Century Arms Sting Ray

Beware the bearer of a bad habit. Every time it comes your way it costs time, extra expense, sometimes trouble and there seems to be no way gun owners will ever be 100% cured of carrying the disease they created. They are recovered from having been a garbage can liner. They escape from the open windows of fastmoving cars. They are the primary targets of people sentenced to community service by a local magistrate. They are plastic bags.

Ask any customer service manager working for a manufacturer or importer what they see more often than anything else arriving for factory service. It’s a plastic bag full of gun parts. Now ask the same person in the same position with an Authorized Factory Service Center. Follow those individuals with an instructor at any residential gunsmithing school and any gunsmith who’s been in business over a year. You can even include some members of the American Pistolsmiths Guild. The answer will be eerily similar.

People who buy guns are curious types. If they’ve been purchasing and shooting guns more than 12 months there’s no end to their curiosity, or worse, their self-perceived knowledge. After all, haven’t they been reading all there is to know about guns in one publication after another, or one book after another, for years before they actually took up any aspect of a sport involving them?

Just remember some of the debates you personally have heard take place concerning which rifle, handgun, smoke pole or scattergun is "The Best." Of all these factors it’s probably satisfying an out-of-control curiosity that causes the purchaser of a firearm to open the box and make a stab at totally disassembly of the contents "to see what makes it tick." If not that and not then, it is undoubtedly vanity and the self-perceived knowledge the same action is undertaken soon after the first few rounds have been fired "to make it work better." The results of these activities end up in a plastic bag presented to a local gunsmith and accompanied by a sheepish, "I took it apart to clean it." Or, worse and as likely, "I lost the widget pin when I took it apart to clean it." The first time I came face to face with the new Century Arms Sting Ray pistol was at the SHOT Show this year.

The little 9mm fit my hand like it had been molded to it. That had never happened to me before with any 9mm. The next time I saw one it had been handed over the counter to a longtime acquaintance of mine who had grown his family business as a Law Enforcement dealer into one of the most successful in the NJ-NY-PA tristate area. You guessed it. The pistol was in pieces and in a plastic bag. It wasn’t the first time my LE dealer friend had sought my help.

Previously, it had primarily been in servicing a back-up weapon with which neither the departmental armorer nor dealer’s in-house ‘smith were familiar. This need for my services had no bearing on the abilities of either the armorer or in-house specialist. Departments specify and in most cases purchase the duty weapon to be carried. Backups area different kettle of fish and usually purchased by the individual officer.

An armorer knows the duty weapon inside and out but with all the CCW pistols now on the market I dare say no gunsmith, anywhere, knows all that’s required about every single one of them. That includes your obe-

Carrying things to the plastic bag of loose parts stage generally creates larger problems and greater expense for all concerned. The latch doubles as the anchor point for the latch and trigger bar springs. dient Technical Editor, but because of my responsibilities with the AGA I did have industry contacts my LE dealer friend lacked that pointed me in the right direction. I felt I’d be on pretty safe ground with reassembling the Sting Ray.

I’d worked with Century Arms top techs many times previously in the process of preparing articles to appear here on the firearms they import. I was so wrong. The pistol, just in from Turkey, was so new to the guys up in New Hampshire they hadn’t had any real time to work out their SOP on reassembly. About the best I could learn while still meeting this deadline and the "promise date" given to the pistol’s "plasticizer" was that the Sting Ray is a clone of the CZ-75. This tidbit was more than a little help.

I’d done two articles on the CZ- 75 here in the January and February 2003 issues. Aiding that would be a "Maintenance Manual" for the Sting- Ray that was on its way to me from Century HQ in Florida. At least I’d have a good schematic and parts list to include. As those of you who’ve been with usawhile already know, these articles of mine have initiated take down with field stripping followed by detailed disassembly and, frequently, reassembly tips.

The detailed and reassembly sections have always resulted from consultations with factory technicians and/or engineers. The information they provided became the main substance of my articles and was available exclusively to AGA members. You’ll find no guidance to field stripping a Sting Ray in the text that follows. In this case, that step had In addition, the index mark on the slide (A) must align with an identical mark on the frame in order to field strip and complete final reassembly of the pistol.

To the extreme rear, the firing pin block is very visible A A already been taken by the plasticizer and is readily seen in the pages of an owner’s manual available from Century International centuryarms.com) My full attention to reassembly here, therefore, calls to memory the immortal words spoken to introduce an upcoming segment of the late, much lamented, totally zany Monty Python Television show. And Now For … Something Completely Different Find the frame (1) in the plastic bag.

