CZ75B unintentionally dropping mags

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XIIIthguards

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So I just bought a new CZ75B and finally got a chance to take her to the range. I am quite happy with her in performance, zero failures and quite accurate. However, I ran into one problem- it is dropping the mags without me pressing the mag release. Here is a copy of the warranty request I sent to CZ:

"Purchased pistol brand new about a week ago. Put 150 rounds through it, and it shoots great, no jams or misfires. However, on just about every magazine that I fired, it would chamber and fire the second to last round in the magazine and then suddenly eject the magazine. The pistol would go back into battery with an empty chamber and the magazine slightly sticking out of the grip with one round left in it. I tried firing the pistol with one hand to make sure I was not accidentally hitting the magazine release due to my grip, but the malfunction still occurred. Out of the about 10 magazines that I fired, this malfunction occurred on all but two of them..."

So while I'm waiting to hear back from CZ, does anyone have any insights about this malfunction? It is not a malfunction I've had on any other pistol before- if it's something relatively easy to fix, I don't have a problem doing so myself, but I also don't have a problem sending it in to CZ to be repaired under warranty.
 
Hard to believe the mag release could be inadvertently actuated. Sounds like it's happening with both mags, so I'd check the mag catch parts.
 
I would definitely send it back. You don't want that problem to plague you for the life of the gun.

That is not a common problem with these guns.

It might be a defective mag catch, or perhaps something stuck in the mechanism preventing it from engaging all the way.
 
The magazine lock is mechanically one of the simplest parts of the gun; I'd still try to work out what's happening before sending it back for warranty work. He still might need to send it in, but sometimes it helps to pinpoint the exact issue so the gunsmith can take a look at it.

Based on what he's reporting (the mag is coming free on the 2nd-to-last round), my guess is that the base of the follower is hitting the magazine catch as it travels upwards. That is very much not normal - the magazine catch shouldn't reach that far into the magazine, shouldn't get pushed back far enough to release the mag regardless.

If you remove the grip panels, you can feel the magazine catch inside the right side of the grip. When you press the mag release, you should feel the catch move to the outside. That lines up with the hole on the right side of the magazine. I just loaded some snap caps into the standard 16-round mag, and the base of the follower seems to be level with the hole at the 3rd-to-last round.

The magazine catch is spring loaded, and should be held in place until you manually press down on the release. If the spring is broken, or the catch itself is somehow getting deflected by the follower, then that could cause what's being reported.

I'd recommend loading 5 snap caps into a mag, then racking the pistol with the grip panels off to see if you can replicate the issue and possibly see what's going wrong.
 
Still waiting to hear from CZ. I tried to replicate the malfunction by racking the slide by hand but it would not occur. As far as I can tell everything appears normal, though I'm not exactly a CZ armorer. I have noticed however how the magazines drop free when they're release, when my understanding is that the cz75 has some sort of brake to prevent that. Don't know if that has any relevance.
 
. I have noticed however how the magazines drop free when they're release, when my understanding is that the cz75 has some sort of brake to prevent that. Don't know if that has any relevance.
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Some do, some don't. (My Turkish Contract CZ-75B did not drop free, my PCR does and I believe my 40S&W '75B does)

The 'brake' is basically a flat piece of spring steel running vertically at the rear of the magwell. If this is slightly long, it curves into the magwell a tiny bit and presses against the magazine, causing friction and preventing the mag from dropping free. If it is a hair shorter, it will lay completely flat and put no pressure on the magazine, which will glide right out. (I modified mine so it lays flat and the mags will drop free now)

This should not affect your problem either way.
 
Some do, some don't. (My Turkish Contract CZ-75B did not drop free, my PCR does and I believe my 40S&W '75B does)
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As noted above, early CZs have a curved (flat spring-like) mag brake in the grip that presses against the mag; it also keeps the mag from hitting the main spring. Straightening that brake lets the mags drop free. The 85 Combat came with a "straight" mag brake. (Many of the other CZ-pattern guns do away with that mechanism.)

Retaining the mag (letting it drop down, but not out) was a practice widely used in Europe.

Newer model CZs have the straight mag brake -- at least in models offered int the U.S. -- not sure about models sold elsewhere. As noted above, it's not hard to modify the brake. It's a different market here in the U.S.
 
