I just joined the BRNO ZKK 602 Owners Club

Welcome to the club, the 602 is just a great rifle. The safety is very easy to get use to, give it a try for a month or so before you change it would be my advise.
Agree with this in the main for general run of the mill hunting rifles, but if for a DG purposes than the familiarity of use is paramount.
I played with a friends 602 in 375H&H to get loads sorted for him a number of years back and found the safety to be simple in the non stress environment I was using it in. Having said that I understand that you have your 404 Jeffery's for DG so for PG and equivelent US game, Dave has it right IMHO
 
Agree with this in the main for general run of the mill hunting rifles, but if for a DG purposes than the familiarity of use is paramount.
I played with a friends 602 in 375H&H to get loads sorted for him a number of years back and found the safety to be simple in the non stress environment I was using it in. Having said that I understand that you have your 404 Jeffery's for DG so for PG and equivelent US game, Dave has it right IMHO
+1
 
A few moments ago I was notified that I won a gunbroker Auction for a ZKK 602 in 375 H&H. I have been hearing / reading other AH members touting them. I guess I'll soon find out for my self how good a rifle they are. I have a question though. Regarding the "backwards" safety. Can they be converted to "normal" i.e. back is safe and forward is fire? If so, who do you recommend to do the work? Alternatively should I just get used to it, and keep the safety as is? I have been looking for a ZKK 602 for quite a while. However every time one became available I'd just purchased another rifle and or had a bid in on another rifle and couldn't afford to win two auctions back to back.
Wow, how lucky can one get?
 
Welcome to the Club !
Here's my :
1) Recently BRNO ZKK - 602 in .375 HH Magnum . Strangely , the Gun holds 7 rounds in it . 6 in the Magazine and 1 in the chamber ( as opposed to 5 in the Magazine and one in the chamber ). What a miraculous and unexpected bonus :D
2 ) Custom .350 Rigby Magnum built on a ZKK- 602 Action . Holds 5 in the Magazine and 1 in the chamber
Someday , by God , l will Build an 11.2 × 72 mm Schuler on a ZKK-602 action , if l ever succeed in reviving the cartridge .
Long live the ZKK-602 :D
View attachment 301111 View attachment 301112
This is actually true of the CZ 550 .375 H&H cartridge family as well, but there is a twist to it :)

1- Most often, depending on the metal bottom inleting in the stock, the magazine can indeed hold 6 rounds, but with 6 rounds in the mag, the first round will often jam because there is not enough depression space left in the magazine to allow the cartridge to feed smoothly, with its butt tilting down slightly as its nose tilts up. You want to check on your own rifle if that sixth round feeds from the mag. Some rifles will feed, some will not. It depends on how deep in the stock the floor plate is inletted.

2- This being said, the actual purpose of having more room in the magazine than needed for 5 rounds is that you can put a sixth round of top of the five, without inserting it in the magazine, then depress the sixth round halfway in the mag as you move the bolt forward so that the round can engage under the extractor, and you can close the bolt on the sixth round without having to snap the extractor over it. It you snap the extractor too often over a round that you just pushed into the chamber, ultimately you will break the extractor. The "miraculous and unexpected bonus" is not one actually, it is the unintended consequence of the proper designing of the system to be able to load five cartridges in the mag, then one in the chamber, the proper way, without snapping the extractor.

Originally, Mauser extractors were not beveled, and could not snap over a cartridge head (which defeats one of the major advantages of such extractors: the fact that they could not snap over a cartridge head, therefore extraction was virtually guaranteed.) but probably too many folks complained about their bolt not being able to close with a cartridge in the chamber, so nowadays most Mauser extractors, including the CZ, are beveled. This is a marketing compromise to please ill-informed customers, but an actual downgrade of the original Mauser design...

I hope this was of interest :)

In the end, the CZ 550 is the same action, built on the same machinery, in the same plant as the ZKK 602 was. The plant used the ZKK brand before the collapse of the iron curtain and the CZ brand after.

Aside from minor evolution (safety, bolt handle shape, etc.) the two actions are identical. Admittedly, some series of CZ 550 suffer from very poor machining (when the tooling wears out I would speculate). My .416 Rigby needed significant deburring to become smooth. Conversely, other series of CZ 550 are clean (when cutting tools are periodically replaced, I would speculate). My .375 H&H was smooth from the get go.

The only advantages the ZKK-period rifles have is that there clearly was an additional manufacturing step then: manual deburring. Labor was cheap under communist rule, I guess... This step has obviously been removed under new-to-them capitalist rule.

