Feg wrote:
The polycoat is a plastic, and it is susceptible to anything that will dissolve plastic. Nickel has a copper undercoating between it and the carbon steel, so anything that will dissolve copper can potentially harm the finish.
Most of the things that gobble plastic seem not to be a problem with the most recent versions of the polycoat finishl. And, those materials will play hell with the older polycoat finishes. It is wise to be careful. (When the first brought the CZ-40, it was still an problem, and that wasn't too many years ago.)
As for the nickel finish, I've checked into this, through Angus Hobdell (a CZ employee) on the CZ Forum, and CZ does NOT use a copper base for its nickel plating process; some other gun makers do. (I'm not sure CZ ever did use copper, but it could be an issue with the older guns.) The concern about copper-dissolving cleaners -- an issue I brought up on the CZ forum many years ago -- isn't really an issue with recent CZ guns.
I've had a nickel 85 Combat for about 8-9 years, now, and it still looks like new, and it's been shot and handled a lot. That's not to say there can't be problems with individual guns that got mishandled during the finishing process. The nickel finish will darken a bit from handling, over time, and you'll want to clean it with CZ-approved "Flitz" cleaner/polish, available in most hardware stores. (The cleaning action,with that product, is mostly chemical, not abrasive.)
A matte stainless 85 Combat (with some of the other features found on some the stainless guns, such as the reversible mag release and longer beavertail) would be nice.
