lugnut Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 (edited) So this is what my grip looks like. Basically the problem is my first knuckle of my left thumb is sitting on the big flap on the safety. The end of my thumb is sitting on the front of the slide release- which is fine. What do you guys do to get around this? The thumb doesn't feel good on the safety and during recoil it's worse. On another thread I'm looking for other safety options for the gun as well... but I wanted to see if I'm doing something wrong. I'm not a noob and my hands are on the small side... but I can't for the life of me see how this isn't a problem for other action shooters as well. Edited January 15, 2012 by lugnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningsquirrels Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racer377 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. They could stand to be just a touch higher, but I don't mind them all that much. Thumb riding the safety is how almost everyone I know shoots them, and 1911s, and nearly anything with a frame mounted safety. When I first started shooting 1911s, the thumb on the safety felt weird. But, shooters far more knowledgeable than I insisted it was the proper way. Eventually I got used to it, and can't imagine shooting the CZ or a 1911 otherwise. Edited January 16, 2012 by Racer377 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. They could stand to be just a touch higher, but I don't mind them all that much. Thumb riding the safety is how almost everyone I know shoots them, and 1911s, and nearly anything with a frame mounted safety. When I first started shooting 1911s, the thumb on the safety felt weird. But, shooters far more knowledgeable than I insisted it was the proper way. Eventually I got used to it, and can't imagine shooting the CZ or a 1911 otherwise. Here's my issue. If I could ride the safety with my strong hand thumb I would... but I can't. The problem is worse on the CZs than 1911s. If it were the "extended" safety it would be easier but the flap is too far forward for me. It just seems like it's in an awkward position for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningsquirrels Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. They could stand to be just a touch higher, but I don't mind them all that much. Thumb riding the safety is how almost everyone I know shoots them, and 1911s, and nearly anything with a frame mounted safety. When I first started shooting 1911s, the thumb on the safety felt weird. But, shooters far more knowledgeable than I insisted it was the proper way. Eventually I got used to it, and can't imagine shooting the CZ or a 1911 otherwise. the thumb safeties on the CZ are lower than a 1911. for some of us CZ shooters, even the 191 is far too low. i completely cover the entire safety with teh palm of my left hand. it works. if you go full screen you can see my grip here: and here: Edited January 16, 2012 by burningsquirrels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ck1 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. +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... Edited January 16, 2012 by ck1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Why is your left hand so far back for your grip? Most people have their left hand more forward like Racer337 or BurningSquirrels. Is your shooting stance based on a perfect isosceles, rather than the modified Weaver that people eventually gravitate to? Just looking at your grip, it looks like you want to have you left hand thumb on the mag release. Is this by design as part of your recoil management? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Why is your left hand so far back for your grip? Most people have their left hand more forward like Racer337 or BurningSquirrels. Is your shooting stance based on a perfect isosceles, rather than the modified Weaver that people eventually gravitate to? Just looking at your grip, it looks like you want to have you left hand thumb on the mag release. Is this by design as part of your recoil management? My hands apparently are much smaller than I thought. Shooting Glocks and Revos for a while haven't presented this problem. I have to "cheat" more to get a good index on the trigger with my strong hand... as such my right hand thumb doesn't protrude as far forward on the left side of the gun. I try to get as much of the weak hand on the grip with thumbs forward as well... I only shoot isosceles. My thumb isn't on the mag release although it's not high up as I'd like as the safeties are in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. +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... Yeah I might need to try the CZ 85 safeties... ck1 are you referring to these: http://czcustom.com/czsafteyrhssathumbler.aspx http://czcustom.com/cz75salhhandnormalsafety.aspx Or are there other ones that are better? Edited January 16, 2012 by lugnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmysterious Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I'm actually planning on putting one of the thin safeties on mine this week. Anybody have any experience with these? Thin Safety Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 I'm actually planning on putting one of the thin safeties on mine this week. Anybody have any experience with these? Thin Safety Yeah, my friends have the SP01s and a couple have installed them. I like them a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningsquirrels Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 tha'ts pretty good, $90 is cheaper than when we bought parts individually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee G Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) I'm actually planning on putting one of the thin safeties on mine this week. Anybody have any experience with these? Thin Safety I have them on my shadow target and really like them. They are so thin I can't tell they are there. The large safeties cut into the knuckle on my trigger finger and every now and then I would activate the safety while shooting. The thin safeties fixed all of those problems. Edited January 16, 2012 by Lee G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobmysterious Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Awesome, that seals the deal. Having just switched to the Shadow I've wound up knocking the safety on during my draw a few times. This seems like a good fix and it'll just get it out of the way. Thanks y'all. Oh yeah, did some research and they're definitely Production legal as a factory option. El Linko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neomet Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I am not sure those will work on a 75 Shadow. Don't the Sp01 Shadow and the 75 Shadow have different, non-interchangeable safeties?