# SAR K12 upgrades



## Jessie James 58 (Aug 30, 2019)

Dose anyone know of a good gunsmith that will work on a K12? I am looking for a good gunsmith to install a front barrel bushing on my SAR K12. I have contacted Cajun gun works and they said that they are not interested SO here I am. 
I am one of those people that feel something can be better, more accurate etc. and many of my guns reflect that. I love the SAR K12, it is very close to my SAO CZ Shadow 2 in shooting and accuracy. I have LOC grips on both, Spring kits in both, I have installed a tighter barrel bushing in the CZ, both have polished triggers set at 2 1/4# let off. I still want to install a tight barrel bushing and a fiber optic front sight on the SAR K12.
I would like to see just how close they would shoot in comparison to one another? Any help would be appreciated .


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Jessie James 58 said:


> Dose anyone know of a good gunsmith that will work on a K12? I am looking for a good gunsmith to install a front barrel bushing on my SAR K12. I have contacted Cajun gun works and they said that they are not interested SO here I am.
> I am one of those people that feel something can be better, more accurate etc. and many of my guns reflect that. I love the SAR K12, it is very close to my SAO CZ Shadow 2 in shooting and accuracy. I have LOC grips on both, Spring kits in both, I have installed a tighter barrel bushing in the CZ, both have polished triggers set at 2 1/4# let off. I still want to install a tight barrel bushing and a fiber optic front sight on the SAR K12.
> I would like to see just how close they would shoot in comparison to one another? Any help would be appreciated .


I guess you could try CZ Custom? I don't believe that the SAR K12 has a removable barrel bushing? Or that there are any aftermarket bushings available for that gun? That being the case you'd have to have one made or see if a CZ bushing would work. At any rate the work involved may cost more than the gun itself. That may be the reason why Cajun Gun Works is not interested in performing the work. You should probably use a Ransom Rest to find the difference in accuracy between the SAO CZ Shadow 2 and the SAR K12 as is before spending the money it will take to alter the SAR K12. That is if you can find someone to do the work. In all of the years I've owned CZ's I've never had the chance to even handle or buy a SAR K12. I've only seen pictures, they look like pretty nice guns that are well worth the money. 

I'm a big fan of CZ's, did a bunch of work on them myself and bought parts from both CZ Custom and Cajun Gun Works. I've taken them all completely apart and polished out all of the necessary bearing surfaces inside and out. Not that they needed it, but CZ's are kinda' rough from the factory when it comes to machining and tool marks. However it does not affect their reliability as they work straight outta' the box. Except for my Shadow 2 DA/SA and Omega they all felt a little gritty. I also have an EAA Witness .45 at around $500 it is probably the best deal for a .45 DA/SA semi auto. Earlier models had problems with the slides cracking. EAA ended up changing the slide design for a beefed up one such as the one I have.

The DA/SA de-cocker models are the hardest of the CZ's to work on. Specifically getting the sear cage assembly back together. Nearly impossible unless you have a set of slave pins. I made my own by cutting down old drill bits to the proper size. Even then it was somewhat time consuming.


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## Jessie James 58 (Aug 30, 2019)

desertman said:


> I guess you could try CZ Custom? I don't believe that the SAR K12 has a removable barrel bushing? Or that there are any aftermarket bushings available for that gun? That being the case you'd have to have one made or see if a CZ bushing would work. At any rate the work involved may cost more than the gun itself. That may be the reason why Cajun Gun Works is not interested in performing the work. You should probably use a Ransom Rest to find the difference in accuracy between the SAO CZ Shadow 2 and the SAR K12 as is before spending the money it will take to alter the SAR K12. That is if you can find someone to do the work. In all of the years I've owned CZ's I've never had the chance to even handle or buy a SAR K12. I've only seen pictures, they look like pretty nice guns that are well worth the money.
> 
> I'm a big fan of CZ's, did a bunch of work on them myself and bought parts from both CZ Custom and Cajun Gun Works. I've taken them all completely apart and polished out all of the necessary bearing surfaces inside and out. Not that they needed it, but CZ's are kinda' rough from the factory when it comes to machining and tool marks. However it does not affect their reliability as they work straight outta' the box. Except for my Shadow 2 DA/SA and Omega they all felt a little gritty. I also have an EAA Witness .45 at around $500 it is probably the best deal for a .45 DA/SA semi auto. Earlier models had problems with the slides cracking. EAA ended up changing the slide design for a beefed up one such as the one I have.
> 
> ...


