Mixed Review on CZ RAMI

I was looking for a sub-compact and happened onto a good deal for a barely used CZ 2075 RAMI in 9mm (all steel model). I deal with this guy a lot, and he told me up front that the reason it still looked brand new was because it was a 'jam-o-matic,' and had been brought back after about 1 box of ammo. I knew that some of the RAMI's had feed issues, but I believed I could get it to run right, so I bought it. I have always had good luck getting good quality semi-autos to run, with either minor buffing, cleaning, swapping springs, changing ammo type, or mainly just putting a bunch of rounds through them.

I started out with Winchester WB, 115 gr. FMJ's, and sure enough, I had a failure to eject after the first two rounds, and every 2 or 3 rounds thereafter, in both the 10 round mag and the 14 round mag, and in one of my CZ-75 16 round mags that I brought along. After about 50 rounds, I stopped and inspected everything with a good light and magnifying glass, looking for shiny spots that might indicate contact where maybe there shouldn't be any. I noticed that the slide stop lever seemed to stick into the slide way too far, for no good reason, and that there was a shiny spot on the back side of it. I decided that it wouldn't hurt anything to take some material off the back side, so I used a fine grit sharpening stone to wear it down about a 1/32" and polish it up a little.

I went back to the firing line and managed to shoot the 10 round mag with no failures, for the first time, and got through 10 rounds in the 14 round mag before another failure. I cleared it and was able to fire another 20 or so rouinds without a failure, so I decided not to push my luck with more grinding, and just to keep shooting. It got better and better, and I finally shot a full box of Blazer Brass 115 gr. through it with no failures. I was running out of time, and I wanted to get about 150 failure-free rounds of FMJ through it before I wasted any high-priced SD ammo, so I quit for the day.

But now for the good news. This gun is very accurate, feels great in my hand, and I can shoot it almost as well as my full-sized pistols. It is without a doubt the best shooting 3" pistol I have ever fired. I completely obliterated the bulls eye with the first mag, at 7 yards, and backed up to 15 yards for all the rest of my paper shooting. Most of my 15 yard shots were inside of 4," with a goodly number of bulls eyes and near bulls eyes. I shot steel flop-down silhouettes from 20 yards (the same as with my 1911) and was easily able to knock down all six with six shots, and in the last 50 rounds was hitting them with each with double taps.

In conclusion, this is a great shooting little compact pistol. I sincerely hope that it smoothes out enough so I can trust it to carry. I think it will. I certainly won't give up easily on it.

Great report, good luck with getting the RAMI trustworthy.

I have a Rami 9mm also. I have shot about 500 trouble free rds thru it so far. I agree it is one of the best small handguns out there bar none. I do hope your's straightens out, believe me you will be gald when it does. You might want to have either Matt Mink, Angus Hobel or the CZ staff give it the once over, it would be money well spent if you continue to have problems. Don't give up on it!

Thanks for the responses.

gilfo, I won't give up easily on this one. It was getting a lot better when I ran out of time. Next range trip, I'll start out with Blazer Brass, which it seems to like, then some S&B, and finally some more WWB, which I have a lot of. If it doesn't fail with the WWB, after all those 'break-in' rounds, I'll be ready to get serious about finding out which SD ammo it likes.

Here's an update, for those of you were waiting breathlessly to see if the CZ RAMI would make the grade as a CCW.

I took it out Monday morning and ran another 200 rounds of FMJ through it, and a few hollow points. It seems to love Blazer Brass 115 grain FMJ. I fired a hundred through it with no FTE's. But it coughed up some of the WWB. I had probably three FTE's and one failure to feed, through a hundred rounds of Winchester WB 115 gr. FMJ.

I tried a few 'old' JHP's that I had (from both magazines), and it failed to eject one Winchester 147 gr JHP, out of 10. I fired about the same number of Remington 115 grain JHP's, with no FTE's. I'm starting to see a pattern on the Winchester ammo. I had approximately a 4% failure rate with Winchester ammo, if I combine the results of the FMJ and the 147 grain JHP's that the RAMI coughed up, compared to zero failures in the last 100 rounds of Blazer Brass and Remington JHP's. Upon examination, it is obvious that the OAL (overall length) of the Winchester cartridges is noticeably greater than any of the other ammo, so this may be the problem. On my next range session, I will take some different types of ammo and hopefully solve at least part of the problem.

Also, I did some more 'fluff and buff' on it, polishing the obvious shiny spots and rounding sharp edges, on the slide and the part of the hammer that the slide contacts to cock it (on the ejection stroke).

