Pistol Review: CZ USA's Shadow 2 Target TALO

Apr 3
5 min read

Updated: 7 hours ago

CZ has never been shy about iterating on the Shadow 2 platform. Between the standard model, the Orange, the Compact, the Gold Digger, and assorted other variants, the Shadow 2 family tree has more branches than most manufacturers' entire catalogs. But the Shadow 2 Target TALO, available in both 5-inch and 6-inch configurations, is something genuinely different. This is not another action pistol variant with a cosmetic twist. This is CZ building a purpose-driven bullseye and precision target pistol on the most proven competition platform they have, with direct input from a man who has won more IPSC world titles than most of us have won arguments.

The Grauffel Connection

The Shadow 2 Target was developed in collaboration with Éric Grauffel, an eight-time overall IPSC Handgun World Champion with 191 IPSC President Medals to his name. Grauffel has been a CZ Shooting Team member for years, and his fingerprints are all over the Target's design philosophy. The goal was not simply to make a longer Shadow 2. It was to build a pistol optimized for static precision disciplines, where the demands on trigger control, sight alignment, and recoil management are fundamentally different from the run-and-gun world of IPSC Production.

The result is a gun that shares the Shadow 2's DNA but has been rethought at nearly every interface between the shooter and the pistol.

What Sets It Apart

Both the 5-inch (SKU 91246) and 6-inch (SKU 91247) models are TALO exclusives, distributed through TALO's dealer network in limited quantities. They are DA/SA, steel-framed, 9mm pistols built on the CZ 75 lineage, and they ship with three 17-round magazines, black G10 grips, a black nitride finish with Polycoat on the frame, and red accents that give the guns a subtle visual signature without straying into the garish territory that plagues some limited editions.

The barrel on each model is cold hammer forged, polished, and hand-fitted to the slide. CZ backs these barrels with a lifetime warranty, which tells you something about their confidence in the manufacturing process. The 6-inch model delivers the longest practical sight radius in the Shadow 2 family, while the 5-inch offers a slightly more balanced profile for shooters who want precision without the additional muzzle weight. Both feature a new muzzle design with a precise, sharp-edged crown that is recessed to protect against damage.

Where the Target truly distinguishes itself is the trigger. This is a single-action flat trigger with a five-position adjustable shoe that lets you set your own length of pull to match your hand size. Trigger pull weight is adjustable from approximately 6 to 17 Newtons (roughly 1.3 to 3.8 pounds), allowing a degree of fine-tuning that most factory pistols simply do not offer. Pre-travel and overtravel are both adjustable as well. If you have ever spent time behind a bullseye pistol, you understand why this matters. In a discipline where a single flier can separate first place from fifth, the ability to dial in exactly the break you want is not a convenience. It is a necessity.

The sights are fully adjustable LPA units, with the rear sight adjustable for both windage and elevation. CZ includes two interchangeable front sight blades of different thicknesses (3mm and 3.5mm), so you can choose how much daylight you want between the front and rear posts. The thicker blade comes pre-installed.

One of the more interesting design decisions is what CZ removed. The standard Picatinny rail on the dust cover has been eliminated. In its place, threaded holes in the dust cover allow the attachment of frame weights, which reduce muzzle rise and help the gun settle between shots. For a bullseye gun, this trade makes perfect sense. You are not mounting a weapon light on a precision target pistol. You are managing recoil.

Other refinements include an enlarged undercut on the trigger guard that allows a higher grip closer to the bore axis, deeper and longer cocking serrations on the slide, redesigned controls for improved ergonomics, an ambidextrous manual safety, and an optics-ready cut on the slide for shooters who want to mount a red dot.

Choosing Between the 5-Inch and the 6-Inch

Both models weigh approximately 46.5 ounces unloaded, which is substantial. That weight is intentional. In precision shooting, mass is your friend. It dampens recoil impulse, steadies your hold, and keeps the gun planted during sustained strings.

The 6-inch model is the natural choice for pure bullseye work. The longer sight radius maximizes the precision of iron sight shooting, and the additional barrel length squeezes a bit more velocity out of the 9mm cartridge while further extending the balance point forward. If your primary use is standing at a line and punching one-hole groups, this is probably the one.

The 5-inch model offers a touch more versatility. It is still very much a target pistol, but the slightly shorter barrel and more centered balance make it a bit more responsive for shooters who want to move between disciplines or who simply prefer the handling characteristics of a shorter gun. It also fits standard Shadow 2 holsters more readily, which matters if you intend to use it in any timed format.

Both guns ship with the same trigger, the same adjustability, the same G10 grips with red accents, and the same three-magazine package. The choice between them is a matter of application and personal preference, not capability.

Who This Is For

The Shadow 2 Target TALO is aimed squarely at the precision target shooter. Bullseye, NRA Precision Pistol, and European static disciplines are the obvious homes for it. But it also has appeal for the serious recreational shooter who values mechanical accuracy above all else, or the collector who appreciates what CZ can do when they build without compromise for a specific purpose. This is not a carry gun, not a duty gun, and not an IPSC Production gun (the single-action-only trigger disqualifies it from Production division). It is a target pistol, and it wears that identity without apology.

Final Thoughts

CZ could have simply stretched a Shadow 2 barrel and called it a day. Instead, they brought in one of the most decorated competitive shooters alive, engineered a trigger system with more adjustability than most aftermarket kits, hand-fitted the barrel, redesigned the dust cover for weight attachment, and shipped the whole package as a TALO exclusive with limited availability. The Shadow 2 Target is what happens when CZ decides that the bullseye crowd deserves the same obsessive attention to detail that the action shooting world has enjoyed for years. Whether you pick up the 5-inch or the 6-inch, you are getting a pistol that was designed to do one thing, put rounds exactly where you want them, and to do it better than almost anything else on the market.