MemphisMechanic

Good to know that we're in the same ballpark. Also, you're not kidding. Even when you can pull the gun down to a bare frame and have it back together in 5 minutes after a ton of repetitions? All that time testing launch heights and trigger weights adds up.

Well they cannot seem to make two 8lb recoil springs that are the same number of coils and wire diameter as each other, so...

There isn't one. You're looking for something that isn't there. This isn't like a Glock where a light recoil spring and heavy striker spring can result in issues staying in battery.

I was looking at the witness steel fullsize 9mm for $330 as a beater/IDPA legal gun when I feel like slumming it... But it's only a few ounces heavier than the Witness P fullsize. (30 vs 33 ounces) and that's not enough to really affect how it handles. Hmm...

When you bend the original decapping pin due to a .22 case or the like sneaking in there, install one of the hardened pins from Squirrel Daddy. Theyre a serious upgrade.

You can also adjust the FCD to behave like a traditional crimp die. Run the neck-crimping part down and thread the die body out to return it to the same "barely straightens the belling back out" setting it was at beforehand. But for simplicity's sake if you have the factory Dillon die around, I'd just install that.

Gun in question is a Stock 3. It tends to have pull weights a bit heavier than some of the guys in this forum are getting. In full disclosure: All hammer springs used were brand new and we're supplied by @PatriotDefense for this set of tests. For the following the gun is fitted with: All PD internal springs. Titan. Bolo. Patriot heavy firing pin. 1pc sear. 10 lb PD hammer spring: 4/11 DA 2/4.5 SA 20.5" pencil launch 12 lb PD hammer spring: 5/4 DA 2/12 SA 22.0" pencil launch 13 lb PD hammer spring: 5/14 DA 3/2 SA 25.0" pencil launch with factory firing pin: " " 22.5" pencil launch 14 lb PD hammer spring: 6/3 DA 3/2 SA 25.0" pencil launch with factory firing pin: " " 22.5" pencil launch 15.5 PD hammer spring: 6/14 DA 3/2 SA 26.5" pencil launch EG Light hammer spring: (~13.8 lb.) 5/8 DA 2/9 SA 24.0" pencil launch EG Med hammer spring: (~16.5 lb.) 8/4 DA 3/5 SA 31" pencil launch Wolff 13 lb hammer spring: 6/8 DA 2/12 SA 23" pencil launch Wolff 14 lb hammer spring: 6/13 DA 2/13 SA 24" pencil launch Then I decided to set the gun up how I might have done two years ago, when most of the aftermarket internals weren't available: PD 15.5lb spring, factory hammer & disco, "clicky pen" plunger spring: 5/1 DA 2/6 SA 29.5" pencil launch Other interesting test results: Replacing the plunger spring with a spring out of a clicky pen is a popular mod. It pulls about half a pound off the DA depending on hammer spring weight, but did result in a much less crisp trigger. Particularly during reset. It also allowed my hammer to fall at half-cock when the trigger was pulled, like a very short-stroked DA. 15.5lb PD spring with factory hammer and disco, instead of titan & BOLO resulted in 2.5" less pencil launch height. The Titan does indeed seem to hit a bit harder. Is it $112 worth of better? That's up to you to decide. I've been running an EGW Medium spring for 2,000+ rounds now. It is 3/16" shorter than the brand new one used in these tests, and resulted in a DA trigger pull of 6/2. It's more than two pounds lighter.

You're wishing your gun had a crisper trigger due to hammer/sear interaction. While knowing that your gun has a two-piece sear and that a cleaner, crisper single-piece is readily available... ...See where I'm going with this? Personally I'd wait until I had a single piece sear, bolo disconnector, and extended firing-pin block on hand. Shoot the gun as it is until that time. Then you can fit all of those along with a deep polishing and only have to mess with the gun one more time. (Also, did you use my Tanfoglio Tuning YouTube series as a guide? Any feedback on them?)

Oh and once you learn it... Then you get to learn it strong hand only. And weak hand only. And in hard leans around walls.

