CZ Shadow 2- USPSA Production Gun

[Bucky]

3. Reliability. I would personally trust CZ over any striker fired pistols including Glocks. There are two parts in CZ that need to be replaced regularly - a TRS and Slide stop due to the way the gun works. It takes 5 min to replace the TRS and it costs nothing. Looks like the quality of the parts in Shadow 2 is way better . One thing that I would ditch as soon as possible is CZ's original magazines though. They do not last. The good thing, Mecgar mags are around $22 and they are bullet proof. Shadow 2s come with the Mecgar mags now.

I'm going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'm not a Glock fan-boy by any stretch of the imagination, but all things being equal, this has not been my experience. Granted, I haven't seen a ton of rounds through the Shadow 2, but CZs in general don't show the reliability and longevity that Glocks do. However, needing a little more TLC and parts replacement on competition gun is not necessarily a negative if it gets you any sort of advantage, which I couldn't disagree with.

Of course in terms of competition, there is one thing I've come to learn with regards to competition pistols and their reliability. Suppose you were to ask me between two guns at a match I frequent, which would be more reliable. My first question would not be WHAT kind of guns, but WHO is shooting and maintaining them. Hence why I underlined "all things being equal" above. YMMV

[cheby]

My first question would not be WHAT kind of guns, but WHO is shooting and maintaining them. YMMV

That is a valid point

[YVK]

Trying to decide if I'm going to try it in a match, or just get a Tanfo, which feels much better in my hands.

I will say, I've yet to clean it, and after multiple range trips it's worked 100%.

I prefer Tanfo's ergos over the Shadow (never tried 2 but I am told that there is no revolutionary change between 1 and 2 in grip size and feel departments) but...
I have two Stock 2s, have been sticking with them, and they have been an exercise in anger management. They have had feeding issues, ejection issues, light strikes on factory Federal ammo issues, trigger bar/ disco / sear engagement issues, shit like I've never seen before issues. When they run, they are like addictive like crack but when they don't.. I am easily double the initial price on gunsmiths' work and eventually one is seemingly running OK. OK like in two last major matches I had only one stoppage. Another is in Houston area now and if it gets lost in floods, I won't cry. I have seen plenty of CZs going down in various ways but they don't seem to have nearly the same rate of problems like my Tanfos have had, and usually the fixes are self evident. The Tanfo, Joe Wilson tells me he can't fit his disco because he tried several sear cages and all are too loose in the frame....
One month before the Nationals I am not going to change but after that I am going to give it a long thought. If both eventually run, I'll keep shooting them, but I also am looking forward to fingering Cheby's Shadow 2.

[taadski]

I have absolutely no bone in this argument. But I've personally witnessed a litany of problems with CZs over the past several years. But in defense of the brand itself, every single one of them has had extensive "custom work" done. And not from only one vendor in particular, but from each of the "big three" CZ smiths. On one particular occasion, I witnessed two different pistols develop hammer follow mid-match and go down. These were both on my squad at the same area match.

On the other hand, I've owned a couple stock 75s that ran like tops. One with a round count upwards of 10K with ZERO problems. A close friend of mine; a competitive shooter and CZ dealer has 30K through a CZ 75 compact (his carry pistol) and about the same volume through a stock 75 Shadow, his match pistol, without so much as a bobble. In my mind, the writing is kinda on the wall.

Here's to hoping the factory tuned Shadow IIs are more comparable to their other STOCK guns. In contrast to the heavily whittled "customs" so common these days.

[Clusterfrack]

LALALALA. I can't hear you...

I don't have patience for guns that don't work. That's one of the reasons I shoot Production.

[taadski]

LALALALA. I can't hear you...

I don't have patience for guns that don't work. That's one of the reasons I shoot Production.

LOL. I feel exactly the same way.

My post was in no way meant as a jinx, btw. I kinda want a Shadow 2 myself.

@YVK Speaking of factory race guns, I've heard some really good things about the Tanfo Extremes that would jive with my "custom gunsmithing" hypothesis. BTW. :P

[cheby]

LALALALA. I can't hear you...

I don't have patience for guns that don't work. That's one of the reasons I shoot Production.

No worries here. Just remember, if your shadow 2 develops any issues , I will help you to get rid of it. I would give you a glock 34 for it. You know I could give you two g34s. The second one has 50k through it but we all know that for about $7 you can replace f$cking everything in it. good deal. I got you covered.

[GJM]

Something I am really enjoying about the Walther PPQ Q5, is you can take them out of the box, bolt on an optic or change to a Dawson fiber optic .100 x .180 front sight, add some mag extensions, and you are done. Between my wife and I, we have five, have been shooting them since late spring, and I haven't even cleaned one, no less done any PM. They can be bought new in the $700's on GB, and I think they are one of the best values going for a great shooting pistol.

YVK doesn't like them because "they look funny," and he prefers to have guns with lots of drama, that you have to do things to, besides just shoot them.

[Bucky]

LALALALA. I can't hear you...

I don't have patience for guns that don't work. That's one of the reasons I shoot Production.

Ironically, from some of the issues I'm reading here about the Tanfos, I should stick with Limited for the same reasons.

[rob_s]

I had a Shadow Custom from the CZ custom shop and switched to the CZ from Glock due to the same recoil/arm issues. I loved it. I only sold it because it didn't make sense to have $2k worth of gun and accessories sitting around if I wasn't shooting it that much.

If I ever get back to regularly shooting matches, I'll definitely be going to the Shadow 2. In the meantime I'm eyeballing a glock 34 mos if they make it in a gen 5. Glock 34 because it's way less expensive froma n infrequent match shooter perspective, and MOS because it makes sense to me to hedge against possibly adding an optic in the next few years and not having to buy a new gun/slide.