CZ-1012, You get what you pay for

[Lovellr653]

Wanted to get my dad out goose hunting this year and his old shotgun wasn't rated for steel so i found myself in the market for a no frills auto loader. I've had good luck with CZ in the past and saw they came out with a "1012". Seemed to be loaded with features and at a good price so I picked one up through my local FFL. The gun looked great and was crushing clays reliably, and didn't have any problem eating 3" BBs.

We had a great day for an early season goose hunt and everything was going just about perfect... accept for the 1012, it had nothing but, jams, miss feeds, failure to eject etc. We still ended up dropping 53 Canadas that day. Worked with CZ customer service and they took it back under warranty repair. All seemed well after the "adjusted" the recoil spring and replaced the choke due to deformation. Come to find out these chokes are unique and have no after market options and the 3rd party manufacturer of them has had QC issues. Any ways long story short the gun continued to be plagued with issues and CZ wouldn't buy the gun back or credit me for an exchange. I ended up selling it back to the FFL I purchased it from for pennies on the dollar. After numerous hunts ruined by the malfunctioning gun I decided to buy a Beretta Extreme PLUS... wow what a firearm, I should've lived buy the golden rule...Buy once, cry once. Oh yeah my dad is now hooked on waterfowling again since his long hiatus of 35+ years.

 

[Jordanv1]

Been running the extreme plus for over a year now and it has been a fantastic gun. Shot everything from dove loads to 3.5 inch steel and turkey loads. Been flawless

 

[Lovellr653]

glad to hear, hope I'll be telling the same story after a full hunting season with it.

 

[Wedgy]

I feel your pain I messed with various Remington waterfowl auto loaders and was plagued by the same 3 malfunctions you had. Finally got a SBE 2 and have been trouble free ever since. I still pack a backup Mossberg pump combo as a backup on big trips(28" waterfowl, 22" turkey, 24" rifled slug barrels all for $500). Maybe I just had bad luck but it's best to spend the money on a reliable gun when you're investing so much in the hunt, like travel, decoys, gas, etc. Glad it worked out for you.

 

[Lovellr653]

I like the SBEII and tried finding a used one in decent shape. I was leery of getting a SBEIII due to a lot of complaints that they shoot super high patterns 100/0.

 

[H82MISS]

I've not heard that about the 3rd gen SBE throwing patterns that high. But I do feel the SBE2 is best deal out there. I shot one of the original SBE many years ago, and it worked flawless. Just need to keep clean where the bolt locks up in barrel. Lots of powder residue can make it sluggish, but thats it.

 

[gearguywb]

It is amazing the number of hints that I see ruined in the blind every year due to gun/ammo issues. Terrible for the owners.

I swapped from a SBE2 to an A400 6 years ago due to shoulder surgery and needing less recoil. Never looked back. Gun gets used a lot during duck/goose season and has never let me down

 

[Kanoeking]

I've been running a Winchester SX3 for 5 seasons now. Springs snows through Northern Minnesota/Dakotas ice up. Never a hitch I haven't caused. I've had so much luck with mine that I let my dad run it for a while. He turned around and sold his SBE2 for one and has been using it to hunt sea ducks at his place in Alaska for 3 years without flaws.
Waterfowl hunts are so dependent on quality gear and are easily ruined with the smallest of gear failures. Paying a few bucks more for top tier equipment has been paramount to my success over the years.

 

[Lovellr653]

I've been running a Winchester SX3 for 5 seasons now. Springs snows through Northern Minnesota/Dakotas ice up. Never a hitch I haven't caused. I've had so much luck with mine that I let my dad run it for a while. He turned around and sold his SBE2 for one and has been using it to hunt sea ducks at his place in Alaska for 3 years without flaws.
Waterfowl hunts are so dependent on quality gear and are easily ruined with the smallest of gear failures. Paying a few bucks more for top tier equipment has been paramount to my success over the years.

I agree top tier, reliable equipment is needed for successful hunts. Lesson learned. In college I was hunting a river in mid December, super cold and nasty conditions in upstate NY. My Benelli SuperNova failed me on what would have been an epic hunt (for around here anyways). Best I could conclude was the firing pin slowed up just enough in the cold to Get light primer strikes. I went home empty handed and cold that day; not a single shot was fired.

 

[Kanoeking]

I agree top tier, reliable equipment is needed for successful hunts. Lesson learned. In college I was hunting a river in mid December, super cold and nasty conditions in upstate NY. My Benelli SuperNova failed me on what would have been an epic hunt (for around here anyways). Best I could conclude was the firing pin slowed up just enough in the cold to Get light primer strikes. I went home empty handed and cold that day; not a single shot was fired.

I spent an absolutely bone chilling -10f morning hunting the Mississippi River when all other water was froze up. Almost exact same situation happened to us except that the failure was in the shells. Hevi Steel. We lucked out that none of them squibbed but I fired two shots before I realized that BB's were barely rolling out of the barrel. Two of my friends were with, shooting shells from the same case and both had the same problem. Wrecked what would have been a smash fest on greenheads.

 

[250 GRN PARTITION]

That's too bad the CZ didn't work out. Don't own one but heard CZ had some decent guns.

 

[257WHBY13]

Sorry the shotgun was an lemon. I have an 20 yrs old CZ rifle, not the best wood or finish, but it will shoot cloverleaves if I do my part. Glad your dad enjoys the Waterfowl World.

 

[Lovellr653]

Sorry the shotgun was an lemon. I have an 20 yrs old CZ rifle, not the best wood or finish, but it will shoot cloverleaves if I do my part. Glad your dad enjoys the Waterfowl World.

People seem to love their rifles and they have a good crowd of people that love their pistols. I had a CZ O/U for years and it was a wonderful gun. I think in this case it was a new product and the bugs haven't been worked out yet. The 1012 really does have a lot of potential. Unfortunately I felt the customer service this time around will keep me from purchasing another CZ....

 

[babczech]

Wow! My 1012 and other CZ's have been nothing short of awesome. And customer service is some of the best I've ever experienced.