Study it in the area of its upper, right hand interior. As you can see by the

B Normally, this view would contain and show the firing pin block lever spring, but this spring was missing from the plastic bag having been lost by the "plasticizer." photo of a completed frame, the slide stop spring (10) lives in a slot in the area under study with its curved, "fish hook" end facing forward. See that the spring and its home are reunited. Take a look at the slide stop pin (11). The notch on it serves as a seat for the longer leg of the slide stop spring.

Add to this examination the magazine catch (2). It fits in a kind of key hole cut out located on the left hand side of the grip frame. The catch has two holes in its body. They act as seats for the two legs of the magazine catch spring (3). The spring legs have to be grasped with long nose pliers or in sturdy "closeon-release" tweezers and inserted through the top of the frame in order to install them. The closed upper end of the spring gets positioned over the threaded, center hole in the catch.

Further use of long noses or tweezers help position the closed upper area of the trigger spring (4) over the catch spring. Insert Screw (5) through both springs and turn it C Ainto the catch to secure the assembly in place. Eventually, the trigger bar (7) will be installed in the top of the frame. When it is the hole at the front end of the bar has to align with the bar’s frame hole. Speaking of aligning things reminds me of slave pins. Three to be precise. Might as well get them ready now.

All will be used in the reassembly. Two of the pins will be equal in diameter to the sear pin (17), or 0.118 inches. One of those will equal the total width of the ejector assembly housing (12). The second 0.118 diameter pin will measure 0.413 inches long. A third slave, the assembly assist pin (AAP), equals the trigger pin (9) in length and diameter. You have to keep reminding yourself there are quite a few roll pins in a Sting Ray. They’d all been driven completely out by the plasticizer.

When that occurs, a roll pin will spring open a little. Not very much. Enough, though, to endanger the pin and the surrounding surface when it is re-introduced to its original hole. You can enlist a small drill chuck as a pin vise in these cases. Insert the pin in the chuck jaws so its tip is exposed. Use husky pliers if necessary to tighten in and squeeze the pin. The whole chuck then doubles as a handle to start the pin back into its original hole.

Once the pin can stand on its own, open the chuck and let one from your set of roll pin punches (Brownells) take over from there. Never use anything other than a roll pin drift punch on a roll pin. Returning to the parts still hanging loose, the trigger (6) has to be attached to the trigger bar (7) before they’re installed in the frame. From here on I was more or less restricted to using the previous CZ-75 articles as a reference as the dope contained in the "Maintenance Manual" had pretty much dried up.

Ergo, reassembly of the Sting Ray included a liberal amount of musical slave pins. After matching up the holes in the trigger and trigger bar I joined the parts together temporarily with the AAP. After separating the two parts a little

I placed the trigger spring (8) in its trigger recess. When properly positioned the longer arm of the spring faces the muzzle end of the pistol. Insert a correct size punch into the trigger/bar/spring holes and push out the AAP. The punch has to remain in place to maintain alignment until the subassembly rejoins the frame. Then the trigger pin (9) can push out the punch. You can simplify this, a little, if you take the time and trouble of making up a fourth slave pin.

It will have the diameter of the trigger pin but only be long enough to span the width of the trigger bar once the trigger and spring are in place. Among other things, the fourth pin will eliminate the alignment punch getting in your way when installing the trigger sub assembly. You place the assembly down in the frame from the top, line up the trigger pin hole and install the trigger pin as just described. At least that’s how I finally decided to do it.

Preassemble the hammer (21), hammer strut (23) and disconnector (22). Insert and align all three in the frame. Push the hammer pin (25) through to secure the assembly. In turn, secure the hammer pin with the hammer pin plunger (54). There’s a hole to accommodate the plunger inside the upper rear of the fame. Now’s the time to use it. You may decide to assemble the ejector assembly outside the frame. I did starting with the sear assembly.

Orient the widest part of the sear (16) facing upward and the small leg on its left facing down. Start a short slave pin into the sear far enough to capture the sear spring (15) on it. Position the spring with the short leg facing up and the long leg facing forward. Slide the spring to the right into contact with the sear. Place what you’ve accomplished aside and readdress the ejector assembly. The ejector should be facing forward as you look down on it.

Insert the long slave pin into the sear pin hole on the right side of the housing. Slide the pin in about half way in capturing the firing pin block lever (13). Up Jumps The Devil It’s not shown on the Sting Ray schematic or on the parts list but I couldn’t find a block lever spring. The plastic bag was empty. There was no spring on my bench and none on the floor. A magnetic search confirmed the plasticizer had lost it. This would drastically alter my final disposition of the injured pistol.

