CZ 550 Feeding Problem and Pretty Pictures

[The_Next_Generation]

Hey everyone, this is going to be a two-part post.

Part I: The Feeding Problem...(happy ending)

So I've had this nice CZ550 American in .308Win for almost a year. It had a problem where the action would bind about .5" before the end of its travel towards the chamber. Picture below:



After reading some threads online, some people fixed the problem with a new extractor, others sent it to CZ, and one guy took a file to it and did it that way. Well, I emailed CZ customer support and Aaron kindly offered to send me a FedEx label so I could send the whole rifle in. The only problem was the turnaround time. 4-6 weeks is acceptable, but for a college kid with no alternate rifle (gotta kill the 'yotes somehow, right?) I didn't want to go so long without shooting.

So, I took matters into my own hands. I thought that worse-case, I'd booger the extractor up and I'd have to order a new one. In a nutshell, a portion of the extractor claw was really digging into the cases as they slide up the bolt face and under the claw. So bad, in fact, that the brass would become gouged. I took my time with a fine file and worked the problem area. It took about 15 repetitions of removing the extractor, filing, polishing filed area to mirror, and reinserting the bolt to check feeding before I finally fixed it (wanted to go slow - metal is easily removed and impossible to put back). Extraction is as-new, and the claw still grabs the cartridge with authority during feeding, the way a mauser-action should!

Part II: Action Smooting

The bolt movement is alright, but I would like to smooth it out. JUST KIDDING....I forgot to re-oil the bolt after having removed it for my feeding work...re-oiled everything and now its nice much better.


In closing, I hope this is helpful to other 550 owners, although now that they are being discontinued there won't be many more of us. Here's some pictures of my rifle afield, ain't she purdy?





And here is what its like to hunt in some areas of Eastern Washington (notice the lack of game):

 

[Andrew Leigh]

You are feeding from the magazine I assume?

 

[The_Next_Generation]

Yes, the binding only occurred while feeding from the magazine.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

The actions can be rough when supplied. I sit in front of the TV and just work the bolt over and over, after about 1000 cycles they tend to slick up nicely.

How does she shoot?

 

[The_Next_Generation]

Believe me, I've cycled this thing a lot just as you describe. The reason it didn't help my particular problem is because the edge of claw is not "worked over" during cycling unless a cartridge is being chambered. Even then, brass is much softer than the steel of the claw. I would have to chamber a lot of rounds before the claw would ever wear down, which is why I had to use a file.

The rifle shoots great (thanks to the set trigger, not my expert marksmanship ), I get .75" or less with decent ammo at 100 yards. I have yet to test Federal GMM 168 SMK on paper with this rifle, but hopefully I'll get the chance next weekend.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Apologies, the reference to slicking up the bolt was not with regards the extractor claw issue but a general statement as I have two CZ550's and both were rather rough.

I also found that on my 6.5 that the recoil lug was riding on the stock acting as a fulcrum. A little relieving of the wood in the stock fixed that. I also found that bedding both made noticeable improvements to the accuracy of both.

 

[The_Next_Generation]

Ah, I see now.

I've thought about bedding this rifle in an attempt to make it even more accurate, what process did you use?

I like the idea of a wood-stocked rifle that can hold its own with all the tacticool stuff on the firing line. My neighbor has a McMillian in 308, if I could somehow match his rifle (in his hands) that would be a hoot! (although I doubt that is in the realm of possibility, my action is not trued, nor is my barrel of the premium match variety, nor do I have a rock-solid composite stock )

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Did it myself.

Used an epoxy resin and coloured it with paint dye to get as close to the wood colour as possible. Bedded only the recoil lug and surrounds.

This pic from when I did my Sako.


This pic also from when I did my Sako.


My 6.5mm, the recoil lug area before trimming.


My 6.5mm, the tang before trimming.


I have no trimmed photo's. The trick is to inlet the stock a little with a Dremel type tool to give some place for the epoxy, to use a suitable release agent and to give the recoil lug clearance in the front, sides and bottom through the use of adhesive tape. The round of the barrel locates it from side to side, not relieving the sides and front of the recoil lug can cause problems.

Cheers

 

[EchoM70]

The 4-6 week turnaround time is just the standard time they give. When I sent my 527 in for feeding issues they told me the same thing, 4-6 weeks, I got it back in about a week.

 

[The_Next_Generation]

EchoM70, maybe that because I kept my rifle at home while you sent yours in I'll keep that in mind next time around though. What type of feeding problems were you having?

