Running CZ’s “Competition Ready “Shadow 2 Pistol

LET’S GO RACING

Running CZ’s “Competition Ready “Shadow 2 Pistol

Bob Pilgrim

Back to the Future

I knew immediately that when I picked this near 47 – ounce hunk of steel up that mentally I never abandoned my preference for substantial metal handguns.  But there was more. The pistol, the CZ Shadow 2 nine millimeter developed by CESKA ZBRO JOVK a. s.,  UHERSKY BROD  specifically for USPA/IPSC competition felt better and more natural in my big paws than any previous hand guns that I had experienced.  Unless you ere LeBron James,  it’s a bit too heavy for concealed carry, but it just felt right to me and I was more than willing to go back to the future with this firearm and  I knew that I was going to spend a lot of time with this attention grabbing l handgun.  The sleek beauty’s handsomeness was further embellished with a set of satin blue aluminum grips  and 25 LPI fore and aft grip checkering.  The grip panels, in concert with front and rear strap checkering provided a very secure hold, which mitigated to a degree the guns overall heft without skin abrasion.  

Extensive Research

The development of this sensational pistol  owes much of its  success  to the extensive research  that merged engineering with the racing experience of Team CZ.  They doggedly tried to find any of  the Shadow 1’s faults and weaknesses and eliminate them with the new gun.  Simultaneously, the new pistol had to remain affordable for shooters at all levels of experience. The key points that XZ wanted to improve upon were speed, accuracy, durability and a gun that lends itself to further customization.

Tight Test Target

 In spite of its sophistication the pistol shares the same lockable and padded attaché style case that most of CZ handguns arrive in. Neverteheless,  its package includes three 17 round magazines with substantial base pads and blue followers, a larger gas pedal style bilateral  thumb safety for competition, cleaning gear, manual  and documentation. A set of Allen wrenches and several shock buffs if hot +P loads are the pistols standard fair. In the European tradition a 25 meter, three round test target is included.  Point of aim (POA) was the lower third of the three inch bullseye. The 115 grain loads triangulated the POA with a 0.91.4 inch cluster.

Protective Finish

The pistols buff black skin is treated with  Arcor or Tennifer / Melonite (Ferric Nitro carburizing) finish. It’s produced by dipping steel into a molten nitride salt bath that chemically changes the steel. The finish is further strengthened by a dose of Polycoat, a waterproof epoxy. In sharp contrast to its dark look are as mentioned it’s beautiful and functional blue aluminum grip panels whose “pyramid” checkered complexion augments the grip. The only gripe that I have heard is the heat transfer from the metal when exposed to the Sun for long periods. 

Low Bore Axis

Per CZ steel pistol SOP, Its slide sits deep within the frame and rides on full length interior rails. The slide thusly is fully supported and the barrel’s bore axis  is lowered closer to the hand. This design is typical of CZ 75s and helps mitigate felt recoil and reduce muzzle rise.  The near five inch cold hammer forged barrel squeezes a little more velocity out of the ammunition fed to it, but CZ does not advertise it as a match tube. It is not crowned and its 1.98.4” twist is standard for nine millimeter. It does ot have a removable bushing. Only the Custom Accu Shadow 2 and Shadow 2 Orange have bushings and ship directly from the factory with them.  The slab like slide compliments its full length dust cover and creates a very pugnacious profile that exudes strength and substantiality.

Competition  Sights

 A 0.120” wide red fiber optic front sight tips the dorsal surface of the slide and CZ standard slide serrations visually connect it to the rear HAJO (Height Adjustable Only) competition sight. The rear sight features a blade that angles itself toward the aperture, so it covers less of the target and lets you see around it.  The width of the front sight is good, but for competition I preferred a 0.100”sight on my 1911s and that worked even better for me. Sight radius is maximized. 

Deep and wide fore and aft gripping serrations for press checks, charging and unloading the pistol are present, but not as accessible as they would be on a slide that has a higher profile. I am not a fan of the forward serrations since it places hands and fingers near the muzzle.  One of my HRT colleagues a former US Navy SEAL officer and Vietnam vet shot his finger off  in the shoot house during night ops while adjusting his long gun tac -light. Fortunately, we found the blasted digit and it was reattached to the finger none the worse for wear.  C. was one tough warrior that was hard to stop kinetically, but he was deeply embarrassed over the incident.

CNC Machining

All edges are relieved and the entire gun, internally and externally has benefited from CNC robotic machinery. Everything is exact with no tool marks.  Precise manufacturing enhances inherent accuracy and the durability of parts and components. 

