CZ SP-01 Shadow Line mods while keeping reliability?

[Gurkha]

Hi,

I have the CZ SP-01 Shadow Line, not in the US, I did not see this model on the CZ USA website, you can find it on the CZ UB website.

This I my gun for IPSC Production (not USPSA), it does not have any modification yet. I would like to do some small, legal modification but I do not want to effect reliability.

I heard 13lb mainsprings can help the DA trigger pull but I am worried about light primer strikes. Due to the cheap price and availability, I sometimes train with berdan primed, steel cased ammunition which has very hard primers. This is not my ammunition for matches but I want the pistol to not have any light strikes with any ammunition.

I have heard of an extra long firing pin, I am not sure if that could help or if it is even necessary? Also, could the extra long firing pin cause any safety problems?

I have also heard of both 11lb and 14lb recoil springs, but I am worried about feeding issues. I had another CZ 75 which had a lot of feeding issues.

There are other parts I have heard people talk about, such as a different hammer and Pre B disconnectors for a shorter reset.

What would you guys suggest for modifications while keeping good reliability?

Thanks in advance

[kneelingatlas]

IPSC Production has more stringent rules on which parts you can upgrade, perhaps someone more familiar can chime in, but if you have hard primers and can install an extended firing pin, it will definitely help. I use an 11.5# hammer spring and can light off most primers although I've never tried the hardest of them.

[emjei]

Like kneelingaltlas said above....I also play IPSC here in Puerto Rico and even the springs have to be OEM.

I use an uncut 13# hammer spring and practice with Tulammo....NO light strikes recorded after 3,000plus rounds

When I play USPSA then I go with the 11.5#. .... what a difference that spring makes

[Gurkha]

Hi kneelingatlas and emjei. Thanks a lot for the replys and advice.

I'm not sure but I think the uncut 13 mainspring is fine but not sure about 11.5 as far as being legal for IPSC production.

emjei, the training ammo I use is similar to tulammo, we can get that as well for a good price. Did you install the extra long firing pin or are you getting good strikes on the Tulammo with the standard firing pin and the 13 mainspring?

What about the recoil spring for either of you guys? Any changes on that and any feeding or other reliability issues?

[emjei]

Gurkha.... my Shadow has the extended Firing Pin.

If you are handy with tools you can polish internals ( IPSC permitted ) and obtained a smoooooth action combined with springs

The fact that we play IPSC we have to use OEM parts. The lowest OEM HS is 13#

I use a 11# recoil and love the fact that I can track my sights better and can manipulate the slide during loads and malfunctions with ease.

Also get the Pre B disconector

PS. We heard that they will be checking springs at the World Shoot in October......scary O_o

Edited July 22, 2014 by emjei

[niroth81]

I'd suggest you refer to the IPSC rule book with regards to polishing. Specifically Appendix D 16.1. Don't go polishing your parts.

I shoot a CZ75 SP-01 Shadow with the following changes (approx 8000 rounds to date):

13lb Main Spring

11lb Recoil Spring

Stainless guiderod

CZ Comp hammer

Dawson front sight - This is a must.

Extended firing pin

Extra power extractor spring

Silicon carbide coated grips

It shoots like a kitten and the reset is shorter than some SA gun's I've used. The only other change that has been made to mine is on the underside of the slide, just knocking off the hard edge at the bottom of the breech face because it was causing huge feeding issues. Aside of that, I've never had one problem with the gun. Never a fail to extract/eject, and only once a fail to fire (because I somehow missed loading a primer into that case).

I load all my own ammo and use a Lee Factory Crimp die, so I don't bother chamber checking my ammo.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your CZ!

Jase

Edit: Ass up numbers, Thanks BeerBaron

Edited July 23, 2014 by niroth81

[BeerBaron]

Jase has great advice but he got the mainspring and recoil spring backwards. 11lb or 12 lb recoil spring (try both see which you like) and 13lb mainspring.

I would also add the pre-b disco which is not on jase's list.

My list for an Ipsc legal tuned shadow (this is how my gun is now).

Cz comp hammer

Pre-b disco

11lb recoil spring

13lb mainspring

Extended firing pin

Stainless guiderod. (This is optional, does little except add some weight)

Narrow Dawson front sight is a good idea

None of these parts affect the safe operation of the gun if fitted correctly.

You cannot polish internals in Ipsc. You can however deburr parts and 'fit' parts. To me this means use a stone to clean up obvious tool marks etc but no mirror finish. Even just a basic clean up of sides of the hammer, sides of the trigger bar and it's other contact surfaces, some work on the strut will make a improvement.

Enjoy.

[Gurkha]

Sounds good, thanks emjei, niroth81 and BeerBaron, I believe this is the best advice I have ever had on a gun forum.

For the extended firing pin, I read to use it in combination with CZ 2075 / Rami Factory Firing Pin Spring. Do you guys use that firing pin spring as well and should I?

As for the Dawson front sight, what size are you guys using? There are so many options!

For the CZ comp hammer, my Shadow Line comes with a new hammer design, it seems like a mix between the old hammer and the comp hammer. Is it as good as the comp hammer or should I swap it out for the comp hammer? I would post a link but it says I don't have enough posts yet to do that.

Thanks guys!

