Something a bit different…

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to see if I could repair an old pistol of his. The finish was atrocious and there were no grips on it. A 7.65mm CZ 27 from Prague, Czechoslovakia.

More specifically, the top of the slide was roll stamped “Bohmische Waffen-fabrik A.G. in Prag”. This pistol was built during the German occupation. Still faintly visible was the Waffenamt stamped on the side.

I was then informed that the problem that plagued the pistol was a broken hammer spring. Replacement of the spring required the removal of many internal parts. Access to the internals was hampered by the supposedly removable side plate. This side plate was of the early variety. Normally, a tiny set screw is backed partially out and then the side plate slips up and off of the frame. Later variants do not have this screw as it was deemed superfluous since the side plate cannot be removed until the slide is removed from the frame. However….

Previous owners had damaged the tiny screw to the point that movement was impossible. The only recourse was to use my drill press. I routed out a piece of scrap 2×4 to hold the frame securely and used a bit sized to just remove the screw and the threads in the side plate.

With the screw gone, the plate slid smoothly up and out of the frame. All the internal parts were now accessible.

With most of the parts removed, the stud upon which the hammer rotates is apparent.

The broken hammer spring on top of the new aftermarket spring for comparison. The original spring shank is beveled to fit in a dovetail on the back of the frame. The replacement is not, and grossly oversize.

Nope, the new spring won’t even start into the dovetail.

So the process of hand filing and test fitting begins.

Getting there.

Success!

With the new spring in place, the hammer is slid onto the stud and the hammer spring notch passes over the tip of the spring.

All the other parts were checked, lubricated and reinstalled

Now the pistol is put back together with the small empty hole in the slide plate being the only modification. Research informed me that this same repair was done frequently and that is the reason for omitting the set screw from later production guns. The pistol passed the safety checks and is ready for return to his owner. I will leave it to him to find a set of grips.