Author Topic: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom  (Read 8685 times)

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Offline burlycz

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #15 on: December 15, 2014, 11:49:02 AM »
2more,
Thanks for the clarification. Once I get accustomed to the fixed, I may have to make a trip up to CZC to get the adjustable if I start falling into more USPSA as opposed to IDPA. I really like how low it sits.

Cheers!

Offline Tok36

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #16 on: December 15, 2014, 04:10:59 PM »
Awesome! Great pics. Now i want a gun belt, but i do not compete. Bah! ill just have to wear it at home. Maybe i could put tools in the mag pouches and quick draw spring changes. ;D

Gratz on a great looking new CZ 2morechains! May it treat you well!

Oh it is!  Been dry-firing like a mad man getting used to the DA trigger.  9mm recoil in a 38 oz gun is pretty awesome.  I really like the ergos, it points really well for me, and the extra 2-ish oz of the SP-01 FLDC is in the right spot to keep the gun flat as possible during recoil.

So why not compete?  Its the most fun I've had with my clothes on!


I may get there eventually, i am still relatively new to shooting in general, only been at it about 1.5 years (the first half of that was mostly rifles). For now i am concentrating on gaining more consistency and working on my fundamentals. I didn't even like pistol shooting until i bought my first CZ. 8)
Will work for CZ pics! (including but not limited to all CZ clones)

Offline Raining_Brass

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #17 on: December 15, 2014, 04:28:25 PM »
Awesome! Great pics. Now i want a gun belt, but i do not compete. Bah! ill just have to wear it at home. Maybe i could put tools in the mag pouches and quick draw spring changes. ;D

Gratz on a great looking new CZ 2morechains! May it treat you well!

Oh it is!  Been dry-firing like a mad man getting used to the DA trigger.  9mm recoil in a 38 oz gun is pretty awesome.  I really like the ergos, it points really well for me, and the extra 2-ish oz of the SP-01 FLDC is in the right spot to keep the gun flat as possible during recoil.

So why not compete?  Its the most fun I've had with my clothes on!

That's why I love shooting with a light on the rail. The weight right under the muzzle on a gun this heavy makes recoil feel about as close to .22lr as you can get. lol

Offline 2morechains

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #18 on: December 15, 2014, 06:26:47 PM »
2more,
Thanks for the clarification. Once I get accustomed to the fixed, I may have to make a trip up to CZC to get the adjustable if I start falling into more USPSA as opposed to IDPA. I really like how low it sits.

Cheers!

My other CZ Shadow has the fixed competition rear sight and to be honest after shooting it a bunch I like it just fine.  However when I first got it (it was used) it shot  2" high and 3" left for me.  I drifted the rear sight to correct the windage issue but for me to drop the POI I'll need a taller front sight to work with my current competition load.  All this is doable, it just takes a little bit of effort to get the sights the way I need them.  Once I get it set it ought to be fine as long as I don't change my load too drastically.   

The sights on my SP-01 with the LPA adjustable rear were deadnuts on at 15 and 20 yds, but if they weren't it is easily resolved with a screw driver (as opposed to taking a bunch of measurements, ordering the right size front sight, knocking out the pin and drifitng out the front sight). 

The height of the competition rear sight is pretty close to the LPA adjustable.  Based on front sight height, the front sight of my SP-01 with the LPA adjustable measures .190" tall (I don't have metric calipers).  The CZ75 Shadow's front sight with the fixed comp rear sight is .170" tall but it is hitting high with that front sight height.  So to bring my POI down I probably need a .175" to .180" tall front sight, which means the difference between the LPA and the comp rear sight is a mere .010 to .015".  That's not a lot.     

« Last Edit: December 15, 2014, 06:28:23 PM by 2morechains »

Offline 2morechains

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #19 on: December 30, 2014, 02:45:55 PM »
Just an update.  I'm in the neighborhood of about 1,000 rnds thru the CZC SP-01 Shadow.  Been shooting it regularly in practice as well as a couple of USPSA matches.  First match I had some issues where I was somehow flipping up the thumb safety on the draw, and one of my mags had a base pad which broke free of the retainer plate and shot the spring, rounds, and follower down around my feet midway thru a stage. 

The thumb thing is being worked on thru dry-fire training.  Normally when I go to draw a 1911 or 2011 my shooting hand's thumb naturally indexes on the thumb safety when I establish my grip, then after the draw the safety is depressed as I am getting on target.  With the CZ started in DA mode there's no need for the safety to be applied, but with the CZ's safety being a little more forward than on a 1911/2011 its taken a thousand or so practice draws to get my thumb indexed correctly on the safety lever so it doesn't get flipped up -it wasn't going all the way up, just enough to block the sear. 

The mag thing got resolved by putting in the round button retainer plate instead of the pressed metal ones.  The pressed metal ones are now in my dry-fire mags until I get around to getting some more of the round ones.  Just working out the bugs. 

Somewhere around the 500 rnd mark I broke my first trigger return spring.  So I tore the gun completely apart to see how it was breaking in and to make sure the channel that the TRS sits in didn't have any burrs or something that might have weakened it.  I didn't find anything, so chalked it up to a bad spring (or maybe the 5K dry fire trigger pulls in the last week or two had something to do with it).  Incidentally the trigger pin tapped right out.  That was kind of anticlimactic since I was expecting to have to get all medieval on it like I did my 2012 Shadow...