I suspect in the end that this may have been a very ill-advised costs saving step, because it allowed the "CZ do not work out the box" legend to start. It is false in most cases, but true in enough cases apparently... I have personally never seen a factory CZ that did not work - I have seen very rough ones, but this is different - but credible people have reported it. Nothing that cannot be fixed in a few hours with a deburring tool and some fine grit sand paper, but in the land of American instant gratification, it has proved a brand killer...

In the end, the CZ 550 gets compared to the "Win 70 that works out of the box" and this is a complete misunderstanding of what one gets with a CZ 550 which is true magnum length square bridge action capable of housing .416 Rigby length cartridges and offering built in scope bases. Try to build a .416 Rigby and to weld scope bases on a Win 70 action :A Outta:

The rumor is that CZ will soon stop making the 550 actions entirely. Let's see how long it takes for them to develop cult status once people realize that the only other options are Mauser, Granite Mountain, etc. $6,000 actions (not rifles, mind you, actions alone!). Because these are the actions the CZ 550 should be mechanically compared too, not the Win 70 :E Rofl:

It is not entirely by chance that Rigby used the ZKK / CZ action to build their $15,000 Rigby rifles for decades before Mauser re-introduced the magnum length action :whistle:

In conclusion, the ZKK 602 is a great rifle. Long live the ZKK indeed! Consider it an already deburred CZ 550 ... and use that extra mag space correctly to load the sixth cartridge in the chamber without snapping the extractor :)
 
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A few moments ago I was notified that I won a gunbroker Auction for a ZKK 602 in 375 H&H. I have been hearing / reading other AH members touting them. I guess I'll soon find out for my self how good a rifle they are. I have a question though. Regarding the "backwards" safety. Can they be converted to "normal" i.e. back is safe and forward is fire? If so, who do you recommend to do the work? Alternatively should I just get used to it, and keep the safety as is? I have been looking for a ZKK 602 for quite a while. However every time one became available I'd just purchased another rifle and or had a bid in on another rifle and couldn't afford to win two auctions back to back.
Sincere congratulations Art. I had Griffin & Howe built me a lovely rifle on the ZKK 602 in the late 1980's when this action was the only game in town. Sadly airport luggage handlers destroyed it...
I envy you Shootist. In Poland ZKK602 is difficult to access.
Here (USA) too Witold. Very rare indeed... I agree with you, they are desirable...
Before you modify the safety or trigger, give it a chance to prove itself...
Yep. Beware that there is apparently reliable documentation in another AH post that a PH was killed when the front/back safety conversion on his ZKK 602 failed.
Truth be told, I never understood why someone would want to make that conversion anyway. It still remains an action-mounted sear-blocking safety which is the not the most reliable system to begin with. The way to go is indeed to install a bolt-mounted firing pin-blocking safety as suggested by Luvhunt.
American Hunting Rifles in MT. Can do your safety. The new safety is on the bolt and is m7o style...
 
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IvW, this purchase was mostly your doing. Over the past several years your very high regard for the
BRNO ZKK 602 has been mentioned many times. Since I value your opinions very much I had no choice but to get one. Rest assured that if that rifle ever makes it to Africa it will be stoked with 300 GR. Swift A Frames. The 602(s) are a rare commodity in the States, so it took me a while. Did you have trigger work done on your rifles? I heard that smooth triggers were not BRNO's long suit.

Yes both my 375 H&H's as well as the 500 JEFF have aftermarket triggers, my 243 Win has the original set trigger, nice trigger but not for a DG rifle.
 
The best thing to do is to replace the original safety with an M70 version...though the only really negative is that when you put the safety to fire position it CLICKS loudly…..can be fixed with a small rubber piece though..
 
the old zkk safety.
back to front as some say, and a potential danger as von gruff says.
having grown up with hammer rifles and guns helped me cope with it.
putting the safety to the fire position by pulling it backward resembled cocking a hammer.
that made it seem more natural.
bruce.
 
Oh boy a new project! Can’t wait to see how it shoots!
 
This is actually true of the CZ 550 .375 H&H cartridge family as well, but there is a twist to it :)

1- Most often, depending on the metal bottom inleting in the stock, the magazine can indeed hold 6 rounds, but with 6 rounds in the mag, the first round will often jam because there is not enough depression space left in the magazine to allow the cartridge to feed smoothly, with its butt tilting down slightly as its nose tilts up. You want to check on your own rifle if that sixth round feeds from the mag. Some rifles will feed, some will not. It depends on how deep in the stock the floor plate is inletted.

