An Unusual Magnum Mauser - CZ 550 Sonoran 7mm mag

[Llama Bob]

Recently I bought a NIB CZ 550 Sonoran in 7mm magnum. This is a model that they discontinued when they got rid of the 550s in non-dangerous game calibers in favor of the cost-reduced push feed 557. The Sonoran is a high end model pillar and skim bedded in a Manners carbon fiber hunting stock with the entire gun including the bore ferritic nitrocarburized - basically the same finish as on a Glock slide. Probably due to cost, the Sonorans didn't sell well. But when Wholesale Hunter put them on sale for about $400 below dealer cost, I figured it was a reasonable gamble as a do-everything bad weather gun. My other hunting rifles rifles are wood and blued steel, so having a single weatherproof gun in a middle caliber seemed worthwhile.

I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet and will update this thread when I do, but so far here are my thoughts:

• The manners stock is an A+ stock - super rigid, and very shootable. The precision rifle influence is noticeable. CZs bedding job feels good although I didn't pull it out of the stock.
• The whole gun is a little front heavy with a 26" barrel and lots of weight taken out of the stock. The overall weight however is quite reasonable
• The nitrocarburized finish is great - black, indistructable, and weirdly slick when oiled. Supposedly it also radically increases barrel life.
• Overall CZ's metal work is good, but the action is only acceptably smooth, and any metalwork I don't like is now RC 72 thanks to the finish.
• I put a Leupold Vortex VX-5HD 3-15 on it. So far I like this scope - good glass, light, exposed elevation and side focus.
  
• The rings for the 550 are a little weird. They use a 19mm dovetail, with a single notch cut in it to take the recoil. I think it will be OK, but if not this whole experiment is doomed.
  
• The 550 3-position safety is nice - maybe nicer than the m70 safety on all my other hunting bolt rifles.
• The single set trigger seems pretty good - I'll have to try it at the range before I form too much of an opinion.

If you decide you're interested in these, you can get them in 7mm, .270, .30-06, .300WM, and 26 Nosler although the .30-06 is hard to find. The .270 and 7mm mag are deeply discounted at Wholesale Hunter.

On a vaguely related note, I took a look at the .26 Nosler, and I've never seen a cartridge that had such a poor match to the available powders. The extra capacity seems to only buy about 70 ft/s over my .264WM at the same pressure, and has the downside of never filling the case which tends to be bad for consistency. Decided I wanted no part of that caliber.

 

[Bushpilot]

Nice rifle... Every CZ rifle I've every owned or fired has proved to be a good one...

The rings for the 550 are a little weird. They use a 19mm dovetail, with a single notch cut in it to take the recoil. I think it will be OK, but if not this whole experiment is doomed.

Yeah, CZ rings are a little different and it's kind of a pain to have to use proprietary rings but they work.

 

[eastbank]

I think you will like the CZ- 550 and don,t worry about the scope rings they will hold. I used a CZ-550 in .375 H&H mag on several African hunts with no movement of the scope. I have two CZ-550,s, a 6.5x55 America and a 375 H&H American.

 

[redneck2]

Looks and sounds really nice, but at over $2,000 on sale, I’m gonna pass.

I’ve got two CZ’s and they ar3 both exceptional

 

[sawcut]

Nice looking rifle. Interestingly, that model CZ 550 is a nitride finished controlled round feed rifle. Like a modernized nitride Mauser 98, an extreme condition rifle if there ever was one.

Alas, I noticed on their website that the 550 models with CRF are largely discontinued, in favor a new Model 557 push feed design. I'm sure the 557 is an excellent and well made rifle, like other CZ's I've handled.

 

[Geno]

Nice! My birthday is coming up in May...just sayin’. It’d make a dandy gift.

Geno