[christophereger]

After the end of the Cold War, the Czech Republic, recently divested of both Soviet occupation and the Slovak half of their former country, needed a new gun. Specifically their police force, which had been saddled with a series of 9x18mm Makarov caliber pistols on demands from the Soviets, wanted to upgrade. This led to the RAMI.

(The RAMI, right, compared to the legacy Czech police CZ52 and CZ82/83 series pistols)

With 9x19mm being possibly the most common pistol round in the world, the new gun was predetermined to be in that caliber. In fact, the CZ plant had made the famous CZ75 in that very caliber for a quarter century by then-- but for export purposes only.

Working around this caliber, a team of two CZ engineers came up with a DA/SA short recoil operated pistol with a floating barrel. Compact, this gun weighed in at just 24-ounces and could fit in the palm of your hand with its 6.5-inch overall length.

The names of the two inventors, Radek Hauerland and Milan Trkulja, were used to form the gun\'s name, which each man contributing the first two characters of their first name to make RAMI in 2007.

It was not only adopted by the Czech police, but soon on the export list going to the US and other countries.

Variants

There were two different versions of these guns. The first is an easy on the eyes alloy frame model that has replicable side plates. The second is the more businesslike RAMI-P with the last letter designating the gun as having a high-impact (think Glock and XD) polymer frame. The polymer guns were not a big hit and were discontinued in 2011.

(When compared to such dedicated CCw guns as the Kahr series of pistols, seen to the left, the RAMI stacks up nicely in the size department)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7hPoTby2to&feature=youtu.be

Field stripping the RAMI is easy and it has a traditional one-piece take down lever that comes away from the frame to free the slide from the lower part of the firearm. Nate Cooper accomplishes it here in two minutes broken down and reassembled.

DA/SA trigger is crisp. The ten round mags (or 8 rounds of 40 S&W) fit flush but have a tendency to rattle when fully loaded. An optional 14-round extended mag with a base is also sold to give you some more bullets and a bit more reach on that grip, which could be just the thing if you have big mitts like me. As value added, you can also use CZ-75 mags, they just stick out and look a little funny.

(Note the extended 14-round magazine and its baseplate)

For those who are used to single-action guns, the manual safety lever is old school and takes about a half-second to figure out. For those of you clueless as to how it works, read the manual twice and remember that it locks an *open* hammer back not a closed one. This feature was replaced by a more traditional Walther/SIG style safety-decocker a couple years ago in the BD model.

(Hakan among others make a pretty swag aftermarket grips for the RAMI alloy frame models)

This model is the only one still in production

Specs:

• Model: CZ 2075 RAMI BD
• Manufacturer: Ceska Zbrojovka, Czech Republic
• Caliber; 9x19mm Luger (10shot) or .40S&W (8shot)
• Weight 1.590 lbs
• Overall Length: 6.500 in
• Barrel Length: 3.000 in
• Height 4.700 in
• Width 1.250 in
• Grip Rubber
• Barrel Cold Hammer Forged
• Trigger Mech. SA/DA
• Finish: Matte Black Polycoat.
• Sights Fixed
• Safety Manual Safety, Safety Stop on Hammer, Firing Pin Safety
• 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

CZ-USA has a MSRP on the RAMI of $633. Actual street prices run closer to $550 or so if you check around. New guns that are factory seconds appear from time to time for as low as http://www.slickguns.com/product/cz-2075-rami-9mm-blemished-scratch-and-dent-429-995-sh $429. Used guns, judging from the past 90 days sales history or Armslist and Gunbroker, run closer to $450 or so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1vDg8jbmjE

The Haus of Guns http://www.hausofguns.com guys have a pretty good no-frills review of the RAMI that\'s been up for a while. They say, \"This pistol makes the list of some of the finest we\'ve shot\"

We are inclined to shamelessly agree with them.