question about upgrades for cz75d compact

REVOLVERfan

New member
decided I want to do a couple upgrades to my cz75d compact, and need some help.
looking to upgrade the sights and get rid of the plastic guide rod, any suggestions on best sights for carry/home defense ? and best place to buy steel guide rod for this pistol.

also if I wanted to put a red dot on it what would be the best way to go about mounting it? any help would be appreciated, thanks.
 
railroader said:
I would have to agree with don't mess with the plastic guide rods. I have owned CZs over the past 15 years with zero problems with the stock rods.

What performance improvement is likely from the use of a steel guide rod? I can think of none. 1) The bullet leaves the barrel when the slide has moved just a scant fraction of an inch, so it has no role in that part of the firing cycle. 2) It seems to have little or no effect on lockup, which is critical to accuracy. and 3) it's unlikely to affect reliability. If anyone disputes these three points, please offer us some proofs, test results, etc. I may be wrong and you may be right, but the evidence I've seen shows no differences between steel and plastic guide rods.

Some years ago when I was a moderator on the CZ Forum, I talked with the head gunsmith at CZ (Mike Easgleshield) about guide rods. At the time, that any frame damage -- which was likely from using a steel guide rod in an alloy frame -- would NOT be covered by the CZ warranty.

At the time, CZ would NOT knowingly sell a steel guide rod (available as an option for the steel-framed Compact [safety, not decocker]) to a alloy-framed compact owner.

This has been discussed time and again on forums like this and on the various CZ forums, but I have yet to see a definitive answer. CZ has been relatively quiet, and folks who have asked them seem to get different answers.

I've owned several Compacts over the years (compacts with steel frames) and never had a problem with the plastic guide rods -- nor with any other CZ model that used a plastic guide rod. The front of the plastic guide rods DO bend a lot, and if they weren't bending, they'd be rubbing on the opening at the front of the slide The part inside the gun continues to function as it should -- helping to keep the recoil spring in position.

Note: Some years back, SIG switched from metal to plastic guide rods and there was a major outcry from SIG owners and potential buyers, and SIG reverted to metal ... for a while. Plastic is now the SIG standard. Even the top-end X-Five guns have large plastic components in those multi-part assemblies.​

Folks who know guns and the materials used in them tell us that 1) guide rods are NOT high-stress parts, 2) the plastics used typically have higher lubricity (smoother, slicker, less friction, etc.), and most of the concern is based on unwarranted concern about reliability.

(Some folks, back in the day, used brass hinge bolts from door hinges - cut to length - in place of the plastic factory compact gun hinge; that might make sense if the brass used in the hinges is softer than the alloy used in the frame. I don't know about their relative hardness.)

If plastic is an issue for you, do what you want, but I'd argue that there's more likelihood of damage from steel than plastic in an alloy or polymer-framed gun.
 
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Every "brass" door hinge I've ever seen (going back to 1950, when my parents built the house I live in) was steel with a brass plating, and the pins were (and are) steel. I have never seen a brass hinge pin.
 
Aquila Blanca said:
Every "brass" door hinge I've ever seen (going back to 1950, when my parents built the house I live in) was steel with a brass plating, and the pins were (and are) steel. I have never seen a brass hinge pin.

In which case, it was an uninformed effort to do something that wouldn't work. (Seems that these folks would have noticed this when they cut the hinge to length!?)

A day-later afterthought: perhaps the folks using hinges were simply looking for a cost-effective alternative to buying a stainless guide rod (from a small-business on the 'net) that cost a lot more, and weren't (as I inferred) doing it to protect the frame. That said, protecting the frame was seldom mentioned in the discussions of the time until I talked with CZ's gunsmith.​

The brass parts in door locks, handles,striker plates, cover plates, etc. in my house made and installed in the late 60's ARE solid brass. (Those aren't hinges, I know...) I discovered this from cleaning them with a powered wire wheel/brush when doing home improvements over the years (we've been in this house 30+ years!) Newer (4-5 years old) door assemblies cleaned the same way didn't do as well -- and WERE steel with a brass coating. (That really irritated me!)

I continued to use plastic if that's what came in the gun.
 
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