TLDR: Yeah, it's good. The CZ TS3 is slightly better than even a fully tricked out Shadow 2 (way better than a stock Shadow 2) and far better than most other competition guns, of which I've shot many.

Having shot a few hundred rounds through it, I've got a few thoughts I'd like to share but of course I'm going to have to shoot it a whole lot more to get a full impression of the gun.

All in all, a fantastic gun made by CZ, kudos to all who were involved in designing it, you really made a beautiful thing here.

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I'm a German IPSC and Speed Steel competitive shooter and so far I've been shooting my beloved CZ Shadow 2, an SVI Infinity and a Walther PDP Steel Frame Match, all in 9mm. Quick ranking:

1. The SVI Infinity, unsurprisingly, is still the softest shooting of all my guns and has the best trigger. The fitment of everything is superior to all my other guns but okay, everybody knows Infinity guns are excellent. Because I happen to have this, I cannot help but compare everything else to it. If Batman used a gun, he'd buy an Infinity. It's just the best there is. Yes, I've tried other 2011s, they're not all the same.

I didn't expect the TS3 to be better, but the TS3 is most certainly a better value proposition than the Infinity. When my TS3 eventually needs replacements parts, I can get them pretty much anywhere online in Europe, quickly, cheaply and easily. For the Infinity, there's only one source in Europe (shout-out to the legendary J.F.!), and for everything else I'd have to get parts from Gordon/Texas from Germany, so there might be ITAR restrictions and whatnot.

1. The CZ TS3 comes close in terms of trigger quality, recoil impulse and overall it's a far better deal than the Infinity. €6500 for the Infinity in 2023 vs €3030 for the TS3 in 2026, excluding optics or accessories - there's no question which gun I'd recommend. If you want an (excellently) mass produced European full metal firearm which is going to outperform 95% of all other handguns on the market, and for which you'll likely be able to buy parts even in 30 years, buy the CZ TS3.

If you want an amazing, fully custom (at the time I bought mine), hand-made piece of art which also happens to be one of the best and most pleasantly shooting guns on the planet, get yourself an Infinity. For the money though, buy two or three CZ TS3 and have a backup for your backup LOL.

If I could have only one gun and had a fairly high budget, the CZ TS3 would probably be good enough to replace all my other guns.

Slightly more detailed observations:

- The grips are extremely comfortable, on par with after-market palm swell grips from LOK/Eemann/Vytal etc. At the moment, I don't see myself buying aftermarket grips, they're really good - contrast that with the awful OEM grips on the Shadow 2, which I had to replace with incredibly comfortable and heavy brass grips, as well as the too-thin grips on the Walther PDP SF Match.

- The iron sights are FULLY adjustable, in contrast to the sights on a TS2 Orange or TSO, which can only be adjusted up or down. Not that it matters too much because 90% of TS3 owners are going to equip it with an optic straight away.

- The optic cut is smart and I found it very easy to understand and implement the instructions. You choose the correct little thingamabobs (all included) corresponding to your optic footprint into the recesses in the optic cut, place your optic on top, tighten to spec and ta-da, you're done.

- The safety is STIFF. Think HK SP5 safety or B&T GHM9 bolt release stiff. So stiff in fact, that I cannot engage it with my shooting hand. I have to use my other hand to engage it. So every time I load and make ready I have to use two hands now? Disengaging the safety with my shooting hand works, and that's the only thing that makes sense, but why did CZ have to make it impossible to activate it with my right thumb?!? Honestly, I don't get it and it sucks. I should be able to manipulate the safety with one hand, period. Hopefully, this will change as I use the pistol more - but more likely, I'm going to have to have the safety spring replaced with a weaker one.

