CZ 27 firing problems

L

Lanzer

Inactive
Hey all... noob here.

My dad passed away a couple years ago, and mom recently came across his old WWII CZ 27 he "acquired" from a German soldier. Since I recently got into firearms (didn't know which way the election was gonna go so I figured I'd hedge my bets by picking up a S&W M&P9 and a Sport II), she asked if I wanted it. I took it, got it home, and cleaned it and made sure it was in working order. He had about 30 old Remington "Kleanbore" 32 automatic 71 grain rounds leftover with the gun (not sure how old they were, but I never saw him fire the gun, and I'm 50). I loaded the clip with 6 or 7 rounds, went out back, and timidly pulled the trigger. To my surprise, the gun went thru the whole clip without missing a beat, save for the fact that that the slide didn't lock open after the last round. I loaded another clip and fired them off with the same results.

I picked up a couple hundred rounds of what I thought were the most similar bullet I could find... Remington UMC .32 ACP, 71 grain FMJ. They slipped into the clip just like the old rounds, but I can't get thru a full clip without a couple instances of the gun jamming because the round didn't advance correctly. Any idea of why this may be? I suppose there's a good chance I just got lucky to get away without any jams with the old rounds. Is the slide not getting blown back far enough to allow the advancing round to slip into place, as well as not allowing the slide to lock after the last round?

I'm not looking to make this gun a regular shooter, I just want it to function properly. Any help would be appreciated.
 
New Remington and Winchester .32 ACP ammo tends to be loaded on the mild side. (I surmise that the reason is to lessen the chances of damage when people fire it in .32 S&W revolvers, but this is speculation.) This tends to cause problems in older European pistols that were designed for hot ammo. The solution is to use European ammo - Fiocchi, S&B, PPU, Geco, etc. It's loaded hotter and generally causes fewer problems.

Regarding the slide locking back, will it lock back on an empty mag when hand-cycled? Many pre-WWII European 7.65mm pistols simply weren't designed with a last-round slide-lock feature (e.g. Browning 1910 and 1922, J.P. Sauer 1913 and derivatives). I'll honestly admit that I don't recall whether the CZ 27 falls in this category.
 
Thanks for the reply. Yeah... the youtube videos I've seen show it locking back after the last round is expelled. And now that you mention it, one of the vids shows the guy using Fiocchi ammo.

I'm also wondering if the clip I'm using is the original. There were two clips with the gun... one doesn't fit at all (only slides in about half way), and the one I tried *seems* to fit in all the way, but the spring-loaded restraint/release at the butt end of the grip only keeps the clip in place by friction and doesn't snap or lock the bottom corner of the clip. I don't know if the gun was dropped at one time and disfigured the restraint, but the mag can work it's way out as you're firing the gun if it's not held in place. I have large hands so my pinky naturally rests under the mag and secures it. I had a friend fire it and he had to concentrate on securing the mag.

I'll try the Fiocchi ammo and see if it helps, but maybe I just got bum mags.
 
My FiL used to be an engineer and has been reloading for decades. He explained all of this to me in terms I didn't understand very well, and it's been a while, but it's something like this...

Not only is American 32acp ammo not always "hot" enough for European 32acp pistols, but the bullets aren't always the right shape either. We only shoot his loads, loaded to European standards, or shoot European ammo, and we have no problems. Back when we would try to shoot American ammo out of our European 32acp pistols, we frequently had problems. Winchester white box was the worst.

I hope that helps. You might find mags from eBay or Numrich.
 
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