CZ 550 Safari in .375 H & H

Marshall T Farr

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Hello AH Community,

I am looking at purchasing a CZ 550 in .375...i have read on other forums though that many people have had issues with them and have had to take them to gunsmiths before they are serviceable (glassbedding, feeding issues, etc...). On the other i have spoken to and read other's accounts where they have said that the rifles work really well and there are no issues? I would love to here the opinions of this forum as i really like this rifle and would like to get my hands on one (they are also in my price range currently). Just want to make sure that if do buy one, i won't get stuck spending more money "fixing" the suppossed issues?
 
Hello,

I was looking at these as well. This site has is a veritable encyclopedia on the subject. If you put CZ in the search bar and click "search titles" box you will get a list of everything CZ! I ended up getting a Remington 798 (Zastava action) because it was easy and cheap (good combo in most situations) but it needed work too. Good luck with the purchase.
 
most CZ's need work out of the box. you can either send them back under warranty which "sometimes" fixes the issue or you can pay another gunsmith to fix it. after they've been fixed CZ's are nice rifles but they do usually require work.

if you dont want to have to deal with getting any work done to a rifle then check out the Winchester M70 Safari Express.

-matt
 
CZs are great Rifles most need the Bolt slicked up some but Iv'e hunted SA with both a 308 and a 375HH they both go bang real well, I'm having a 404 Jeffery built on a CZ550 action, Winchesters are also very nice and if you could find a Remington Mod 798 or a Whitworth/Zastava at a good price I wouldn't hesitate to grab one
 
Haven't had any issues with my CZ 550 in .375 H&H out of the box. Also used a CZ 550 in .416 Rigby and .375 in RSA with no issues over the last couple years. You will just have to try one out and see for yourself;);)
 
Welcome to the forum!

most CZ's need work out of the box. you can either send them back under warranty which "sometimes" fixes the issue or you can pay another gunsmith to fix it. after they've been fixed CZ's are nice rifles but they do usually require work.

-matt

I mostly agree with Matt. I would caveat thought that the "sometimes" usually seems to be a big bore, like .505 Gibbs, feeding issue. I cant think of ever hearing about a .375 not being fixed.

The action can be rough, but it does break in. I just spent a couple of nights in front of the TV working the bolt (if you are married choose a night the wife isn't home).

The CZ is a great rifle and economical to boot. It just isn't a rifle that you want to buy with plans to hunt DG with it the next weekend as it might need some tweaks.
 
I'm always surprised to read here of CZ issues. One reason I love CZs is because all of those that I ever had , my dad had , my friends had and anyone we talked to personally, were great, accurate and dependable rifles out of the box. The actions never need work and like any new Mauser style action, they get slicker the more you use them. Sure the current Heym seems a bit slicker out of the box, but the Rigby for example not so much. Very close to the CZ and at 6 x the price.

One exception I personally encountered, was a ZKK 600 in 7mm Mauser that had the firing pin a bit long from the factory (actually it was a piece of the steel not cleaned up after the pin was machined). Nobody noticed, including yours truly, until the first shot which punctured the primer. A bit of sanding with sand paper and it was as good as any of the others. I now have 4 CZ 550s and they are very nice.

Or maybe because I'm so biased, I just fix the little things and don't consider them issues.

On that note, I also had a brand new Sako Kodiak in 375 H&H and it would not eject full cartridges with the scope on. Even the empties would hit the scope most of the time and most that hit the scope would end up right back in the receiver causing jams. It would not feed Barnes solids (blunt nose) and the "control feed" was more push feed than control feed. So I ground the feeding ramp and polished it so even blunt nose bullet cartridges would feed and I probably could have modified the bolt stop to maybe eject case out more forcefully with even light pull but since the stock was so designed that I got my teeth rattled every time I fired this thing, I sold it anyway. Now I have a Whitworth Mark X in 375 H&H and it's dream compared to the Sako even not being as slick.

JMHO
 
Get a Winchester Model 70 and you won't have any problem.

my Win M70 Safari Express in 416 RM is easily my most used rifle and it came perfect strait from the factory. on the other hand ive never owned a CZ that didn't have to go back for work (2 pistols and 2 rifles). CZ guns aren't bad but their quality control is terrible.

on that note, forget the 375 H&H and get a 416 RM! Ive used my 416 RM for every thing from an impala ewe to a blue wildebeest bull. I use it here in the states for deer and bear. there is nothing I wouldn't shoot with a 416 RM, big or small. (that's a 416 RM cartridge on the warthogs nose in my avatar)

-matt
 
I must have received a Wednesday afternoon rifle.
I have had no issues with my CZ.
One day someone will have to educate me on what I am missing out on.
 