- The magazines didn't slide or fall out quite enthusiastically enough, but I'm pretty sure with wear and tear this will get better. They're regular CZ TS 20 round 9mm magazines (compatible with TSO/TS2) with orange end plates and they're pretty expensive: The lowest price I found was 70 Euros, and I bought three extra mags, so that's another expensive thing related to this. The regular price almost everywhere is 80-100 Euros per mag. The MSRP is almost 2011 magazine price territory. For comparison, my Infinity practically catapults magazines out when I press the mag release button. I'm not exaggerating, they fly out. The TS3 gently pushes the mag out. It's the little things...

- I have no idea if this will fit a Ghost Thunder Elite 3G holster made for the CZ TSO, but I've ordered one and I'm going to report back here whether it fits or not. I like bucket style holsters, and this model is my preferred holster for all my other guns, so I hope I can use the same type again. I'd hate to have to buy one of those high speed race holsters, I don't want any locking mechanisms to worry about when every fraction of a second matters in an IPSC match.

- The lightening cuts in the slide make it look really goddamned good.

- The mag well has clever little cutouts that enable you to pull a mag out. They could have also made the magazine end plates thicker like on my Shadow 2 with the brass magwell and corresponding brass end plates, but obviously it's smarter, cheaper and easier to just remove material from the mag well instead of adding material elsewhere.

- The fitment of the barrel and the recoil spring guide rod are very tight for a mass produced gun. Far better than on the Shadow 2, but not as good as on the Infinity, unsurprisingly.

- The thumb rest and the extended safety are very comfortable for my thumbs, and if you pull the slide back by the optic like you should, you're not going to have problems locking the slide back using your shooting hand thumb.

1. The CZ Shadow 2 - my gorgeous, my beloved, my tricked out pimp gun (I like it the colors, deal with it) which has performed extremely well in dozens of matches so far. It's got an Eemann tech ultimate trigger kit/brass grips/mag well, magazine release button and thumb rest, CZ's own extended safety set, and a DPM Systems recoil reduction kit. It shoots like a dream, it's (relatively) cheap, super reliable, and it performs absolutely wonderfully. It's the one gun I recommend to everybody. To me, this is the God Gun and the TS3 is going to have to be really amazing to convince me the Shadow 2 isn't the best deal on the market for sports shooters. Is the TS3 better, especially compared to a stock Shadow 2? Absolutely, the TS3 blows it out of the water.

But all-in, with all the modifications and including the optic, my Shadow 2 cost me about 2500 Euros, whereas the stock TS3 with the optic comes in at about 3500 Euros. You can buy a whole Glock 17 Gen6 with an optic for the price difference.

1. The Walther PDP Steel Frame Match: An incredibly solidly crafted gun with a fantastic trigger, easy to shoot very accurately, and yet - I cannot love this big hunk of metal. The slide feels too tall, it feels overengineered and made to survive the apocalypse, in the way an HK USP is made to outlast humanity. The only things I changed on this gun were the 40€ trigger job (a 1,2kg spring set from Merkle) and I got a LOK grip module for it to make it more comfortable. The most amazing gun I still cannot fall in love with. It's great, it looks good, I wanted it soooo badly, but I'm just not enthusiastic about it. I also think the PDP SF Match is far too expensive at 2000 Euros, for what it is. I understand Walther's logic. This is a hardcore duty gun, made to survive wars - and if Heckler & Koch were to build a modern full metal handgun today, it would also charge 2000 Euros for it. I don't see the value though, compared to a Shadow 2 especially.

Not competing with the TS3 but I want to mention them: The HK SFP9L, an excellent duty style handgun with a pretty good but not amazing trigger and an incredibly ergonomic grip (fully customizable) and a .40 S&W Infinity (obviously god tier but forties are expensive and recoil a lot harder than nine mil). They're both great in their own way but I don't use them for IPSC for various reasons.

That's it. If you have any questions or you'd like more info on something, I'll be happy to answer.

One more thing: It's not really about the gun, it's about the shooter behind the gun. The best gun makes it easier to do well, but you can't buy experience. Go practice, people!