The SAR K12 dose not have a Barrel bushing, as such there is some movement of the barrel upon firing (not much, but some. Both the CZ Shadow 2 and the K12 shoot very well with the CZ being a little more accurate (using a bench rest, 124 grain target ammo, and a much better shooter than me at 20 yards) shooting a 5 shot group the CZ will shoot a 1/2 in tighter group (1 1/2 in group).That means the ASR K12 shoots a 2in group at 20 yards. I would like to bring that down to 1 1/2 in if I can.
PS very nice looking guns, congrats!


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Jessie James 58 said:


> The SAR K12 dose not have a Barrel bushing, as such there is some movement of the barrel upon firing (not much, but some. Both the CZ Shadow 2 and the K12 shoot very well with the CZ being a little more accurate (using a bench rest, 124 grain target ammo, and a much better shooter than me at 20 yards) shooting a 5 shot group the CZ will shoot a 1/2 in tighter group (1 1/2 in group).That means the ASR K12 shoots a 2in group at 20 yards. I would like to bring that down to 1 1/2 in if I can.
> PS very nice looking guns, congrats!


Thank you!!

I also have an HK VP9 L at the end of the barrel there's milled groove that accepts an "O" ring. The purpose of the ring is to take up that small amount of play for a tighter lockup. You may want to consider having a similar sized groove milled into the barrel of your SAR K12 and use the "O" rings from HK? The groove is not very deep and I doubt that it would compromise the integrity of your barrel. If it gives you any issues you can always remove the "O" ring. If you do go that route I'd suggest ordering the "O" rings first. This way you can get an idea if they are the right circumference or not. Those "O" rings are pretty cheap. HK 9mm Barrel O-Ring For Thread Protector - Black - HKParts If so you could have your barrel machined to accept them. Or just see if you can buy another barrel and have that one altered while leaving your original intact.

Anyway it's just an idea and would be a lot cheaper than having your slide machined to fit an existing bushing if you can find one that would work. Not too mention having a bushing made from scratch to fit your slide and barrel.


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## Jessie James 58 (Aug 30, 2019)

That is a very interesting idea. I am going to look into that some more both from the barrel and may bee a metal ring inside the slide, THANK YOU.. I am one of those people that want a gun to be all it can be, as far as accuracy and reliability goes. Many people would be happy with the 2 in accuracy, I know K12 can do better. The real problem is there is very little aftermarket parts for the K12. Which is a shame, it is a very good gun with a lot of promise. I am trying to make it the equal of the CZ Shadow 2. I love my CZ rifles and pistols, their SAR counterparts, EAA comp pistols, Sig P210 and the S&W 5906 comp pistols I shoot. I really value firearms that hit what you aim at.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Jessie James 58 said:


> That is a very interesting idea. I am going to look into that some more both from the barrel and may bee a metal ring inside the slide, THANK YOU.. I am one of those people that want a gun to be all it can be, as far as accuracy and reliability goes. Many people would be happy with the 2 in accuracy, I know K12 can do better. *The real problem is there is very little aftermarket parts for the K12. Which is a shame, it is a very good gun with a lot of promise.* I am trying to make it the equal of the CZ Shadow 2. I love my CZ rifles and pistols, their SAR counterparts, EAA comp pistols, Sig P210 and the S&W 5906 comp pistols I shoot. I really value firearms that hit what you aim at.


I hear you, and that is indeed a real problem. I do a lot of work on my own guns and there's always times when I think: "I wish they made this or that for any particular gun". Especially guns that are extremely popular. Sarsilmaz has been making firearms since the mid 1800's. They also supply the Turkish military. Why they haven't caught on in the US market is beyond me? But that may be changing as their market opens up. Canik another Turkish manufacturer has only been on the US market for about 10 years now and have become very popular. You can now get parts and accessories for them. From what I understand is that Canik supplies Turkish law enforcement agencies. 

