And, I am rightly reminded to add (thank you Lon):
1) if in addition to doing one's own free 4-hour action-job;
2) if in addition to spending $300 to have a firing pin-blocking safety (i.e. in American vernacular a "3 position safety") installed, which is the only true
mandatory gunsmith work needed on a CZ 550 (yes, one can live with a forearm mounted front swivel, or one can also have one soldered on the barrel for another $100);
3)
AND - the part I previously forgot - if one replaces the standard wood paddle that (very) loosely fits the standard CZ 550, with a $272 Bell & Carlson Kevlar/Aramid stock with full aluminum bedding block and bedding pillars, available at
http://www.bellandcarlson.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=1099 (dirty little secret: B&C are the ones who make the $600 CZ "Aramid" stock. See
http://www.bellandcarlson.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=30 );
then, one essentially has all the
functions of a full custom job $8,000 rifle (except for the cosmetics), for about $1,900, because, truth be told, the CZ factory big bore cold hammer forged barrels tend to shoot very, very well, and the over-the-counter $130 Alaska Arms Quick Detach (and Talley, and Warnes) rings are as reliable as (more than?) any $1,500 German claw mount, since CZ had the good sense to machine grooves in their dual square bridge action. For example, my standard CZ 500 .416 Rigby with a low power variable Schmidt & Bender scope (the glass is where one wants to spend the money!) truly aggregates 3 shots at 100 yards/meters in a clover leaf, as I am sure most other big bore CZ barrels do.
Oh, and let us not forget another $9 or $26 for a taller front sight. My rifle, from the factory, shot about 6" high at 25 yards/meters, which is more or less the distance where a .416 iron sights should be shooting at point of aim.
Now, if one considers that the first 24 hour non-stop rain in a remote tented camp, in Africa or Alaska, will turn the best hand-rubbed oil-finished 4 star French walnut into an ash-grey swollen stick, and the most sumptuous rust blue job into just plain rust overnight, then the old CZ ZKK 602 parkerized finish, or the newer CZ 550 standard blue, and Kevlar, acquire a new appeal ;-)
All of that to say that true custom guns are a joy to own, I have a few from Dumoulin, Griffin & Howe, etc., but that a well understood and appropriately touched-up standard CZ 550 will get you a very, very long way in the hunting fields, if not in the gun library.
www.africahunting.com
