TargetTalk

Our club has located an Izzy 35M for use as a club pistol. I've shot it for the first time today and I would say that it is a capable pistol and I'm looking forward to being involved with tuning the trigger / sear release etc. The gun has a safety lever which is positioned in the grip, which is a major pain for standard 25m ISSF discipline (when it locks you out of a shot). It means that you have to grasp the pistol in a particular way if you want all five shots to release. Does anyone have experience of this feature (more properly, defeating it!). I think that if you jam the safety lever forward using some form of wedge, it might work. I have read some data on importers drilling this lever and inserting a screw to disable the safety. If this works I would be able to emulate the process without difficulty, but I would have thought that it would be more complicated. Can anyone enlighten me?

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Hi Tony
I have one which was modified by the importer here in Oz. A small hole was drilled through the safety lever into the frame and a pin tapped home. If I ever need to remove the pin it should come out with a solid tug with some pliers.
Colin

Thanks guys! Jamming the lever forward seemed to do the trick. We may drill and pin for a more long-term (but reversible) fix.

Here in the US I use my IZHs for NRA Bullseye competitions. In my case it would be illegal for me to defeat a factory safety no matter how useless it is. Therefore I had to actually fix both of mine which were non-functional as built. (Both of them would allow the gun to fire even when the safety was not depressed.) It both cases I was able to carefully spread the tab on the safety slightly so that it would protrude further from the grip. This allowed the grip safety to function properly and allowed me to activate it reliably with any grip. After this mod I have fired over 8,000 rounds with no issues. Let me know if you want a better description.

John

In this litigatious age, is disabling a safety mechanism a wise move?

Spencer

Spencer wrote:In this litigatious age, is disabling a safety mechanism a wise move?

Spencer

ISSF-type standard 25m target pistols normally do not have safety catches (certainly this is the case for European models) as they are used in carefully controlled range conditions, in specific firing sequences, and returned to their cases afterwards. The safety on the IZH-35M was fitted for the US market, I believe. In the case of the model we purchased the safety would sometimes not allow the hammer to drop, even though the gun was grasped correctly. This is a serious problem for the shooter in timed sequences. In disabling the safety on the Izzy, it behaves exactly like the Pardini, Walther GSP etc. A more serious issue is that there is no slide "hold open" lever on the Izzy unlike other standard 25m pistols. We have to use a large breech flag to jam the slide and demonstrate to the judge that the slide is open after a course of fire.

Not having a slide lock is another fixable problem. Check out this company.

http://user.mc.net/~drweber/izh/izh_lock/izh_lock.html

If you don't want additional weight I think they now make an aluminum version as well.

JKN wrote:Not having a slide lock is another fixable problem. Check out this company.

http://user.mc.net/~drweber/izh/izh_lock/izh_lock.html

If you don't want additional weight I think they now make an aluminum version as well.

Excellent! Will follow up on this, thanks.

Simply remove the safety lever all together will fix it. Drive the pin that it pivots on just far enough through the frame to slip it out then drive it back to it's original position. Other trigger parts also pivot on this pin so only punch it as far as is neccessary or you will have a more complicated re-assembly job on your hands!

I did it to mine the day I got it, before I even went to the range to fire it!

Fat-Tony

Whats the state of Pistol shooting in Ireland now?

Correct me if I'm wrong but you've only had permission to have pistols a few years now.

Yes; I know that uppercase is shouting:

IN THIS LITIGATEUOS AGE, IS DIABLING A SAFETY MECHANISM A WISE MOVE?

Spencer

j-team1 wrote:
Whats the state of Pistol shooting in Ireland now?

Correct me if I'm wrong but you've only had permission to have pistols a few years now.

Licensed pistols(of any calibre and including air pistol) and rifles over .22 calibre were "removed from circulation" by a "temporary" government order in 1972 - in the interests of public safety due to paramilitary action etc. at the time. Various court challenges eventually secured the release of target pistols in 2004. I don't have any numbers as regards pistol ownership in the country, but it's quite common to see 9mm, .38's, .45's at ranges around the country, where practical pistol and other disciplines are shot.
True ISSF-style .22 target pistols are scarce enough - I'd say there are less than 10 people shooting in the country and that would include three from the army shooting team. In our club - www.rathdrumrpc.org we have three members shooting ISSF standard pistol, with another couple awaiting licences at the moment. The licensing regime is strict enough, with gunsafes mandatory and monitored alarm systems required by most Garda (police) districts. It's difficult to get a licence for more than one pistol.

We have a system where each firearm is required to be licensed and these are renewed annually at a cost of 38 euros (about US$50). All firearms, including air rifles/pistols are individually licensed so it be quite pricey for a keen competitor! Air rifle and pistol disciplines are shot in the universities and there is a very active club - Wilkinstown - who have some of the top air rifle shooters in the country.

Visit our club website and follow the links to the clubs and our national ISSF body the NTSA, for more information on the shooting scene in Ireland.

Spencer wrote:Yes; I know that uppercase is shouting:

IN THIS LITIGATEUOS AGE, IS DIABLING A SAFETY MECHANISM A WISE MOVE?

Spencer

See previous answer, Spencer.

Spencer wrote:Yes; I know that uppercase is shouting:

IN THIS LITIGATEUOS AGE, IS DIABLING A SAFETY MECHANISM A WISE MOVE?

Spencer

I would rather die than live my life in fear of lawyers.

fat-tony wrote:Our club has located an Izzy 35M for use as a club pistol.

Follow the directions for setting the trigger found in the Walther KSP200 manual, available at http://www.carl-walther.info/dev2/files ... 00_Bed.pdf .

You'll have a great trigger and not have to modify anything to disengage the "optional" grip safety.

J-Team1 wrote:

Spencer wrote:Yes; I know that uppercase is shouting:

IN THIS LITIGATEUOS AGE, IS DIABLING A SAFETY MECHANISM A WISE MOVE?

Spencer

I would rather die than live my life in fear of lawyers.

Amen!

GOVTMODEL wrote:
Follow the directions for setting the trigger found in the Walther KSP200 manual, available at http://www.carl-walther.info/dev2/files ... 00_Bed.pdf .

You'll have a great trigger and not have to modify anything to disengage the "optional" grip safety.

Fantastic! Thanks for that info. I had already loaded the original IZH manual from the Baikal website, but this is much more detailed.

And I can now confirm that yes you can disable the grip safety by screwing the screw behind the LH grip clockwise all the way in.

It's described as screw (e) in the Walther KSP200 manual.