The K12 certainly is a nice looking gun that's for sure as is their entire line of pistols. Especially at the price that they're selling for. At least in my area of Arizona, I've only seen one Sarsilmaz on dealer's shelves, a polymer framed SAR9 and that was only recently. It looks like their version of HK's VP 9 at a lower price. 

CZ's have been pretty popular on the US market for quite some time and there are more of them out there. EAA's Tanfoglio Witness series have been used by competitive shooters for quite some time too. Therefore it's profitable for company's to make aftermarket parts for them.

Because of the lack of parts availability I would be hesitant to do any major alterations to that pistol, especially the slide. As you may not be able to get another one other than buying an entire gun. Machining a shallow groove in the barrel to accommodate an "O" ring would be a relatively minor alteration and would not affect the integrity of the barrel or slide. Any gunsmith with a lathe or a machine shop would probably be able to do that at very little cost. If it works for HK I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work for your K12 as well. But like I said earlier first get the "O" ring before having any work done to the barrel. This way you'll know if it's the proper size and the machinist or gunsmith will be able to machine a groove to accommodate it.


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## Jessie James 58 (Aug 30, 2019)

I wish to thank you, This post gave me a new direction to think about. The K12 is almost an exact copy of an EAA Comp Witness gun (parts are a drop in). I might be able to purchase a EAA barrel and get what I want with little reworking. I just need to get some specs for 9MM (my 2 EAA comp guns are both 10MM). Again GOOD JOB.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Jessie James 58 said:


> I wish to thank you, This post gave me a new direction to think about. The K12 is almost an exact copy of an EAA Comp Witness gun (parts are a drop in). I might be able to purchase a EAA barrel and get what I want with little reworking. I just need to get some specs for 9MM (my 2 EAA comp guns are both 10MM). Again GOOD JOB.


You're always welcome my friend!

It's always a pleasure to help a brother in arms. You really don't want to make any major modifications on a gun that's hard to find replacement parts for. If it doesn't work you're screwed. At least with a groove machined into your barrel and the "O" ring installed. If it doesn't work you can just remove the "O" ring and your gun will be back to its original state, except of course for the groove in your barrel. But that shouldn't affect the original slide to barrel lock up.

You never know. It's possible that EAA and Sarsilmaz share the same barrels and both of those barrels are manufactured by the same outside source? I don't have an answer for that. I know that CZ and EAA do not have interchangeable parts except for some of the magazines depending on the particular model. I have a CZ 97 B and it uses the same magazines as my EAA Witness .45 only the base plates are different.

I'm not sure if manufacturers of cloned pistols have to make certain changes to their pistols to avoid patent issues? If that's the case then most of the parts would not be interchangeable. If they make an exact copy they probably would have to pay royalties and licensing fees to the original manufacturer. That's just my guess, but I'm not a patent attorney or even a plain old shyster lawyer. There are God only knows how many different manufacturers of the Colt 1911. I wonder if they all had to pay royalties and licensing fees to Colt?


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## Jessie James 58 (Aug 30, 2019)

The LOC grips for the K12 are from an EAA Comp gun (exact fit) as well as the sear and spring kit. I am not sure if the barrel is the same and the front sight will not work but at least I can get parts to work with (the trigger and hammer ass. are the same as the K12 also). It would not be the first I have used one guns parts to fix or mod another gun ( I am and old fart and worked with and under a very good local gun smith and I learned a lot about guns). I am afraid my eyes and hands don't work as well as they used to. Again thank you for the thoughts.


