9 replies to this topic

[blind bat]

I picked up a Metaloy refinishing certificate at the Harvard Sportsmens Club's Autism Benefit match back in April. The silver poly-cote on my CZ is pretty well worn as is the blueing on the slide. I'm planning to keep the Dou look by having the frame finished in hard chrome and the slide, safety and slide release finished in his TactiKote black polymer paint finsh.

My question is, what parts should not be painted/chromed to prevent fitment issues when the gun gets back? The CZ has 10-15k rounds through it and there is some slide to frame play so I'm not worried too much in that respect. (I've emailed back and forth with the shop a couple times but I'm trying not to bug them since they were gracious enough to donate a pretty sizable certificate to a worthy cause).

So far I'm planning to send:
frame
safety
slide stop

slide
extractor
firing pin stop

I will not be sending the barrel since I don't want to worry about the fit after it gets back from chrome. I know the springs stay home as well.

However, what about all the little pins, like the trigger/trigger spring pin, sear pin, sear pin retaining pin that are visible from the outside of the gun? Is it worth taking the risk having those chromed? If a pin hole is too tight when I get it back from the platter is the best course of action to sand the pin (as opposed to reaming the hole)?

If I send the hammer for paint, will they mask off the hammer hooks or will those need to be stoned when it gets back?

Thanks guys! Obviously I'm a newb at this sort of thing.

[jdphotoguy]

Have you asked the person/company doing the refinishing what they recommend? Hopefully they've done enough to know what does and doesn't work.

[blind bat]

As I say, I emailed with them a couple times and didn't want to bother them. The answer I received was, something along the lines of, 'Detail strip the gun and send us what you want plated. Don't send springs.'

[blind bat]

As a followup, I just got my CZ back from being finished. Metaloy took just over two weeks to do the job and have the gun back in my hands. They did a fantastic jobs! Here's what I sent in to be refinished:

Hard Chrome:
CZ 75 Shadow Frame
Main Spring Plug


"Tactikote" Polymer Black Paint:
Ambi-Safety
Mag Release
Slide Lock
CZ 75 Shadow Slide
Extractor
Firing Pin Stop


If I had to do it again, I would detail strip the gun and send in everything except for the springs. Hard Chrome is not nearly as thick as I had imagined. I think the only things the might have come back too tight could have been the trigger pin and/or the extractor pin; both of which are interference fit on my gun and would have been cheap and easy to replace. I don't think any of my factory guns (with a 1000+ rounds) are too tight to be completely chromed out. I purposely didn't send in my sights because I didn't want them to come back glossy. In retrospect I should have had the sights painted because the rear sight blade was starting to rust in just the couple weeks it took to get the plating done.

Here's a few pics of the gun prior to having the mag well installed by Gary Kimball:
 CIMG0743 (800x600).jpg   446.32K   115 downloads
 CIMG0744 (800x600).jpg   407.35K   121 downloads
 CIMG0746 (800x600).jpg   329.49K   123 downloads

Here's the CZ after the magwell got installed (sandblasted frame + a steel match in the rain = bad idea):
 CIMG0748 (800x600).jpg   348.58K   205 downloads

Finally, here it is back from Metaloy:
 CIMG0761 (800x600).jpg   376.21K   199 downloads

The picture doesn't do justice to the refinishing job Metaloy did on the gun. It's beautiful. I'll try to get some better pictures in the day light.

Edited by blind bat, 19 June 2012 - 09:06 PM.

[blind bat]

One more pic:
 CIMG0763 (800x600).jpg   343.64K   85 downloads

Edited by blind bat, 19 June 2012 - 09:08 PM.

[JimmyZip]

Sweet. Great add for them too. Now I'm thinking of doing my TS.

[asimonp79]

Sweet color
I wonder why the black is not used as much as gray/silver

[Jonathan Taliani]

That turned out really nice!

[pbosik]

+1 looks great, so 1 month turnaround?

[tcurrin]

That's very nice and a very fast turnaround.