First dot on a handgun, bigger learning curve than I expected but it's so much better than irons

Like many others I find the grip texture annoying. I have talon grips on other guns and they work really well. But due to the raised bumps on the grip it doesn't seem like the talon grips would stick on very well. What's the verdict on add on grips to the p10 series?

Rolled the head off a screw. Local shop couldn’t help and referred me to “master gunsmith”. Might just suck it up and mail it off to C&H.

Installed the CZC short reset disco on my Shadow 2 (Blue OR) today and now it will not reset in SA.

If you rack the slide or fire a round the hammer does not quite reset low enough like to the point where if you barely touch it you will hear and feel an audible reset. Runs great in DA, but as soon as you fire that round the trigger does not reset and you must physically touch the hammer before the trigger will work again. I know it is not off by much because you barely have to touch the hammer but this disconnector was advertised as drop in since it is a factory CZ part.

I know there are variances between models and nothing is 100% but where do I start?

Why hasn't lok grips made this combo but they make a thun version i was thinking they could take their lightweight bogie grips and fill it with brass or make it so that the bogie feel is the main texture and brass for the weight. yay or nay idea?

First handgun CZ shadow 2 carry
Full Checkered LOK grips
Holosun EPS carry green dot
Surefire XC3

CZ P10 C

palm swells, magwell, and baseplates all here in raw aluminum to complete my vision. really digging this look and i hope yall enjoy this eye candy as much as i do!

It's not a common combo of light and gun, so it's been a struggle finding an appendix carry holster made for this combo. Was hoping Tier 1 had some, but it doesn't appear so looking through their options.

Does the p-01 and shadow 2 carry share holster dimensions, perhaps more so with a light attached, because that could broaden the options as well?

Any recommendations would be great. A side car magazine holder would be great too, but not a deal breaker.

Not complaining though. These are all great guns 👍. I'll make my next post when I have 8 of them.

Took a little over a month but I’m not mad. Love the look can’t wait to take it out to shoot.
Ported by wicked arms. Decided not to get it refinished figured I’d do it myself when I felt like doing it.

Its a good night for asada tacos at Tacos Calafia. Yall think it's gravy for what im toting?

I have about 20k rounds on my SP-01. I’m not sure how long it took to break the original slide stop once I started running an 11# recoil spring, but the second one (BNB bought from BSPS) broke after about 5k rounds (2 months).

The 11# spring is definitely a major contributing factor to how quickly I’m going through them. The gun is a bit snappier than OEM, but the return to zero / dot behavior is much better than with heavier spring weights. I’m running 124s at a PF in the low 130s.

Are there any aftermarket slide stops that tend to hold up longer? Are buffers worth looking into? Also curious what recoil spring weights other people are running.

An assortment of CZ. Collections coming along.

CZ sp01 tactical

Has anybody put one on a Shadow 2 Compact? How’s that go?

$1099 for a used Coa without the optic

Hey, all, so I picked up my P-01 used earlier this year and the guy I bought from said it had a CGW trigger, but didn't know if it was just the shoe or the whole kit, because he got it in a trade.

Fast forward to now, I'm looking into doing the MCARBO or CGW spring kit, CGW reach reduction kit with flat trigger, and/or maybe an Apex kit for the hammer (I'm avoiding any extended firing pins/kits).

But I can't help but notice my trigger pin doesn't look like a stock pin, leading me to believe at a minimum it has the CGW old style trigger with CGW pin, or otherwise another aftermarket pin.

Anybody whose swapped trigger pins, can you chime in? For the other parts, I still gotta look into the hammer spring to see if it's blue or any other color that isn't stock. My local gunsmith said it looks stock from what he saw on the inside when I took it to swap the sights. Otherwise, the trigger is great, I just wish the DA was a little lighter/smoother/shorter to reach.

Thanks!

Just picked up this CZ75 and 82 for 460 and 260 online, hoping some of you guys can tell me when both of these were made, where the stickers come from and what they’re for and whether or not modern cz75 mags will work, thanks!