ardo

The skateboard tape will stay on longer if you don't use aggressive cleaners, like brake cleaner, or remove grips while cleaning the pistol. Mine eventually start peeling off, but at about the same time the grip starts wearing off, so I need to replace the tape anyway. I clean my aluminium grips with alcohol and use a heat gun.

Years ago, I tried a 9lb spring with my minor PF loads. Worked for 2 mags worth of ammo, then the slide stop broke. Have been running with 11lb spring since.

I also have wide feet. Tried Salomon and switched to Innov8.

I picked up a Lyman 6000 ultrasonic about a month ago. parts come out practically spotless. Since I never disassemble my CZ fully, it is a great help. I don't plan on doing this more than 2-3 times a year though. Thanks for the Simple Green tip, didn't know one could use that in USonics. Normally, I just hose the field-stripped parts with non-chlorinated break cleaner, blow it off with compressed air, and oil. I also re-oil before each shooting session. BTW if you have fiber optic sights don't immerse them, they will eventually break from USonic action.

Big thanks to Cha-Lee and Nimitz for a great 'refresher course' of what I should already know but keep forgetting, especially the part of establishing what acceptable sight picture is. I keep calling my shots all the time but most of these end up being missed calls...

Go ahead & make fun of me if you think this is stupid - or too obvious... Training position entry in dry-fire, I just realized that, when moving downrange, I am more stable & can start shooting faster if I enter with my left foot and just gently bring my right foot in (I`m right-handed) while raising the pistol to eye level. Am I imagining things, or is this something every advanced shooter knows? When moving into position from the side, I lead with my left foot when moving left, and with my right foot when moving right. But I never thought this order would be important when moving forward. I still have to test this in live-fire.

I struggle with barricade reloads too, like the ones you find on classifiers. I think (merely a hypothesis, I haven't tested to find out) it is because there is the wall right there that prevents me from having the gun out away from my body as much as I normally do. For the wall not to be a problem I think you need to stay away (about an arms-length) from it. This would give you the freedom you need during a reload. I think my issue is a combination of actions that must be crammed into a very short period of time: follow-through, reload while seeing the spot I'm moving to, press out while looking for the target to appear. Feels awkward.

I almost stopped practicing standing reloads. I will do a couple of slow ones, just to make sure my strong-hand elbow is exactly where it needs to be, and that the grip is angled correctly. I would then start doing reloads while moving left/right/forward, trying to complete the reload in 1-2 steps.I practice this on both easy and hard position exits. I see the biggest gains here if the reload is done while accelerating to almost full-speed, if the reload is slowing one's movement down a lot, and takes 3-4 steps to complete, it is as bad as a standing reload. I also practice reloads when there's only one or two steps between positions, like shooting from behind a barricade on the left, doing a reload, and shooting from the right side. Somehow, this is challenging for me.

I made the switch about 3 months ago, replacing my first 3 mags with Ghosts (bullet out) and keeping 2 Racers (bullets forward) at the back. I felt that the arm angle would be too awkward for the bullets out on the last two mags. For me, the biggest advantage of the Bullets Out setup is that I can run my index finger all the way to the mag lips - something I couldn't do on the 2nd and 3rd mag change with Bullets Forward.

Thanks, I think this is the cheapest option to try, since I'd be needing both front and rear sights to go adjustable. May as well try filing down the sight I have first. Guys, thank you all for helping!

Looks like you're right, and I'm IPSC Production rules don't allow after-market parts. This is not a CZ factory part, it is made by CZ Custom.Unless I am mistaken IPSC Production allows after market sights providing they don't require milling of the slide to install. Look around! Was thinking of getting an LPA adjustable rear that fits my 85b's dovetail. Appendix D4 17.2 Looks like you're right - and I'm mistaken... Thanks, I should read the rules once in a while!

IPSC Production rules don't allow after-market parts. This is not a CZ factory part, it is made by CZ Custom.

Thanks. I can barely see the target at 20 yards. 15 yards is my usual sighting distance, and even there my best groups are 2" freestyle. For some reason, I do better freestyle than from the bench rest. I was just comparing the two pistols at 10 yards, group size is about the same but the old one shoots low. I'd rather keep the same load I worked up for my primary Shadow. The rear sight can be adjusted for windage only, it's a tactical non-adjustable sight.

I haven't shot this pistol in 2.5 years. It had a problem about 3 years ago, the sear cage became loose in the frame. By the time it was repaired, I got myself another Shadow, and haven't shot the original one until this past weekend. The gun shoots about 1.5" low at 10 yards. The front sight is 5.5mm, which is the shortest factory sight available AFAIK. I cannot put any after-market sights on it, I want to keep it IPSC Production-legal, to use as a backup gun. I'm thinking of filing the top of the front sight post down a little, are there any other options I should consider?