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 I am not sure those will work on a 75 Shadow. Don't the Sp01 Shadow and the 75 Shadow have different, non-interchangeable safeties?? That is part of the problem. It's my understanding (now) that the SP01 has the D-style safeties while the Shadow has the Thumbler-style. Now I've been told that all you have to do to switch is change the sear cage. That should do it... but I haven't tried yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ck1 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) Yeah I might need to try the CZ 85 safeties... ck1 are you referring to these: http://czcustom.com/czsafteyrhssathumbler.aspx http://czcustom.com/cz75salhhandnormalsafety.aspx Or are there other ones that are better? 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... Edited January 16, 2012 by ck1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Why is your left hand so far back for your grip? Most people have their left hand more forward like Racer337 or BurningSquirrels. Is your shooting stance based on a perfect isosceles, rather than the modified Weaver that people eventually gravitate to? Just looking at your grip, it looks like you want to have you left hand thumb on the mag release. Is this by design as part of your recoil management? My hands apparently are much smaller than I thought. Shooting Glocks and Revos for a while haven't presented this problem. I have to "cheat" more to get a good index on the trigger with my strong hand... as such my right hand thumb doesn't protrude as far forward on the left side of the gun. I try to get as much of the weak hand on the grip with thumbs forward as well... I only shoot isosceles. My thumb isn't on the mag release although it's not high up as I'd like as the safeties are in the way. Sorry, by fault. I meant to write "slide release", not "mag release". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philo_Beddoe Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. They could stand to be just a touch higher, but I don't mind them all that much. Thumb riding the safety is how almost everyone I know shoots them, and 1911s, and nearly anything with a frame mounted safety. When I first started shooting 1911s, the thumb on the safety felt weird. But, shooters far more knowledgeable than I insisted it was the proper way. Eventually I got used to it, and can't imagine shooting the CZ or a 1911 otherwise. same here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Yeah I might need to try the CZ 85 safeties... ck1 are you referring to these: http://czcustom.com/...sathumbler.aspx http://czcustom.com/...rmalsafety.aspx Or are there other ones that are better? 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... Good info- thank you. yep, i hate those wide safeties with a passion. to me they are way too low for most everyone i've come across. They could stand to be just a touch higher, but I don't mind them all that much. Thumb riding the safety is how almost everyone I know shoots them, and 1911s, and nearly anything with a frame mounted safety. When I first started shooting 1911s, the thumb on the safety felt weird. But, shooters far more knowledgeable than I insisted it was the proper way. Eventually I got used to it, and can't imagine shooting the CZ or a 1911 otherwise. same here That's the way I'd like to grip it... if I had bigger hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racer377 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 That's the way I'd like to grip it... if I had bigger hands. Just how small are we talking here? They don't look that small. My wife can grip it like that, and she's got the smallish hands you'd expect to see on a petite 5'5" girl. It looks like you're "cheating" toward the trigger a bit much, but it's tough to say from the angle in your pic. Are you putting the trigger in the first knuckle crevice? Kinda looks like that's where it would be in the pic, or darn close to it... again, hard to tell from that angle. If so, I'd say that's your problem right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 That's the way I'd like to grip it... if I had bigger hands. Just how small are we talking here? They don't look that small. My wife can grip it like that, and she's got the smallish hands you'd expect to see on a petite 5'5" girl. It looks like you're "cheating" toward the trigger a bit much, but it's tough to say from the angle in your pic. Are you putting the trigger in the first knuckle crevice? Kinda looks like that's where it would be in the pic, or darn close to it... again, hard to tell from that angle. If so, I'd say that's your problem right there. Hard to really explain all this... the pic was taken by my son. How would I measure my hands? My hands are not tiny but stubby fingers. I "cheat" towards the trigger only enough so I can get my first pad of my index finger on the trigger. Ironically I have to cheat more on the first DA pull of this gun than I do on my S&W 625! I have taken classes from professional instructors and we've discussed my grip at some length and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. On this gun in particular there are just too many things sticking out on the left side. I'm used to Glock where there is virtually nothing in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racer377 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 ... but I wanted to see if I'm doing something wrong. ... I have taken classes from professional instructors and we've discussed my grip at some length and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lugnut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) ... but I wanted to see if I'm doing something wrong. ... I have taken classes from professional instructors and we've discussed my grip at some length and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. ... Hey... what am I on trial here? Yikes. Let me be more clear... I've taken classes from Manny Bragg and Matt Burkett. Both classes were with my G34. Now what is going on with the CZ is a challenge for me. It's got a long DA 1st pull and the safeties I have now stick out so far I could kill someone by poking them in the eye with them! I've shot revolvers, Sigs, M&Ps, 1911s, etc... and this gun has huge potential.. but it's going to take some work for me. Already ordered different safeties. Just looking to see if there are others that have run into this.. clearly they have.. .and it's not just small handed people. FYI if you want to check out my credentials... USPSA TY60707, IDPA A24089 (5 Gun M) - I'm no GM but I'm not a rookie. Edited January 16, 2012 by lugnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningsquirrels Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 lol... cmon folks calm down folks. everyone has a shooting style, and they are as unique as individual fingerprints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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