CZ P-10C - 2,000 rounds

I just got back from the range with the P-10C (black) bringing the total round count to just over 2,000.  While I did not plan to do any cleaning until this point, I ended up with a few failures at my last range trip, about 1,800 rounds in.  I was experimenting with Glock 19 (gen3) recoil springs.  I replaced the guide rod with a cut down G17 stainless unit.  Then I tried an 18# spring which worked okay.  I had a few instances of my 147gn rounds hanging up on the feed ramp with one of my mags with a CZ +2 extension.  The 18# spring just didn't have enough oomph to force it up the ramp and into the chamber.  The feed ramp is not as smooth as I've seen on other guns, and I'm leery of wet sanding and polishing a nitrided surface.  I feel like I'd have to take off too much material to mirror polish it, and I don't want to screw up the geometry.  Also, I have been dropping my mags into the sand at my outdoor range for much of my shooting.  While I was trying to avoid any maintenance for the first 2,000 rounds other than light lubing with Slip-2000 EWL, the amount of sand I could shake out of the mags was a concern.  The large witness holes and three mag catch cut outs probably let a good amount of sand in.  I figured the sand coupled with the lighter spring pressure after installing the +2 basepad, was letting the front of the follower tilt down.  Thankfully, the mags are easy to disassemble.  A healthy pinch of sand came out with the follower.  I went ahead and disassembled all my mags, brushed out the bodies, and wiped the springs down.  My normal maintenance interval is a light cleaning every few range sessions, or after a class, so these mags have seen an atypical amount of use without cleaning.  My carry mags are left stock, and have never seen dirt.

CZ P-10C - 1200 & 400 rounds, stippling and modification testing.

Dueling P-10Cs

While my black P-10C was on loan to TR Holsters, I procured a second one in flat dark earth.  I put a quick 200 rounds through the FDE before taking at home.  I noticed three differences from my black one.  First, the trigger felt much rougher, and the wall was farther back in the trigger guard, with a spongier break.  It also had a hair longer reset but less over-travel.  The black one shipped with a 6lb 1oz trigger, while the FDE was lighter, about 5lb 8oz.  I polished the mating surfaces and the trigger improved to 5lb 3oz, exactly the same weight as my black P-10C, though the wall, break, and reset remained unchanged.  The mag release is stiffer even after polishing the contact surfaces, but not enough to matter.  The slide release spring is also bent differently.  It pushes down on the slide release a lot harder, hard enough to pop the rail insert out of the frame when detail stripping.  It also takes a little more effort to snap into its cutout in the frame insert.  I'm not sure if it's too heavy, or if the black ones is too light.  The FDE one also auto-forwards when you slam home a magazine, while the black one doesn't.  I'll match the springs once I shoot both enough to know which one is better.

I also outfitted my non-EDC mags with CZ +2 extensions.  I had no failures with the extended magazine with either gun.  Prior to stippling the FDE, I partially bobbed the bottom of the medium back strap to help my shirt flow past it.

34+2 rounds of 9mm

I decided that while the factory grip texture provides plenty of traction, I still prefer a fine 360 degree stipple.  I broke out my 25-watt wood burner and started masking off the edges.  I like to leave the tang smooth, so I can easily slide my hand up as high as possible when acquiring my grip.  I also leave the bottom of the back strap smooth to let my cover garment slide easily past it.  My favorite tip is a shading point.  The bent angle lets me rest my hand on a bean bag, and I can easily see my work.  Since I'm not pushing straight down, I can lightly tap the surface like I'm telegraphing morse code, producing a fine stipple.  It's about the texture of skateboard tape.  Normally I sand off the existing texture with a dremel, but this time I used a flat tip in the wood burner and melted/smoothed out the bumps.  That was a mistake.  While it made quick work of the nubs, it also fills the gaps with very thin layers of molten plastic.  When stippling, these areas tended to discolor, where as the smooth areas didn't.  I probably wouldn't even notice on the black, but on the FDE, it looks like I just picked it up with dirty hands.  In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter.  FDE is going to stain and show dirt due to its light color, and since it's going to be my dedicated training gun, it will spend more than enough time in the dirt, sand, and mud to justify it's appearance.  200 more rounds (400 total) on my now stippled FDE affirmed my preference for stippling, and that the six hours of tedium was worth it.

Dirty stippling

While at TR holsters, Tony wanted to see if a Glock Gen3 guide rod and spring would fit in the P-10C.  He cut down a Glock 17 Gen3 tungsten guide rod, and threw in a 15# Glock 19 recoil spring. After 200 rounds the answer is...probably.  I swapped the 15# spring with an oem 18# Glock 19 spring, but it still felt a little lighter than the factory spring.  If I had to guess, I'd put the P-10 factory spring weight at around 20 pounds.  Still, with Speer Lawman 147gn TMJ, I was getting perfect 4 o'clock ejection and no failures.  I examined the frame and guide rod for wear but found nothing.  Side by side, the factory plastic unit and Glock tungsten rod have the same rod and base diameters, though the metal base is slightly thicker,  The springs are practically identical.  If testing continues to go well, I'll probably switch to a stainless guide rod to keep it IDPA ESP legal.  I'll keep the factory plastic unit in my carry gun since the weapon light already adds enough weight.

Chopped G17 guide rod

Perfect fit with a Glock spring

I did notice that the base of the plastic rod looked a little chewed up.  The base actually rests against a flat area on the frame and doesn't move during firing.  I think it just got a little gouged each time I squeezed it back into its spot on the barrel during assembly.  I'm not worried, but I'll keep an eye on it.

When I get some free time, I'm going to so the same stipple on my black P-10C.  This time I'll cut off the nubs with a razor blade, then sand it smooth before stippling.  I'm still not brave enough to try my hand at edge bordering.  Testing continues, but I can't think of much else to try out.  I've got an IDPA match in two weeks, and I plan to shoot another 1,000 rounds through both guns before I decide to carry one.  I wonder what I'm going to do with my Glocks?

--Update

I finished stippling my black P-10C.  I bought a dental bur (inverted cone bur) so I could try my hand at making hard borders.  I used a Dremel Flex shaft and ran it at high speed on a spare Glock backstrap.  The line I cut looked terrible.  It would take years of practice to get as clean a line as the pros.  I'll stick with a fine stipple border.

Instead of melting or Dremeling off the little blocks of polymer, I cut them off with a razor.  This way, I could go back over with a sanding wheel with no danger of heating up the polymer too much.  I masked out the edges with thin strips of painters tape, then made the borders with a fine point wood burning tip.  I used a large conical tip to fill in the rest with very shallow divots.  The traction is great, though slightly less abrasive than using a fine point to do all of it like on my Glocks.

It's not my best work.  The borders could be cleaner and I should have blended the original grip contours a little more, but I didn't want to reduce the grip size.  From start to finish it took me about three hours, half as long as it took to do the FDE.