curioushooter
Member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2010
- Messages
- 22
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I would like to relay a sad TZ-75 story.
After years of looking for one in 10mm (the ultimate), I finally found one and purchased it for $415 with two magazines. Bought two more mags from EAA which was my first experience with being assaulted by service that makes the IRS looks stalwart by comparison.
The mags eventually came and I eventually got around to shooting. I should have been worried when the mags came with a pink piece of paper that said essentially if they don't work it's not their problem.
I got every 10mm factory load I could get my hands on. A variety from Double Tap, Remington UMC, Hornady (180s and 200s), and some comerical reloads. None of them, not even the FMJ UMCs feed with any better than 4 out of 5 reliability with any of the four mags. This is ~20% FTF. Never had a FTE. I figured it had to be a new-pistol stickyness issue. So I shot it 200 times. Still no better (though I am now much poorer). I called EAA they said essentially to not bother them. That there was something wrong with me.
Then I got every recoil spring pack I could from Wolff and tried each one with the same loads. Never managed anything better than 90% reliability. I then thought it might need to have custom loads tailored to it.
I reloaded cartridges of all different power levels graduated OAL and tried things like chamfering the case mouths. Nothing improved function. I polished the feed ramp very carefully using lapping compound and a wooden peg. No improvement, though I used this method with success on an older TZ-75 in 9mm.
I read of Robar putting NP3 on the mag followers. Lubrication somehow improving function. I tried some graphite and some teflon lubricant to see if it did anything, testing this idea. It did not. I called Robar and found out how much it would cost to do four mags. Too much!
That is when I realized that I could never trust this pistol, even if Robar fixed it. I sold it to a friend who understood full well of all its problems. He is convinced he can fix it. So far he hasn't, but I will post if he does.
For the record it was a TZ-75 with the flat top with the square slide sides. Supposedly the stronger type. Never had a problem with it being damaged or not taking full power 10mm!
So I looked to see what was out there. Bren Tens are really a collector piece. As I saw it, there was a 1911 in 10mm, or a ParaOrd 40 Short and Weak converted to 10mm, or there was the plastic Glock 20, which I tested out, but just can't accept because of its plasticness. And there was the 10xx series S&W.
I like the extreme robustness of the 10xx series. I noticed they were beefier in critical areas like the slide around the ejection port compared to the Tanfoglio. I liked Stainless. I liked the trigger (no gritty creep on SA). I liked the single stack slimness. I found a 1076 that looked great and went for it. So far, it has been a great pistol. Accuracy has been the best of any auto-pistol I have ever fired except for my Buckmark Medalist.
After years of looking for one in 10mm (the ultimate), I finally found one and purchased it for $415 with two magazines. Bought two more mags from EAA which was my first experience with being assaulted by service that makes the IRS looks stalwart by comparison.
The mags eventually came and I eventually got around to shooting. I should have been worried when the mags came with a pink piece of paper that said essentially if they don't work it's not their problem.
I got every 10mm factory load I could get my hands on. A variety from Double Tap, Remington UMC, Hornady (180s and 200s), and some comerical reloads. None of them, not even the FMJ UMCs feed with any better than 4 out of 5 reliability with any of the four mags. This is ~20% FTF. Never had a FTE. I figured it had to be a new-pistol stickyness issue. So I shot it 200 times. Still no better (though I am now much poorer). I called EAA they said essentially to not bother them. That there was something wrong with me.
Then I got every recoil spring pack I could from Wolff and tried each one with the same loads. Never managed anything better than 90% reliability. I then thought it might need to have custom loads tailored to it.
I reloaded cartridges of all different power levels graduated OAL and tried things like chamfering the case mouths. Nothing improved function. I polished the feed ramp very carefully using lapping compound and a wooden peg. No improvement, though I used this method with success on an older TZ-75 in 9mm.
I read of Robar putting NP3 on the mag followers. Lubrication somehow improving function. I tried some graphite and some teflon lubricant to see if it did anything, testing this idea. It did not. I called Robar and found out how much it would cost to do four mags. Too much!
That is when I realized that I could never trust this pistol, even if Robar fixed it. I sold it to a friend who understood full well of all its problems. He is convinced he can fix it. So far he hasn't, but I will post if he does.
For the record it was a TZ-75 with the flat top with the square slide sides. Supposedly the stronger type. Never had a problem with it being damaged or not taking full power 10mm!
So I looked to see what was out there. Bren Tens are really a collector piece. As I saw it, there was a 1911 in 10mm, or a ParaOrd 40 Short and Weak converted to 10mm, or there was the plastic Glock 20, which I tested out, but just can't accept because of its plasticness. And there was the 10xx series S&W.
I like the extreme robustness of the 10xx series. I noticed they were beefier in critical areas like the slide around the ejection port compared to the Tanfoglio. I liked Stainless. I liked the trigger (no gritty creep on SA). I liked the single stack slimness. I found a 1076 that looked great and went for it. So far, it has been a great pistol. Accuracy has been the best of any auto-pistol I have ever fired except for my Buckmark Medalist.