2- This being said, the actual purpose of having more room in the magazine than needed for 5 rounds is that you can put a sixth round of top of the five, without inserting it in the magazine, then depress the sixth round halfway in the mag as you move the bolt forward so that the round can engage under the extractor, and you can close the bolt on the sixth round without having to snap the extractor over it. It you snap the extractor too often over a round that you just pushed into the chamber, ultimately you will break the extractor. The "miraculous and unexpected bonus" is not one actually, it is the unintended consequence of the proper designing of the system to be able to load five cartridges in the mag, then one in the chamber, the proper way, without snapping the extractor.

Originally, Mauser extractors were not beveled, and could not snap over a cartridge head (which defeats one of the major advantages of such extractors: the fact that they could not snap over a cartridge head, therefore extraction was virtually guaranteed.) but probably too many folks complained about their bolt not being able to close with a cartridge in the chamber, so nowadays most Mauser extractors, including the CZ, are beveled. This is a marketing compromise to please ill-informed customers, but an actual downgrade of the original Mauser design...

I hope this was of interest :)

In the end, the CZ 550 is the same action, built on the same machinery, in the same plant as the ZKK 602 was. The plant used the ZKK brand before the collapse of the iron curtain and the CZ brand after.

Aside from minor evolution (safety, bolt handle shape, etc.) the two actions are identical. Admittedly, some series of CZ 550 suffer from very poor machining (when the tooling wears out I would speculate). My .416 Rigby needed significant deburring to become smooth. Conversely, other series of CZ 550 are clean (when cutting tools are periodically replaced, I would speculate). My .375 H&H was smooth from the get go.

The only advantages the ZKK-period rifles have is that there clearly was an additional manufacturing step then: manual deburring. Labor was cheap under communist rule, I guess... This step has obviously been removed under new-to-them capitalist rule.

I suspect in the end that this may have been a very ill-advised costs saving step, because it allowed the "CZ do not work out the box" legend to start. It is false in most cases, but true in enough cases apparently... I have personally never seen a factory CZ that did not work - I have seen very rough ones, but this is different - but credible people have reported it. Nothing that cannot be fixed in a few hours with a deburring tool and some fine grit sand paper, but in the land of American instant gratification, it has proved a brand killer...

In the end, the CZ 550 gets compared to the "Win 70 that works out of the box" and this is a complete misunderstanding of what one gets with a CZ 550 which is true magnum length square bridge action capable of housing .416 Rigby length cartridges and offering built in scope bases. Try to build a .416 Rigby and to weld scope bases on a Win 70 action :A Outta:

The rumor is that CZ will soon stop making the 550 actions entirely. Let's see how long it takes for them to develop cult status once people realize that the only other options are Mauser, Granite Mountain, etc. $6,000 actions (not rifles, mind you, actions alone!). Because these are the actions the CZ 550 should be mechanically compared too, not the Win 70 :E Rofl:

It is not entirely by chance that Rigby used the ZKK / CZ action to build their $15,000 Rigby rifles for decades before Mauser re-introduced the magnum length action :whistle:

In conclusion, the ZKK 602 is a great rifle. Long live the ZKK indeed! Consider it an already deburred CZ 550 ... and use that extra mag space correctly to load the sixth cartridge in the chamber without snapping the extractor :)
One day ,
Thank you so much for your informative post. I took the time to read it again and again to comprehend everything you said. :) It was most informative and l completely agree with you.
My Winchester Model 70 also couldn't be made to have the extractor slip over the fifth cartridge's rim , for a very long time . It is a .375 HH Magnum
 
IvW, what aftermarket trigger do you have on your BRNOs? Timney makes good aftermarket triggers for all Mauser style actions and I've thought about having one installed. Another option is to have Wayne Jacobson at AHR install one of his triggers. Also what kind of iron sights do you have on your ZKK -602(s) if any?
 
A few moments ago I was notified that I won a gunbroker Auction for a ZKK 602 in 375 H&H. I have been hearing / reading other AH members touting them. I guess I'll soon find out for my self how good a rifle they are. I have a question though. Regarding the "backwards" safety. Can they be converted to "normal" i.e. back is safe and forward is fire? If so, who do you recommend to do the work? Alternatively should I just get used to it, and keep the safety as is? I have been looking for a ZKK 602 for quite a while. However every time one became available I'd just purchased another rifle and or had a bid in on another rifle and couldn't afford to win two auctions back to back.

its a rough iron my friend.Sell it on egun and look for a Winchester 70
The "foreword" safety was created by stoned engineers.
And the trigger is awful.
Why have so many hunter a Brünner/Bruno in Africa ?
Africa has no money.
Its a hunting version of a Kalaschnikow.
Sure it works,but why should I ride a donkey,when enough horses there ?
Foxi
 
