CZ builds guns known for reliability and a long service life. How much of both you actually get depends largely on how you look after your CZ. In this article you will find out how and when to clean a CZ pistol so it keeps working the way it should, for as long as possible.
General rules for cleaning any firearm
First things first. These rules are worth following whether you are a competitive shooter or your pistol mostly lives in a drawer.
- Always make sure the firearm is unloaded. Remove the magazine and check that the chamber is empty.
- Clean the firearm before the first shot. From the factory it comes coated in preservative grease that protects it against corrosion. Before the first shot, take the time to clean the firearm thoroughly and lubricate it with a gun lubricant.
- Clean the firearm after a long period of inactivity. Lubricant dries out in a gun that has spent half a year in the safe. Before you head to the range with it, wipe the dust off and lubricate it with a gun lubricant.
How often should you clean your pistol?
Cleaning frequency depends mainly on how often and in what conditions you use the firearm. We will focus mostly on competition shooting, because for competitive shooters cleaning is close to a daily routine. You will find these tips useful as well if you are a recreational shooter or carry your CZ daily.
What fouls up a firearm
Every pistol picks up fouling and debris, both from the inside and from the outside.
Internal fouling
- Carbon (burnt powder): builds up on the breech face, in the chamber, the firing pin channel and around the extractor. It hardens into a crust that causes failures to go into battery, light strikes, gritty movement and unreliable extraction of spent cases.
- Copper (tombac): material worn off bullet jackets deposits in the bore, clogs the rifling and degrades the spin imparted to the bullet.
- Old lubricant: Clogs the frame and slide rails and the trigger mechanism. Combined with carbon it turns into an abrasive paste that damages the surface finish of internal parts.
External debris
- Sand and dirt: When magazines get dropped on the ground in dynamic shooting disciplines, sand works its way into the magazine body and from there into the magwell. It blocks the smooth travel of the follower and the trigger mechanics.
- Dust, lint and fabric fibers: Collect inside magazines, on the trigger guard and on the red dot. They absorb moisture and cause the follower to bind in the magazine.
- Sweat and moisture: Settle on the frame, the controls and the slide surface and cause corrosion.
Cleaning a competition CZ pistol
A competitive shooter does not clean a firearm to keep it from rusting in a drawer, but to keep it completely reliable and accurate. That is not possible without regular maintenance.
TIP: Never clean a firearm right before a competition, it can come back to bite you. One badly seated spring, one screw left loose or too much grease can catch you out with an unexpected malfunction or unpredictable behavior.
Instead, perform maintenance 1-2 training sessions before the competition so you still have a chance to confirm that everything works as it should.
The evening before the match, just check the firearm over, at most lightly pull a bore snake through the barrel. Then do not forget the first fouling/warm-up shot.
Routine maintenance of a CZ pistol
After each training session where you fire an average of 200-500 rounds, cleaning the firearm will take you about 5-10 minutes.
What you need
- a bore snake or a brass or carbon cleaning rod with a bore brush,
- a microfiber cloth,
- a toothbrush (for the breech face, feed ramp and frame rails),
- cotton swabs,
- a brush or long cotton swab for magazines,
- gun lubricant, and a degreaser if needed.
How to do it
- Field strip the gun (disassemble the pistol into the frame, slide, barrel and recoil spring).
- Barrel: Pull a bore snake or a cleaning rod with a brush and carbon solvent through the barrel, wipe the feed ramp clean of copper fouling and carbon dust. Lightly lubricate the outer surface of the barrel and the locking lugs.
- Extractor: Wipe the claw from the outside with a cotton swab and scrape the copper dust and carbon out from under the claw.
- Firing pin: Wipe the breech face around the hole with a microfiber cloth or a cotton swab. WARNING: No oil or liquid cleaner must run into the firing pin hole.
- Rails: Wipe them dry, removing the old grit mixed with lubricant, and apply fresh lubricant.
- Check the recoil spring.
- Remove the base pads, take out the springs and followers and clean sand and dust out of the magazine bodies.
- Slide stop pin: Check for hairline cracks, clean it and lubricate it.
TIP for hammer-fired models
The hammer cutout in the rear of the frame on models like the CZ 75 or CZ Shadow 2 is relatively wide and picks up debris easily. We therefore recommend blowing it out with air after every range session.
Deep cleaning a CZ pistol
After the season, or roughly every 3,000-5,000 rounds, set aside about an hour for a deep clean, stripping the pistol down to the last screw and cleaning it thoroughly.
