First CZ!

D

david.b

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(Inspired by the very informative 'first Glock' thread)

I just ordered a police surplus CZ 85. My primary goal down the road is ISPC shooting, although obviously a good chunk of time will be spent doing basic familiarization first.

So , to start...

1. More ammo, practice practice.
2. More mags.
3. Thoughts on a 22 conversion kit for cheap practice...?

What more should I start with...?

All the best,
David
 
David - If you can shoot a slow-fired group of say 12" at 25 yards and are comfortable with handling your pistol (loading, clearing, unloading, etc.) you should think about doing your Black Badge. Don't over think it. The Black Badge is primarily a safety course but will also teach you some fundamentals of grip, draw, movement, etc.

The reason I say this is that practice without an objective may not be productive and may be detrimental if it engraines bad habits or poor technique. If you go down this route, your next steps would be to put together your rig - holster, belt, mag pouches and find a BB course.

If you are having difficulty shooting that 12" group you can try swapping out your pistol's main/hammer spring for something lighter which will reduce your double action trigger pull.. Many use a 13 lb hammer spring (which should still ignite most primers). Also, if the 85 does not have a fibre optic front sight this might also be a good upgrade.

If you want to shoot IPSC, get qualified for action shooting at your range ASAP since many of the practice drills can't be done at the bench.
 
Depending on the type of sights on the original gun, you might get want to change them out to hi viz fiber optics esp if you want to shoot IPSC down the road. Also practice racking the slide. The CZ slide rides inside the frame and feels small and low. You may miss a rack ( if you tap/rack) going fast. The finish is also slippery.
 
CZ makes the .22 Kadet conversion kit for the CZ Shadow. I have one for my Shadow SP01. Not sure however if it will fit the CZ 85. If it will you're golden...if you can find one. They're hard to come by and not inexpensive. Can advise it's an excellent conversion kit if you decide to go that route. Bought mine with the same rationale. Used it a bit initially, but nowadays not much unless it's to intro a new shooter to handguns.

If I was in your position and just starting out and had to do it over again, and wanted to get good, very good, much faster, in the most efficient manner with least ammo cost, I would have spent a LOT more time dry firing than I did at the range!! It the quickest most efficient cost effective way to become a very good shooter.

Key of course is to get some good instruction in the basics, grip, stance, trigger pull, front sight laser focus, etc to ensure you are not developing bad habits that will only have to be undone later. You can look for a good handgun course in your area and/or research the numerous very good manuals and youtube resources out there. Many like to bash youtube 'instructructors', but I found it to be an outstanding and often entertaining resource.
 
You're in for a great time with a superb firearm.

I'd agree with Pr589. No need to over think it. Get to know the gun and shoot it some. While you're enjoying just basic shooting with it assemble your belt, holster, extra mags and mag pouches in prep for the BB course. Then just take the BB course. It's a training course where the instructor will tell and show you what you need. In no way do you need to over practice and be some sort of expert to take the course. In fact it's better if you don't so you don't ingrain any bad habits.

If there is ONE thing you can do ahead of time it is to reach a level of trigger finger awareness and learn to have your finger out of the guard and indexed high away from the guard. You can do this with your hand guns and you can even do it with any pistol grip style power tools at home. But other than that one thing there is nothing you should bother trying to do ahead of time other than go in with all your gear and an open mind. A little before the course it would be good to read the rule book a few times and learn the "lay of the land" in the book for which section pertains to what rules.

On the Kadet conversion kit. If the ONLY handgun you have and will shoot is going to be the 85 then there is something to be said for a .22 conversion for some types of practice. But if you are like most casual sport shooters you will own more than one handgun and possibly even a revolver will be part of the collection. Once you are shooting a variety of guns in your range sessions the "focus" you get with a conversion kit fades quickly. At that point you're better off to just use the money that would go into a conversion kit for more 9mm ammo and practice with what you'll shoot in matches.

If you will shoot in Production one aspect you can practice ahead of time is safely lowering the hammer and from a low ready position with the hammer down raise the gun, gain your sight picture and pull off the first DA shot followed by a second SA shot. Then lower the hammer safely and do it all over again. Getting your sight picture and dealing with the longer throw of the DA first shot is something that I saw was a weak point in a number of shooters when I was in IPSC and more recently also in IDPA. And in terms of the sight picture it isn't just from the draw but also following a reload.

Again, don't panic on this and don't think you need to reach some sort of self expected speed in it. Everyone is a beginner at some point and you're not expected to be fast. The idea is to get through the course of fire safely and without breaking any rules and to have a great time. Fast comes later when you're comfortable and capable in those other things first.
 
I just wanted to say thank you for the time people took to make some very knowledgeable comments. Very much appreciated and taken to heart.

yours,
David
 
Practice a lot (dry and live fire) with the stock pistol. Work your way to 25 yards. It is boring as hell to shoot at 3, 5, 7 and 10 yards but there is no point moving further if you cant get a ragged hole at 3 yards and 1" at 5 yards.

If you're out working on accuracy, concentrate on that and take your time. Once you got accuracy down, work on drills, then put everything together. Pistol shooting can be hard and it takes a lot of good practice.
 
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