I'm 57, with two back surgeries in my 20's and 30's. I spent most of my life on a couch in front of a TV - until I discovered IPSC 4 years ago. Took me almost this long to figure out that being out of shape is not the way to go, even if (when) I've mastered the fundamentals. Compared to younger folk, I'm much slower in everything I do in a field course. I've lost 15Lb (from 185 to 170, I'm 5'10") since New Year's. Moving around became a lot easier, and gave me a fighting chance. I'm still slower than young guys, just by a little less. This came at a price though: I'm often too aggressive, and have a mike - or two - or three in a match, so my actual placement is worse than last year. Too bad there isn't a weight loss program for ageing eyes...

After a bit of training, I think I have figured it out. As Ben Stoeger says, grip the sh*t out of it. Any slacking on my weak-hand's part will immediately show. I can now break 2s about 2 times out of 10 in practice. I had a 2.24s all-alpha run in a match about 3 weeks ago, it was good enough to win me that stage. Now, time to learn all the other stuff. Apparently, I really suck at field courses. I try to blame it on old age, but have a feeling there's more to it.

Thanks, Nimitz. I do have a tiny cam that I rigged with a baseball cap mount, but that's hardly co-witnessing with my sights. It does capture the slide and its movement, but that's about it. Maybe mount it to the right temple of my glasses? I'll have to experiment, thanks for the idea. Drysideshooter, the rhythm is definitely there, and sometimes I manage to go faster and still hit the A-zone without the shots creeping high. I managed to have a couple of good runs at 1.95sec (7 yards) but I can never seem to be able to reproduce them. I think I do better with more aggressive stance while gripping with my left hand as hard as I can. If I'm too upright my body & head get pushed back so I suspect I'm looking at the sights from above, calling the shot when in fact the muzzle is pointing a bit upwards. This past week I've been experimenting with adding a bit of side pressure to my grip, and it does seem to help in practice (Frank Garcia's dot drill) but I cannot reproduce this in a match yet. Thanks for helping!

I've been practicing Bill Drill in live fire regularly for a few months now. One thing I notice is that when I'm trying to push my splits below .20s my shots start creeping high. I am concentrating on a really strong (for me) weak hand grip, and it does help with tighter group sizes at slower (0.22s) split times, but when I push into 0.18s the shots end up walking higher and higher. I feel like I'm letting the sights return and am calling every shot, but the results say otherwise. I suspect that my stance (not leaning forward far enough) may be the problem. I'm seriously considering taping myself to see what's going on. Any help would be appreciated.

Update: Rami spring worked like a charm, no hick-ups after 300 or so rounds.

In my case, I did know because I asked the dealer. He told me they put in 11# recoil and 13# main springs. The package came with an additional 11# recoil / 13# main spring set, and had the original (16# or whatever recoil and main spring) in it as well as the original firing pin spring. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Unlike kneelingatlas, I don't have the tools accurate enough to measure spring wire thickness, and don't have a spring tester either. I try to keep my springs labeled.

Exactly, I just discovered this 5min ago. I will order the Rami spring, thanks for helping!

Well, this is getting interesting. My Shadow is a Canadian Edition. It has been tuned at the factory (or the dealer, not sure), and the FP spring in it is definitely weaker (same length but thinner) than the one that comes with regular Shadows. The original (strong) FP spring was in the box when I got the pistol, along with the original recoil and hammer springs that were also replaced. I also have an older, regular Shadow, so I can say for sure that the spring that broke inside the Cdn Edition is thinner. I put in the thicker spring, for now, and will take the gun to my range on Friday to try it out. Ideally though, I'd like to get a weaker spring, it must have been put there for a reason.

Thanks guys. I am using extended pin and 13# hammer spring - I didn't know that the FP spring doesn't need tuning. I only use Federal primers. I'll keep sharpening that pencil LOL.

I was cleaning my Shadow last night, and discovered that firing pin spring is broken. I'm pretty sure I ran it like this in my last match, maybe even a few. Obviously, I am going to replace the spring, but here's the question: other than being able to ignite 100% of primers (I use Federal), is there a 'ballpark' test one can do instead of burning through hundreds of rounds of ammo? Sometime ago, a gunsmith showed me a 'pencil test': shoot a pencil straight up from a cocked hammer position. What I can't remember is how high the pencil is supposed to jump. Sorry if this sounds silly, the gun was originally tuned by a professional, but I don't have time to engage him now, I got a match this coming weekend.

I use an RCBS rotary media separator, just over $30 on Midway: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/176956/rcbs-rotary-case-and-media-separator I put a large round sieve at the bottom, dump cases & media into the separator, and give the handle a dozen or so turns. Then, shake the separator cage to get rid of most water, dump cases into a towel and shake some more. I dry my cases on a towel for a couple of days with no additional heat. I always have plenty of dry cases, so no biggie waiting for a batch to dry up. One more thing: I don't use pins, I have about 5Lb of round SS media used for blasting, 0.025in diameter. I was skeptical at first, but tried it anyway and found that round media cleans very well, and rarely gets stuck inside a case, since I don't de-prime before tumbling.