It is my understanding that the B models have drop free mags; where as the older "non-B" models do not. Do not take that as gospel, I could be wrong. But I do know that my 10 year old .40cal CZ75B does drop them free.

I was actually cleaning my CZ75B yesterday and thought about this post.
It is possible to insert the mag just short of seating it and have the "catch" hold the magazine in place. Vigorous shaking made the magazine fall out.
I was experimenting with the slide removed to better observe the catch.

It may be possible for the magazine to feed fine from this position and fall out because of recoil?

It may not seat all the way if the slide is forward when the magazine is inserted, being obstructed by the top cartridge in the chamber?


I've never had an issue as you describe, and didn't have any snap-caps to do any more experimenting indoors.
Just thought I share my observations.

Hope you get it mended, the CZ are great pistols for sure.:cool:
 
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Had the same problem with a brand new ruger p95 when I first got it. Replaced the mag catch spring fixed it fine.................no problems the last 5-6 years I've had it.
Not common but does happen sometimes.:rolleyes:
 
Jo6pak said:
It is my understanding that the B models have drop free mags; where as the older "non-B" models do not. Do not take that as gospel, I could be wrong. But I do know that my 10 year old .40cal CZ75B does drop them free.
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No. Most of the newer models do have drop-free mags, but it's not a simple B or non-B dichotomy. I've had many CZ "B" models, both new and used, and it has only been since around 2000 or so that the "drop-free" mag brake have become a standard with some models. Many of the newer models (like the P-01 and the Stainless guns) had them from the first; they incorporated other features, like an extended beavertail, reversible mag releases, and ambi-safeties on many of them, too.

Jo6pak said:
It may be possible for the magazine to feed fine from this position and fall out because of recoil?

It may not seat all the way if the slide is forward when the magazine is inserted, being obstructed by the top cartridge in the chamber?
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Inserting the mag into a gun with the slide closed can be a problem with a number of handguns -- some simply won't click into place.

If they don't click/lock into place the first round MIGHT chamber, but it's very likely that the mag would drop free when the slide was pulled back or with the first shot.

That's unlikely to be the case here, as the OP said it generally happened when the mag was almost empty. It may simply be a defective mag catch, or defective mag release spring.
 
Thanks for the correction on the "B" vs "non-B" (pre-B) models Walt.

Also, I misread the OP (thought it was happening on the first few rounds in the magazine.)

It's been a long monday:o
 
Heard back from CZ- there was no written response, but they sent me the stuff for a return label so I can ship it back to them at no cost to me. Says it can take 4-6 weeks but hopefully it won't take that long.
I was also kind of curious about the magazines on this particular CZ. My understanding is that MecGar made them in the past, but the ones that came with mine are a mystery. They look like the standard MecGar blued magazines that came with my brother's Beretta 84 or my Kel-Tec P11, but they have absolutely 0 identifying marks. No serial numbers, manufacturer, or country of origin. They seem to function fine though other than the before mentioned malfunction, which I get the feeling probably isn't magazine related anyway. They did have extremely stiff springs though, I was only able to load them to 15 rounds initially.
 
Mec-Gar is the OEM supplier for most CZ magazines. Some of their new guns, and some that aren't made in large numbers may have CZ-made mags.

Mec-Gar mags made for the CZ and Mec-Gar mags carrying the Mec-Gar brand are generally very similar, but there will be minor differences.

Most Mec-Gar mags won't work in a pre-B CZ, and the newer OEM mags won't either. (The grip area where the mag is inserted is a bit narrower near the top on the original CZs, and subsequent mags [not CZ 10 or 15 round mags] won't fit. This can be made a non-issue through the use of a flat file at the top of the mag channel.)

If your CZ 75B is fairly new, you can bet the mags were made by Mec-Gar.
 
The mag springs will take a set after a while. Initially I could fully load my mags only with a mag loader, but after you load them and let them sit that way for a while you'll be able to set the mag loader aside.
 
Well the pistol is off to CZ, so now it is time to hurry up and wait. I am here in KS though, and considering that CZ is located in Kansas City, hopefully the turnaround will not be too long. Already ordered a 19 rd MecGar magazine for it and I'm currently looking for night sights as well. Despite the initial hangup that will hopefully be dealt with soon, I think I've finally found "the one" in my long pistol search.
 
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