Cosmoline
March 21, 2004, 08:35 PM
Took my new CZ 550 Magnum in .375 H&H for a spin on the back side of the compound. There's three to five feet of snow on the ground, so movement is slow. But the rifle handles well in spite of its weight and I never had difficulty keeping it out of the white stuff. I wanted to test its short-range shooting prowess in early dawn conditions, since my primary wildlife concern this spring is dawn or dusk brown bear raids on the kennel.
The 550 shoulders well, though not quite as quickly as the lighter ZKK model it replaced. It aims naturally and the only qualm I have with its sights is that the front sight seems a bit fragile. The protector will pop off if it hits something hard enough, and the frong sight itself sits in a dovetail joint and can be removed a little too easily. I will fix these potential problems Alaska fashion, with some lock tite and duck tape.
Recoil with standard loads in winter clothes was quite mild. No worse than a Yugoslavian Mauser. Now, as with the Mauser, the CZ has to be held correctly at a wider angle away from the body than most American shooters . If you dip your head in as if to look through a scope, the butt of the stock will dig right into your shoulder bone and you'll feel the pain.
The stock is designed to go with the iron sights. It keeps your head low down and well back from the bolt. Fired from off the chest and shoulder muscles, the recoil is fine.
Impact was spectacuar with both 270 and 300 grain loads. Fired at a downward angle from 25 yards into a woodpile, it blew through the logs and tossed several large chunks clean into the air! Noise was also spectacular.
Extraction was excellent--some of the best I've ever experienced. The user controls exactly how far he wants the brass to go. You can ease out the cartridges or send them flying five feet. No jams, nor even a hint of a rumor of a jam. CZ is obviously still serious about making reliable dangerous game rifles.
In the next few weeks I'll take it out to Birchwood and give an accuracy report.
The only modifications I expect to make to this rifle are to shorten the stock about an inch and lighten the front end by taking wood off the front grip. I may also file the first sight down to 50 yards from 100. Otherwise it's just about perfect.
The 550 shoulders well, though not quite as quickly as the lighter ZKK model it replaced. It aims naturally and the only qualm I have with its sights is that the front sight seems a bit fragile. The protector will pop off if it hits something hard enough, and the frong sight itself sits in a dovetail joint and can be removed a little too easily. I will fix these potential problems Alaska fashion, with some lock tite and duck tape.
Recoil with standard loads in winter clothes was quite mild. No worse than a Yugoslavian Mauser. Now, as with the Mauser, the CZ has to be held correctly at a wider angle away from the body than most American shooters . If you dip your head in as if to look through a scope, the butt of the stock will dig right into your shoulder bone and you'll feel the pain.
The stock is designed to go with the iron sights. It keeps your head low down and well back from the bolt. Fired from off the chest and shoulder muscles, the recoil is fine.
Impact was spectacuar with both 270 and 300 grain loads. Fired at a downward angle from 25 yards into a woodpile, it blew through the logs and tossed several large chunks clean into the air! Noise was also spectacular.
Extraction was excellent--some of the best I've ever experienced. The user controls exactly how far he wants the brass to go. You can ease out the cartridges or send them flying five feet. No jams, nor even a hint of a rumor of a jam. CZ is obviously still serious about making reliable dangerous game rifles.
In the next few weeks I'll take it out to Birchwood and give an accuracy report.
The only modifications I expect to make to this rifle are to shorten the stock about an inch and lighten the front end by taking wood off the front grip. I may also file the first sight down to 50 yards from 100. Otherwise it's just about perfect.