CZ550 ejection issue

[mr50bmg]

Hello all,

Recently, I bought a CZ 550 Classic Magnum in .416 Rigby. Although I've yet to fire it, what I observe is that, upon loading three rounds into the magazine and attempting to cycle the action, the extracted round is not getting ejected. Rather, when the bolt goes fully rearwards, the extracted round gets cocked nose-upward at an upward angle, jamming between the top of the receiver and the upcoming round.

Pulling the bolt back very forcefully sometimes works, but, obviously, I need it to work all the time.

This happens with the first two rounds; the last one always gets ejected succesfully.

Has anyone experienced this? Will it get better over time by cycling the action over and over (I seem to recall someone saying the CZ's get better over time)?

My brass also gets scratched, too, but that's a minor issue right now.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

 

[sestoppelman]

Using live ammo with bullets may be the problem, the 416 is pretty long. You need to shoot the gun and see how empty cases eject. The CZ is a fine rifle, I have two; one in 9.3x62 and a 404 Jeffery. Overall length of the ammo could be an issue. Are you using a handload or factory ammo to test with? Some guys with these rifles note that when cycling an empty rifle that the bolt sort of hitches up at the beginning of the stroke, and mine do as well but not when cycling rounds. If nothing else CZ has very good customer service and will help you out. Hope this helps. Scott

 

[kingcorona]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Your problem brought back a memory of reading an article on ejection problems with some old time calibers in a bolt action rifle.....I remember had todo with the beefy rim getting hung up on the next round in the magazine.....if I remember right...and this was a while ago...try to front load in the magazine the first round then put the next back of that one....since it's a Rigby doubt if you can load more than 3 in the mag......this will allow for a longer throw distance for the ejector to do it's job....just a thought.....there is a tendency to back load the first one then the rest stack up in front....OK with most calibers but not with some.....

 

[LR4]

Just came back from Zimbabwe and had the same problem with a .416 Rigby Dakota. Ended up using a 375 CK instead for buff. Took 4shots including one double lung and one heart. Used a 470 spinal shot finally.

 

[LR4]

CZ not CK

 

[sestoppelman]

mr50bmg,
What did you finally figure out on this? I still suspect that it was a matter of using loaded rounds instead of (firing) loaded rounds and ejecting empties as its supposed to do. The floorplate is the proper way to empty live rounds.

 

[colorado]

I made sure my CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery feeds and extracts dummy rounds flawlessly over and over before I ever took it on a non DG hunt. It took some work on the feed ramp by Wayne at AHR and Kevin Weaver machined my magazine follower a bit. Your rifle should feed and eject full loaded rounds flawlessly or you need it worked on. It should work when you cycle the bolt slowly or rapidly as well.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Using live ammo with bullets may be the problem, the 416 is pretty long. You need to shoot the gun and see how empty cases eject. The CZ is a fine rifle, I have two; one in 9.3x62 and a 404 Jeffery. Overall length of the ammo could be an issue. Are you using a handload or factory ammo to test with? Some guys with these rifles note that when cycling an empty rifle that the bolt sort of hitches up at the beginning of the stroke, and mine do as well but not when cycling rounds. If nothing else CZ has very good customer service and will help you out. Hope this helps. Scott

Great point! Maybe the weight and length of a cartridge like the Rigby compromises the ability of the extractor and spring to fully capture/hold and eject a loaded cartridge with the tension of the additional cartridges in the magazine pushing up against the first cartridge causing the loaded cartridge rim to disengage from the extractor? Like you’ve pointed out, spent cases are shorter and lighter than loaded cartridges and shouldn’t be a problem for the extractor. I’ve only owned CRF rifles for a couple of years now and with the exception of positive extraction, I’m still weighing their benefits vs. push feed in non DG hunting situations.

 

[colorado]

Your rifle should be able to load and eject cartridges, not just eject fired cases. If it doesn't do that it needs to be worked on. Sorry for the bad news. It's probably a very minor tweak. Wayne at AHR, or Harlan at Triple River Gunsmiths should be able to fix that with very little work. Hopefully you have a local gunsmith that can do it.

 

[njc110381]

Mine did that at first. I think it must have been burrs in the action because after a good amount of cycling the bolt whilst watching TV and running dummy rounds through it, the problem fixed itself.

 

[krish]

Great point! Maybe the weight and length of a cartridge like the Rigby compromises the ability of the extractor and spring to fully capture/hold and eject a loaded cartridge with the tension of the additional cartridges in the magazine pushing up against the first cartridge causing the loaded cartridge rim to disengage from the extractor? Like you’ve pointed out, spent cases are shorter and lighter than loaded cartridges and shouldn’t be a problem for the extractor. I’ve only owned CRF rifles for a couple of years now and with the exception of positive extraction, I’m still weighing their benefits vs. push feed in non DG hunting situations.

Same problem I am having. Replaced the bottom metal spring and trigger guard. Now it ejects the loaded round when cycled hard all the way back. Since I had extra actions. The springs came in today.
Krish

 

[sestoppelman]

That of course is a feature of CRF rifles, they often require vigorous bolt travel to kick a round out, even an empty.