FlorianGeyer
Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2013
- Messages
- 6
I recently bought a used CZ 527 American that had been re-chambered to .221 Remington Fireball. I paid $450. The salesman told me that the rifle had been re-chambered "probably from .222 or .223" by a local gunsmith who had a reputation for competence. My big mistake was not paying attention to the word "probably" in the above sentence. When I got home, I noticed that the original stamp on the action is ".22 Hornet" (said stamp being conveniently located under the crappy Simmons scope, where one is not apt to notice it).
I am now wondering if I have made a terrible mistake. Besides the chamber, the crucial difference between a CZ 527 chambered in .22 Hornet and those specifically made for .221 Remington Fireball is the rifling twist. According to CZ's website, their .22 Hornet rifling twist is 1:16. The .221 CZ 527 has a 1:12 twist. That seems like a substantial difference. So here's the question that I've been losing sleep over: can I expect this re-chambered rifle to be as accurate as a factory .221? Should I cut my losses and dump this gun, or should I keep working with it?
Preliminary results have not been encouraging. I made some loads, and fired about 100 rounds through the CZ. The performance at 50 yards was disappointing, to say the least. I was firing from a sandbag rest, and most groups were at least 1". There were two 5 shot groups that were 1/2 inch.
To be fair, I have to say that there may be three mitigating factors here. One is that I am not an experienced rifle shot; I've seldom sat at a bench with a rifle and tried for super-small groups. Second, the scope on it is not only cheap, but it was obviously poorly mounted--the gap between the top and bottom front rings is visibly crooked. Third, I could have put together 100 really bad loads. I was using 40 grain V-Max and some 36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades, using IMR 4227 powder.
The answer to the question "Is this a good gun?" depends on the purpose for which the gun is intended, so I feel I should say a little about that.
My purpose for buying this gun is to educate myself about handloading rifles for accuracy. The .221 has a reputation for being a very accurate round (much like the .222). Indeed, it's satisfyingly accurate in my Thompson Contender, for which I've been making handloads for a while. I would call myself a competent reloader (I've loaded for a variety of pistol calibers and for my AR over the last couple of decades), but I have never taken an interest in precision reloading for the rifle. Now that I'm retired, I have the time to do something like this.
For this purpose, I need a reasonably accurate rifle, so I set out to find a good used rifle in .22x (.221, .222, or .223). I realize that there are more inherently accurate rifle and caliber combinations than the CZ in .221 or .222 (e.g. a custom-built 6mm PPC bench rest rifle), but buying a bench rest gun would be a waste of money for me--my capabilities as both handloader and shooter are far below the potential accuracy of such an expensive gun. Hence my decision to go with a .22x caliber bolt action rifle. I figured that when or if I got to the point where I felt I could shoot better than the gun, I could always buy a better rifle.
Now I'm in a quandary. Should I keep working with the .221 or dump it? I could get a good scope and proper rings for the gun, and see if that helps. I could try some different bullet weights and powders (if only I could find some powder). But if the rifling twist for this gun is working against accuracy, then I will be wasting my time and (limited) money. What do the gurus advise?
I am now wondering if I have made a terrible mistake. Besides the chamber, the crucial difference between a CZ 527 chambered in .22 Hornet and those specifically made for .221 Remington Fireball is the rifling twist. According to CZ's website, their .22 Hornet rifling twist is 1:16. The .221 CZ 527 has a 1:12 twist. That seems like a substantial difference. So here's the question that I've been losing sleep over: can I expect this re-chambered rifle to be as accurate as a factory .221? Should I cut my losses and dump this gun, or should I keep working with it?
Preliminary results have not been encouraging. I made some loads, and fired about 100 rounds through the CZ. The performance at 50 yards was disappointing, to say the least. I was firing from a sandbag rest, and most groups were at least 1". There were two 5 shot groups that were 1/2 inch.
To be fair, I have to say that there may be three mitigating factors here. One is that I am not an experienced rifle shot; I've seldom sat at a bench with a rifle and tried for super-small groups. Second, the scope on it is not only cheap, but it was obviously poorly mounted--the gap between the top and bottom front rings is visibly crooked. Third, I could have put together 100 really bad loads. I was using 40 grain V-Max and some 36 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades, using IMR 4227 powder.
The answer to the question "Is this a good gun?" depends on the purpose for which the gun is intended, so I feel I should say a little about that.
My purpose for buying this gun is to educate myself about handloading rifles for accuracy. The .221 has a reputation for being a very accurate round (much like the .222). Indeed, it's satisfyingly accurate in my Thompson Contender, for which I've been making handloads for a while. I would call myself a competent reloader (I've loaded for a variety of pistol calibers and for my AR over the last couple of decades), but I have never taken an interest in precision reloading for the rifle. Now that I'm retired, I have the time to do something like this.
For this purpose, I need a reasonably accurate rifle, so I set out to find a good used rifle in .22x (.221, .222, or .223). I realize that there are more inherently accurate rifle and caliber combinations than the CZ in .221 or .222 (e.g. a custom-built 6mm PPC bench rest rifle), but buying a bench rest gun would be a waste of money for me--my capabilities as both handloader and shooter are far below the potential accuracy of such an expensive gun. Hence my decision to go with a .22x caliber bolt action rifle. I figured that when or if I got to the point where I felt I could shoot better than the gun, I could always buy a better rifle.
Now I'm in a quandary. Should I keep working with the .221 or dump it? I could get a good scope and proper rings for the gun, and see if that helps. I could try some different bullet weights and powders (if only I could find some powder). But if the rifling twist for this gun is working against accuracy, then I will be wasting my time and (limited) money. What do the gurus advise?