Anyway, my conclusion, to this point, is that I don't feel good about carrying it, just yet, but I am now confident that I will be, soon. I have other good carry guns, so I can afford to be patient with this one. I took my Kahr K-9 along, which I carry a lot, and it fired everything I stuck in it. The CZ would undoubtedly be my first choice, between the two of them, if it were more reliable, because it just fits my hand perfectly and I shoot it so well.

But the Kahr is approximately as accurate, (especially when using the CT Lasergrips), and has never failed once, with any ammo, so I can't see myself 'bumping' it in my CCW lineup, with something that currently has a 4% failure rate. But I'm not giving up on the RAMI yet. It just shoots too doggone good to be relegated to the 'back burner.'

When I find a good JHP that it can digest 100 of without a single burp, I'll start carrying it.

UPDATE:

For any who might be interested, I exhausted all the possibilities I could think of to try, so I sent the RAMI into CZ support. Believe me, that in itself was a chore. Apparently, they don't answer email, at all, and don't ever check their website registration, where you fill out the forms to see if they will accept it under warranty.

Also, I gave up trying to penetrate their switchboard, and finally took the gun back to my FFL dealer, who eventually did get through to a gunsmith. After taking the serial number and establishing the age of the gun, he said that mine was one of the first runs, built at the Czech factory at a time when they were being heavily restricted on their testing procedures, due to some government screw-up, and that quite a few of the RAMI's slipped through that would not reliably shoot hollow point ammo, and some ball ammo, too.

The good news (I hope) is that they do have the 'fix', and the warranty does cover it, but they have a 4-6 week turn-around, at present. We shall see.

I really do like CZ handguns, but their customer service and public relations suck, big time. No wonder they have not caught on big in the USA, if their marketing skills are anything like their service-after-the-sale.

These very issues had me leary....So two days ago I walked into my local gunshop and looked around...They had a Walther P99C with the AS trigger and that is what I am gonna get...I put it on layaway and I am gonna trade my Smith 642 or sell it and put the money on the Walther...

Willy

I've been kinda looking for a small 9 and the Rami is on my list. I really like the look of the CZ but maybe it's now slipped down on the list some.

CZ's are great pistols, especially the CZ-75, and supposedly they have eliminated these problems in the later model RAMI's, but they dropped the ball by not getting all over this issue, before it harmed their public image.

I would not stick with a malfunctioning SD type handgun through all of this, if I did not have confidence that it was eventually going to make me a great CCW. If I get this one back in six weeks, and it will flawlessly fire 200 rounds of my favorite JHP's, it will spend a lot of time on my hip for many years to come.

It is a great shooting subcompact.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bisley

CZ's are great pistols, especially the CZ-75, and supposedly they have eliminated these problems in the later model RAMI's, but they dropped the ball by not getting all over this issue, before it harmed their public image.

I would not stick with a malfunctioning SD type handgun through all of this, if I did not have confidence that it was eventually going to make me a great CCW. If I get this one back in six weeks, and it will flawlessly fire 200 rounds of my favorite JHP's, it will spend a lot of time on my hip for many years to come.

It is a great shooting subcompact.

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Be sure to keep us posted when you get it back. I really like the look of the Rami.

I had a similar experience with a Rami P (polymer) in 9mm. I had just turned 21 and wanted to finally get a pistol and my carry permit. After a lot of research I decided on the Rami P. The fact that my local gun shop had a great deal on it helped the argument. I bought it and shot 200 rounds through it the following weekend. About 20-30 rounds failed to eject. I took it back to the shop and they polished the feed ramp. The following weekend I put another 200 through it and yet again it failed to eject about 10-20% of the time. I tried several magazines and several types of ammo. I took it back again and the gunsmith looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong. They suggested I might be limp wristing it. It was certainly a possibility since I was an inexperienced shooter and am not that big of a gun. I am not a beast but I figured suring I can hold onto a darn gun. Well I put another 200 through it and still the same thing. I even had my Dad as well as some others at the range shoot it and they had the same ejection failures. After a lot of frustration and about 600 rounds I took it back to the gun shop one last time. They were really stand up about it and gave me a full refund. I upgraded to a Sig P226 and have had 3000+ failure free rounds.