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## Michigander (Jul 26, 2021)

Jessie James 58 said:


> Dose anyone know of a good gunsmith that will work on a K12? I am looking for a good gunsmith to install a front barrel bushing on my SAR K12. I have contacted Cajun gun works and they said that they are not interested SO here I am.
> I am one of those people that feel something can be better, more accurate etc. and many of my guns reflect that. I love the SAR K12, it is very close to my SAO CZ Shadow 2 in shooting and accuracy. I have LOC grips on both, Spring kits in both, I have installed a tighter barrel bushing in the CZ, both have polished triggers set at 2 1/4# let off. I still want to install a tight barrel bushing and a fiber optic front sight on the SAR K12.
> I would like to see just how close they would shoot in comparison to one another? Any help would be appreciated .


I looked at installing a bushing, but found it was likely to cost far too much, so I took a little different direction. I drilled and tapped the top of the slide right behind the front sight in 2 places, 45 degrees apart. I inserted flat set screws until they just caused the barrel to bottom-out in the slide. This gave me the same 3-point contact that the the CZ match bushing provides. During recoil, the slide and barrel retract together until unlocking. As soon as the barrel begins to unlock, it drops away from the set screws, so no dragging issues. On my K12, I used 4-40 set screws, but if i did it over, I think I would go up to #6 set screws. Make sure to use flat pointed set screws. I flattened them by drilling and tapping a piece of flat stock, inserting the screws one at a time, and honing on a whetstone.















Pics attached. The pic with the blued barrel is dykem blue to show the screw contact point after 100 cycles.


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## JohnCEa (Jan 20, 2020)

Thank you this really help


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## Michigander (Jul 26, 2021)

No Problem. I also had the barrel re-crowned as I didn't like the looks of the factory job. To be fair to SAR, I don't have any indication that the re-crown made any difference.


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## pewpew (Sep 5, 2021)

I’m actually selling a heavily upgraded version SAR K12 Sport on GunBroker right now: SAR K12 Sport 7 mags and $1000+ of Henning + Patriot Defense USPSA Upgrades - Semi Auto Pistols at GunBroker.com : 910205470

My intention in sharing this is honestly not about selling it but capturing for posterity what upgrades work and which don’t, along with links to all the items. This has been a fun / crazy journey and want to give back to the community.

First: a special shout out to Henning Wallgren (of Henning Group) who patiently helped me at various points on this journey, and who actually has a SAR K12 and could test fit certain items (rather than just guess).

Main Points (I go into more detail later):


Most (not all) internal parts for the Tanfoglio Small Frame will work
Henning Group and Patriot Defense are a great source of upgrades for Tanfoglio
I’ve been told that it’s most similar to a Tanfoglio Witness Elite Limited, but I can’t confirm that

Magazines: takes standard CZ 75 magazines
Rear sight: EAA SUPER SIGHT (LPA/Bomar style)
Front sight: some weird Tanfo-specific thing (you’ll be surprised which Dawson front sight actually works… see below)


What DIDN’T work (so you learn from my mistakes)

Henning Base pads on OEM SAR K12 mags
Issue: They will slide on but they will just pop right off when they hit the ground.
Easy solution: just buy regular Mec-Gar CZ75 mags and put the same Henning Base pads on those. They work perfectly.

Henning extended firing pin (H051-TL X-Long Firing Pin for Tanfoglio, HENNING GROUP - X-Long Firing Pin for Tanfoglio)
Issue: It would have required modification for both length and taper
Easy solution: Patriot Defense has one that just drops in

RedX Gear holster
Issue: really tight fit, and terrible customer service (that’s a whole saga in itself)
Easy solution: modify it or buy a different one (perhaps there are more options now?)



What DID work (so you learn from my successes)

INTERNALS

Henning Group (I ended up with a 2.4 lb trigger)
Flat Trigger System: HENNING GROUP - Flat Trigger System for Tanfoglio
Wolff Hammer Spring - 14lb: HENNING GROUP - Wolff Hammer Spring for Tanfoglio
EGW Prepped Hammer: HENNING GROUP - EGW Prepped Hammer for Tanfoglio
EGW Prepped Sear: HENNING GROUP - EGW Prepped Sear for Tanfoglio

