What's the INGO collective wisdom about a pre-B CZ-75?
Collectivism is far and away not hardly found on INGO. Wisdom... there is some once in a while.
Pre-B's? I have three (and always looking to add another). A guy here has refurbed a couple with ceracoat, his name is Tim on other boards 88E30M55 here(ithink). I'm sure there are more.
All I can say about the Pre B is that it is my favorite pistol model that I can get. A sig P210 is out of reach, so I'll have to wait a bit for one if I ever do find one. Until then, I will continue to buy a decent priced pre B when they cross my path. (I've even paid a bit more than decent price for my last one).
If you find one that's not a basket case, I recommend that you buy it. If you hate it, I'll buy it from you probably.
What's the INGO collective wisdom about a pre-B CZ-75?
Reporting as ordered sir!
They are among my favorite guns to shoot. As LEaSH mentioned above, I was lucky enough to pick up 3 when they could be found cheaply and refurbished them all. Two of them went to my son's for Christmas presents and the third is still mine. I was able to take it out for a bit of exercise yesterday and even though it was a cold, wet Halloween, it was still a great time shooting it. The big difference between the B and the pre-B are in sights, trigger guard, mags and the firing pin safety. The firing pin safety is not something I feel strongly about either way. My Compact 75B has one and it works fine and my pre-B does not have one and it also works fine as well. Personally, I prefer the rounded trigger guard of the pre-B over the contour of the B but it really does not make a huge difference. The mags can be a pain since the pre-B has a slightly smaller mag well and most B mags will not fit without modification of the frame. The modification is not hard to do and once done, opens the pre-B guns up to many more mags. All of mine have been modified and work well with the MecGar 16 rounders but for some reason don't like the MecGar 17 rounders. I have not checked lately, but a little while ago, CZ released new pre-B 16 round magazines with a nice rubber end plate for around $25 each. Those make the pre-Bs more attractive as you can buy fresh mags with a 16 round capacity that work just fine in unmodified pre-B CZs.
The sights present a bigger issue if you are a fan of night sights. The front sight on the pre-B guns are milled into the slide and would require significant modification to addapt a dovetailed night sight. There is not much metal there to cut a dovetail into and it could affect the hardened area around the muzzle. The rear sight may or may not be a stock CZ dovetail depending on the year of manufacture. My '88 has a smaller dovetail where as my son's '92 and '89 both have the later style. That said, the sights on the pre-B are actually very good. The front sight is finely milled with a slot cut that takes nail polish very well. The aft face of the front sight is angled and when the slot if filled with bright yellow nail polish, it is among the best of the sights I have on any of my pistols. The rear sight is a two dot type that works well enough for me. Lately, I run with the yellow front and blacked out rear sights and find it pretty easy to pick the front sight up. While at the range yesterday, I was comparing shooting my pre-B CZ, CZ 75B Compact, Glock 19 and Glock 27 with a 9mm conversion barrel and found that even though the Glock 19 and 27 both have XS Big Dots, I could shoot the pre-B faster and more accurately than either.
Aftermarket support for the pre-B is pretty much the same as it is for the later guns. Both of my son's pre-B CZs sport full SAO conversions, adjustable sears and competition hammers. Sooner or later, my pre-B will get CajunGunWorks love as well.
Here's my pre-B as bought:
Here's as it is today: