ck1

Shot mine in a IDPA match yesterday, hammer-down first shot in SSP, cocked n' locked in ESP. (no griptape on the frame anymore in anticipation of USPSA approval) This is first gun I've had in a very very long time where I have no intention or inclination at all to tear it down and put some work in to it, other than different grips and a different front sight to serve my particular preferences the gun is as it was out-of-the-box and is going to stay that way. I'm a total OCD/incessant tinkerer, i pretty much always end up breaking down guns and getting out the stone, sandpaper, and polish, or online buying ugdrade parts and installing them if anything is available looking to improve them even if ever so slightly to be as good as they can be, leaving it alone may be as high a compliment I can give.

Great, well at least it won't cost me anything to fix that one.

That's a nice open gun you got there I thought the same thing. Guess no one else picked up on it yet. nah..we're just waiting... still a cool gun though good to go in IPSC and IDPA Yes, fingers are crossed for USPSA Production approval sooner rather than later. (glad that's what you meant, not real familiar with USPSA rules yet, was wondering if my grip-tape "power steering" might get me in trouble)

Yeah man. Good luck up there. Think I'm done platform hopping for a while, I never shot anything as well as the SP-01 I souped up to where it was IDPA illegal, had I just stuck with my original plan and not tried my 9mm 1911 experiment I could have bought 2 of these... Oh well, at the time these hadn't been approved for anything other than ESP yet and I did wonder what all the fuss was about with the 1911's if I was going to go to ESP anyway.. I ended up building a sick gun, that now belongs to someone else, and throwing more money away than I'd like to admit. The CZ's are it for me, IMO they're like Glocks with good triggers shaped to fit human hands instead of alien hands. In case anyone is wondering how different they are from the SP-01 guns with the rail, I'd say they are real close. They don't quite drop back on target quite the same way as the SP's with their extra weight up front, but they are a lot easier to "throw around", feels smaller and quicker. Makes sense as getting my SP-01 down to 39ozs was a PITA, the new one with a 19rd mag came in at just under 36, a guy could actually make it heavier if he wanted to and still make weight for IDPA no problem.

Well I know you already have the grips and front sight .

I'll do you one better, here's the SKU: 019-116.

Here's mine, added VZ grips and a Dawson .170" x .090" black serrated front blade. Thanks to the wonders of the iPhone I documented the first 100rd value pack of WWB 115gr from Wallymart through the gun (only zee best)... First target, 10 yards: all the center bull and head stuff is shot from the draw on the timer from under the ol' tactical fishing vest, the groups are 3-shot groups shot semi-slow-fire (1 or maybe 2 seconds then bang), all the fast stuff was DA first shot, this included a mix of successive draws-to-2-shots-to-slide-lock-reloads, Mozambique's, a couple bill drills, and surprisingly the first ever 18rds through the gun were 3 10yrd F.A.S.T drills shot cold (a F.A.S.T. drill = draw from concealment 2 to the head, slide-lock reload 4 to COM, in under 5secs if the force is with you at 7yrds), 4.92, 4.68, 4.69, all clean. I drifted my rear sight a hair too far over to the right as my shots stringing to the right as well as the groups showed me, but it's not far off at all and I'm pretty pleased. 10 yard semi-slow-fire 3-shot group: Slow-fire (some slower than others) target to kill off the box at 15 yards, think the head was 3 and the center got a 5 or 6 shot group, the others are 3-shot groups: Prettiest of the day, 3-shot group off-hand at 15 yards, no BS: I'm super psyched, this gun is awesome! Boringly reliable too, just like I like it, fed and ejected everything perfectly with no drama, slide locked back on every empty mag every single time, and through some cosmic powers beyond my comprehension I actually picked a front sight height that hits POI right at the top of the blade on the first try. Nice.

The stock "15lb" mainspring that came in my Trojan was a good amount stronger than the 17lb ISMI mainspring I dropped in, seems that's the norm. From what I've experienced seating a full 10rd mag from any brand/company out there with the slide closed and a round in the chamber requires a strong whack, I've read of guys clipping coils off mag springs to fix this only to get caught later with feed issues from weakened mag springs, be careful you're not fixing one problem by introducing another... IMHO when it comes to 9mm 1911's, learning to smack mags home goes with the territory. Also, If you haven't already put in a call to STI to get a hold of a .38/.40 you should because that's what it takes and what comes in newer production Trojans

1.5mm is the answer for both in case anyone is wondering.

After reading through this thread what comes to mind for me is that maybe there's room for another CZ option rather than only "TS vs. S_I"..? Since a 2011 is an evolution of a 1911, in the same manner an evolution of say a Shadow, or just updated TS, maybe longer, built around the .40, and evolved into something slightly different that could accept S_I mags sure would be pretty interesting. As someone who just went back to CZ's from 1911's (mostly because I shoot 9mm and prefer less drama with the CZ 's) I think there are things about the platform that are big pluses for competition shooting that many don't pay much attention to: lower bore-axis, lower mass slides out of the box, being able to get more support-hand on the gun, lighter triggers without risking hammer-follow or other bad behavior, etc... Just cause 1911-patterned guns are the most popular doesn't mean they're the best design.

Title kind of says it all, anyone know the correct size hex wrenchs I need for both a Shadow fixed rear sight and for the new-style 85 trigger over-travel screw? New 75 Shadow arrived today and it's pretty awesome... The supplied test target has a nice tight group with all the rounds touching, just a little to the left, thing is, with the naked eye it's obvious this is because the rear sight isn't centered and was installed kicked over a little to the left. (dear CZCustoms or CZ-UB, maybe break out the red loctite AFTER the first test fire please). Not a big deal, except there is no hex wrench supplied with the pistol for either the rear sight or the trigger's over-travel screw which also could use a little adjustment, seems both are smaller than anything I currently have kicking around. TIA.

Wanted to add: a 6.5mm sight in CZ terms is about .165" in DawsonPrecision terms. The bottom of the dovetail to the top of the slide on CZ pistol is about .090", so if 6.5mm is .2556 in inches, subtract .090 and you get .165. Since I shoot 115gr stuff which tends to print a little high on a gun that's supposed to be POA=POI according to what CZC recommends, after I even went a bit taller (.170 is like 6.6ish in mm), I'm hoping a Shadow in which a 1mm less high front height is recommended will hit where I want it to (top of blade). Now, since 75 Shadows are being delivered with test targets, supposedly zeroed with WWB and a 5.5mm high front blade, once i install my aftermarket Dawson .170"/6.6mm height front sight I may be hitting low in which case out will come the file... pretty much all I know is that it's confusing, I hate math, and wish adjustable rears didn't bother me so much.

What weight bullet and what pf matters a bunch too. I found my standard SP-01 with the CZC tactical rear and a Dawson .170" height (6.5mm height in CZ terms) front hit top of the blade with some nice 147gr 130ish pf reloads a buddy gave me, but consistently 1" high with the 115gr WWB or Fedearal Champion Wallyworld stuff I tend to use (I don't reload). AFAIK, a Shadow's stock front is 5.5mm and is supposed to hit POI with a CZC competition or tactical rear instead of needing a 6.5mm front as recommended with non-Shadows when adding a CZC aftermarket rear... I'm hoping to keep the stock Shadow fixed rear and use the same-sized Dawson .170" front as I had on the regular SP-01 w/ CZC rear and be hitting closer to right at the top of the blade with the Wallyworld 115gr stuff, let you know in a few when the new gun and sight shows up, the rear sight blade on the Shadow being further forward on the slide complicates things, not to mention CZC measuring in mm and from the bottom of the dovetail instead of in inches and from off the top of the slide like everyone else...

Me too. Now we're one unit closer (with the IDPA SSP and IPSC approvals I couldn't hold out any longer...).

I've been using a 17lb mainspring and a 9lb recoil spring, both ISMI's, shooting 115gr WWB and Fedearal Champion from Wallyworld, gun stays flat as can be, recoils like a .22, feeds, ejects, and locks back on empty Wilson ETM's every single time. I think I like the 10lb recoil spring with the 115gr as well, feels ever so slightly different, maybe faster back into battery, works perfectly also.

Here's a pic of what you get with a stock 10rd 9mm ETM w/ stock basepad with the Techwell SP.

I run the 10rd 9mm Wilson ETM's and have only good things to say about the Techwell SP, not quite as huge as the XT or the Ice, yeah, but I didn't have to buy all new basepads and then bust out the Dremel, doubt the slightly smaller dimensions is slowing things down much (at least in my case). IMHO, if you can't hit a reload with something the size of the SP which is already quite a bit larger tgan tge classic S&A-style then you suck and need more practice, the larger XT or Ice won't bail you out. AFAIK the TGO is the same as the SP minus the closed front, so that should work perfectly with the ETM's as well and offer maybe an easier grasp on a mag that doesn't drop or maybe when pulling one to clear a double-feed, personally I like the full-wrap of the SP for an index for my support-hand's grip, but the TGO seems like a great choice too. If you're not a fan of the Techwell grip options you could consider giving Larry Davidson a shout or looking up the DIY from forum member VR4, it's a simple system which works and it is lighter than most it not all of the other options for a 9mm 1911, especially if you go with a polymer MSH.

Think you just described my next gun.

Strangest thing... cleaned my gun up a little and re-lubed it to go shooting today as yesterday while test firing it was dirty and pretty dry. I was hand cycling some snap-caps through it and it just didn't seem right, so I took it apart and noticed the tension holding a cartridge on the breech face was weak as hell (using the stripped slide and a snap-cap), just a gentle shake and the cartridge would fly away. So, pulled the AFTEC, got rid of the front clipped-spring from the gunsmith install/fitting and put in 2 unaltered springs and then reinstalled it. Immediately I noticed felt much more "normal" in hand cycling, and the claw would hold a cartridge against the face with plenty of tension but not too much. Went to the range and burned through 200rds without any issues whatsoever and it threw all the brass in a neat little pile about 4ft to my right. Starting to think my issues had more to do with my gunsmith being unfamiliar with installing an AFTEC as I noticed him fighting a bit to get it installed and I had no trouble, if he had the springs binding in the extractor channel that'd explain a lot. Runs like a champ now.

Yeah, it's totally possible, while looking to a lighter spring is most often used to to fix extraction issues since most guns tend to extract better with a lighter recoil spring, overall it gets the slide speed up, so that can help with feeding too. Could have been that the too-strong spring had your gun using up all it's recoil-energy kicking out the spent brass and/or was possibly short-stroking, not having enough juice to load a fresh round on the way back into battery.

A 15lb spring, whether variable or conventional, in a 9mm 1911 is way too strong, a 12lb spring is the heaviest you would ever have to or want to run. A 9 or 10lb spring seem to generally be the ticket with 125-135pf loads. I'd try a box of factory FMJ and see how it does... If your gun won't reliably feed a cartridge and lock-up into battery with a 10lb spring and it takes a stronger one to have it do so, then it's probably a good bet your extractor has too much tension. Make sure your mag's feed lips are near .350" or so, feed lips that are too wide will allow the follower and rounds to nose down. Wilson ETM's and Tripp Cobra mags do hold the fresh rounds up higher in the gun so they can indeed help, but they won't overcome an over-tensioned extractor so I'd look at that first.

No, think you're right and I was mistaken, he includes shipping too which knocks off another $10 when you think about it.

Used to happen to me, thought it was the trigger bow at first but after taking the slide off and just using a mag and the frame figured out it was happening when ever I was mashing the mag release button in all the way (like under match pressure)... took a half-round file to the mag release on the buttomnside inside the well where it would grab the mag and removed material until it could not happen, voila, now it doesn't happen anymore.

JHP + 9mm 1911 = generally low reliability. It has to do with the shorter OAL of a 9mm cartridge as compared to the longer OAL .45 the guns were originally designed for more so than the nose pf the bullet, but because the ramps are really quite steep on the way into their chambers, I consider the ramp more like "insurance" or a "helping hand", a rounder bullet profile yields the best chance of having them run good, the flatter you go the more iffy it gets.