TargetTalk

there seems to be little this gun can't do. It seems to play well with pistols twice the price. So who can tell me anything about this gun that could be something to look out for... any short comings?
thanks dave

I am still testing mine and have only used it in one match. It cyclkes beautifully, with any sort of ammo, has little recoil and I think it will become my pistol of choice for rapidfire. I initially had trouble with four second strings because you have to positively release the trigger (like most modern firearms) after all shots, whereas with my old Unique DES69U you can forget trigger technique.

I am impressed. The finish is better than I was led to believe. I stripped it down and found none of the metal filings and sharp edges some would lead us to believe exist in these Russian pistols.

The grips need some work but the pistol seems solid enough to use for a hammer or something to crack walnuts with. ;-)

dam8 wrote:there seems to be little this gun can't do. It seems to play well with pistols twice the price. So who can tell me anything about this gun that could be something to look out for... any short comings?
thanks dave

The gun does not have a firing pin spring, that is the firing pin can and should move freely. People have reported that if there is sufficient buildup of fouling and debris in the firing pin channel, the firing pin can jam in the forward position and cause doubling or even full auto firing. I have not found this to be the case with my IZH. But I brush out the breech face after each use. I also remove the bolt and clean it with solvent and compressed air every 300-500 rounds. I have had occasional failures to feed/chamber the first round. This happens when the top round is pointing 'down' and I take care to check alignment of the top round before inserting the magazine. I can't recall ever having an alibi with this gun and it handles every brand I have tried. Too bad they are so hard to come by.

Trigger set up can take some doing, and on mine the disconnector geometry is marginal.

If the slide is about 1mm back the trigger disconnects.
Combined with an extractor with overtravel and a heavy spring if you tweak the slide back to check there is a round in the chamber and it does not go fully forward again it can fail to fire. In similar situations on other psitols the hammer would send the slide forward and fire the round in one go. I think I will 'adjust' my disconnector cam a bit.

The grip safety is not usually 'activated' as delivered from the factory, so don't rely on it. Most people seem to pin it out anyway. MAybe the US is different.

To load you do need to pull the slide fully back and let it go positively. Easing it forward results in a jam every time.

Otherwise great pistol.

My example of this pistol exhibited doubleing and sometimes trippling right from the box. No matter what cleaning was done the pistol continued with the problems. No-one locally was able to fix it and I eventually sold it to someone who sent it out of state for repairs. It has since changed hands again and I've been told that the current owner of the gun is quite happy with it.

I did not care for the balance of the pistol. (I like a little more weight out front.) I have since acquired a Unique DES-69 and am happier with the fit and finish of it.

In regards to the grip safety . . . U.S. NRA requres that ALL safety features of the pistol be operational in order to be legal for competition. This prevents you from disableing it. Some individuals have expressed that they could not adjust the pistol to a "crisp" trigger because doing so would disable the grip safety. This was never a problem for me as I prefer a two stage rolling trigger.

The factory grips leave much to be desired. The addition of Vitarbo grips was the best thing I did for the gun and is highly recommended.

The trigger shoe is a little narrow and makes the trigger pull feel a little heavier than it actually is. If I had kept the gun I would have purchased a new trigger from DJ Precision.

My personal experience will not allow me to recommend this gun to a beginner unless it was purchased used from someone who already worked out the bugs and has added the aforementioned upgrades.

In general my experience with all things Soviet/Russian have ended badly and I therefore refuse to purchase anything else made there. (This puts me in a dilemma as I would like a new free pistol and a TOZ seems to be the only thing worth having.)

We have a fleet of four IZH-35M's that we use as club guns. They see very heavy usage. The main problems with them seem to be the grip attachment screws which are always coming loose, and the variations in trigger setup from one gun to another. One of our pistols has a rough spot in the bore, and we have to be careful to pull the leading out on a regular basis. Doesn't seem to effect accuracy that much, but since it's a club gun most of the shooters aren't in the 10-ring very much anyhow.

It would be nice if someone like Pilkington Equipment could pick up the right to import these since EAA stopped...

:-)