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Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:37 am
by NOIDCO
I would like to share with everyone a little mishap I had with a brand new Century Arms VZ 2008 I have. A few weeks ago I recieved a VZ 2008 in a trade it was brand new and had never been shot,(still in the box). The instruction dvd that normaly comes with the rifle was missing and I was told it did not come with the gun. So, I went on line to get some basic field stripping information. After I found out how to dissasemble the rifle I did a through cleaning of it and reassembled it. It was a couple of weeks before I was able to get to the range to try it out. When I did go to the range I loaded the two provided mags with Russian Golden Tiger 123gr 7.62/39 ammo. I hung my targets at 25 and 50 yds just to see how the new vz shot. I racked a mag in, charged the rifle and squezzed the trigger. BOOM, somthing was not right. The bolt dust cover had blown out and up about 1/4 inch, the mag that still had 29 rounds in it was doubled in girth with all the rounds blew to the lower portion of the mag. Small bits of broken cartrige case were all over the rifle with the cartrige case head on the ground next to me. I checked myself to make sure I was ok. My range session was over so I took the vz home to figure out what happened. I found a parts break down on the CZeck Point web site and found the problem right away! The bolt lock was missing. It came from Century with out it. So the rifle fired with an unlocked bolt. I feel very lucky that I did not get injured.
I called Century as soon a I could to see what they would do about it and they said they needed to see the rifle to make a determinnation to repair it or replace it . Century did pay for the Postage from UPS.
The reason I am writing this is a warning, SAFETY is very very important with firearms! Know the firearm well before you pull the trigger. Do not assume that all the nessary parts are there as I found out. Use safety glasses(I was not this time and I am lucky I am not blind).
I also want to be clear that I in know way put any blame on the person I got the VZ from he is a good guy and would never tradded me if he knew the rifle had an issue.
I am sure Century Arms will make this right with me. A big outfit like them will not survive if they do not have exelent customer service. I will know in a week or so how things are going after they recieve the rifle and inspect it. I will post the outcome of this story as it unfolds.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:20 am
by Sig-aholic
WOW!!!! Thank goodness you didn't get hurt or killed.. I hope everything works out okay with Century.. Good Luck

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:31 am
by NOIDCO
Thanks, It realy scared the hell out me.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:45 am
by hags
Scary Noidco. How would you know the lock was missing (bet you know now) ? I guess I'm as bad as the next person for not inspecting every part of a new (or new to me) weapon beyond the cursory cleaning. Glad your OK.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:53 am
by bladebum
Wow! Glad you're ok... Thanks for the post.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:31 am
by ron
"Monkey not install Bolt Lock, Gun go Boom".

I had a Cetme from CIA that failed to feed and sent it back and they fixed it, no problem. I had sent along a note with a SASE asking them to please tell me what exactly the problem was and what they did to fix it, but apparantly they are the strong, silent, types of people who ain't got time to talk about what it was they buggered up in the first place and what size hammer was used to rectify the oversight.

But still, bottom line was they fixed the gun so that it goes bang every time I pull the trigger and did so for no charge and with a short turn-around, so such is life.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2010 3:13 pm
by ron
Didn't mean to offend any simians among us.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:04 pm
by Stiff
The potential to assemble the bolt and ignite a cartridge without the locking block in place has always concerned me about the VZ-58 platform. The rifle overall is a very stalwart design that offers many features not found on similar rifles,but the Czechs seemingly missed the mark in not having a means to interrupt the firing pin or make assembly impossible without the locking block as a "fail safe". That being said, do not let this experience turn you off from the rifle itself-it is a wonderful platform!