Personally I couldn't stand having to flip the gun in my hand to punch the mag catch. You're the second M/GM I've heard say that about scales, though. The other one wanted meat where their weak palm sits. Up high. ...And then on the other hand, I know a couple equally skilled shooters who run the EGDs because they like the gun thin from top to bottom. It's almost like humans come equipped with a wide variety of hand shapes.

Number your magazines with a sharpie if you haven't, but my money is on some sort of grip issue slowing the slide, or not sufficiently anchoring the gun in place at speed. Concentrate on consistently placing your thumbs in the right spot on the draw. Along with crushing the gun with your weak hand grip as hard as you reasonably can.

Try swapping the followers out of the full size mags

I've chosen my MR procedure just to avoid potentially being hassled by such guys. Draw, sight pictures, trigger presses, etc. Complete a full speed reload and present the gun again, finger off trigger. Pull it back. Rack / presscheck if you feel inclined, manually decock, holster, replace 1st mag, assume start position. Your mileage may vary. But this works for me and I don't have to wonder if an RO is going to get annoyed by it. One less thing to have on your brain with an unknown RO at a major looking over your shoulder. I personally don't see a reason to hassle shooters for inserting the mag first when the rules don't prohibit it in crystal clear terms. If they mess up and crank a round into T1 while "dry firing" they go home. Simple as that. ...As long as their gun handling is safe.

Minimum tools required: Cheap Harbor Freight spotblasting gun Sandblasting media $50ish airbrush (or automotive paint gun) An oven big enough to fit whatever you're going to be coating. Youre certainly not going to do one handgun and save over the cost of sending it to a shop that does them all the time, but for those of us who enjoy working on our own guns? I pretend I break even each time I cerakote one of mine.

@JusticeOfToren you're correct. The scales are thin up too, as visible here on my gun: That's my favorite thing about their profile: at the mag release pathway your thumb uses they're almost as thin as the bare frame. If the Patriot grips don't come that way, mine are definitely feeling the kiss of the belt sander. Wont stop me from picking a set up, though!

I can't wait for the first time I'm asked: "What IS that thing...?" "Oh. It's a Shadow 3. You don't have one?"

Ran flawlessly in our match this weekend. I even guesstimated the rear sight within 4 clicks total windage/elevation at 25 yards! I finally got around to shooting some decent images of the refinished gun:

An even bigger one is grip. When you train yourself to really really grip the gun hard as heck then you can go a full recoil spring weight or two lower - if desired - without losing any reliability.

This would likely have been at a really big match. I've had guns weighed and slides stripped off and firing pin blocks checked, at exactly two really big IDPA matches. It's still uncommon over there, but it does happen. It doesn't require knowledge of a Tanfoglio. CZs are common enough and function the same, and anyone who knows even a little bit about guns is going to know what that button is for when they pull the slide off.

The scales are roughly two-thirds as thick as the factory grips at the bottom, and even thinner than the EGD Extremes at the top - there's absolutely no difficulty reaching the magazine release. Until @PatriotDefense comes out with their polymer grips which have a palm swell? These are my 100% favorite profile of grip. The upcoming polymer grips I hope will be perfect - if they can be belt-sanded down to my preferred contour and then stippled with a soldering iron to provide aggressive grip.

That was true back when it was done by hand at HQ. It's fully automated now and is run weekly. The results will be up when you wake up on Wednesday.

There is no need for that. It is within the RO's responsibility / power to adjust the steel on their bay to keep it properly set. Like @motosapiens said, they should be aggressive in adjusting it throughout the day to keep it reliable and consistent. This was spelled out explicitly by DNROI in a recent letter which was published in Front Sight, as many RO's mistakenly believe they aren't allowed to touch popper settings during the match without the RM's explicit say so. An RM is needed only for formal calibration calls made by a competitor.

I have the same setup you do, and had to do a fair bit of fitting. Most don't, but I did. I say a fair bit because I only removed a few thousandths but did so very slowly with lots of frequent checking to see if they contacted. Painting both parts with a sharpie then looking to see if that gets worn silver is helpful.

Buy some of the badass LOK's for the CZ guns.

And is that supposed to say "WANT to go to 9mm?" (from .40 presumably?)