CZ550 Scope Problems - Help...

Ado

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Hi All,

I have two CZ550's in 375 H&H with QD mounts and have no problems with the Leupold VX3 scopes attached. (Both MOA)

Late last year I purchased a CZ550 in 458 Lott, and one in 458Win. (Only told the wife about one of them...)

When I put the same QD mounts and a scopes on both rifles have the same problem - shooting low and the scopes just do not have enough vertical adjustment to zero. Both rifles were about 9 inches low at 25m. Both the Leupold scopes were brand new.

I cant think the actions on two separate rifles (Not the same batch) are not true... or this would be extremely rare?

I am trying to use a Leupold VX3 1.5 - 6 and VX3 2.5 - 8.

What am I doing wrong? For these heavy calibres do I need a scope with extra vertical travel?

Anyone else had a similar problem?

Help....

Thanks,

Ado
 
Hi Ado,

That seems unusual with the higher quality models of Leupold scopes.

Can it be that one ring is slightly shorter than the other and visa-versa ?

In other words, perhaps whatever brand of rings you have there, might require great care to ensure that one specific ring goes on the front of the receiver only and the opposite for the remaining ring ?

My memory is not the best but, 30 something years ago, when I was hunting with Ruger Model 77 rifles, it seems to me like the factory provided scope rings for them, were exactly so.

Also, I have seen a Gunsmith place a very thin "shim material" in the bottom half of a scope ring to correct the problem you describe but, it was with a cheap scope (late 1960's or early 1970's Bushnell or Tasco, can't remember which exactly but one of the two).

Cheers,
Velo Dog.
 
I would have to agree with Velo dog the rings must be causing elevation problems or the mounts.
 
I would definitely call Leupold and run it by them as well. As high a level of customer service as there is anywhere, in my experience.
 
I would make sure that the "slot" on the rings is lined up perfect with the "slot" on the rifle. If they aren't perfectly in line with each other, it could be F***ing up your set-up causing a tilt to the scope (somewhat). If that's not it then I would be making some calls to CZ or whomever made the rings to find out what their thoughts are.

That being said, I bore sighted my CZ in 416 rigby, and then made a lot of upward adjustment to get it on the bullseye. So IDFK what to say. I would eat the elephant in small bites and start with the rings. If that doesn't work, take the next step.
 
Ado,
Check what bases you have. It might be that you have purchased "high" bases where you only need medium or low bases.
It should say what they are on the packaging.
 
Ado;
No exact experience but somewhat similar;
I had a Ruger I could not even get on paper at 25 yards after bore sighting, and this was with a 6.5 mm which is much easier to bore site closely than a big bore gun (in my limited experience). Ruger does (as VDog mentioned) have one base/ring higher than the other. . I tried different rings and finally sent the gun back and they sent a whole new gun and new rings... Problem solved. Obviously the action or barrel was way off... So although unlikely on two, not impossible. But I would check everything else first.... Did you try both scopes on both guns? Equally unlikely two scopes would be off that much????

And I have one set of Alaska QD rings that did come with the friction paper on par with what VDog mentions as a shim. You should not need that but if you used it, make sure it is not thicker or folded in one place.

I would look closely at what 35bore said and double check your mounting to the base and maybe get customer service on the phone from the ring company to walk you through it if any doubt.

And as Marius said, those scopes are conducive to mounting very low.

I have a CZ 550 but it is at the Custom Shop to fix feeding issues (505 Gibbs) so I cannot look at mine right now but from looking at my rings (which arrived after I sent the gun offo_O , they are both the same height but one has the little dog leg off to the side to lock it in to the correct position while the other "floats".

What brand rings do you have?
 
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What height rings do you have? You should be able to use the lowest available. If you're using those, it is possible that you don't have enough MOA's of vertical adjustment. This happened with me on my .458B&M with I think a 3-9x Zeiss with the heavy loads. The Nikon I have took care of that.
 
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I have two CZ550's. The first in 375 H&H I had a gun shop install my old Leupold vx2 1-4 w/ Warne medium QD rings. I had no problem adjusting at the range - probably had to adjust up 4 or 5 inches at 50 yards to zero, then slight adjust to zero at 100.

The second is a 404 jeff. I did the install of a Zeiss 1 - 5 with the same Warne QD mounts. Again, low about 6 or 7 inches at 50 yards to start but had plenty of adjustment to get it zeroed.

With the Warne mounts for the CZ 550, they are specific to front and back so that the back ring has the extra metal to fit into the notch (I would expect all rings for CZ550's to have that). As long as they are installed in that manner, I'm not sure how the installation would be off from one 550 to another. I also wouldn't think you could mix-up front to back.

Do you have a small level that you can use to check the level on the action from mount location to the other? I set my rifle in my Tipton vise, got the action level, then confirmed the rings/scope level to it. It seems like if the mount location is somehow off level that could be causing the angle of the scope to be off so much.
 