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2010 11:24 pm
by kelevra
I was very close to getting one last year until someone talked me out of it. THe Czech VZ 58 is really accurate and has a dependable build but doesnt run cheap. So a century vz through centerfire inc. seems so tempting. Here's some opinions on the Century VZ http://www.czforumsite.info/index.php?topic=32415.0

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 9:00 pm
by NOIDCO
The rifle looked great nice machining,fit and finish. I bet they will send me a new one after double checking it for ALL THE PARTs. I hope they will send me some extra mags or a bayonet or both for my trouble! I am mostly upset about being without the rifle for how ever long it takes to clear this up

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 11:26 am
by ron
Most likely the best you can hope for is that they'll make sure the gun works before they send it to you. I doubt very much that they'll shower you with gifts by way of an apology much less even sending you a note saying sorry for sending out a buggered-up firearm in the first place. The problem is they are so busy fixing their own Fk-ups they don't have time to be writing letters of apology uch less sendign out a batch of goodies for every gun they have to fix.

This kind of thing happens all to often with century but generally they are pretty good about fixing their own F**k-ups and doing it with a reasonable turn-around time. Century's problem, #1, is that they deal in a huge volume of guns needing to be cobbled together from parts because of ASININE BATF Regs, and this will never stop until we elect a majority of conservativee Republicans who will take action to both reform and de-fund the BATF. All a Democrat majority can ever be expected to do is to support more regualtion and increased funding for that rogue agency.

And #2, in addition to the above, there aren't enough expereinced gunsmiths to do the work and this is in part because gun nuts like ourselves are shy about supporting our local gunsmiths and as a result of that in addition to all the ever-increasing BATF BS that gunsmiths have to deal with, the trade is dying out and fewer people are going into the business, and that's why Century has no choice but to hire inebriated simians to assemble their guns

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:49 am
by NOIDCO
My vz2008 has been back at Century for a week now without them telling me what they are going to do with it. I am starting to think that they have some Piss Poor Customer service. I am going to call them in the morning to see whats going on with it. They must have a huge volume of repairs to deal with.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:07 pm
by RLHas
It is a real bummer when stuff like that happens huh?

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:22 pm
by Kolat
fyi, century is the ford of gun makers :-)

T

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:33 pm
by SGTAnnounce
Kolat wrote:fyi, century is the ford of gun makers :-)

T


"Ford brand now has the highest initial quality among all non-luxury brands, according to J.D. Power’s closely watched Initial Quality Study " 06/2010

Maybe Daewoo?

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:50 pm
by NOIDCO
Century called today! They are going to replace the rifle and offered 500 rounds of ammo for my trouble.I am happy with that. They are sending somthing I will have to sign have noterized than send back, so I am still a few weeks out(oh well). This is what good customer service is all about.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:06 pm
by Stiff
Excellent! This is the outcome I was hoping to hear! At least the 500 rounds will soften the temporary loss somewhat :D

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:01 pm
by NOIDCO
I called Century today and asked them when I can expect my replacement vz(they have had my blown up one since Aug 7) They said that will try to test fire the replacement sometime next week before they send it back to me. I can't believe how slow they are. Its nice of them to give me a half case of ammo but its been over a month since they recieved my old rifle. I do not ever see myself buying anything else from Cenury beacause of the time that they are taking to fix their F.U.

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 6:14 pm
by NOIDCO
Century e-mailed me today they have finaly shipped my replacement rifle. I should have it by next Tuesday. I will let you all know how the replacment rifle turns out. They test fired the new one this time. Its been 5 weeks since I sent hem the FUBARed rifle .

Re: Century Vz 2008 accident

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:50 pm
by NOIDCO
The replacement finaly came today. I am a bit dissapointed with this one the fit of the stock and fore arm are a bit loose, the first one was nice and tight.Also they switched finishes this one has been parkerized but it looks nice. They did test fire the new rifle before they sent it with crosive ammo and did not clean it when they were done so it was showing some rust on the bolt and piston,but I was able to clean it off without any premenant dammage to the parts. The good news is that its all there and even came with a booklet this time. I am happy that this ordeal is over and I can finaly enjoy the VZ. I have learned a good lesson here to allways know the fire arm is complet and functions properly, don't assume its ok just beacause it came out of a box.

I DID GET THE HALF CASE OF AMMO AND THATS COOL