I want one badly too but I'm trying to practice restraint. I really don't need one and I like my p 01 omega so very much. It feels right and shoots beautifully. I really can't see a shadowline being any better in the real world (aside from the fact that it has a no fbp classic 75 action that I can pamper, polish and upgrade with springs, comp hammer, disconnector, cgw sear, etc). But then the investment skyrockets and it'll likely mostly sit in the safe since 90% of my handgun trigger time is on my sp 01 shadow.
My sentiments are similar on the capabilities of that line. Just my opinion based on the Pazdera article, this line was targeted to the home/European market as an easy-to-get factory upgrade back then. In the States, those upgrades and many more options are already available and we have such fine shops as CZC, CGW, etc, to fuel our needs to make changes [emoji4]
Here's what the ShadowLine is:
In IPSC, the rules for modifying pistols for the "stock" divisions are much stricter than in USPSA and IDPA. The ShadowLine pistols were a way to get some desirable mods to the Shadow platform that would qualify as "stock" because CZ was producing them in large quantities. It basically provides a custom "stock" pistol.
In 2012/2013, Shadows dried up in the United States, they would trickle in, and the ones that came in were typically sold before they got here. So it was difficult to get a Shadow. But there were ShadowLines in Europe, and CZ sent some to Canada and to the U.S.. I
think (can't say I know for sure) that CZC got all the ones that came to the U.S.. I do not remember anyone else selling from that original shipment. But I did talk to CZ-USA during that time and was told that the U.S. had gotten 100 ShadowLines, some standard, some compact. Don't know the exact division. In my head, it's 50/50, but that could have been 100% an assumption at the time. I do not know. Could have been 90/10 for all I know.
So that original shipment of ShadowLines it would seem was a way to satisfy a demand for Shadows when there were no Shadows. More ShadowLines came in later, but when standard Shadows started coming back in, demand for ShadowLines dropped, and prices for ShadowLines dropped.
If you want a compact "Shadow" then the ShadowLine is the only option I'm aware of. And by all means, I'd buy one if that's what I wanted, and I didn't already have a decked out compact otherwise that I also loved.
The Shadowline is essentially a Shadow with an 85 trigger, low profile safeties, and a ShadowLine hammer with a geometry at the hooks optimized for a better trigger break. Then anything else they've done to the compact version -- alloy frame, for example.
As to comparing to other triggers? My ShadowLine out of the box, on the drive home, I dry-fired in single-action, and I giggled. Very sweet out of the box. Swapped out the mainspring to 13 lbs, and it got better. If I were getting one for carry, I would MAYBE do that -- add a 13# main spring -- but also maybe not. The break was great out of the box. There would be no need for it. And some might prefer the 4 lb to a 3.5lb break for a carry gun.
My full-size ShadowLine currently has an 11.5# main spring, a CZC race hammer, a pre-B drop-in disco, and I've polished the internals per Schmeky's tutorial. I also have have P-09 loaded with all the CGW trigger mods, and it's not even close. The ShadowLine is far ahead.
As far as the trigger actions go for the standard 75 FPB action vs the Omega action vs the Shadow action, and I'm talking stock configuration here, I'd rank them Shadow > Omega > Standard, where Shadow has a hefty lead over 2nd place.
But once they're all modded out and tuned as well as they can be, I'd rank them
Shadow > Standard > Omega, where the Shadow and Standard acitons are super close and both well ahead of the Omega.
The Omega modded out is a VERY nice trigger action, and people should love and appreciate theirs. I would not suggest otherwise. But it's not comparable to what can be done with the original CZ action whether or not there is an FPB. My ShadowLine is modded as stated above. I also have a 97-BE that was built by Schmeky himself. It's hard to pick between them. They are a hair different, but both fantastic. Both triggers are well ahead of my modded and polished P-09, though.
So if you have a modded Omega and shoot it well, stick with it. And if you have a 75 Compact or P-01 modded out and polished, I wouldn't tell you a ShadowLine would be better. But IF you don't have a CZ compact you like, and you're itching for one, the ShadowLine will be the best out of the box.
