It’s been over a year and half since I last published an update about the Cajunized CZ Shadow 2. This is mostly because I spent pretty much the entirety of the last year slinging lead with the Staccato P. While the whole 2011 experience has been a blast, pun intended, I’ve missed the Shadow 2 and decided to pick it back up a few weeks ago with the intention of it being my primary competition pistol for the 2025 USPSA season. Over those few weeks, I’ve put about 600 rounds through it which took the Shadow 2 past the 5,000 round milestone.

It’s worth noting that the 2,500 of the 3,000 rounds shot with the Shadow 2 took place in the later half of 2023 before I put it down in favor of the Staccato P. Prior to firing any of those 3,000 rounds I had mentioned that the only concerns I had about the Shadow 2 were potentially experiencing one or both of the well known failures with the CZ. The first being the slide stop pin breaking. The second being trigger return spring breaking. While I did procure replacement parts as I mentioned I would, neither of these failures has come to pass and I’ve yet to proactively replace either part.

In fact, the only failure that I can recall since I last wrote about it is a light primer strike, or at least what I suspect to be a light primer striker that occurred less than 24 hours prior to writing this post. It was on the last shot at a stop place at a Steel Challenge match. The single action trigger press resulted in a click and a quick follow up double action trigger press sent the chambered round that failed to fire on the first strike. It’s impossible for me to say whether that failure was the result of a weakening striker or hammer spring or if there was an issue with the primer on that particular round. At this point, I suspect the latter is more likely but time will tell if my suspicion is correct.

The Holosun 507COMP that’s on the Shadow 2 now has only really seen about 1,500 rounds or so as it replaced the Trijicon SRO that was previously mounted on it towards the end of Q3 2023. That makes the title of this post a little misleading, but, that aside, the optic has worked great so far. Given the one on the Staccato C2 has now seen about 3,500 rounds without giving me any trouble, I have no reason to suspect either one won’t continue to perform well past the 5,000K mark.

Now, the Trijicon SRO, on the other hand, has seen well over 8,000 rounds. The first 3,500 or so from its time on the Shadow 2 and an additional 5,000 from the Staccato P where it was relocated to. While I find that durability impressive, I still have no plans on purchasing any more SROs since the 507COMP seems to do everything the SRO does at a lower price point. However, that may change if one of the 507COMPs ends up crapping the bed without surpassing the round count of the SRO.

Wear and tear wise, the Shadow 2 is showing a little more wear since the last time I wrote about it. Most of the wear is on the slide rail and under the slide near the recesses for the barrel lugs. The finish on the exterior of the slide has picked up a little tiny bit of holster wear as well, but it’s hardly noticeable.

The last thing I will mention is that after not shooting the CZ Shadow 2 for about a year and rarely picking it up, I’ve noticed that it is heavy. Much heavier than I recall. Granted, that is a popular characteristic that is sought after by many competitive shooters. And a characteristic that I intentionally exaggerated by adding solid brass grips from LokGrips years ago. At this point, I’m considering lightening it up by a few ounces which I can do by swapping the boat anchor solid brass grips with hollow brass grips or even aluminum grips. Not sure I will do this yet, but it is something I am considering.

I’m also considering picking up a second Shadow 2 given I plan on competing in several major matches with it throughout 2025. Having a backup pistol at major matches is generally a good idea. Additionally, having a second gun might make playing around with different grips to fine tune the weight a little easier and a more attractive proposition. Again, the weight changes and a second Shadow 2 are things I’m considering for 2025 and haven’t committed to any course of action yet.

Assuming I carry through with my plan on primarily competing the CZ Shadow 2 in 2025 we can expect that a 10K round milestone update will happen in the same calendar year. Additionally, a 20K milestone update, which would be a first for me and this blog, isn’t entirely out of the question.

As I mentioned to a couple of competitors who asked about my Shadow 2 over the past few weeks, there is a reason the CZ Shadow 2 became and remains an ultra popular pistol among USPSA competitors. It’s a fantastic full-sized steel-framed pistol with strong aftermarket support. While the manual of arms and competition rules force a competitor to manually decock the pistol before a stage might be daunting and intimidating to newer shooters, it is still a pistol worthy of consideration for competitive applications and one that I can recommend.