Cz 550 Roulette

JPbowhunter

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G'day fellas,

Curious as I've read lots of varying opinions regarding cz 550s. As people who followed my build would know i ended up with a cz 550 after never originally having an interest in owning one. Must say i love it and it performs flawlessly.

I have seen that many people have issues with them as well, mainly feeding and the bolt. I only ask because I've seen a 9.3x62 in 550 that has tempted me but i just don't know whether it's worth it.

By the time i buy it, brass, dies and projectiles it'd be the price of a flight to Africa. If I'm to go in 2021 like i hope i need to be strict on spending. Having said that i don't want to miss an opportunity to get a good medium bore rifle. I currently have nothing bigger than an '06.

It would be bought sight unseen which also makes me nervous.

So people who have had experience, what's your thoughts?
 
Buy it, just give up eating for a couple weeks and you will save enough for the plane ticket!
I am a problem solver by nature!
Cheers,
Cody
 
JPbowhunter,

Of the multiple CZ 550 rifles I’ve owned, from 6.5x55, through .500 Jeffery, all but the .500 fed smooth and ejected empties flawlessly.

The .500 required a competent Gunsmith’s milling out a small bit of metal from the follower and a few minutes of careful hand filing on the rails.

Now it feeds like a pig, just like the others mentioned.

I would bet a large pizza that the 9.3x72 you are looking at will function perfectly with no work required.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.
 
Have two, a 7x64 and a 416 Rigby. Both are terrific, no problems. CZ’s I’m guessing is the most used rifle manufacturer among African PHs
 
My 2 favorite rifles are a CZ 550 and a Husqvarna 1640. It's hard for me to even pick up a Winchester, Ruger, etc. after handling either one of them. I've never experienced a single problem with my CZ, and my only regret is that I didn't buy a few more of them back in the late '90s when the local gun shop had them for less than $500.
 
I own the 550 Medium LUX in that caliber, and have nothing but good things to say about it. It shoots "softer" than I expected, compared to other calibers in that range. More of a 12 gauge "push" as opposed to the "kick" of the magnums. I get great accuracy with pretty much anything I feed it, having only shot factory ammo so far. No feeding issues, it was a little stiff at first, but watching T.V. and cycling the bolt smoothed it out. I used 286gr Norma Oryx in Namibia for plains game and had good results.
I have just started to investigate hand loading for the 9.3, and really think that this is a great option to get the most potential out of this round.
As to buying it sight unseen, I say go for it. It would have to be pretty beat up to be worn out. The CZ 550's are like the Toyota Hilux, or Honda 50cc mini bikes, they take a ton of abuse and just keep going.Even if it does not have pretty wood, that will not affect the performance.
 
my 550 in 6.5x55 has better wood than my 375H&H, but both are a joy to shoot.

DSCN0022 (2).JPG
 
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G'day fellas,

Curious as I've read lots of varying opinions regarding cz 550s. As people who followed my build would know i ended up with a cz 550 after never originally having an interest in owning one. Must say i love it and it performs flawlessly.

I have seen that many people have issues with them as well, mainly feeding and the bolt. I only ask because I've seen a 9.3x62 in 550 that has tempted me but i just don't know whether it's worth it.

By the time i buy it, brass, dies and projectiles it'd be the price of a flight to Africa. If I'm to go in 2021 like i hope i need to be strict on spending. Having said that i don't want to miss an opportunity to get a good medium bore rifle. I currently have nothing bigger than an '06.

It would be bought sight unseen which also makes me nervous.

So people who have had experience, what's your thoughts?

If chasing PG only, the -06 will get the job done including on Eland, though a little light at that end. I'm not discouraging you from buying this rifle, but if DG is possibly in the future, you may want to wait for a .375HH or bigger.
 
I have two. The one in .458 Lott that I paid $1000 for at a local gun shop feeds every round perfectly and is very accurate.
The one in .404 Jeffery that I ordered from the CZ Custom Shop and for which I paid nearly $5K is beautiful and very accurate but has problems feeding rounds from the left side of the magazine. It did a great job on a Zim buffalo but I would sell it today for a huge discount if someone wanted to buy it.
 
If chasing PG only, the -06 will get the job done including on Eland, though a little light at that end. I'm not discouraging you from buying this rifle, but if DG is possibly in the future, you may want to wait for a .375HH or bigger.
I can't ever see DG being in my affordability range so I'm not worried about that.
My '06 is my mountain wet weather rifle which is to me just a tool. I'm getting back into open sights hunting more and more so the idea of a nice 9.3x62 for sambar, africa one day (main species is eland) and hopefully buff one day sounds good to me. My internal battle is do i really need it though, my 275 rigby and '06 covers 90% of the hunting i do.
 
I own the 550 Medium LUX in that caliber, and have nothing but good things to say about it. It shoots "softer" than I expected, compared to other calibers in that range. More of a 12 gauge "push" as opposed to the "kick" of the magnums. I get great accuracy with pretty much anything I feed it, having only shot factory ammo so far. No feeding issues, it was a little stiff at first, but watching T.V. and cycling the bolt smoothed it out. I used 286gr Norma Oryx in Namibia for plains game and had good results.
I have just started to investigate hand loading for the 9.3, and really think that this is a great option to get the most potential out of this round.
As to buying it sight unseen, I say go for it. It would have to be pretty beat up to be worn out. The CZ 550's are like the Toyota Hilux, or Honda 50cc mini bikes, they take a ton of abuse and just keep going.Even if it does not have pretty wood, that will not affect the performance.
This one is actually brand new, last of the 550's in Australia.

I'd definitely be handloading, i just prefer it. Was thinking the norma oryx would be the way to go. They work damn well in my 275 Rigby!
 
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Currently have a CZ550 375H&H and love it.
I did have it upgraded at AHR with a #2 package.
Love it so much I'm currently scouring the inter-web for a used 300WM CZ550 Ultimate Hunting Rifle.
If chasing PG only, the -06 will get the job done including on Eland, though a little light at that end. I'm not discouraging you from buying this rifle, but if DG is possibly in the future, you may want to wait for a .375HH or bigger.
This is not the kind of attitude I would expect from you Phil.
Just messing with you.

Seriously, get the 9.3 and if you need a DG rifle, you can sell the -06 for a 416 Rigby.
 
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