[niroth81]

I like the looks of the comp hammer better. Also it gives a little more area to grab for dropping the hammer if using the pinch method (production start) at the start of the CoF. My Shadow isn't the line model, and had the round top hammer as seen in this pic:

I can't speak of the differences between your hammer and the comp hammer. A caliper comparison of the comp and stock hammer (mine at least) had the sear hooks in a very slightly different position. Honestly though the only thing I noticed was a slightly shorter reset but we are talking mm here. Looking at the shape of the shadow line hammer, I know I'd be changing it for the competition hammer.

I'm using the extended firing pin with the stock FP spring, no issues at all.

Dawson fibre sight, .150" Tall, .100" Wide. Part number 019-122 - This matches perfectly with the stock sight height and hasn't changed point of impact at all. If you look at all other sights you'll see a different measurement; Dawson measure from the top of the sight to the top of the slide. Most others measure top of the sight to the bottom of the sight, which includes the dovetail portion.

Do the easy upgrades first mate, springs, guide rod; upgrade your sight (or get a smith if you aren't 100% confident) and shoot it like that for a while. You might find that it shoots perfectly for you, if not you can always invest in the comp hammer.

Also, without wanting to open a can of worms... I am using frog lube (the liquid not the paste) and have found it absolutely brilliant. Haven't had any problems what so ever with it, and everything is so easy to clean. Prior to that I was using BE's standard weight slide glide, also an outstanding product.

It goes without saying but advice is only based on someones experiences. If you are buying springs, get a few different weights to have a play with. Even if you go straight for the one you planned they are so cheap and you'll have spares in case you ever need them.

Jase

[Gurkha]

Hi niroth81,

Thanks for all of that and the pictures.

I ordered just about everything except for the hammer because where I ordered from is out of stock for those hammers. I also haven't been able to find the front sight yet so I am still looking.

I'm excited to see the difference all this will make.

[BeerBaron]

yep, front sight in either 150T or 155T depending on where your shadow shoots now. I would determine your load first, then shoot the gun and see where your POA is. for example if your shooting 147 or 155gn bullets you'll probably need a 160 or 170T sight. if shooting 124 or 135gn the 150T or 155T will be better suited to the factory rear. for width for IPSC the .100 or even .095 wide is good. if you have poor eyesight get the thinnest you can (090 from memory). this gives more light either side of the front post which gives you a nice quick sight picture.

The improvement in the hammers is all in the geometry and length of the hooks. the design of the actual head is just for looks (well and weight).

I'm not sure if the line hammer has the same geometry as the comp hammer. the comp hammer has much shorter hooks than a standard hammer. to get the most out of it you need to fit it to the sear to get as little creep in single action as possible. it doesn't really change anything in double action. and I don't think it'll change the reset point either.

you can use the standard firing pin spring but a reduced power one is desirable to have. being IPSC you need a CZ one. there is one that's lighter. I can't remember if it was the rami spring or another. ask someone who knows about them which is the 'lighter' spring than the original shadow firing pin spring.

I would personally go straight for a 13lb main spring, but definitely buy a 11, 12 and maybe 13lb recoil spring and try them all. it varies from load to load and person to person which is preferred.

when doing the hammer, I would personally buy a new sear to go with it. they are cheap. that way you'll have the old pair of hammer and sear together. do the pre-b disconector when you do the hammer.

consider adding the old style 85C trigger too if you don't like the current thin trigger.

make sure you get the CZ UB hammer, not the CZ USA or CZC or CGW comp hammer. they look similar but only the CZ UB hammer is legal for IPSC production div.

[Gurkha]

I made all the changes minus the hammer and front sights cause I could not find them, I'll keep looking

I had problems with the disconnector but kneelingatlas helped me out.

I took her to the range and everything went fine except for tons of light strikes. I have the extended firing pin and the lighter rami firing pin spring. The ammo I am using has hard primers but other guns and this gun stock had no issues, now with this set up it is really bad. I would definitely throw a match with all these light strikes.

Is there anything I can do to improve this which would be production legal? I like the 13lb mainspring for the DA trigger pull but I am not happy with the light strikes.

The only things I can think of are cutting coils on the firing pin spring but that would be illegal for production so I can't do that. Maybe I could "remove burs" by taking some rubbing compound to the firing pin and firing pin whole but I am not sure if that would really help at all.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[BeerBaron]

before you do anything, just double check that the rami spring is lighter than the one you had. put your stock spring back in with the new extended firing pin and re-test.

you shouldn't be getting light strikes with 13lb mainspring.

how new is the gun? some issues when very new are not unheard of and should even out once it's run in a little. you can certainly deburr the firing pin channel a little.

What ammo are you using and what primer is in it? are you certain those primers are seated as deep as can be?

I can't remember if CZ make a 14lb spring but I know they do make a 15lb hammer spring. if all else fails you may need to use that. plenty of people use 11lb or lighter springs with decent reliability on a variety of primers. the 13 should be very reliable.

[Gurkha]

Hi, sorry for the slow reply. I don't get on the internet very often other then to answer emails.

It turns out the spring is definitely lighter but for some reason the extended firing pin causes light strikes but the stock firing pin does not.

My friend set his gun up the same and he was getting lots of light strikes, I told him to try the stock firing pin which he had in his bag and the rest of the day he didn't get any light strikes.

The only thing I can think of is that the stock firing pin is lighter.

My friend thought maybe it was the way the hammer hits this stock vs extended.

I'm not sure.