CZ Shadow 2 Compact Review: Does It Live Up to the Hype?

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CZ Shadow 2 Compact Specs & Features

Specs

• Caliber: 9mm
• Capacity: 15+1 (per magazine)
• Length: 7.5″
• Barrel length: 4″
• Height: 5.4″
• Width: 1.3″
• Weight: 1 lb. 15 oz.
• Comes with: Plastic hard case, gun lock, owners manual, cleaning tools, (2) 15-round magazines

Features

• Duralumin grips
• Adjustable magazine release
• Shortened reset trigger
• Cold hammer forged barrel

Once in a while, a gun comes along that gets everyone excited. In the case of the Shadow 2 Compact from CZ, it’s an interesting tale.

When you consider the amount of time the series has been around, you realize there’s quite a lineage. But without a doubt, the Shadow 2 recently kicked up a lot of interest as one heck of a shooter, a reputation cemented by many pro shooters.

So, when the Shadow 2 Compact was announced in 2023, many people marveled at the idea of tucking that much performance in their pants.

There are benefits to banking on a series of guns with a good reputation, but did CZ lose any quality when they shrunk Shadow 2 to make the Compact? We took one out to the range to find out for ourselves.

So keep reading as we look into the specs, features, and range performance for the CZ Shadow 2 Compact.

How We Tested the CZ Shadow 2

For this review, we tested the CZ Shadow 2 with iron sights, shooting 3-round groups at 7-yards.

We went through 500 rounds of ammunition, using both practice ammo in the form of AAC 115gr FMJ, and defensive ammunition from Nosler. 

At the helm was Sean Curtis, who has been shooting since childhood but really began to delve into guns more during his law enforcement career of over two decades. He received continued training for his roles in SWAT and, as a POST-certified handgun instructor, has written for a multitude of publications, including Police One, Guns.com, American Survival Guide, the Glock Annual, Gun World Magazine, and now Pew Pew Tactical.

Background

The Shadow series hales from the CZ 75, which started in 1975. There were decades of evolutions and different models that followed, with many versions (SP-01) being very successful in competitive circles.

In 2016, building upon the success of the original CZ 75 SP-01 Shadow, the Shadow 2 was released, implementing feedback from CZ’s stacked team of professional shooters.

The gun was an absolute winner and populated many pistol competitions

Who Is It For?

The Shadow 2 Compact is an interesting collision of race gun heritage and concealed carry. At its base, it is a concealable version of the competition-famous gun.

With concealability being its hallmark, the Shadow 2 Compact is for any shooter who wants a quality handgun with go-fast lineage and performance.

Ergonomics: Fit & Feel

Grip

I’ve always appreciated the level of ergonomics on CZ pistols and the Shadow 2 Compact follows suit nicely. In the hand, the gun feels like it’s locked into place.

A number of things contribute to this. One is a 1911-esque grip angle, which pulls the generous beaver tail down into the web of your hand.

You can feel the gentle bite of the scaly, Duralumin, grip panels in your hand, as well as the checkering on the front strap and back strap. The curve of the back of the grip fits nicely in the palm and a slight swell at the bottom of the grip makes a nice lockup for the pinky.

Controls

Controls are all well within reach, though the ambidextrous safety, likely reduced in size for ease of draw, is much easier to deactivate than it is to activate. Of the two, ease of deactivation is clearly my preference.

The slide stop is larger than the safety, has more surface area, and a stepped slope that is tactile and pretty easy to use. Because of the increased step size, it is larger on the bottom, making locking the slide to the rear easy.

Trigger

With the double-action/single-action trigger, length of pull is different depending on mode. On double-action, the curved, steel bow is pretty far forward in the guard.

Pulling it back is long though smooth, and averaged three pounds 15 ounces on my Lyman Digital gauge. In single-action, the trigger broke at an average of one pound 11 ounces on the same gauge.

Reset is almost immediate, very tactile, and audible too. The length of pull on single-action is significantly shorter as well.

All in, the trigger is really good. I’m not a fan of double-action but understand its merits, and CZ has done a fine job with this one.

Other Features

While the Shadow 2 Compact is optics-ready, we chose to run the irons for a change. The fiber optic, red front, and serrated, black rear contrasted nicely and performed well, even during an overcast day.

CZ includes two steel, 15-round magazines with the Shadow 2 Compact. These inserted smoothly, locked back on the last round, and dropped freely when I pressed the release.

How Does the CZ Shadow 2 Compact Shoot?

Going back to irons, I struggle a bit, but the Shadow 2 Compact is accurate. Shooting three-shot groups at 7 yards, most groups were around 1 inch.

That’s important to note, but the speed the gun is capable of is where that race gun lineage shines through. Two components work together to make this possible — the trigger and grip.

First, the grip does such a good job of holding onto your flesh, the gun locks in rigidly, allowing for better recoil control. With the steel slide and aluminum alloy frame, it’s a bit heavier than a polymer gun, and this helps, too.

Finally, the trigger is the key to making this gun fast. Specifically, trigger reset is very short allowing for easy reset during recoil, then follow-up shots.

This is a much smaller gun than the Shadow 2, so you might be tempted to expect the shooting impulse to be a little snappier. It might be, but the weight of the gun, as noted above, does much to tame this.

Through 500 rounds of ammo, using both practice (AAC 115gr FMJ) and defensive (Nosler, we had zero malfunctions. There were a couple of hang-ups, but these were attributed to me shooting with gloves on.

What Sets It Apart?

The Shadow 2 Compact is the younger, smaller brother of the Shadow 2, a gun with almost legendary race gun performance. Despite being far more concealable, it can perform nearly as well.

There are a lot of defensive compact pistols out there; the market is practically flooded. However, very few can claim race gun lineage in such a small frame.

In addition, I think the Shadow 2 Compact offers great value for the price. It’s an upgraded pistol at a higher price but provides a lot of bang for the buck.

Final Verdict

CZ’s Shadow 2 Compact is a wonderful distillation of its namesake, taking many of the components that made the original such a success and shrinking them down into a concealable package.

The weight, ergonomics, and excellent trigger combine to create a potent yet compact concealed carry option. The performance comes at a price, but it’s not nearly as high as some out there.

Will you be adding a Shadow 2 Compact to the carry rotation? Let us know in the comments below. For more concealed carry goodness, check out the 8 Best Concealed Carry Guns: All Calibers & Budgets.

Latest Updates

April 10, 2024: Added section headers to Ergonomics
April 8, 2024: Added section on how we tested the CZ Shadow 2