njluger

Mec-Gar mags ARE the CZ factory mags! Mec-Gar is the OEM for CZ pistol mags. They are great and the only thing that I'll run in my CZ. I've tried a few others as well (ProMag and Magnum Research) with much less luck.

Awesome gun! I love mine...it's made me a CZ fan for life What type of finish is on the one you have? It looks much more shiny than the standard black polycoat one that I have. Looks almost like a nice glossy blued finish.

Tony, you make a decision yet?

Now that's the spirit!

Sell it on the marketplace here and get yourself one in 9mm. In my experience caliber conversion kits lower the reliability of the pistol.

I can only vouch for the Smith as that's the only 1911 I ever owned, but I love it! So far it's been trouble free and a really blast to shoot. I highly recommend going with one. Back when I was trying to decide on a 1911, it came down to either the Smith TFP or the Springfield (was looking at either the Ranger Officer Model or the Loaded) and I made the following list of Pros and Cons (these are highly subjective of course so take them for what you will). In the end, both looked really good on paper and what helped me make my decision was shooting both side by side. I felt like the Smith was a better fitted pistol and I shot much better with it than with the Springfield. Although, I will have to say that the Smith was Glenn's pro series model and the Springfield was the stock GI model, so it's pretty much an apples to oranges comparison Smith Pros: - Nice Melonite finish - No FPB (on the TFP or E series pistols only!) - High quality forged slide and frames - Best sights, Smith uses low mount Novaks on all of their 1911's that have fixed sights and I just love these - 100% Made in USA - like a 1911 should be - Fantastic customer service - if you ever should need it Smith Cons: - Ugly Front cocking serrations - FPB Safety on all other models - external extractor (for those that care about this) ===== Springfield Pros: - No FPB (uses a Titanium firing pin for drop safety) - internal extractor makes the slide look cleaner - Closer to original spec design, this would make a much better base gun if you really want to get creative with a custom build - High quality forge slide and frame - Heard good things about Customer Service Springfield Cons: - Crappier (in my opinion) finish - the parkerized finish isn't anything to admire - Made in Brazil (all slides/frames/barrels come from there), they are very high quality though! - Couple of non-standard parts that I'd probably end up replacing (ILS mainspring housing, two piece guide rod)

Just a slight correction, that's G&R Tactical. Here's the link: http://www.gandrtactical.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=39498

Can anyone recommend a set of sights for a CZ 75B that would be an upgrade from the stock sights? I feel that the stock sights are on the small side (5.5mm high), making it hard for my eyes to focus on, and the paint on the front sight is starting to get dull. My SW1911, has a really nice set of 3-dot white Novaks that I feel do a much better job. Beyond what CZ Custom has on their web site (http://czcustom.com/testproduct-243.aspx), I don't see many other options out there. I'd like to stick with something that would fit the CZ dovetails so I don't have to make any cuts in the slide.

I think the dealer now uses Ray's as an overflow parking lot for their cars :/

Funny as* stuff!

Congrats on the new purchase! Now you just need to find a place where you can shoot that thing!

Nice choice I really liked glennp's pro, but it was out of budget for me. If you want to shoot the TFP let me know and we can meet up at SCFGPA. Maybe we can get Glenn to come out as well and you can shoot them side by side.

Sounds like you had a great time over the weekend. Those are some nice guns you got to shoot! The Wilson's look beautiful, almost like works of art! Other than the looks and finish though, I always wondered about the custom 1911 makers out there and if they really are worth the premium dollar over production run 1911's. After shooting a few different 1911's, the nicest one being glennp's SW1911 Pro Series, I can't see what the custom makers could improve that would add ~$1500+ to the cost of the pistol. Then again, I'm not the level of shooter that can out shoot any of the pistols I own...

<tangent> Just like you would decock a DA/SA revolver. Point muzzle in a safe direction, hold the hammer back, press the trigger and slowly lower the hammer down to the half-cock position (you should take your finger off of the trigger as soon as the hammer starts moving down). A bit scary the first couple of times you do it over a chambered round. As mentioned already, CZ makes a BD variant that comes with a decocking lever instead of the manual safety. So you lose the ability to go cocked and locked, but you get an easier/safer decock method. </tangent> As far as the OP question, comparing the CZ to the 1911, they are two *very* different feeling pistols. I have both (SW1911 and CZ 75B) and can't say which one I prefer more. My CZ, after some custom trigger work and 2500 rounds is a really nice feeling pistol. But I still think that the trigger on my new SW1911 is amazing compared to the CZ. The CZ does also come in the SA trigger variant, CZ 75B SA, which supposedly has an improved trigger feel over the DA/SA. I've never tried it but I hear nice things about it as well - so you may want to consider that. Personally, I like the idea of purchasing a pistol in the caliber that it was designed around. The 1911, while I'm sure is nice in 9mm...I actually was considering purchasing a 1911 in 9mm earlier on, was designed around .45 ACP and thus I believe it to be a more reliable combination. Plus, in 9mm, you'll never hear the end of the "you should've gotten it in .45" comments. That would just annoy me too much On the other hand, the CZ 75 was built from the ground up around 9mm. Being a CZ owner I can only recommend that option