Heavy Full Length Frame

Its slab sided frame makes it ideal for pistol whipping (only kidding).  It features a one slot Picatinny rail for lights and lasers that meets an undercut area that lets a shooter who rides the square that the S 2 slotted trigger guard as high as possible. Where the guard meets the checkered front strap  that area is also undercut to facilitate a high grip. The grip is medium in size and I had no problem placing my trigger finger up to the first joint onto the double action trigger. If you have a big hook, CZ offers rubber grips with palm swells to fill you hand. Grip angle and ergonomics are near perfect and the S 2 points naturally with front sight slightly high for me.  At the grips base it is curved up slightly and provides a rest for the pinky and also helps force the hand into a high grip position. As mentioned previously, checkering is effective without being a distraction. Back strap checkering abruptly stops half way up the strap. The remainder is smooth and it runs up to the generously sized beavertail to permit the hand to slide up for a high grip. There is no grip safety.

Carry Options

  Its pivoting trigger is double/single action with the option of carrying it cocked and locked. This means has no decocker and the bilateral levers act as manual safeties. This also means that its skeletonized speed hammer has to be slowly and carefully lowered manually to half cock or fully rested against the blocked firing pin. Stock thumb safeties hug the frame and are easy to miss.  This is because in Production Division DA/SA guns first shot must be with hammer down or in DA mode. However, if you plan on carrying the S 2 in condition one, CZ provides an enlarged “gas pedal” style replacement  thumb safety located on the left side of the pistol.  However, no tutorial on accomplishing this modification is in the manual, but a number of informative videos exist on UTUBE that will guide you through the process. With the correct sized punch, I would describe the mechanics simple but tricky. When safeties are disengaged a red dot appears on each side of its frame.  

Good Triggers

Its DA trigger is long, but smooth with no stacking and breaks at 11 pounds from complete rest and 8 pounds from half cock.  Cocked and locked my sample, after a bit of take up (Slack) abandons its sear after 3.5 pounds of pressure is applied. However, it feels lighter given the pivoting triggers mechanical advantage. Reset is quick, but involves a scintilla of take up before it launches subsequent shots.  Biggest problem I had with the system was being too hard on the trigger causing some fast pairs to print low.  This bothered me, because I was unable to call the shot.  Target re index happens so fast I couldn’t track the sight. My old eyes have slowed down.

Adjustable Magazine Release

Its magazine release is similar in size to the one put on my prize 1911 by former Navy SEAL Wally Diatchenko. It has lots of checkered surface area and can’t be missed. It is also adjustable for position to suit the shooter. Nice practical touch. Magazines are steel staggered box with substantial base pads, but only hold 17 rounds.  CZ has higher capacity sticks and should offer that to the S 2 owner. The magazine well is enlarged  with beveled edges for fast reloads and the magazines are adroitly jettisoned from the gun when empty. Everything is well thought out and executed per end user recommendations. 

Tactical Applications

 Being an old SWAT team leader I mentally evaluate every firearm’s potential for Tactical applications. With fixed sights and rubber grips the S2 would provide excellent service as team’s secondary in a leg drop or battle belt holster. After all, the motto of USPA/IPSC is Diligentia, Vis, Celeritous or Precision, Power and Speed respectively. And that’s what I hope to execute when embroiled in gun battle.  In fact however, such a SWAT friendly CZ pistol exists in the form of the SP-01 Shadow at half the price of the S2.  This capability is not lost on the Czech police and military, both of whom confidentially carry a CZ on their hips. If weight is a primary consideration CZ offers plethora of polymer pistols with identical features. 

Production Division

As noted, the Shadow 2 is a race gun with service sidearm characteristics and is classified as a run and gun USPA Production Division handgun where it now dominates. Competitors have reported significant reductions time while maintaining a high level of accuracy. However, it is slightly over the weight limitations for IDPA contests. For the bang and clangors, It is a good candidate for Steel Challenge competitions. If its weight was not deemed a hindrance by the competitor the S2 would make an excellent three gun handgun.

Sweet Shooting

Shooting the S 2 feels like cheating, because felt recoil and muzzle rise are negligible. The only elements that affected my groups were my control of its trigger and tightening my grip. Part of the trigger problem was simply lack of familiarity with the S 2’s lever.

Both my shooting partner and I competed in action shooting years ago, but also shot for blood as armed federal agents.  Inarguably, the S2 is an uncompensated race gun, but also could be recruited for self- defense duties possibly for home defense.  Even if shooting for score is no longer a pursuit owning a fine pistol that is shot occasionally is like taking out that restored Stingray for a weekend jaunt to the mountains.  Trice strapped on a Comp-Tac International   holster and remarked, “Wow, this feels like a boat anchor. This is heavier than my 1911.” Typically, the  S 2 eclipses  a GI 1911 by 7-8 ounces or half a pound  and is six ounces heavier than CZ’s own .45 ACP – the 97 B. While we are talking weight, a fully loaded S 2 with eighteen 147 grain rounds on board rivals a small dumbbell at 56 ounces. Battle Braces (Suspenders) are recommended.

