ck1

JMHO, but having owned/shot both, neither the 220 or any of the HK45's would be what I'd be looking at, both are decent but IMO conjure more yawns than smiles. I'd say grab a Cz97 for around $500, then install a lighter $3 hammer-spring and a $65 CZCustoms competition hammer... So good, you may end up leaving your 1911's in the safe...

I don't agree, with an 11lb recoil-spring the Shadow Customs are sprung perfectly for loads 125-135pf IMO. You hear/read a lot of chatter out there about frame-battering and such, but in truth, it's actually an extremely rare occurrence, and there isn't really anything to worry about. If a CZ isn't filthy dirty and the rounds are loaded well and in decent shape then they run like sewing machines.

IMHO what you should get depends on what you'll be happier with over the long haul... as the triggers get nicer, it gets more expensive as far as the models go, but that said, you can't really get a better trigger on a DA/SA gun than a Shadow's. For what they cost, they're worth it... for just short of a grand or so, there aren't any 1911's or really any other guns avaible that are in the Shadow's league. A standard SP-01 with lighter recoil and hammer springs is pretty good, in fact in my case, I can shoot a stock SP-01 better than Glocks I've had that had near $300 triggers dropped in. An SP-01 with the lighter springs and then a CZC competition hammer installed is even better, many could stop there and be totally happy for a long, long time. The Shadow is just a little better still, having no FPB means a slightly cleaner pull and a much shorter reset, but if it's what you're really after, then the extra couple hundred bucks it takes gets forgotten about quickly... JMHO (and most other CZers opinion's too), but: SP-01 "Tactical" with the decocker = Hell No! You do not want one, you may think you do, but you don't... trust us, once you're comfortable lowering the hammer manually or running cocked n' locked you'll see that the decocker is sort of pointless and you'll kick yourself later.

Yeah, they make it under 39ozs, not lots to spare though... Depending on which mags and/or grips you choose you can easily push the fixed-rear version over, different combos add up differently that close to 39ozs, so keep that in-mind. For instance, VZ grips or the factory plastic grips and the factory 19rd mags will make it, VZ's and the 16rd Mec-Gar's w/ the $9 rubber base pads are scary close, the 17rd Mec-Gar AFC mags (one of the lightest mag choices) with the factory rubber grips (which are kind of heavy) may or may not depending on the particular gun, etc... FWIW, the adjustable-rear "T" version is lighter and leaves a lot more room...

+1.

Man, I believe you and bet it can be done, but I've ruined 3 FPB lifters trying to figure it out to no avail and the only one I've felt where the trigger had been tuned by Angus and Co. (to the tune of $300 in trigger work) had a great pull, but while pretty short, it had a crappy, weak feeling reset, and if IIRC Angus told him that with FPB-equipped guns you can have a snappy, strong reset or a short reset, not both. Please share the info if you care to though...

CZC competition hammer, 13lb hammer-spring AND extended firing pin OR just a 15lb hammer-spring, CGW reduced power firing pin spring, 11lb recoil-spring, CZC competition rear sight, Dawson Precision front sight Other than a longer trigger-reset and ever-so-slightly heavier pull (the FPB means 2 more small springs to contend with), it'll end up very near as good as your Shadow.

Looks like adjusting to Czech steel from Austrian plastic didn't take very long Greg!

Check this out, Tanfo's are nearly exactly the same as CZ's: http://henningshootsguns.com/tech/tech.tanfoglio.upper.assembly.html

For a 75 Shadow, yeah, those are the ones. You would need to change out the sear-cage if you wanted to get the "thin safeties". FWIW, those "thin safeties" are probably great for some, but not for everybody... For a guy who only shoots USPSA and doesn't ride the safety with their thumb (or care to) they're probably the ticket, but, I've found I actually like to ride the safeties, especially SHO and WHO (for me they seem to add some stability), plus, I shoot IDPA as well as USPSA, and sometimes I'll shoot the same gun in both SSP and ESP for extra practice, cocked n' locked in SA as my "second gun"... The 85-style safeties can be used like honest-to-goodness safeties while still allowing a higher grip and being unobtrusive to one's support-hand, and they're A LOT less likely to get bumped "on" than the SA/Shadow-type. Personally, I like 'em, just a few things to consider before you shell out the loot...

Do a Google images search for "Burnt Bronze Cerakote"... A friend of mine won a certificate and got his M&P and all his mags done, looks killer, it's not too "tacti-cool" or really too "bling bling", kind of in-between, a pretty cool and unique color that looks good for firearms. YMMV, subjective of course... Actually, here's a link to another forum that shows his gun: http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/show-tell/67762-cerakote-finish-m-p.html Of course I'm a sucker for Hard Chrome as it looks good and is so freaking hard that it's a good choice for competition guns that see hard use. AGW does all the Hard Chroming for STI and don't think their prices can be beat... There's a pic on google of a guy who hard chromed a Shadow and it looks pretty badass, and since it's HC it'll most probably stay that way. Here's a link to a thread where a guy did one, his is mostly "polished" finish, don't forget you can also get a matte finish or mix of both: http://www.czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=21927.0 Also found a link with pics of a guy who did a half and half two-tone one: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=60642

+1, can't stand those, IMO they ruin one of the advantages CZs offer; getting a lot of hand contact and a higher grip on a lower bore-axis gun. For people with smaller hands or short thumbs I can see them maybe being a plus, but for average to large hands, nope. All of my CZs wear the regular 75/85-style safeties, it's one of the first thing that gets changed on any Shadow I've owned or will own in the future. (sucks that it's $35 x 2). FWIW/FYI, standard Shadows get the "D-style" ones while with a 75 Shadow you need the "thumbler" CZ-85 ones...

NICE! That's exactly what I've been after. That said, $1300 for a gun I can't legally use in Production or SSP might be a stretch, I hope this limited edition 4 is just the first of 1,996 more...

Doesn't scan, sounds like it might be you mang. Maybe you're not aligning the front the same..?

Anyone tried these newer-style Walnut grips..? http://shop.cz-usa.com/P-19108/Walnut-Grips-Cz-75.aspx I've found that the stock rubber grips fit my hands better than any of the others but I'd like to find something a hair thinner with less palm swell... Usually I loathe wood grips, but I'm considering ordering a set of these...

You may have to start the trailblazing and find yourself coming up with that sort of info on your own, as those CGW kits are still pretty new on the scene and there isn't a whole lot of guys out there running them quite yet... The general theory (or perhaps better word "idea") is that going lighter on the recoil-spring will increase slide speed and decrease your sights dipping when the action closes as well as decrease felt recoil as the impulse hits you for a shorter length of time... but, there is a tipping point where if the gun is too lightly sprung it can feel as though the slide is banging off the frame which feels rough as it's more of a collision than a controlled cycle, so it takes some experimentation... Many of us have lots of miles using 11lb or 10lb recoil-springs with 13lb hammer-springs, I'd guess the softer hammer-springs you are running aren't "braking" the slide nearly as much so guess I'd start trying slightly heavier recoil-springs (12,13,14lb...) until it starts to feel like you're seeing/feeling an improvement. Good luck.

A pair of the VZ Frags I had ordered just showed up today... Having owned the Tactical Diamonds I have to say I am a little disappointed in the kind of grip they offer, the Tactical Diamonds are very grippy, even more so than skateboard-tape covered AL grips, I was hoping these Frag grips would at least be on par with that, but sadly they're not. These Frags IMO are probably better for the type of guy who's looking for an upgrade in the aesthetics department as well as something thinner, but they don't really have the kind of bite that G-10 grips are known for and I'll be exchanging mine for a set of the newer Diamond Backs. The Tactical Diamonds are awesome, I'd be happy with another set of those no problem, I was just loooking to try out one of the newer VZ offerings and I flipped a coin on whether to go with the Frags or the Diamond Backs... came up wrong. Oh well, all I have to do is pay another $8 in shipping to do the exchange. As to which is better for large hands? I'd say they're the same exact thickness so it's a wash... I have fairly large hands and I absolutely love the combo of the standard 75/85 safeties and the VZ grips (with the Shadow/SA safeties the gun seems too thin for me with the VZ's), by using both I can get a death grip on the suckers like they're in a vise. The Frags do look cool though...

I think for me the heavier-nosed SP-01's and original SP-framed Shadows are a little more forgiving and seem to drop back on target shot-to-shot a little better without really needing much help from me, and I think maybe I find them a little steadier with the added weight out front. I went to a short-dustcover 75 Shadow for a while and while the difference wasn't a deal breaker by any means, it was a vastly different feeling gun that did feel quicker in the hand but handled recoil differently. Now that said, I went back to shooting Glocks due to work reasons for nearly a solid year and now recently I've been shooting a souped up 75B Stainless which I think is lighter up front than the 75 Shadow and I'm finding it's got plenty of weight and feels solid and steady as rock... So who knows, guess I kind of think it's just a matter of getting used to a guns recoil impulse and feel during transitions... I'll say this, either is great, but to me IMHO has slightly different strengths: the longer framed guns seem to drop back on target as if on auto-pilot, but the shorter dustcover guns do tend to feel quicker in the hand.

I far and away prefer all black serrated front sights to FO's, I've tried going back just to see if I was fooling myself, but now they just seem super distracting. I'm running the .090" wide X .170" Dawson on a Stainless 75B with the CZC competition rear and ideally I'd like it to hit right exactly at the top of the front blade, but it prints about an inch or so high at 7-10 yards, which seems to be working well for me since I tend to bury the front sight in the notch when I'm going fast and makes it so that I can simply "lollipop" 6" plates at 20-25 yards. More than anything I just feel that black fronts force you to stay honest with your alignment and don't let you just release shots once you see the glowing dot appear in the notch like with FO's. YMMV...

It's purely subjective... Out of the box a standard Shadow is extremely shootable as-is, though I'm not sure what their stock hammer-spring is, seems most of us can set off anything using a 15lb hammer-spring from CZC with the stock-length firing pin or with a 13lb hammer-spring AND an extended firing pin. With a 15 or 13 hammer-spring a Shadow's SA is IMHO better than about 99.8% of anything out there, and delivers a DA weight that's very livable and to where old fashioned practice will do about as much as anything else... That said, one can go lighter with a CGW kit and/or sending it off to Stuart, but the gains are going to be more so in the DA pull then in the SA pull and will take some practice time too, so guess it's all up to what you're looking to get out of it. Guess my feeling is that they start out, or with such a little work, can be made so good, that going further really comes down to the individual. Guys running M&P's and Glocks spend LOTS to not even get into the neighborhood as where the Shadows start is all, so it's completely relative...

Maybe worn out slide-stop spring or possibly the slide-stop's notch has rounded off..?

Been using the 16rd Mec-Gar's (they're the same as the 2 that came stock with my new 75B Stainless) just with the CZ rubber base pads added lately, and I've grown to like them quite a bit. The $9 a pop for the base pads is kinda expensive, but the mags themselves are only $20, and with those pads on there they're pretty much bombproof, after repeated drops onto concrete mine look good as new and the springs in these 16rd Mec-Gar mags seem to be strong enough to go a long while without needing to be changed... I'd give these (Mec-Gar 16rd + CZ rubber base-pad) or the 17rd Mec-Gar AFC mags my votes as being the best choices for the long haul without headaches.

The Combat II has no FPB's, in fact, I may not have my info straight, but it may have actually been the the precursor to the Shadow model. That said, speaking of the IDPA Tiger Teams, that could clear up the whole nonsense... For me, I just want a combat II 'cause I tend to prefer the regular SP-framed Shadow to the 75 Shadow (just my personal preference) and I end up shooting IDPA matches more often than USPSA matches, if the IDPA Tiger Teams do away with the highly subjective "full-length dustcover or rail, and/or feature vs. modification nonsense" and then increase the weight limit in SSP to where heavier off-the shelf guns like a regular Shadow can be used legally without having to go on a "diet", then hoping for a Combat II would be mute.

do you have the .215 or .245 front height? .215"

I've got a couple reasons (just based on my experiences and opinion only, YMMV): (1) even the best quality and best set-up 9mm 1911's tend to run like s**t on a fairly regular basis as no matter what, whether ramped or not ramped, these mags or those mags, you're trying to run a shorter OAL round in a machine designed and built to use and work with a longer OAL round... sooner or later you'll get bitten. They're great when they work, but absolutly no one is surprised when they don't. In my experience, a CZ that's cleaned and lubed correctly will be bomb-proof through a 1000+ rounds of 99% of anything resembling a factory load, JHP, TMJ, FMJ, whatever, who cares... 9mm 1911's, on the other hand, mean an FMJ with a rounded ogive only or just prepare for the headaches... (2) Grip/Bore axis... CZ's have a low bore axis, the same or lower than a Glock. 1911's are top-heavy in-comparison to CZ's, which can mean a sluggish feeling slide instead of it feeling fast and flat like a staple-gun which is a CZ trait. Also, there's plenty of real estate to accommodate an aggressive, high, thumbs-forward grip on the side of the pistol's frame without interfering with the slide, meaning that even if you go to real soft/fast recoil spring (like a 10 or 11lb) you' don't have to worry about retarding the slide and causing malf's which is fairly commonplace running 7-10lb springs in 1911's.