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Backwards, forwards, central, sideways, push-buttom etc, all the different safety systems have their pluses and minuses. The issue is not the direction of the safety. The issue is consistency across platforms. Basic skills learning theory tells us that in order for a set of actions to be instinctive they must be practiced to the stage of being autonomous ie without thought. This is commonly called 'muscle memory'. You can't develop instinctive behaviours if you're using different systems. Either use one gun for everything, or (more practically) standardize the platform. In my case, I have standardized on the ZKK 600, ZKK601 ZKK 602 family covering calibres from .308 to 458Lott. (I'll also be trying to acquire a .223 in due course).
Also from a training point of view, make sure when plinking on the range etc to start with the safety on each time so that disengaging the safety is part of your natural firing stroke sequence. Too many people start with a disengaged safety and hence imprint the behaviour.
 
its a rough iron my friend.Sell it on egun and look for a Winchester 70
The "foreword" safety was created by stoned engineers.
And the trigger is awful.
Why have so many hunter a Brünner/Bruno in Africa ?
Africa has no money.
Its a hunting version of a Kalaschnikow.
Sure it works,but why should I ride a donkey,when enough horses there ?
Foxi

With the greatest of respect, I could not disagree more. I have a 600 and 602. I love the safety. Its intuitive, pulls back to shoot like the hammer on a pistol. Locks the gun up as tight as a drum.

That ugly trigger is great. Both of them that I have break cleanly. I play around with the set trigger and it is also a nice abrupt snap.

Action is solid. You can break it down and fix it. History is grand.

Love 'em, in case you couldn't tell.
 
its a rough iron my friend.Sell it on egun and look for a Winchester 70
The "foreword" safety was created by stoned engineers.
And the trigger is awful.
Why have so many hunter a Brünner/Bruno in Africa ?
Africa has no money.
Its a hunting version of a Kalaschnikow.
Sure it works,but why should I ride a donkey,when enough horses there ?
Foxi
Foxi , l have utmost respect for your views and the views of every brother sportsman :) But l must respectfully disagree. I own 2 ZKK-602 rifles. One is a Factory BRNO in .375 HH Magnum. One is a custom piece in .350 Rigby Magnum. They are some of the most rugged and reliable rifles l ever used ( and l have used MANY ). They are accurate , handle like a charm and the safety is just like an old fashioned hammer shotgun :)
I will agree with you on one thing : The Factory BRNO ZKK - 602 rifles in .458 Winchester Magnum are very unreliable guns unless you extensively do A LOT of work to them. A member here named Pondoro actually had one of them detonate a round INSIDE the Magazine and damage the gun . He was lucky to get away unscathed. But the .375 HH Magnum BRNO ZKK - 602s are gems , in my opinion. Also , custom guns built on ZKK -602 actions. Except .505 Gibbs . The Bolt head seems a little small for the .505 Gibbs Cartridge :)
Of course , you can still dislike the ZKK -602 . Part of what makes this world diverse and interesting is that we all have different opinions , none of which are necessarily wrong :)
 
I have never been one that praises beauty over function. There are well over a dozen 30-06(s) in my collection. The one I grab to hunt with is a Remington 742 with a Weaver tip off mount. Why, because on several occasions I have fired 10 cold barrel shots into under an inch at 100 yards. It came with an oversized left hand safety. Over 40 years later it is still there. My other two 375(s) are a push feed Mauser that puts 3 shots into less than an inch, and a brand new CRF Winchester Mod. 70 that needs to be shot. Which one of the three will become my favorite, will depend more on flawless functioning and the smallest group size rather than looks alone.
 
No, not yet. I'm still trying to figure out what scope to put on it. I'm also considering an RHR of some sort. There is a DG scope on the Mauser and a 3-9 Sworo. on the Winchester.
 

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Grz63 wrote on Doug Hamilton's profile.
Hello Doug,
I am Philippe from France and plan to go hunting Caprivi in 2026, Oct.
I have read on AH you had some time in Vic Falls after hunting. May I ask you with whom you have planned / organized the Chobe NP tour and the different visits. (with my GF we will have 4 days and 3 nights there)
Thank in advance, I will appreciate your response.
Merci
Philippe
Grz63 wrote on Moe324's profile.
Hello Moe324
I am Philippe from France and plan to go hunting Caprivi in 2026, Oct.
I have read on AH you had some time in Vic Falls after hunting. May I ask you with whom you have planned / organized the Chobe NP tour and the different visits. (with my GF we will have 4 days and 3 nights there)
Thank in advance, I will appreciate your response.
Merci
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