ESSENTIAL FIREARM SAFETY GUIDELINES

These firearm safety guidelines have been prepared by Zenith Firearms, based upon currently available information. They are provided to you as a courtesy and in the interest of furthering safety. These guidelines are not comprehensive, nor do they modify or replace rules, recommendations, standards, or regulations made by legal authorities or manufacturers.

The 3 Most Important Firearms Safety Rules.

1. Always handle a firearm as if it is loaded Even if you determine that a firearm is unloaded, always, always, always handle it like it IS loaded. When you handle a firearm, the first thing you should do (with the firearm pointed in a safe direction), is open the action to identify whether the firearm is loaded. If you do not know how to open the action, do not handle the firearm. And remember, removing a magazine alone does not make a firearm unloaded, as there may be a round in the chamber.
2. Always keep your finger out of the trigger guard and off the trigger until you are ready to shoot your target Do not place your finger inside the trigger guard until you have placed a firearm’s sights on your target and have decided to fire. The best place to rest your finger in the meantime is above the trigger guard along the frame. By waiting until you are aimed at your target, if the trigger were to be pressed, you will guarantee that a shot will travel safely in the direction of your intended target.
3. Always keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction, before and beyond your target It is important to identify your actual target, but it is just as important to know what lies past and before your target. A safe direction is any direction where an unintentional discharge or miss will not cause injury or damage. In determining a safe direction, remember that a round can ricochet off an object like a floor, water or wall, or go through walls, floors, ceilings, and windows. Whether in a house or outdoors, the safest direction is the muzzle angled down toward the floor. And never point at or cross the muzzle of a firearm (loaded or unloaded) at any part of any person’s body— the laser rule!

BEFORE SHOOTING

• With the safety on, the pistol cannot fi re. Set the safety lever “on” (Picture 1) and in this position the red dot on the slide is completely hidden.
• Prior to use, be sure that the chamber is empty and the barrel is free from any obstructions (Picture 2).
• If you do not intend to fi re the pistol, keep your fi ngers off the trigger. Always check the loaded chamber indicator (Picture 3) to see if it is loaded or unloaded (if applicable). If red is visible, the fi rearm is not safe.

FUNCTION CHECKS
• Be sure that the pistol is unloaded and the magazine is empty before starting any function checks (Pictures 2, 3, 4).

SHOOTING IN SINGLE ACTION MODE

• Point the pistol at the target.
• Rotate the safety/decocking lever
upward with your thumb.
• When you are ready to fi re, cock
the hammer (Picture 9) and pull the
trigger to fi re (Picture 10).
• Alternate method: With fi nger off
trigger, use off hand thumb to cock hammer

SHOOTING IN DOUBLE ACTION MODE

• Point the pistol at the target.
• Rotate the safety/decocking lever upward with your thumb. If the hammer is decocked (Picture 11), pulling the trigger completes the fi rst action of cocking the hammer completely and the second action of letting the hammer drop and strike the fi ring pin. This is what is meant by a double action trigger system.
• After the fi rst shot, the pistol fi res sequential rounds in single action mode. The longer and heavy double action trigger pull is considered a safety feature because it also helps reduce the likelihood of an unintentional discharge.
• After the last round in the magazine is fi red, the slide remains open and locked to the rear (Picture 12). To continue fi ring, remove the empty magazine and insert a loaded magazine.
• Press the slide release lever, or pull the slide to the rear and release the slide to load the chamber (Picture 13).

UNLOADING THE PISTOL

• The pistol can still be loaded even when the magazine is removed.
• Point the barrel of the pistol in a safe direction.
• Press the magazine release button to take the magazine out.
• Pull the slide back to remove the cartridge from the chamber.
• Release the slide back to the front, after ensuring that the chamber is empty
(visually and physically ensure there is not a cartridge in the chamber).
UNLOADING THE MAGAZINE
• Push the cartridge forward until releasing from the magazine.
• Continue this until extracting all the cartridges from the magazine

CLEANING THE PISTOL

Cleaning and oiling the barrel:
• Spray a little gun oil on the brush.
• Insert the brush into the barrel from breach or chambered end (Picture 19).
• Brush the inside of the barrel by pushing forward and backwards.
• Wipe the inside of the barrel with a clean and dry patch until the patch comes out clean (Picture 20).
• Clean the barrel locking block with the brush sprayed with protective oil (Pictures 21 and 22). If necessary, you can apply oil lightly to the outside of the barrel by passing a clean cotton patch soaked in protective oil through it (Picture 23). Cleaning the slide and oiling:
• Clean the slide with the oiled brush (Picture 24).
• Lightly oil the slide.
• A good method is to allow a drop of oil to flow down the slide rails by gravity (Picture 25).

DISASSEMBLY OF THE PISTOL

Make sure that the pistol is unloaded before disassembly of the pistol.
• Take the magazine out by pressing the magazine release button.
• Press the disassembly latch release button which protrudes from the right side of the pistol with the index finger (Picture 14).
• While you are pressing the button, rotate the disassembly latch on the left side of the frame with the thumb 90° clockwise (Picture 15). Move the slide forward with the barrel, locking block, recoil spring and recoil spring guide rod (Picture 16).
• While slightly pressing the recoil spring and spring guide, move forward, lift and take out the recoil spring and guide from the slide (Picture 17). Be careful, the recoil spring and guide are under tension. Press barrel locking block plunger and take out the barrel with locking block from the slide (Picture 18).