What you need:
On top of the usual field-strip kit, you will also need:
- a brass or plastic hammer (not steel),
- a bench block (you can find one in the Tools category, for example one made specifically for the CZ Shadow 2),
- a fine brass or plastic hook for safely lifting out springs.
How to detail strip the firearm and the critical areas to focus on
Detail strip the pistol - remove the firing pin and the extractor and disassemble the trigger mechanism.
Extractor claw and channel:
This area is critical because it is where stovepipe and double feed malfunctions most often originate. Besides extractor spring fatigue, the usual culprit is carbon and copper fouling packed into the claw and its channel.
Drive out the extractor pin together with the spring, scrape the debris out of the channel and from under the claw, check the spring and reassemble. Do not use any lubricant here.
Firing pin channel:
Combustion residue mixes with lubricant and forms a thick sludge that slows the firing pin down. It is then left without enough energy to ignite the primer.
Remove the firing pin along with its spring and flush the channel with a degreaser. Wipe it dry (for example with a microfiber patch on a long rod). Do not apply any lubricant here - that is exactly how the sludge forms.
Trigger mechanism:
Remove the trigger and sear assembly. Degrease it in a gun cleaner, check the condition of the sear spring and the trigger bar. Grease only the contact surfaces of the sear and the hammer hooks, using a specialized trigger grease.
Barrel interior:
Besides carbon, copper dust from bullet jackets also accumulates in the barrel. It clogs the rifling and the firearm loses accuracy as a result.
Apply a specialized copper solvent, let it work and run a brass brush through from the chamber toward the muzzle.
Recoil spring:
On competition firearms we recommend fitting a new recoil spring at every deep clean.
Ultrasonic cleaner
Ultrasonic cleaners are popular among competitive shooters. An ultrasonic cleaner perfectly degreases metal gun parts (the removed extractor, springs, slide stop, barrel, metal frame) and thoroughly cleans even the smallest recesses and slots that would take a long time to scrub with a brush and swabs.
TIP: Straight out of the ultrasonic bath, metal is extremely prone to corrosion, so dry the components as soon as possible (a hairdryer works well) and lubricate them with gun oil.
WARNING: Anodized aluminum parts, wooden grips and optics do not belong in the cleaner.
Deep cleaning hammer-fired vs. striker-fired models
Striker-fired models have a simpler internal mechanism in the frame; you can strip them without tools and very intuitively. That makes it practical to clean the firing pin channel more often, for example every 1,500-2,000 rounds.
With hammer-fired models, where a deep clean means driving out the extractor pin, it is better not to do it too often, as repeated disassembly works the pins loose and peens out their seats.
What to lubricate on a competition pistol
The basic rule is to use gun oil wherever metal rubs against metal:
- frame and slide rails,
- the outer surface of the barrel and the locking lugs,
- slide stop.
What never to lubricate:
- firing pin channel,
- insides of magazines,
- extractor channel and claw,
- chamber and barrel interior.
Caution when lubricating striker-fired models
On striker-fired models, make sure the firing pin channel stays 100% dry and degreased. It works like a piston, and any oil or grease will slow the firing pin down and cause a light strike.
Oil does not belong in the channel of hammer-fired models either, although their mechanism is somewhat more forgiving in this respect.
Recreational shooting, daily carry EDC
While competition pistols that see frequent use foul up mostly from the inside, firearms carried daily suffer primarily from sweat, dust and moisture. Pistols used for occasional recreational shooting spend most of their life in the safe, where their main enemy is lubricant mixed with hardened carbon.
Maintenance tips for recreational shooting firearms
- Field strip and clean the firearm after every trip to the range. Do not put it off, so the carbon inside the gun does not harden unnecessarily.
- Once every 6 months, check the firearm and renew the oil film. Guns tend to dry out while stored in the safe.
Maintenance tips for EDC and self-defense firearms
- Blow the dust out with compressed air every 14 days and wipe the slide surface with a microfiber cloth and a drop of oil.
- After a trip to the range, do a field strip and cleaning, as described in the section on competition pistols.
- Go easy on the lubricant. There is nothing worse than an over-oiled pistol in a holster, collecting dust and lint from your clothing.
- Pay attention to the firing pin channel and the optic, as textile debris is particularly troublesome here and can cause a malfunction.
Leave nothing to chance
Maintenance is at least as important as firearm tuning. You can have a perfectly tuned pistol, but the moment you stop cleaning it properly, it can let you down without warning. And that is not something you want to experience at a competition, where it costs you your placement, or in a self-defense situation, where your life may be on the line.
