Guns: My CZ Kadet Review and Range Report

This review comes from an old post I made on THR. Due to the current uncertainty regarding THR's existence, I'm archiving here on my blog to save it:

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Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought the Kadet kit for my CZ 75B. I ordered it from J&G Sales for $250 - you can probably get it cheaper if you search around, but I'm too lazy to do much more than Google "CZ Kadet" and check the prices . J&G was out of stock, so it took about a month for the adapter to finally arrive at my door. The adapter came in the standard CZ box, with 2 mags, manual, test target, and cleaning tools.

ASSEMBLY AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The adapter itself required very little fitting (perhaps about 5 minutes of light filing). I recommend making the fit as tight as possible, as it seems that shooting with the adapter naturally loosens the slide-to-frame fit enough to make it easy to remove the slide from the gun. Putting the Kadet kit on and taking it off is fast and simple - it works exactly the same way as a regular field strip.

The overall build quality is high. Though the internals have the slightly rough look common to CZs, the external finish is the same all-business black polycoat found on the full size pistol, and, as you can see from the pictures, it fits in very nicely with the frame. The sights are adjustable, and have a 3-dot configuration that is identical to the stock CZ 75B. The magazines are mostly steel, with a plastic bottom portion/floorplate. The whole affair feels very solid.

Here it is, fully assembled:



Stripped into its component groups:



On the CZ 75 itself:



Sight picture (I know, the front sight ain't centered ):



RANGE REPORT

The slide was slightly difficult to rack at first - it's very thin, and the target sights can get in the way of your fingers. The slide would probably have benefitted from Ruger-style protrusions, though this would have ruined the look of the Kadet kit. As far as weight and balance goes, it basically feels the same as the regular 75B, which is very nice indeed.

I shot a 100 round pack of CCI Mini Mags and about 1000 rounds worth of Federal bulk pack, Remington bulk pack, and Winchester Bulk pack. The adapter proved extremely reliable with everything but the Winchester stuff, which would sometimes have a fail-to-eject (I don't blame the kit - the Winnie bulk back wasn't even copper-plated, and it seemed to be pretty dirty when I shot it - still seemed as accurate as the other bulk stuff, though).

I'm only a beginning shooter, so I only managed about 3" groups at 25 yards offhand with all ammunition. I sincerely believe the gun is capable of better, of course, but I also think it might not be able to match a Ruger, Buckmark, or Trailside in the accuracy department (YMMV).

Typical Federal bulk pack group:



Typical Winchester bulk pack group:



THE BENEFITS OF A .22 CONVERSION

Ever since I got a membership to a local indoor pistol range (http://www.afn.org/~guns/), I've been going shooting twice a week, and even 9mm ammo was starting to eat at the wallet. Using a conversion means meaningful practice with the same holster, trigger, frame/grip, and sights as the full size gun at a fraction of the price. It means you can practice lots of fun drills - draw from the holster and fire, malfunction clearing (every bulk pack has a few duds), and mag changes - without using full power ammo, and with the same controls as the full size gun. Additionally, any upgrades you make to the host gun (Hakan or Omega grips, a trigger job, etc.) are automatically conferred upon your .22 autoloader.

There are numerous other practical benefits. The ability to start off new shooters with a .22 slide and then converting to 9mm on the same gun is nice, but there's also value in starting to learn one-hand and weak-hand shooting/drills with a .22, before moving up to the full power caliber. You could also use the conversion to do anything a regular .22 autoloader can do - from plinking soda cans to hunting squirrels.

CONCLUSION

CZ continues to impress me. The 75B has proven to be excellent, the RAMI has turned out to be a great concealed-carry pistol, and the Kadet kit has answered my .22 autoloader needs. Highly recommended!

PROS:
Tough as a brick outhouse
Reliable
Extremely easy to disassemble and clean

CONS:
Slightly difficult to rack the slide
Perhaps not as accurate as other .22 pistols (maybe)
Kinda expensive (you can get a lightly used .22 pistol for about the same price)