I must have received a Wednesday afternoon rifle.
I have had no issues with my CZ.
One day someone will have to educate me on what I am missing out on.
Wayne I think your missing out on not having a Monday morning or Friday anytime model!?

They are way more, um "interesting"..... :rolleyes:o_O

Welcome to the forum!



I mostly agree with Matt. I would caveat thought that the "sometimes" usually seems to be a big bore, like .505 Gibbs, feeding issue. I cant think of ever hearing about a .375 not being fixed.

The action can be rough, but it does break in. I just spent a couple of nights in front of the TV working the bolt (if you are married choose a night the wife isn't home).

The CZ is a great rifle and economical to boot. It just isn't a rifle that you want to buy with plans to hunt DG with it the next weekend as it might need some tweaks.

I would mostly agree with Matt, and also what Royal says here however there is a local gun shop/range near me that has a pair of CZ's in stock, a 30-06 and a 270 win.. So should be identical actions... One appears to be good, but the other,,,, push down the follower and it snags half way down the magazine. Just piss poor or non existent quality control. I pointed this out to the shop and thought they would pull it and send it back, but no... It was still there a month later waiting for some trusting soul to buy it and have to deal with it:confused::mad:

I have two, a 505 Gibbs and a 404 Jeff... Both are out of the custom shop, the 505 having been returned twice, both are finicky with nickle plated brass. They just don't get it quite right on those fat cartridges. I would agree anything based on the 375 H&H should be a lot likelier to not have the same issues.

And I agree if you want a factory 375 H&H that works well right out of the box at a great price, get a new model 70 Safari Express Winchester. I have taken more game with mine than any other center fire I have. Recoil is nil because it fits so well, it is accurate and smooth. I have a matching 416 rem mag that is a tad lighter so kicks a lot harder.. But love that as well.

Back to the CZ, if there is one in stock, play with it a lot and try to figure out if it has any issues before buying it.
 
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I have written on here before about my cz550 in 416Rigby being one of the less well finished rifles.

The bolt was very sticky, its a few years down the line and only after many hours of polishing and thousands of cycles has smoothed it out to where it should have been from the factory.
The trigger on mine was terrible. I could not get it to resemble a decent trigger until i deactivated the set trigger mechanism. Now it is more than adequate for hunting.
My follower would nick something on the way down, fixed that with some sanding.
The feed ramp would struggle with anything resembling a round nose or flat nose. Fixed that with a dremel!
The third round in the mag gets pushed forward when the second fired round is being ejected. I havent fixed this yet as i am not sure whether i want to do that much grinding to any of the surfaces!

i have seen and handled many since this one and there is a distinct difference from batch to batch(?), if you have the time and you can run a few through some tests to see which is a good one. If you find one that has no issues, tell the gunshop that you will take that specific one - write down the serial number if you have to- and if its a 416 instead of a 375, all the better! :sneaky:
If i had insisted on the one i tried in the shop, i would not have faced the problems i did. Lesson learnt!

If it is a 375 that you are only interested in, consider the Winchester... (y)

good luck
 
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The action was a bit stiff on my .375, but a little work at the range cleared it right up. I'm very happy with mine
 
Hmmm...I did not mean to stir up anything and admit I am extremely biased towards Mausers and CZs. If I could not have one of those I would have a CRF Winchester.

I will only add this...I think CZ has great designs and is more than capable of making world class guns but in the current rate race their QA must be slipping. Even the new models I do not like as much as previous ones...however I thought the worst fit and finish and QA was the late 80's with the system slipping away and workers not giving a damn. That was the ZKK models. With the CZ550 I saw the quality pick up again, I just was not too fond of some of the new features (I liked the older safety and bolt shroud better as well as the old sights). The new trigger seemed to be an improvement. So I'm just surprised to hear of so many apparent QA issues.

I will concede that I seem to overlook small issues due to my bias. The firing pin issue I mentioned above would not have been missed if they test fired the rifle at the factory as they are supposed to but they obviously did not do that. But that was a late 80's ZKK and I saw their test targets sometimes got punched with a hole punch rather than bullets.

Maybe since CZ-USA got off the ground they rush things in order to keep up with demand. The CZ guns here in Canada seem well finished. But then again, maybe I do not hear of all the issues. I'm also very nostalgic and keep thinking the CZ is the same as when they were making the 21H, 22F and ZG47 models (all very fine rifles) and clearly it is not.
 

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