Advice on cz's

Hdbjsafari

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Hey everybody. I'm new to AH from Texas. I'm an avid bowhunter and also belong to another forum, Africa is my passion. I've hunted South Africa and Botswana and hopefully I'll be adding Namibia and Zimbabwe soon.
I just bought 3 CZ 550's in .375 h&h, .416 rigby, and .458 win mag. I've read a lot about what type of modifications need to be done out of the box and was wondering your opinions on that. I've heard: tune and smooth the actions, glass bed the action and barrel, etc. What do y'all think? I'm also thinking about replacing the front sight with either white or fiberoptic bead any thoughts?
Thanks for the help!
 
Welcome to AH Hdbjsafari! You may want to post your questions again in the proper section of the forum so that in the future members and visitors of the site will be able to learn and benefit from the answers as well. Thanks.
 
Welcome to AH!
 
Welcome to AH.
I am sure the gun wizards on here will be around to help you soon enough.
 
welcome

I have several CZ 550's and they are my favourite bush rifles

I am currently building a CZ 404 Jeffery as well

all of mine get the following :

barrel cut down to 23"
barrel band
smooth and polish the action as well as the trigger
fibre optic from sight
widen the rear v's on the open sights

well done on your purchase


see you in Africa soon
 
Welcome to AH, Hdbjsafari !

All you need is one in .404 Jeffery to complete the set.
 
Welcome to AH! Congrats on the CZs that is a lot of firepower!!!
 
I've owned two CZ's. Both 550's in .308W and .416 Rigby. Before that I had a BRNO 601 in .308W.

In my experience, you don't have to do any more to a CZ than any other rifle. You read a lot of internet 'info' about what has to be done. A lot of it is on American forums and I get the impression that being a 'foreign' rifle makes it a target for the few who have had issues. That internet buzz also generates income for those marketing CZ modifications. Like any rifle there will be 'duds' off the production line. Some very early CZ's had soft wood and of those, a few stocks split, hence the continued 'requirement' that they all need bedding and re-inforcement. Find out what needs to be done and what you want done FIRST.

Decide what you want to use your rifles for, how you want them to look and find yourself a proper gunsmith.

I took the .416 to my gunsmith. He found that is was very well beded and needed no work at all in that department. It gave no issues, shot accurately and is now in the Northern Territory shooting Water Buffalo for a new owner, without issues.

I did get the factory trigger adjusted down to a 2.5lb pull in about 3 minutes. It retains the set feature which I have never used. The factory trigger is very well made and precise. You just need a gunsmith who KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING and it can remain on the rifle. If a gunsmith tells you it HAS to be replaced then I would have very severe reservations about that persons knowledge and craftmanship. I had the cross bolts changed to Recknagel items because they index easily and look better. No practical advantage was gained with this. The safety also works very well.

I had the bolt handle straightend and the 'knob' bent up and out a bit so it was easier to grasp in a hurry. Some people fill in the hole on the end for cosmetic looks. All my rifles have a 13.5" LOP and straight bolt handles so I don't have to adjust my memory for a different rifle.

Here is the straight handle after a re-blue and before the crossbolts were replaced.


The front bead was replaced with a white Recknagel fibre bead as well. I have ageing eyes and it just made my life easier. The standard one is a bit narrow and you don't want to go looking for it in a hurry if there is shadow or light changes across the rifle

The BRNO 601 had ejection issues. The CZ .308 had the standard trigger re-built with the set feature removed. It did however need bedding and the barrel floated. It went to Africa and performed very well except in a dust storm on the grass veldt where I had to strip out the bolt and mag and wipe it down to get it to cycle. (yes, we hunted hard and not from the back of a truck). My sons Parker Hale Mauser '98 in .243 kept working however without the need for field maintenance. Some designs you just can't improve on .....

I would like to re-inforce, find out what you have first before you spend big $ that you may not need to spend. Try to sift out the internet regenerating myths and clever marketing.
 

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Thanks for the welcome and advice. I'll have my gunsmith look them over and see what he recommends. Any suggestions on new front sights and barrel length for the 458 which will just be for backup situations?
 
Welcome!!!

I'm with Code 4, only do what you need to, unless you just want to do more.

I had a feeding issue out of the box and so sent it back to CZ and asked them to adjust the trigger while it was there, which they did. That was all I HAD to do.

I also decided to put a muzzle brake on it (for training only, won't hunt with it) and while it was there I had it cerakoted and the front sight changed so I could see it better if I needed to remove the scope. These were all want to haves for me. Glad I did them, but didn't need them.
 
Thanks for the welcome and advice. I'll have my gunsmith look them over and see what he recommends. Any suggestions on new front sights and barrel length for the 458 which will just be for backup situations?

Your a PH ? I'd ask your peers about barrel length for back up. Asking on the internet maybe fraught with dangers where DG experience is usually counted in one or two experiences and you may not get a reliable answer. I'll wager the reply will be somewhere around 22".

Slightly off topic. A very old and experience PH who used to hunt Lions on foot in Botswana on his time off many, many moons ago, did tell me to regulate your iron sites for 75 and 5 yards. I'll never forget that piece of advice ..... if I ever win the lottery and get to hunt DG.
 
Welcome to the forum sir,
I own two CZ's. One in .375H&H and the other in .416Rigby. They are good working rifles, with the .375 being possibly the most accurate rifle in my safe, shooting a clover at 100yds. I've had it for a while, and my mind tells me that I might have had it bedded.
The only reason that we suggest some work goes into the action, is for dangerous game situations, where quick cycling of the bolt could be required. How often do you feel you will be in this situation?


Take Care,
Marius
 
Welcome to AH, when I bought my 375 CZ actually it was a gift from a friend of mine......I polished down the bolt with brasso(brass cleaner and tooth paste) it smoothed it out allot!!! And it works!!,,,today 16 years down the line! :) but those were the days...

I hope you enjoy it here.

My best always
 
i would have your .458 barrel cut to 21 or 22 inches. i dont like long barrels so none of my rifles are longer than 22inches (apart from my 2 doubles at 24 and 26 inches). my 2 .458lotts are 21 and 22inches respectively.
 
Welcome to the forum sir,
I own two CZ's. One in .375H&H and the other in .416Rigby. They are good working rifles, with the .375 being possibly the most accurate rifle in my safe, shooting a clover at 100yds. I've had it for a while, and my mind tells me that I might have had it bedded.The only reason that we suggest some work goes into the action, is for dangerous game situations, where quick cycling of the bolt could be required. How often do you feel you will be in this situation?


Take Care,
Marius

Marius,

Just curious - why are you thinking about a bedding job when the rifle shoots clover leaves?
 
Think he was saying he had it bed already and that may have helped it shoot those clovers.
 
Welcome to AH Hdbjsafari!
 

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