So went to the range tonight with my brother and we had a blast! Put 150 rounds through the new toy and not 1 hiccup. If I do my part, this gun is as accurate as they come, so I'm really impressed. For anyone on the fence of whether to get a Smith 1911...just do it! You won't be disappointed! Here's a pic of my best target of the evening, 8 rounds @ 25 yds, off-hand:

Not sure if there are really pros and cons...if the extractor works, then it doesn't matter where it's mounted, right? The original 1911 design uses an internal extractor. Reading up on some history, this was done primarily for the reason that it's easier to field strip - remember these were made for use in a war zone, so cleaning and fast tool-less take down were essential. An external extractor requires you to punch out the pin holding it in place, thus you need to use a tool.

Smith is going the route of using lighter weight titanium firing pins + extra power firing pin spring to pass some state's (i.e. CA, MA) drop safety requirements instead of using a FPB like they did in all of their past models. Less mass of the firing pin == less chance of it hitting the primer hard enough to set off a chambered round if dropped. All of their new Enhanced series 1911s do away with the grip activated FPB safety too. Makes the mechanism simpler and less prone to failure. There are some reports out there of timing issues with grip activated safeties where you can depress the grip safety in such a way that allows the trigger to move, but doesn't lift the FPB out of the way...you can imagine what the result of this is...click! Just a side note, some folks don't like Ti firing pins as they say there is a larger chance of a light primer strike. If that's the case, then you can simply replace the Ti fp with a standard steel one. These would use the "70-series" style pins.

No, went last night and the range was packed...pie plate shoot or something like that going on. Tonight is IDPA practice so range is closed. I'm gonna try to head over there on Thu evening around 8.

Yeah, it's a bit of a diversion for traditionalists, but I'm of the opinion that if it works, it's all good. Smith knows how to make these external extractors work, it's what they've been doing for years on all of their semi-autos. Frankly, I'd be more leery if all of a sudden S&W decided to go down the internal extractor path. While not as simple to remove as an internal extractor, they're still pretty easy to remove and replace if needed.

Sorry to throw out acronyms...shame on me FCS == Front Cocking Serrations - keep your hands away from the muzzle! FPB == Firing Pin Block (such as used in many modern day semi-autos)

I blame glennp for this purchase...after shooting his SW1911, I decided I had to get my own! So here it is, SW1911 sku # 108309, titanium firing pin (no FPB safety!), Melonite finish, in .45 ACP, made in Houlton, Maine, USA. I picked it up from Jim Flynn's shop, he's a fantastic guy to deal with! I had a bit of a hard time deciding between this model and the basic SW1911 (108285). Although this one has the FCS, which I'm not a fan of, it's got a nice black/blue Melonite finish and no FPB to deal with. I've cleaned her up after bringing her home but haven't been to the range yet. I'm planning to go tonight, so I'll post back a range report soon enough. Enough talk, here are the pics! External extractor - yes! Other than the "Warning pistol will fire with magazine removed", the roll marks are done very tastefully. Slide to frame fit is outstanding! Here she is in the nude - ready for her first good cleaning! Nice finish on the inside of the frame - no rough tooling marks.

Looks like a nice .22LR bolt action rifle. Anyone have any experience with these? AIM currently has them for $229. Looks like a great lower cost alternative to the CZ 452/455 lux.

The wood grips dress that pistol up real nice. Denis Marschall makes some fantastic quality grips although they take a while to get.

You sir, are a fine upstanding gentleman.

Not always. While they do tend to stick to the value brands, a lot of them are just fine for high volume shooting. I recently bought some .45 ACP 100rd WWB value packs ($33/box) and some 9mm 124gr Federal American Eagle ($9.95/box) ammo...all for good prices and shipping wasn't too bad ($12.95 for all 1000rds)