A A Brace of CZ’s Handguns – The RAMI 2075 and CZ 75

The Cold war was anything but. A rapid series of conflicts that spread across the globe created a massive market for new and innovative weapons. It gave us some of the best firearms in the world. One of them was the CZ 75. One of the most cloned firearms in the world, used around the world, still comes perfect from the Czech Republic. CZ as a company has spread their wings and flown high in the last few years. The success of their handguns all comes back to the original CZ 75. CZ’s handguns are designed for duty, for sport, and for concealed carry. Speaking of concealed carry I finally stumbled across a CZ 2075 RAMI, and got to shoot the classic 75 and the newer subcompact side by side.

What’s Identical

The controls are nearly identical. DA/SA gun, with a low bore axis, and a slide that rides the internal rails. There is a safety that can only be switched to safe when the hammer is back. Both use a double stack magazine, press button release, and are made entirely of metal. The CZ 75 and RAMI are both available in 9mm and 40 S&W. Both of CZ’s handguns feature slides that ride inside the frame rails. The models tested are both in 9mm.

What’s Different

Of course the size difference. There is also the fact the RAMI is best described as a stout little bulldog to the CZ’s Great Dane. Both are distinctly CZ’s handguns though. The action for the RAMI is slightly different than the CZ 75. The CZ 75 uses the traditional Browning tilting barrel short recoil system. The RAMI 2075 uses a short recoil floating barrel design. The specs between the two are of course much different.

Shooting

On the range both of these weapons are a blast to shoot. CZ’s handguns always are. The all steel construction reduces recoil significantly and makes shooting both weapons pleasant. The biggest difference is the grip size. The CZ 75 has a nice full length grip and is very comfortable in the hand. The RAMI has a naturally short grip, and I personally hate it. Now let’s be clear, I don’t like the grip because my pinky hangs off of it. Luckily CZ is wise enough to include an extended 14 round magazine that has a significant grip extension. This makes firing the weapon much more pleasant, but also makes reloads harder. The extended magazine does not drop free when empty.

That is not to say that the CZ 2075 is not a fantastic CCW weapon. Anytime you transition from a full size to a sub compact you will be giving up certain advantages the full size has. At the end of the day the RAMI is also way easier to carry as a conceal carry weapon.

The Classic 75

The CZ 75 shoots and handles like an absolute dream. It’s light recoil, low bore axis, and heavy weight make shooting it easy and fun. When I teach concealed carry classes this is the gun I often loan to new shooters. It’s easily one of the best platforms to learn on. It does lack some modern accessories like a picatinny rail, and a decocker. Although certain models of the firearms do have decockers and pic rails. The CZ 75 is also quite affordable and can be found for around 500 dollars brand new.

The New Champ

The CZ 2075 RAMI is purpose built as a concealed carry gun. Shooting it does present more recoil than the CZ 75, but less than modern competitors. There is a firm difference between firing my Walther PPS, a polymer frame single stack and the CZ RAMI. The RAMI’s heavier and the lower bore axis gives a lot less recoil. The gun doesn’t jump, and slap the hand in any way. Double and triple taps are simple and easy to accomplish due to its low recoil. Admittedly my variant came with Adjustable target sights and have since been switched to Big Dot XS sights. Its easily one of the most comfortable sub compacts I’ve ever fired.

Holsters

Holsters are easy to find for the CZ 75. It’s age and its popularity as  competition weapon give you quite the selection. The CZ Rami certainly has it’s own selection of holsters, but you are limited in scope. Alien gear and Desantis make two excellent options for concealed carry.

Magazines

For such a famous gun magazines tend to be expensive, and there isn’t a lot of information about CZ 75 Magazines out there. In my experience there arethree different companies that produce quality magazines for CZ’s handguns.

All CZ 75 magazines will function in the RAMI, but the RAMI’s 10 and 15 round magazine are of course too short for the CZ 75.

CZ OEM Magazines

Available in a wide variety of different capacities, including 10 round mags for less free states. The RAMI has it’s own 10 and 14 rounders, but can accept the standard CZ family of magazines. Those 10 and 14 round magazines are too short to function in the CZ 75. Magazines go up to 26 rounds in 9mm. OEM mags are high quality, but expensive. Price range around 43.00 dollars.

Mec Gar

Mec Gar is the probably the best ‘aftermarket’ magazine manufacturer in the world. I say aftermarket because they produce OEM magazines for tons of gun companies. They also now produce CZ 75B magazines. You can tell them apart by the distinctive blue follower, but that is about it. They even figured out to make a flush fit magazine for the CZ 75 that holds one additional round over OEM magazines. So you get 17 rounds instead of 16 in a flush fitting magazine. They are well made and function just as good as CZ’s factory magazines. The main benefit is they are much cheaper. On Midway USA I can find them for less than 20 bucks. They offer magazines that range from 10 rounds to 19.

Jericho IWI Magazines

An interesting, but predictable fact that IWI Jericho 9mm magazines will function in the CZ 75. This is handy if you just happen to find some IWI magazines for sale at a good price. They function quite reliably, which makes sense since the Jericho is based on the CZ 75 design. New production magazines run about 30 bucks.

Czech Yourself

The CZ’s handguns are certainly an impressive group. They are well designed, easy shooting, accurate firearms. If you haven’t experienced one of CZ’s handguns I suggest trying one. I suggest anyone with a measured interest in guns at least rent one CZ’s many fine guns. Currently the RAMI is going through more testing and evaluation, but is vying to replace my Walther PPS as my edc. I’ll be posting that review sooner than later.