While it was apart I swapped out the trigger pin for the free floating one from CGW and the RTS, changed out the 13 lb hammer spring for an 11.5, and checked the FP to make sure it was the extended one (it is).  I was tempted to give the trigger bar contact points and underside of the sear cage a quick polish but figured best to leave well enough alone for a while and keep shooting it.  Besides, with the new HS the pull went from 7.5 in DA to 6.6 lbs and SA from 3 lbs to 2.7 lbs.  Good 'nuff for now. 

I also found a small burr on the underside of the slide and I think that might have been what was causing some of my mags to not fall free.  The burr may have been dragging on the top round in the mag causing it to go forward, which in turn inhibited the mag from dropping free.  A few minutes with a ceramic stone and a krytex polishing tip and its now mirror smooth and no more issues with mags hanging up. 

Shot a match on Saturday and everything went smooth.  No equipment hang-ups, not mental blocks, just good shooting and my scores are about where I should be in the overalls.  Accuracy under match conditions was pretty good ~95% of the available points.  This gun locks up tight and is very accurate and I have no regrets not getting the accu-bushing.

Next steps:  I have a 10 lb recoil spring I want to experiment with to see if that does anything for me and I also have a spare slide stop that I need to proof with some live-fire then stash it in my parts kit in case the main one breaks.  I also picked up a few spare TRS just in case...

« Last Edit: December 30, 2014, 02:49:30 PM by 2morechains »

Offline Tok36

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #20 on: December 30, 2014, 04:49:04 PM »
^^Interesting, thank you for the run down.
Will work for CZ pics! (including but not limited to all CZ clones)

Offline Bossgobbler

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #21 on: December 30, 2014, 05:04:08 PM »
 10 lb recoil spring will be to light(slide will beat your frame up), unless you are shooting sub minor power factor.  use a recoil spring that lets your brass fly about 6 feet. go up if it is falling 8-10' go down if it is falling at your feet.

Offline 2morechains

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #22 on: December 30, 2014, 05:13:34 PM »
10 lb recoil spring will be to light(slide will beat your frame up), unless you are shooting sub minor power factor.  use a recoil spring that lets your brass fly about 6 feet. go up if it is falling 8-10' go down if it is falling at your feet.

There are people who say a 12.5 lb recoil spring is too light for a .45 and it will batter the gun.  I've got over 30K on a 1911 running 170-172 PF ammo and a 13 lb recoil spring with no sights of damage.  I run a 12 lb recoil in a .40 1911, and 10 lb spring in my 9mm 2011. 

I prefer to base my spring weight on where my follow-up shots are hitting.  If higher than the first, it's too light.  If lower than the first, it's too low.  With the 11 lb its pretty good, but I need to do some more testing with the different spring rates shooting Bill Drills to know for certain.  And I will be checking the gun for signs of battering, but appreciate the suggestion.   

Offline burlycz

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #23 on: January 01, 2015, 10:07:56 PM »
Thanks for the update 2more. I just ordered a few parts to tweak mine as well. Keeping the 13# in for now, but changing out TRS and moving to old style 85 trigger. Going to measure pulls before and after the light TRS, then going to do a full polish as per Schmecky's sticky. Will re-measure after that and report results in my Shadow custom thread. Depending on objective and subjective results of the polish, it might help you decide whether to do yours. My DA pull feels a bit "uneven", but I do not have the round and DF count you do. I might try the HS12000, but as a scientist by day, I dont like changing too many variables at once. I should be able to have it done this weekend if the CGW parts arrive.

Cheers!

Offline 2morechains

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #24 on: January 01, 2015, 10:19:35 PM »
I polished the internals on my 2012 CZ-75 Shadow, trying to not take off metal and just put a mirror finish on the contact points.  I suppose I could have done more since my post-polish DA trigger weighing didn't result in much change, but it does feel smoother. 

I'm holding off for now on doing anything more to my 2014 SP-01 Shadow since it was gone over by the guys at CZC and the trigger feels pretty good as is.  To me, the trigger pulls of the two guns now feel pretty similar (both in the neighborhood of 6.5 lbs DA and smooth) but the 2012 Shadow has five times the rounds thru it than the 2014 SP-01 Shadow. 

But I would like to hear the results of your changes. 

Offline 2morechains

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Re: 2014 CZ-75 SP-01 Shadow Custom
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2015, 06:11:49 PM »
Shot a USPSA match today with the 10 lb recoil spring installed.  It shot pretty well for me, but after the match I stuck around and did a series of Bill Drills and double taps with both the 10 and 11 lb recoil springs.  Turns out I shoot better with the 11 lb recoil spring.  With the 10 lb most if not all of my subsequent shots in a Bill Drill were higher than the initial shot.  I shot the drill from DA on the first pull as well as SA and the results were the same.  But going back to an 11 lb recoil and I had a nice 4" cluster centered around my first hit. 

However when I ran the same drill with my '75 Shadow (non-SP-01) with the same load (130 PF) I shot better with the 10 lb recoil spring.  So I'll keep the 10's for the '75 Shadow and use the 11's for the SP-01 Shadow. 

If anybody is curious about what spring rate to use with their particular load,  this is a handy video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w3UVLm2GajI