing on Numrich parts I saw 2 different hammers for this pistol. Could that be the problem?

[lklawson]

It's a "rebounding hammer."  If you drop the hammer slowly while pulling the trigger, it may never meet the rear of the firing pin.  It's supposed to hit and "bounce back" sorta during normal operation.  But you should be able to push it all the way forward to touch the FP while pulling the trigger and dropping the hammer slow. 

You might check and see if the firing pin block mechanism is working.  It might be gummed up, blocked by grit or brass shavings, or seized up. 

Remove the firing pin and the firing pin block mechanism (same procedure as for the vz52).  Clean thoroughly  and lube.

Check for fouling or blocking in the hammer mechanism too.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[Steveo]

Kirk, Thanks for the info. I went through all that and when I dry fire I use snap caps. I went as far as to put a small colored paper sticky dot on the back of a snap cap and the face of the hammer. Then dry fired no mark on the snap cap and no mark on the hammer from hitting the back of the pin. Anything else you or anyone can think of?

[lklawson]

Make sure the hammer is hitting the rear of the firing pin.  A dot or one of those old paper caps for the cap guns (used to come on a roll).

If it's hitting the back of the FP then the FP is not hitting the primer.

• Is the FP moving freely in the channel?
• Is the FP the right length (is the tip broken or has it been replaced with the wrong part)?
• Is the slide properly in battery?

One thing you can do is take the slide off of the rails, manually push in on the firing pin block, then manually push in on the rear of the FP.  See if it will move forward and project the tip through the hole far enough to impact a primer.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[Steveo]

Kirk , since I don't have old time toy caps I put a colored dot on the face of the hammer. Just to make sure this time I put a dab of grease on the back of the firing pin. Pulled the trigger, the  hammer had no grease on it. Also depressing the pin block the firing pin travels through it's channel freely and the pin sticks out far enough to hit the primer.

[lklawson]

Possibly there is an obstruction in the lockwork of the hammer.  Taking it apart is daunting and I haven't attempted it myself.

Leave the slide off of the frame, take off the grips and visually inspect as much as you can.  Inspect from directly over top of the hammer when cocked and then as it is being released.

Some people recommend soaking over night in something like CLP, Croil, or Ed's Red which may loosen or soften any carbon deposits, unburned powder, or hardened grease trapped in the area.  I'm not so sure how that would work out for you, though.

I'll see if I can dig up my vz50 manual and look at the parts and maybe make a better guess about the issue.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[lklawson]

BTW, I know this is a silly question, but I just want to make sure.

The safety lever is adjusted to the right spot, right?  It's a 3-position safety.  Decock, fire, and safe.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[lklawson]

I've reviewed the parts diagram and looked at some close ups of the hammer (I'm away from my personal cz70 right now).

The CZ50/70 is designed with a Rebounding Hammer.  The object of this is to have it automatically bounce back to a sort of "half cock" position in order to keep the hammer off of the firing pin in case the hammer is struck a blow.  This is achieved by adding extra notches to the hammer and linkage.  If there is something blocking the linkage, blocking the movement, or if there is a part installed incorrectly, it's possible that the hammer would be blocked from advancing past the "half cock" notch.



At this point in the diagnostic process, I feel a little bit like that disgusting guy back in gym class throwing his socks against the wall "to see what sticks."  ;)

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[Steveo]

I'll try that and see what happens. Although I'm not fearful of taking it apart all the way. I'm a pretty good self schooled and schooled gunsmith. The is a 3 position and works. The only thing is that when pressing down to decock. It takes quit a bit of finger pressure too engage. Thanks again, Steve

[Steveo]

My hammer is the one with the hole in it. would that make a difference ? Like I said I'll be disassembling it tonight and checking over again all the things you mentioned.

[lklawson]

My hammer is the one with the hole in it. would that make a difference ?

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea.  :P  I'm not aware of any difference between the hammers other than that, but...

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[Hurryin Hoosier]

My hammer is the one with the hole in it. would that make a difference ? Like I said I'll be disassembling it tonight and checking over again all the things you mentioned.

The vz.70 hammer is the round one with the hole. Other than that, they are same-same the vz.50 hammer.

[Steveo]

Thank You.