Are parts as readily available as other models? I've heard that not all Tristar or Carnik handguns are compatible with CZ parts.
the CZ75 is widely cloned and not all clones will have completely compatible parts. this is a fact of life. Tristar can work with several original parts, but you may need to use CZ75 or Canik 55 or Tangfolio Witness or Jericho or Bren, et c parts if you do not have Tristar OEM parts available (Century Arms has the majority of parts IIRC, and the Canik 55 pistol has the highest parts compatibility like pins and springs and i think the compact version uses the same barrel.
they all can largely use the same magazine with minor fitting, and most will take CZ parts like the sights or hammer. if you are worried about parts, just buy a pistol that has more parts out in the wild: the CZ 75.
I'd heard the two were related in the past. I take it Stoegers are pretty decent too?
Stoeger made guns in the past, went out of business and became a name as part of a holding company that was bought by the Chinese, then was bought by Benelli which was then bought by Beretta. they are effectively just an importer now. the Beretta and Stoeger Cougar pistols differ only in minor details, with the Stoeger Cougar being cheaper as it's made in Turkey where COGS is less.
I can't find anything about verdigris'ed ammo on the internet
probably because modern brass cases do not oxidize the same way as they contain more brass (by pecent) as well as cupronickel, zinc, and tin in a gliding metal alloy and virtually no copper at all. old ammunition was usually annealed brass cases formed by a brass/copper alloy which was prone to oxidation. old hands will know this receipe and it works for any verdigris'd copper or brass objects, not just ammo:
1. pour table salt on your workpiece just enough to cover it
2. squeeze about a tea spoon of lemon juice over it, let it turn to a paste (like borax)
3. use the lemon slice to scrub the verdigris away. what you're doing is "reverse plating" the verdigris off the metal.
4. rinse with hot soapy water after a while, dry immediately, and repeat until you like the patina. for just shooting the ammo (i wouldn't reload ammunition that was corroded), scrub until you can't feel any roughness with your fingernail.
5. use vinegar or naval jelly and a polish brush if you want to get some luster back.
the "easy" way is to scrub it all down with Brasso, however that takes a while. the method above you can do a whole can of ammo in an hour, and if you understand that you are electrolyzing and polishing off the corrosion, you will understand the idea of how to speed up the process.
other methods from the 60's include sulfuric acid bath plus scrubbing with hydrogen peroxide and 0000 steel wool. a method from the 1800's was nitric acid...
