CZ 82 Restoration

[BigK]

I've found 9x18 at a couple of gun shops around here, but most want $12/box for Brown Bear, $16/box for Silver Bear, and $23-25/box for brass cased ammo, like S&B or PMC. I like shooting my CZ 82 too much to pay those prices.

[gjohnsoniv]

Yeah first box I bought was $21, but this time I just bought a case online and paid $110 or close to that for 550 rounds not counting shipping. I think it was like $10.11 or something per fifty so I'm not going to complain.

Edited April 17, 2012 by gjohnsoniv

[BigK]

Heck yeah!

[gjohnsoniv]

I have a feeling though it won't take that long to run through that much. Thankfully it's not that expensive to shoot in the first place.

[JAB]

I think it was like $10.11 or something per fifty so I'm not going to complain.

Just FYI, Academy has 9mm Makarov FMJ ammo in their Monarch line. Last I bought there was a couple of months back but then it was right around $10 for a box of fifty. It is steel cased ammo but has worked well and is pretty accurate from my 82.

Every time I see a CZ 82 with wood grips I am tempted to order some for mine. The finish on mine is not perfect but is actually in really good shape - at least good enough that I don't feel the need to have it refinished. Some nice, wood grips could really go a long way to making it look nicer, though.

There is a guy on another forum to which I belong who had his CZ 82 refinished in hard chrome and then put wood grips on it. He posted pics of it on the forum. Talk about turning a serviceable, milsurp pistol into a thing of beauty!

Edited April 18, 2012 by JAB

[Jonnin]

I use 95gr Berry's plated bullets for reloading Maks. They are .364 (compared to .355 for Lugers) and shorter and lighter. If you run a Luger case through a Makarov sizing die and powder die (just to flare the mouth), you can trim a mm off the mouth and load it as a Makarov. First time being fired, the case will expand to the right specs. Since Luger brass is usually thicker, this produces a good result.

Trimming the brass gets old, so be sure to recover any you made. The only other nearly .365 that I am aware of is 38 S&W which I have tried but they are in general just too large for the makarov. Its probably possible to use them, but I have not managed to make a decent load with it. It felt dangerous to shove the slug in so deep.

I like these http://www.missourib...=5&secondary=28, sitting on 5 grains of accurate #5.

Top end loads for mak with typical 90ish grain bullets should not exceed 1200 fps by too much, 1100-1200 range for defense or stout loads and get a better recoil spring if you want a lot of that. Paper punching, 750-1000 fps is plenty and a lighter spring on a light load really tames it, makes it a 380 for all intents and purposes.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Jonnin

[gjohnsoniv]

Just FYI, Academy has 9mm Makarov FMJ ammo in their Monarch line. Last I bought there was a couple of months back but then it was right around $10 for a box of fifty. It is steel cased ammo but has worked well and is pretty accurate from my 82.

Every time I see a CZ 82 with wood grips I am tempted to order some for mine. The finish on mine is not perfect but is actually in really good shape - at least good enough that I don't feel the need to have it refinished. Some nice, wood grips could really go a long way to making it look nicer, though.

There is a guy on another forum to which I belong who had his CZ 82 refinished in hard chrome and then put wood grips on it. He posted pics of it on the forum. Talk about turning a serviceable, milsurp pistol into a thing of beauty!

I saw that they had some but when I went to get it they were out and weren't sure when they would be getting more in.

[gjohnsoniv]

Trimming the brass gets old, so be sure to recover any you made. The only other nearly .365 that I am aware of is 38 S&W which I have tried but they are in general just too large for the makarov. Its probably possible to use them, but I have not managed to make a decent load with it. It felt dangerous to shove the slug in so deep.

I like these http://www.missourib...=5&secondary=28, sitting on 5 grains of accurate #5.

Top end loads for mak with typical 90ish grain bullets should not exceed 1200 fps by too much, 1100-1200 range for defense or stout loads and get a better recoil spring if you want a lot of that. Paper punching, 750-1000 fps is plenty and a lighter spring on a light load really tames it, makes it a 380 for all intents and purposes.

I'll have to do a little bit of experimenting then. Reloading for Mak is lower on my list than 9mm and .45 are but eventually I will.

[BigK]

Trimming the brass gets old, so be sure to recover any you made.

I wanted to make trimming the brass as painful as possible, so I used a Lee Zip Trim and case trimmer with ball grip. That way I will be more careful to find all my brass to avoid doing it again for a long time. Staining them with the red Dykem was easier than trimming more.

[gjohnsoniv]

Lol. Does anyone sell Mak brass? I thought I saw some the other day?

[Jonnin]

Lol. Does anyone sell Mak brass? I thought I saw some the other day?

star line brass still has it I think. You can also buy S&B ammo to get cases. There are probably other sources. There are many thousands of maks in the country, you would think somone would step up and make decent ammo at a decent price.

[gjohnsoniv]

They make some nice self defense rounds but those are a little pricey.

[JAB]

For SD rounds, I believe Hornady has added 9X18 to their Critical Defense line. I think Hornady also offers 9X18 in their XTP line. The XTP ammo is still listed on Hornady's website, anyway, and may have better availability, now. Last year, when I was looking for 9X18 JHP ammo, however, there was none to be found. Personally, I have never seen any Hornady ammo in 9x18 in person. If I do, I will buy a couple of boxes. As it is, I finally gave up last year and asked my LGS about stocking some Silver Bear JHP in 9X18 (he had already been unsuccessful in getting ahold of any of the Hornady XTP and this was before they added 9x18 to the Critical Defense line.) He kept trying until he got a case of Silver Bear in, I bought several boxes and he has since sold the rest of it. That Silver Bear JHP is what I currently carry when I carry the CZ 82. I'd probably feel a little better about stoking it with some flavor of Hornady JHP but have read that the performance of the Silver Bear stuff isn't bad. I don't know how it does for penetration/expansion but I can say that it is quite accurate - as has been the case with any and all ammo I have fired from the CZ 82 to this point.

Edited April 20, 2012 by JAB

[gjohnsoniv]

I was about to order a box or two of the SIlver Bear JHP but didn't. I know my local store has some, or they did last time I checked.

[BigK]

i entered my email address at 8 or 10 websites that will notify you when Hornady 9x18 was back in stock. Funny thing is 4 of them emaied me the same day saying it was in stock, so I got to be choosey about price...a little.

Starline brass is top notch stuff, but it's about 18 cents per case. I know I can reload it many times, but that's too pricey for a cheapskate like me.

[gjohnsoniv]

Wow. I'll have to look into that later on. I'd like to reload 9x18 but it's not top priority for me right now.

[gjohnsoniv]

Got the extractor issue worked out this evening. For some reason the extractor would extract all the rounds except for the last. I thought and thought about why it was doing this. It then it that the Ceracote adds a small amount to the surface and that the extractor was sticking, and being held out. Removed the pin, extractor, and extractor spring. Took some very fine grit sandpaper and lightly sanded the surface. After I did that the problem was gone. In the next couple weeks though I think I'm going to look into getting a new extractor, spring, and pin though as a safety measure.