Patriot Defense
Patriot Defense Optimized Firing Pin Spring: Patriot Defense | Tanfoglio Optimized Firing Pin Spring
Patriot Defense Extra Power Extractor Spring: Patriot Defense | Tanfoglio/CZ Extra Power Extractor Spring
Tanfoglio Extractor (11.1): Tanfoglio | Witness Extractor (11.1) (301738)
Tanfoglio Extractor Pin: Tanfoglio | Witness Extractor Pin (11.2) (301739)
Tanfoglio Firing Pin - Extended: Patriot Defense | Tanfoglio Firing Pin - Extended


EXTERNALS

Front Sights: after much research, turns out that a suitable replacement is for the Desert Baby Eagle
Dawson Precision Desert Eagle Baby Eagle Fiber Optic Front Sights (.135" Tall x .125" Wide Ramped Serrated) 050-970: Dawson Precision Desert Eagle Baby Eagle Fiber Optic Front Sights
These are the OEM fiber optic upgrades, but they are always out out of stock: Witness Standard Fiber Optic Front Sight

Rear Sights: EAA SUPER SIGHT (LPA/Bomar style)
OEM is an LPA TRT96TA07: LPA Ghilardi
I wanted to mount a red dot, so went with EGW Red Dot Mount for Trijicon RMR / SRO, Holosun 407c / 507c Mount: Trijicon RMR / SRO, Holosun 407c / 507c Mount for EAA Super Sight

LOK Grips Tanfoglio Palm Swell Bogies (select Small Frame and Short Length): Tanfoglio Palm Swell Bogies
Magazines
Mec-Gar CZ-75 Magazine: HENNING GROUP - Mec-Gar Magazine
Henning Magazine Extension: HENNING GROUP - Henning Group Magazine Extension for CZ 75, Shadow 2 & Dan Wesson DWX Compact
Henning Grams Format Follower Kit: HENNING GROUP - Henning Grams Format Follower Kit for Mec-Gar CZ-75B Small Frame magazines and H141-MC17 pad
In case you’re really set on getting OEM Mags, this is where to get them: SAR-USA by SARSILMAZ Pistol Magazines


FYI… I worked with a gunsmith who is also a competition shooter who understands performance and tuning. In addition to installing and fitting all of these parts, he also

Chamfered outside edge of firing pin hole
Polished breech face and rails
Ramped and polished the feed ramp
Magwell: perfect blending of removal of any edges (see photo)
Overall polish and deburr


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## pewpew (Sep 5, 2021)

Some photos of the aforemoentioned modified SAR K12 Sport


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## whitepaper (Nov 21, 2017)

I am a huge fanboy of SAR for many years now. The machining on the K-12 frame is awesome. In front of you, it looks even better.

However, the finish on the small parts (trigger, sights, safety, slide lock/release) from up close is quite miserable. Worse than what they were doing before, worse than on the CZ. I am planning to change all of these parts. I started by removing the magwell.


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## skipv44 (7 mo ago)

Does anyone have a tutorial on how to remove the sear assembly on a SAR K12 Sport. I want to do a trigger upgrade but cannot find a procedure to remove the assembly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

It is a CZ clone.

I'd go ask at these places and see what you can find...









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## skipv44 (7 mo ago)

Thanks


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## DoubleTapSCSA (23 d ago)

pewpew said:


> I’m actually selling a heavily upgraded version SAR K12 Sport on GunBroker right now: SAR K12 Sport 7 mags and $1000+ of Henning + Patriot Defense USPSA Upgrades - Semi Auto Pistols at GunBroker.com : 910205470 My intention in sharing this is honestly not about selling it but capturing for posterity what upgrades work and which don’t, along with links to all the items. This has been a fun / crazy journey and want to give back to the community. First: a special shout out to Henning Wallgren (of Henning Group) who patiently helped me at various points on this journey, and who actually has a SAR K12 and could test fit certain items (rather than just guess). Main Points (I go into more detail later):
> Most (not all) internal parts for the Tanfoglio Small Frame will work
> Henning Group and Patriot Defense are a great source of upgrades for Tanfoglio
> I’ve been told that it’s most similar to a Tanfoglio Witness Elite Limited, but I can’t confirm that
> ...


 How did you remove the rear sight? Did you need to do any work on the dovetail to fit the optic plate?


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