I am convinced that something was wrong with that gun. I have yet to "limp wrist" a gun since so that along with the fact that others had the same experience shooting it leads me to believe that it was not my shooting style. I just picked up a G26 and so far have 200 rounds through it without a problem. I wanted to love that CZ but I just wasn't up for a project for my first gun and for a defense gun I need 100% reliability. I have heard good things about other CZs but those Ramis seem to be trouble.

FYI that gun shop I was talking about is Luckys in Pell City, Alabama. Great guys with great prices.

I picked up my RAMI last week. 9mm with alloy frame, not a poly. Fired 200 rounds thru it between Saturday and Tuesday and did not have any hiccups at all. Was using my reloads though and not factory loads. Really like the way it shoots. Another 200 rds without a problem and I'll start packing it when the weather warms up.

I'd be interested in anything you're willing to tell me about the handloads for your RAMI. I might load some to test with when mine comes back from the factory.

I want to get it to reliably shoot 124 grain hollowpoints, and any tips you could give me on OAL, factory crimp, etc., might be very helpful. I have just started to load 9mm and have not even tested any of my loads yet.

Bis,
Just sent you a PM.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cruzthepug

Be sure to keep us posted when you get it back. I really like the look of the Rami.

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I got the RAMI back a few days ago, and finally made it out to the range to test it. It appears that it is fixed, as I fired several different brands of factory load hollow points without a failure. It did belch a couple of times with Winchester white box 147 grain JHPs, but it fired 50 of my hand loaded 147 grain JHP's without a single failure, as well as a couple dozen 124g JHP's and FMJ reloads.

So, I'll wring it out, some more, find some premium SD loads it likes really well, and start carrying it, if it continues to function properly. I shoot it so doggone well that I expect it to become my main carry piece.

My Rami loves federal hydra shock 124gr jhps. I'm glad that CZ seems to have came through and got your problem taken care of. Keep us up to date and let me know when you start carrying it.:smt023

Thanks for the report. We looked at one for my daughter but settled on a Taurus. Sounds like that may have been a good decision.

Well, I'm not a Taurus fan, by any stretch of the imagination, but I did have some problems with the RAMI, and I'm sorry if I scared you away from it. It really is a great gun, when it is right.

I have put a lot of rounds through mine, since getting it back from the factory, and it works fine, now. I have found some hollow points that it likes, and I do carry it quite a bit, now.

REVIEW & RANGE REPORT > CZ 2075 RAMI BD

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/DSCN8114.jpg


Ceska Zbrojovka has long been known for making quality firearms. Though CZ has since long been making CC handguns in smaller calibers (like CZ 83), CZ 2075 Rami is 9x19 Parabellum sub-compact model of Cesks Zbrojovka. Based on famous CZ75 design and known for its extraordinary accuracy, robust construction and high reliability, Rami has gained tremendous popularity off late and has been competing the likes of Glock 26, Kahr K9, H&K 2000 SK etc. Based on CZ 75 famous slide-in-frame design, it beats perhaps all its competitors in accuracy and has emerged as one of the best options for CC / backup handgun. With its extended magazine option of 14 rounds, one can almost carry as many rounds as in a large frame handgun.

Rami shown in this review is 2075 BD which is a variant of 2075 and has a decocker instead of standard safety. There is no other difference in CZ 2075 Rami and CZ 2075 Rami BD.


BASIC SPECS

Model: CZ 2075 RAMI BD
Manufacturer: Ceska Zbrojovka, Czech Republic
Caliber: 9x19 mm Parabellum
Dimensions: 168x133x33 mm (120 mm with 10 round mag)
Barrel: 74.6 mm
Weight(unloaded): 695 grams
Capacity: 10 / 14 rounds.
Sight Radius: 124 mm
Slide: Hammer Forged Steel
Frame: Aluminum Alloy
Sights: Fixed three dot Tritium Meprolite ML 17777
Trigger Pull: DA…… 55N, SA…… 16-24.5N
Finish: Matte Black Polycoat.


CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW AND RANGE TESTING REPORT OF CZ 2075 RAMI BD.

CHECK THE ACCURACY OF THIS BABY

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...g/DSCN8056.jpg

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW AND RANGE TESTING REPORT OF CZ 2075 RAMI BD.

Since you revived this old thread, I should probably give an update on the actual topic, which was a malfunctioning handgun.

My RAMI has been flawless, since being returned from the factory. It is my 9mm of choice, when there is some reason I don't want to carry a .45, and it likes 147 grain Hornady XTP's better than anything else. I make a hand load, for practice only, that closely simulates the Hornady performance, and it fires both quite accurately, with no malfunctions, ever.