Leigh, could you provide a little more detail on how to use the tape on the recoil lug? Wouldn't it be better to use only release agent on the lug so that it fits as tightly as possible? Finally, does it matter what type of epoxy is used, or am I good to go as long as its water/heat resistant. If you did a writeup already on this feel free to link me to it

 

[Andrew Leigh]

I have never done a write-up but have promised to document my next bedding job.

The point of bedding is to ensure that the barrelled action remains in the same place shot after shot. So the way I see it is as follows;

The recoil lug is exactly that, to handle recoil which travels from front to rear. It is not a positioning lug so we will allow it to do it's job and bed the rear of it only so that under recoil there is no movement.

The tight fit of the recoil lug firstly makes it very difficult to remove the barrelled action from the bedded stock and secondly causes binding. We will use the rear of the barrel for positioning. The two spheres, the barrel and the bedding meet perfectly and provide a much larger support surface.

We do not want the bottom of the lug touching the stock as we need clearance so that we are sure that the barrel is riding on the bedding and not the recoil lug. Should the recoil lug be fractionally proud we will generate horrible harmonics and the bedding will be ineffective. If you are pillar bedding the lug will touch the pillar.

Most people do not bed the tang at the rear but I do, don't know if it makes a difference, certainly does no harm.

The other important thing is to ensure that the barrel is positioned down the centre of the barrel channel and that there is sufficient clearance between the barrel channel and the barrel. To centre the barrel we use tape and tape the barrel just before is exits the stock to the thickness required to hold it in the centre of the barrel channel.

I only open the barrel channel post bedding and on a .308 would allow 0.040" clearance given the rifle.

Do not use the action screws to pull the barrelled action into the epoxy. Use electrical tape over the scope and in the centre of the action screws. When wound tightly this allows the action to pull down and as it beds the tension allows it to maintain the position firm against the bedding.

There are many articles on the internet on epoxy bedding. As I am from S.A. we get different brands here, so to tell you which epoxy I use would be of no value.

Make sure you treat every surface with an appropriate release.

 

[DPris]

The 550 will still be available in FS & Magnum versions, so there'll still be people buying those for a while.

No problems with mine, but this may be useful to others.
Denis

 

[The_Next_Generation]

That's a good point, dpris. Hopefully the 557s are all CZ is cracking them up to be. Supposedly with the new technique of machining post-heat-treat the rifles may be more accurate than the 'ol 550.

Also, I've done some searching around and it seems that a lot of people like JB weld for bedding jobs Supposedly shoe polish or WD40 are both good release agents for JB.

Call me bubba, but I think JB weld and WD40 might be good for my rifle... :banghead:

 

[HankB]

Most people do not bed the tang at the rear but I do, don't know if it makes a difference, certainly does no harm.

I bed the bottom and sides of the tang, and relieve the back of the tang; don't want recoil forces concentrated at the tip of the tang. (Learned this from a maker of "heavy" rifles at the SCI convention.)

 

[The_Next_Generation]

Hank, what is considered the "back" of the tang? Is it the end that is farthest from the shooter?

Leigh, did you remove the trigger from the rifle to bed the action like people do with the Remington 7000 type rifles? Or did you cover it somehow? I'd be afraid to mess with my trigger, its so perfect the way it is!

 

[chris in va]

All but one CZ's I've bought needed tweaking to get them up to speed.

For example, my 527 carbine wouldnt feed the cases right until I discovered a burr on both mags that would hang up on the case head. I also discovered you can single feed the rifle despite it being a Mauser action, once the outside of the claw was deburred and polished. CZ explicitly states its possible so I was thrilled when I fixed it.

Now if I can get it to set off CCI primers reliably...

 

[The_Next_Generation]

Yep, that's another area I addressed while I had the polish out. The face of the extractor wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly like the backside of a baby. I polished it up a little and now single-feeding is awesome.

Hank/Leigh come back, you can't leave me hanging like that!

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Do we you any answers? I thought I was current with the thread? Ask away.

 

[The_Next_Generation]

I was wondering how/if you removed the trigger for the bedding job. The set trigger mechanism looks like a pain to take apart, plus mine is so perfect the way it is I'd hate to mess it up.

 

[HankB]

Hank, what is considered the "back" of the tang? Is it the end that is farthest from the shooter?

The "back" of the tang is the part furthest from the muzzle.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

I was wondering how/if you removed the trigger for the bedding job. The set trigger mechanism looks like a pain to take apart, plus mine is so perfect the way it is I'd hate to mess it up.

I did not remove anything from the barrelled action apart from the magazine floor plate the magazine box insert and the action screws.