CZ magazine in the LA101

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CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by in2anity » 10 Aug 2016, 9:23 am

After recently purchasing a walnut black crossover (btw love it besides the mag), my rifle started "stovepiping" after about 150 rounds. I proceeded to follow the instructions provided on the official Lithgow website in an attempt to bend the follower slightly (to rectify the problem).

Unfortunately this has not really alleviated the problem - if anything it's made things worse. I'm now left in the position wondering if I should have ever mucked with it in the first place.

I always intended on upgrading to a 10-shot, so, considering Lithgow advertises the rifle as being compatible with CZ magazines, I went and bought a steel 10rnd CZ magazine. The magazine is a very snug fit when trying to make it engage or "click" into place. But once it's in, I have no doubt it feeds MUCH more reliably than the factory poly. I'm still yet to have a stovepipe after cycling many hundreds of rounds, and there is no lead shaving at all.

The CZ magazine engages much easier when the bolt is open, so at the range that's what I intend on doing. When the bolt is closed however (and there is a full 10 rounds in the magazine) it's virtually impossible to engage the magazine. In this case you can actually see how the first round is hitting the underside of the bolt. The lead actually gets flattened due to the downward pressure as you try and squeeze it in. My solution - if I want to insert the magazine with the bolt closed (in the field), I'll only put 9 rounds in the magazine. Also maybe the CZ problems will lessen once the spring loosens up over time (I.e. It's a brand new CZ magazine).

Has anyone else noted this behavior with a CZ magazine in a crossover?
Has anyone else figured out how to make the CZ magazines fit easier?

Much obliged.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by Gwion » 10 Aug 2016, 9:36 am

The rifle was designed and manufactured to use CZ mags..... My theory is the problems of stovepipe arises because Lithgow mags arent made to the same specs.

As for loading with bolt closed; fire you lay round, eject the case and swap mag with bolt open, chamber next round. Easy peasy.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by Wylie27 » 10 Aug 2016, 12:50 pm

in2anity,

I haven't particularly noticed that issue with the CZ magazine.. I have the 5 rounder and i cannot honestly say if i have ever inserted it when the bolt is closed as i have only used this mag at the range.. next field work will be October maybe. Next time i have her out and on the bench or the range i will test this out and report back,

What i did notice with the CZ mag is the spring tension is harder.

The CZ mag for me didn't click in when i first got it. I had to sandpaper off a tiny amount of material off the front lug of the magazine to get it to click in snugly. I bought a CZ452/455 mag.. not sure if that makes a difference.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by valkyrie » 10 Aug 2016, 12:55 pm

Had a similar issue when ny old man bought a new cz mag for his mod 1 brno. We just bent the feed lips down slightly so the round sat a bit lower in the mag. Been 100% since
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by sandgroperbill » 10 Aug 2016, 1:09 pm

la101 stove piping? never...
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by in2anity » 11 Aug 2016, 6:22 pm

Wylie27 wrote:in2anity,

I haven't particularly noticed that issue with the CZ magazine.. I have the 5 rounder and i cannot honestly say if i have ever inserted it when the bolt is closed as i have only used this mag at the range.. next field work will be October maybe. Next time i have her out and on the bench or the range i will test this out and report back,

What i did notice with the CZ mag is the spring tension is harder.

The CZ mag for me didn't click in when i first got it. I had to sandpaper off a tiny amount of material off the front lug of the magazine to get it to click in snugly. I bought a CZ452/455 mag.. not sure if that makes a difference.


Awesome advice Wylie - thanks so much. Just to clarify, by "sand off front lug" do you mean on the top of the rounded shoulder? (I.e just above where the mag is touching the chop-stick in this photo:

image.jpeg
image.jpeg (356.53 KiB) Viewed 8531 times


What about the back flat shoulder on the left of the mag in the photo?

Thanks again guys, very helpful!
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by Wylie27 » 11 Aug 2016, 10:12 pm

I didnt need to touch the back of the magazine

Where the chop stick is, the flat surface on the bottom is what i filed down with sandpaper.. I took off maybe 1/2 mm. On the straight part of the lug, not the top where the curve is.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by in2anity » 11 Aug 2016, 10:23 pm

Wylie27 wrote:I didnt need to touch the back of the magazine

Where the chop stick is, the flat surface on the bottom is what i filed down with sandpaper.. I took off maybe 1/2 mm. On the straight part of the lug, not the top where the curve is.


Yeah k makes sense - how on earth did you get sandpaper in there? Cheers btw.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by snag » 11 Aug 2016, 11:05 pm

Should not have to do this stuff to an expensive gun.............
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by Wylie27 » 12 Aug 2016, 8:53 am

Fine strip of sandpaper about 1/2 the width of the lug and a piece of a wood about the same width.

Sand side to side evenly. I used calipers to measure it..
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by Wylie27 » 12 Aug 2016, 8:54 am

Snag,

Agreed and we have a Thread for that already in which I bash the rifle and Lithgow Arm heavily for many pages..

Can we keep the bashing to that thread? :)
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by wade06 » 12 Aug 2016, 2:38 pm

Wylie27 wrote: Where the chop stick is, the flat surface on the bottom is what i filed down with sandpaper.. I took off maybe 1/2 mm. On the straight part of the lug, not the top where the curve is.



Thanks Wylie, I will probably get another 5 shot mag down the track. If i have problems with the lithgow mag i will get the CZ.
I assume the CZ mg is still flush with the bottom of the LA101?
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by Wylie27 » 12 Aug 2016, 6:51 pm

Wade yup is the same size.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by in2anity » 12 Aug 2016, 9:45 pm

Wylie27 wrote:Snag,

Agreed and we have a Thread for that already in which I bash the rifle and Lithgow Arm heavily for many pages..

Can we keep the bashing to that thread? :)


I appreciate this.
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Re: CZ magazine in the LA101

Post by in2anity » 13 Aug 2016, 12:50 pm

Wylie27 wrote:Fine strip of sandpaper about 1/2 the width of the lug and a piece of a wood about the same width.

Sand side to side evenly. I used calipers to measure it..


Just ordered a set of jeweler's files from eBay - thanks again for your inputs Wylie, this was exactly the outcome I was hoping for out of this thread!
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