CZ Shadow 2 Performance

Load                                            Velocity                                                              Accuracy

Black Hills

100 gr. +P

Honey Badger                            1255                                                                    3.16.4

                                                   SD 22.4

115 gr. JHP EXP                          1263                                                                     0.88.5

                                                   SD 13.6

125 gr. +P JHP                             1284                                                                     1.48.3

                                                     SD 99

Hornady

135 gr. FL                                    1020                                                                       1.11.1      

                                                  SD 3.7                                        

G2 94 gr.

Civic Duty                                    `1119                                                                      1.93..9

                                                 SD 21.3

Sig Sauer

147 grain Match JHP              922                                                                                  1.61`.05

                                                 SD 18.4

                                    Power factor = 135.53

Super Vel  

90 gr.H P                                1474                                                                                    1.26.1

Average muzzle velocities obtained from  five  round strings fired past Labradar chronograph and expressed  in feet per second. Five round groups were obtained from a hand held rest at 25 yards and expressed in inches. 

CZ SHADOW 2 BLUE SPECIFICATIONS

• SKU: 91257
• Stealth Gray version with threaded barrel and suppressor sights
• Action: Recoil
• Caliber: 9×19 mm and 9×21 mm
• Capacity: 17 + 1
• Functioning: Semi – Automatic. DA /SA trigger
• Trigger Weights: DA= 8.75 lb. SA =3.75 lb
• Frame and Slide: Black Nitride with Polycoated Steel
• Weight: 46.5 oz. with magazine
• Weight, fully loaded: 18 – 147 gr. = 56 oz.
• OAL: 8.53”
• OAH: 5.75”
• OAW: 1.3”
• Barrel: 4.89” Cold Hammer Forged
• Grip: 25 LPI checkering. Blue Aluminum grip panels
• Sights: Fiber optic front. HAJO rear
• Safety’s Bilateral thumb  and firing pin block
• MSRP:  $ 1,349.00
• Warranty: 

Games

Ken and I ran some drills just to see how the S 2 handled with its shooter under pressure. We also compared its performance to  that of Ken’s discontinued CZ 75 B SA (Single Action) nine mill. The latter is a stock firearm that has never been tweaked since it left its box and it is 10 ounces lighter than the S 2. However, it’s fast and accurate in the CZ tradition. We ran three speed drills and unquestionably the S 2 made us look good.

• Nine Shot Speed Drill
• Three USPA/IPSC/IDPA targets three feet apart
• Distance seven yards
• High Ready start position
• Procedure: Two hand grip. Shooters choice target engagement sequence.  Upon signal, fire one round at targets one and two and two rounds on target three. Immediately fire one round target two and target one, followed by one shot each target head.
• If misses occur run does not count
• Drill is normally shot at three yards, but many just point shoot at that distance and good shooters will complete drill in less than three seconds. Sights will be required at seven yards.
• Ken made six clean runs with an average time of 5.39 seconds
• Bill Drill
• One USPA /IPSC or IDPA target placed seven yards from shooter
• Start from ready gun
• Upon signal, shooter fires six rounds as fast as he can with goal of  scoring all center his or run does not count
• Ken fired six clean runs with an average time of 1.97 seconds
• All Hands Drill
• One USPA / IPSC or IDPA target situated seven yards from shooter.
• Start from ready gun
• Upon signal fire two rounds COM with two hands, followed by two rounds with strong hand and finish with two rounds support hand. 
• Ken fired three clean runs with an average time of 4.84 seconds

Ken’s times with his CZ 75 SAO for the three drills were: Nine Shot Speed Drill= 6.34 seconds. Bill Drill = 2.29 seconds. All Hands Drill= 6.04 seconds respectively. Please appreciate that Ken had limited familiarity with the S 2 pistol and has been shooting his SAO for considerable amount. However, Ken is an accomplished gunman and the difference in time between the two guns was not that dramatic.

Conclusions

All Production Pistol Warriors take heed. The Shadow 2 could be your Excalibur. Right now, it has conquered plastic and is the go to gun for winning its USPA/IPSC Division.  Cost wise, it shares similar price points for high end factory 1911s. Both gun’s profiles are extremely attractive and in the case of the S 2 beauty has been merged with all the necessary attributes that make for a great firearm. For a has been like me owning one gives me much visual and tactile pleasure and fulfills the same purpose as does my 1998 Caterham Super Seven when I take it on weekends only. With the S 2 and my S 7 I engage in my own racing. Let’s go racing.

NOTE the authors opinions are his own and not those of SOF. Any handling of firearms MUST be accompanied by professional training and used in compliance with all local and federal laws.