Ado,
Check what bases you have. It might be that you have purchased "high" bases where you only need medium or low bases.
It should say what they are on the packaging.
Hi Marius,

Yes they are the high bases - but exactly the same as the ones on my 375's...

The front and back cannot be interchanged due to the grove on the rear base.

Crap... :-(

Thanks,

Ado
 
Ado;
No exact experience but somewhat similar;
I had a Ruger I could not even get on paper at 25 yards after bore sighting, and this was with a 6.5 mm which is much easier to bore site closely than a big bore gun (in my limited experience). Ruger does (as VDog mentioned) have one base/ring higher than the other. . I tried different rings and finally sent the gun back and they sent a whole new gun and new rings... Problem solved. Obviously the action or barrel was way off... So although unlikely on two, not impossible. But I would check everything else first.... Did you try both scopes on both guns? Equally unlikely two scopes would be off that much????

And I have one set of Alaska QD rings that did come with the friction paper on par with what VDog mentions as a shim. You should not need that but if you used it, make sure it is not thicker or folded in one place.

I would look closely at what 35bore said and double check your mounting to the base and maybe get customer service on the phone from the ring company to walk you through it if any doubt.

And as Marius said, those scopes are conducive to mounting very low.

I have a CZ 550 but it is at the Custom Shop to fix feeding issues (505 Gibbs) so I cannot look at mine right now but from looking at my rings (which arrived after I sent the gun offo_O , they are both the same height but one has the little dog leg off to the side to lock it in to the correct position while the other "floats".

What brand rings do you have?

Hi Action Bob,

They are the Warne mounts for the CZ550.

What is really weird is that this exact setup works on two perfectly, yet on both the heavy calibre rifles something is off...

Ado
 
What height rings do you have? You should be able to use the lowest available. If you're using those, it is possible that you don't have enough MOA's of vertical adjustment. This happened with me on my .458B&M with I think a 3-9x Zeiss with the heavy loads. The Nikon I have took care of that.

Thanks Philip,

I may have to try that next...

Ado
 
Hi All,

Thanks for all your advice here.

OK - will try the Warne medium rings first, and if that does not fix it then will look at a different scope.

Will let you all know the outcome in the coming weeks...

Thanks,

Ado
 
To get a real handle on the issue first "center the reticle in the scope". After mounting the centered scope use a bore sighter to see just how far off you are. If you are off a mile there will not be enough elevation adjustment to correct it and scopes adjusted to their limits don't hold zero. As others have suggested swap the rings front to back and check the bore sighter again or resort to Velo's trick and shim the scope.

I have a Shepherd and I had to use every trick in the book to get her mounted due to the Shepherds pathetic windage and elevation range.
 
I had a similar problem with a CZ 550 Safari Magnum in 458 Lott using Talley rings. I could zero the Leupold scope with 350 grain bullets but not with the 500 grainers. I put a Nightforce scope on it which had a greater range of adjustment and the problem was solved.
 
With a caliper, measure the distance from top of bridges to rails, see if it's the same at front and rear.

Measure the "thickness" of the rings/mounts, from bottom of ring to bottom of mount.

If the bridges have different dimensions, or the rings, you've found the problem.

If the dimensions are correct, more head-scratching is needed.
 
I was told this by the Leupold rep when I was asking if the 1.75 - 6 x 32 would work on a 404 Jeffery "First, Although it's an awesome scope, I would not recommend the 1.75-6x32mm to you for your application as it has a very limited elevation and windage adjustment range. You will most likely run out adjustment before getting your rifle properly zeroed and it you managed to get it zeroed, you may possibly have POI issues." He suggested the following: "VX-3 1.5-5x20mm, Illuminated or Non-Illuminated.
FX-II Ultralight 2.5X20mm
or The Big Bore 3X that is available through the Custom Shop
 
I had a cz 550 in 416 Rigby and a leupold scope with the same problem-not having enough elevation adjustment to get it anywhere on the target. After trying various solutions as suggested above I contacted CZ, they told me to send it back because the action and barrel were out of alignment. They said they removed the barrel and reinstalled it. This made some sense because it had shot fine with the barrel mounted open sites, but not with a scope. I sent the gun and the scope to CZ, it came back very quickly (including a target where they sighted it in) and I have never had any problems since then.
 
Hi All,

Well I found a solution to this problem, but not a great solution...

I ended up using the CZ mount for the front, and the Warne QD mount on the rear, as there is 1.5mil difference between their heights, which is just enough to aim it down. Now it's printing MOA at 100m - for a 458win!

A long term solution is using both QD mounts.

Does anyone know if Leupold have a data chart listing vertical adjustments per scope? If not I guess I need to email them... My luck it's the VX6 at $1,500..

Thanks everyone for your help.

Ado
 

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