I got a DIP mag well for my 457 Training Rifle, just because. What I thought would be an easy install turned into a twiddly flippin', finger twistin', knees crawlin', vocabulary inventin' session that I have not had the likes of in a long time.
No, I don't have arthritis. Just about any folks born during the year that I was, and are still alive, do have arthritis, so dear Jesus, thank you for that!
The mag well block was an easy-peasy. Just had to remember which way it went in there. CZ's magnificence was lacking when the dad'burn thing can be put in the mag well four, count 'em four ways. I got it right on try one, so no real complaints there.
On the other hand, the magazine release and its spring was another matter altogether.
I noted, that on the back of the plastic OEM magazine well, there was a little hole that lined up with the depression for the magazine catch spring. I find that a little odd (or not odd reallly) because the depression for the spring is molded in, not drilled or machined. As a molded feature, it is flat bottomed. On the DIP unit, its machined in and its a vee shaped bottom on the depression.
So what's the hole on the back of the plastic well for? I can only imagine that the courteous and calm assembly worker at CZ puts the magazine catch spring on a little rod, and uses that rod through the hole to stick the spring in the flat bottomed depression. I had a flashback. Thoughts of grinding an endmill to the right size, and making my own hole in the DIP well with which to flat bottom that wretched depression. I began to sweat, but took a sip of strong coffee and came to my senses.
Needless to say, the spring was a no go for staying put in the mag well depression at all, no matter what.
Being the ever mindful person that I am, my attention was drawn to the magazine catch itself. Surely it must have a flat bottomed counter depression, right? Nope. It has a round bottom depression. Several attempts to keep the spring in place in the catch itself, resulted in a wee-bitty set screw, I that lost two months ago, showing up under the skin of my right knee-cap, discovery of enough cat hair to knit a new cat, and the expansion of my vocabulary with colorful concatenation of words usually reserved for golf or busted knuckles when working on a Harley-Davidson transmission. I dug the set screw out of my skin and kept going, and I found the spring on each of my four attempts.
The spring fit into the catch better than it fit into the well, so I thought of gluing the spring in place. But the catch is poly-razz-ma-tazz plastic, and I'm not sure glue would work. Thinking, and working at the reloading bench, I spied a seldom used squeeze bottle of Lee Liquid Alox. Knowing that stuff dried and set up to sticky goo in coffee drinkin' time, I tried it as "glue" in the magazine catch. It worked. Had to use a little punch as a bit of a slave pin to get the actual retaining pin in, but... (deep breath) it works.
Couple of things I noticed. First is, the magazine catch is poly-so-'n-so plastic. Hello..... DIP products.... why doncha make a METAL magazine catch to go with that slick'm magazine well? Second is that the geometry of the replacement well, or perhaps its magazine catch pivot hole location, is slightly different. Very slightly. The result is the magazine catch takes some doing to actually release the magazine (as compared to the old setup). Its not an issue, but the catch used to have a little better positioning prior to the DIP mag well being installed.
Ya know.... once you figure out how to accomplish a task, the next time ain't so bad, and the time after that makes you almost proficient. And the time after that time makes you darn near able to do it whilst the ol' lady is talking about the lunges her trainer had her to at her gym session. She says, at her age balance is important, and hers is a bit "off". I say, its a matter of physics, and weight distribution: Whereby, things that are quite top heavy and jutting out to a considerable degree, not aligned with the vertical axis at all, tend to make a body tip prone, and cause it to teeter a bit. But I digress.
No, I don't have arthritis. Just about any folks born during the year that I was, and are still alive, do have arthritis, so dear Jesus, thank you for that!
The mag well block was an easy-peasy. Just had to remember which way it went in there. CZ's magnificence was lacking when the dad'burn thing can be put in the mag well four, count 'em four ways. I got it right on try one, so no real complaints there.
On the other hand, the magazine release and its spring was another matter altogether.
I noted, that on the back of the plastic OEM magazine well, there was a little hole that lined up with the depression for the magazine catch spring. I find that a little odd (or not odd reallly) because the depression for the spring is molded in, not drilled or machined. As a molded feature, it is flat bottomed. On the DIP unit, its machined in and its a vee shaped bottom on the depression.
So what's the hole on the back of the plastic well for? I can only imagine that the courteous and calm assembly worker at CZ puts the magazine catch spring on a little rod, and uses that rod through the hole to stick the spring in the flat bottomed depression. I had a flashback. Thoughts of grinding an endmill to the right size, and making my own hole in the DIP well with which to flat bottom that wretched depression. I began to sweat, but took a sip of strong coffee and came to my senses.
Needless to say, the spring was a no go for staying put in the mag well depression at all, no matter what.
Being the ever mindful person that I am, my attention was drawn to the magazine catch itself. Surely it must have a flat bottomed counter depression, right? Nope. It has a round bottom depression. Several attempts to keep the spring in place in the catch itself, resulted in a wee-bitty set screw, I that lost two months ago, showing up under the skin of my right knee-cap, discovery of enough cat hair to knit a new cat, and the expansion of my vocabulary with colorful concatenation of words usually reserved for golf or busted knuckles when working on a Harley-Davidson transmission. I dug the set screw out of my skin and kept going, and I found the spring on each of my four attempts.
The spring fit into the catch better than it fit into the well, so I thought of gluing the spring in place. But the catch is poly-razz-ma-tazz plastic, and I'm not sure glue would work. Thinking, and working at the reloading bench, I spied a seldom used squeeze bottle of Lee Liquid Alox. Knowing that stuff dried and set up to sticky goo in coffee drinkin' time, I tried it as "glue" in the magazine catch. It worked. Had to use a little punch as a bit of a slave pin to get the actual retaining pin in, but... (deep breath) it works.
Couple of things I noticed. First is, the magazine catch is poly-so-'n-so plastic. Hello..... DIP products.... why doncha make a METAL magazine catch to go with that slick'm magazine well? Second is that the geometry of the replacement well, or perhaps its magazine catch pivot hole location, is slightly different. Very slightly. The result is the magazine catch takes some doing to actually release the magazine (as compared to the old setup). Its not an issue, but the catch used to have a little better positioning prior to the DIP mag well being installed.
Ya know.... once you figure out how to accomplish a task, the next time ain't so bad, and the time after that makes you almost proficient. And the time after that time makes you darn near able to do it whilst the ol' lady is talking about the lunges her trainer had her to at her gym session. She says, at her age balance is important, and hers is a bit "off". I say, its a matter of physics, and weight distribution: Whereby, things that are quite top heavy and jutting out to a considerable degree, not aligned with the vertical axis at all, tend to make a body tip prone, and cause it to teeter a bit. But I digress.