In order to complete this article however, I had to figure out how the block lever spring (14) matched up with the lever by relying once again on my CZ-75 articles. There’s a small angular groove on the right side of the lever. The rearward facing spring leg must fit in that groove. As you slide the lever to the right of the housing on the slave pin, bring the leg of the spring into the groove before moving lever and spring any further to the right.

Check for tension by drawing the lever to the rear and releasing it. If the lever fails to snap quickly forward the spring isn’t in the groove. The slave pin may have to be moved away from the left side of the housing to make room for the sear/sear spring pre-assembly you’ve set aside. Hole alignment can be tricky. If it begins to get the best of you play some more musical slave pins. Push out the short one in the sear/sear spring assembly with the longer one carrying the ejector housing components.

The longer slave pin will be pushed out when the sear pin is reinstalled to secure the housing in the frame. Now, the grip frame. Combine the mainspring (26) with the strut (23). Slip the hammer spring plug (27) over both and insert all three in the hole at the bottom rear of the grip frame. Do not push the plug in far enough to hide the pin slot near its base.

Insert the hooked end of the flat spring (29) well into the lower cut-out on the rear grip frame Press down very firmly on the hammer spring plug until you can see daylight through the left grip frame. Install the plug pin (28) and flat spring pin (30). Slide Assembly Insert the extractor spring (43) into its slot on the upper right of the slide. The hole for the extractor pin (45) is located on the underside and has to be lined up with a same size hole in the extractor (44).

I suggest securing this alignment and avoiding any damage to the extractor/extractor spring with the help of a length of small diameter drill rod. The rod must be long enough to extend below the slide after being inserted through the extractor. So positioned, the rod becomes a pathfinder for the extractor pin. Slip the firing pin spring (40) over the firing pin (41). Install the block stop spring (38) in the block stop (39).

Install the firing pin/spring with the forward most flat in the pin aligned with the hole for the firing pin pivot (42). Insert the block/spring into the slide. Push down on the block and forward on the firing pin. Install the firing pin pivot. Release the block. Getting all that done with only two hands is near impossible. Invert the slide and secure it between padded vise jaws. Once the firing pin is installed, add the recoil spring, the barrel, remarry the slide to the frame and secure it with the slide stop.

If the pistol had been complete it would have been returned to its rapist. It wasn’t and it would have been pure insanity on my part to hand it back to the offender. One of the Sting Ray’s basic safety features had been defeated. Being fully aware of that fact there was no way, no how, I could escape serious involvement and liability should anyone suffer an injury with the pistol.

The next stop for the Sting Ray was back to Century Arms for repair with factory parts, test firing and lest we forget, additional shipping and service charges at both ends of the supply line. Plus the extra time required of course. I fear the bad habit of plasticizing will continue to loom large and fully expect to maintain my defensive stance when a plastic bag enters my vicinity. I recommend you all do the same. AG

1 Frame 2 Magazine Catch 3 Magazine Catch Spring 4 Trigger Bar Spring 5 Screw 6 Trigger 7 Trigger Bar 8 Trigger Spring 9 Trigger Pin 10 Slide Stop Spring 11 Slide Stop Pin 12 Ejector 13 Firing Pin Block Lever 14 Ring Pin (?) 15 Sear Spring 16 Sear 17 Sear Pin 18 Safety Detent Spring 19 Safety Latch 20 Safety 21 Hammer 22 Disconnector 23 Main Spring Strut 24 Disconnector Pin 25 Hammer Pin 26 Main Spring 27 Hammer Spring Plug 28 Main Spring Plug Pin Century Arms Sting Ray (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 29 Flat Spring 30 Flat Spring Pin 31 Right Grip Panel 32 Left Grip Panel 33 Grip Screw (2) 34 Slide Stop 35 Slide 36 Rear Sight 37 Ring 38 Firing Pin lock Spring 39 Firing Pin Block Stop 40 Firing Pin Spring 41 Firing Pin 42 Firing Pin Pivot 43 Extractor Spring 44 Extractor 45 Extractor Pin 46 Barrel 47 Recoil Spring Guide 48 Recoil Spring 49 Magazine Body 50 Magazine Follower 51 Magazine Spring 52 Magazine Base Lock 53 Magazine Base 54 Hammer Pin Plunger 55 Front Sight