CZ 75B "gloss blue" questions...

Skans

New member
Does anyone have one of the polished/gloss blue CZ 75B pistols. I am seeing them pop up on gunbroker for fairly reasonable prices. My problem is, some seem to look fantastic; others don't look quite as glossy. It's really hard to tell from the pictures posted on the various auctions.

Just looking for some input/information from those who have seen the gloss blue 75B's in person.
 
The glossy blued CZs are sometimes available from the CZ Custom Shop for about $90-$100 more than a similar standard model in polycoat. Check with the CZ Custom Shop.

The polycoated guns get only a cursory polish, cleaning up any residue from production. The resulting matte finish works best when they later parkerize the metal (manganese phosphate) and then apply the polycoat finish.

The blued guns are given a more complete polishing, don't get the parkerized undercoat, and are then blued. I've owned several older blued CZ pistols and they had great dark blue finishes.

I was told that the beauty of the old S&W and Colt blued finishes was due to the high quality polishing those guns received before the bluing was done. Some extra care was clearly taken when prepping the blued CZs.

I don't know whether the newer blued CZ models match the older guns, but the ones I've seen in photos look pretty good.
 
And it even says "stock image". I don't know what sort of confidence should be inspired by a catalog thumbnail.
 
Gloss Blue CZ75B

Mine is shiny.
 

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Since my original post on this, I did find and purchase a glossy blue CZ 75B. It is a beautiful gun - very nicely finished. I would rank the glossy blue finish better than what you would find on a Belgian Hi-Power, but not quite Python quality. The pictures in #9 really are very representative of what mine looks like. Oh, and nice grips!
 
The pic at buds guns doesn't inspire confidence...

Looks like a pic from the 1975 Shooters Bible.
It also appears to be a picture of a Polycoat '75 not a blued one.
 
I've owned several hi-gloss blued CZs over the years, and they were all very slick, very shiny, with a deep, dark blued finish. Not as pretty as the classic S&W blued guns of the 50's, but very nice. If it's not shiny, it's not a hi-gloss blued CZ.

That CZ only charges about $100 extra is amazing, as it clear that they do a bit of extra hand polishing on these guns -- not done on the guns that are
polycoated.

I've bought my LAST hi-gloss blued gun: beautiful, but upkeep can be a pain if you actually use the weapon: every little ding or scratch shows up. I've also bought my last hi-gloss nickel or stainless gun, too -- for the same reason.
 
The CZ polycoat is a baked on polymer - black, satin, and fairly durable. The polycoat is very durable, but its NOT Melonite. It doesn't wear as well as a Glock or a new XD, and it will chip, but it generally takes scratches from deflected brass and holster wear fairly well. It also has a parkerization process underneath it.
 
Glocks and SIGs often show holster wear more obviously than do CZs. Some folks consider these marks to be "character" and don't worry about it. Unless you send them back to Glock or SIG, there's not much else you can do.

With CZs wearing polycoat, a matte black auto-body touch-up paint can be used to fix chips or scratches. The paint in the small bottles of touch-up paint seem to be thicker than is best; I've found that a can of Dupli-color matte black sprayed onto a piece of aluminum foil, but applied to the gun using a fine model paint brush does beautifully. You'll find that you can fix most imperfections so that they really are hard to see. (It also worked with a 2000 series Sphinx I once had, with a small scratch on the slide.)

At one time CZ had this on their website, but I don't know if it's still there. As noted, elsewhere, the polycoated guns also have a manganese phosphate (Parkerized) undercoating, too. The polycoat finish has evolved over the years. Early versions (not the crappy enamel on the older CZ-75s) were easily damaged by some solvents, like brake clearner, but that is no longer the case.

Q: "What is the finish called "Black polymer"

A: Black polymer is electrostaticly applied powder coating that is then oven cured to a hard shell. The coating is applied over a Parkerized or Phosphate finish which is very corrosion resistant in itself, the parts are then racked and given a negative charge and sprayed at the guns components. This charged attraction literally draws the coating to the parts, this gives the parts a uniform finish and reduces overspray. The parts are cured in a oven and this produces a tough Mil. spec. finish.​

My favorite CZ finish is the Satin Nickel -- I have an 85 Combat wearing that finish.
 
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My favorite CZ finish is the Satin Nickel -- I have an 85 Combat wearing that finish.

I once had a CZ 75B "Duo-Tone" in .40S&W, parkerized slide with the satin nickel frame, boy I hated the .40S&W caliber in that gun, but I loved the look of that factory satin nickle finished frame, i wish I could find one in that combination, but in 9mm! Or maybe CZ could offer the satin nickle finish again! - LOL
 
JDBerg said:
I once had a CZ 75B "Duo-Tone" in .40S&W, parkerized slide with the satin nickel frame, boy I hated the .40S&W caliber in that gun, but I loved the look of that factory satin nickle finished frame, i wish I could find one in that combination, but in 9mm! Or maybe CZ could offer the satin nickle finish again! - LOL

I've never seen a parkerized slide on a CZ but have seen some matte black slides that didn't appear to be polycoated. (Those slides may have been parkerized and I just didn't know what it was I was seeing?)

CZ still makes satin nickel 75Bs and 85 Combats... (in 9mm) and you can probably order one through the CZ Custom Shop, and have it shipped to a local FFL. They might be able to find a two-tone one, too. Or just hang out on the CZ forum and wait for one to show up there. (Don't look for a bargain.)

I run a Kadet Kit (the slide) on my 85 Combat, so it probably looks a bit like the one you had in .40. The ones now available are polycoated, but I'm not sure about mine -- which is 15+ years old. It looks different (less gloss) than the typical polycoat finish.
 
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That slide was matte black and it was not polycoated. I'll stay on the lookout for a Satin Nickel CZ 85, I think I'd enjoy that a lot!
 
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