Shadow 2 tight chamber?

[Clayshooter56]

Hi All:

New here and I have a question about a Shadow 2 my daughter just bought. Sweet piece and I'm jealous.  She and I took it out when she first got it to have her shoot some rounds through it.  She doesn't reload so she was shooting factory ammo.  All was well. I wanted her to try a different bullet weight in it so I gave her some of my 124 reloads. After the first shot, the gun locked up and I couldn't get the slide to rack back.  Fortunately, we were able to drive out the pin and take the slide off. I dropped my reloads into the barrel and I could see that they wouldn't seat all the way in (maybe sticking up 1/16 to 3/32). I figured my loads, which work like a charm in my Witness were too large at the base. I went home and case gauged my handloads and they checked out perfect in the gauge.  My question is: Do CZs typically come with a very tight chamber or is this one a one off? It seems I remember the exterior coating may have been in the chamber like overspray but I can't remember for sure.  Will this eventually wear in so the gun will accept handloads or does it need some work? Thanks in advance.

[Fuzzy Sights]

CZs frequently have tight chambers and throats.  Loading ammo for a variety of guns of the same caliber can be entertaining as you need to check all guns for chamber dimensions.  One can have a tight chamber, another a short throat etc.  I am working on a load in 357 Sig that I have 5 different pistols.  Making ammo that works in one is easy, all 5: I am currently on my 15th load combination and will test again tomorrow...

Hope you have better luck on yours.  Best wishes.

JW 

[Wobbly]

1. Welcome from Georgia.

Please take a few moments to familiarize yourself with all the sticky posts in the 'New Members' section. Together with the Help Topics in the 'Important Information' or 'FAQ' sub-section, these include 'how tos' such as 'how to' post pictures on the forum.


2. To answer your question, you are not alone. Every new-to-CZ reloader seems to run into this... You'll simply need to improve up your reloading practices to reload ammo for the CZ. The CZ chamber is to SAAMI standards, but it does not have any of the looseness, or chamber reliefs found in Ruger, S&W, or early Glocks.

Furthermore, due to the very short CZ freebore, some American-only bullet shapes (e.g. hollow point, conical, wad cutter) cannot be tolerated. (I'm not saying these can never be used. I'm saying that even more care will be needed.

It's all explained in the "stickies" of the Ammo & Handloading Section, right here....
https://czfirearms.us/index.php?topic=100352.0
Since you currently reload, please begin at: Physical Details of Cartridge Building.

All questions pertaining to ammo and/or handloading practices should be posted in THAT forum, please.

Right now, I highly suspect 1 or more of these questionable practices...
• Using brass previously shot in OPEN Class competition
• Incorrect Taper Crimp
• Excessive OAL

Hope this helps.

[PA USPSA]

As Wobbly said, bullet shapes other than round nose do not typically work well in a Shadow 2.  There is a thread in the Ammunition, questions, and handloading techniques forum titled Ammunition for Shadow 2 that may be helpful.