Just over a year ago one of the surplus houses was selling CZ82 pistols for about $100. At that price you naturally assume that something is wrong with it. In this case, there were two things wrong.

First, an importers mark had been forcefully stamped through the painted-on finish, resulting in a cracked and peeling finish. It was ugly but did not affect function.

Second, the gun was missing the slide stop. This meant that the slide would not be held open when racked on an empty magazine, but otherwise the gun would function.

Those were the problems. On the other hand, it came with two magazines and a magazine pouch.

I decided to go for it.

A short time later slide stops became available--but not springs. Then springs became available. Great!

Or not.

The CZ82 was made with two varieties of slide-stop springs. Both varieties held the slide stop in the frame. The earlier variety had a little "shepherd's crook" that fit around a slot in a pin that traversed the frame. The later variety was an L shape
that fit under the pin, with the short leg of the L being held by a tiny hole in the slide.

My frame and pin were designed for the early variety. My spring was the later variety. So I threw the (disassembled) gun onto the shelf with the idea that I'd tackle the project someday.

Last Saturday was the day. I took a fine drill and bored a tiny hole in the frame immediately in front of the pin. Because my eyes are not good, it took repeated attempts to fit the spring into both the slide stop and the hole in the frame. I finally
held my mouth just right and in it went. I replaced the pin over the spring and put the gun back together.

Everything seems to function as it should. My nest step is to take the pistol to the range for a trial. If everything works, I should be into a functional CZ82 for well under $200.

Copperplate

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