New .17 HMR Heavy Fluted Barrel for my CZ 455

[Picher]

Received the new fluted barrel earlier than expected and it's a honey! Finish is better than the receiver...gorgeous! The old barrel is .22 Magnum, standard configuration and I've never been really happy with the accuracy, but got the rifle used, so put up with it.

Since I'd Red Locktited the original barrel to the receiver with High Strength Locktite, it took quite a bit of heat to get it out, then a bit of work to clean up the receiver recess. This time I decided to use blue Locktite, so it would be easier to take apart, should that ever be desired. If it doesn't shoot as hoped, maybe I'll use the heavy-duty stuff.

After installing it in my receiver, I drove to Walmart and got 4 boxes of CCI 17 grain ammo. Tomorrow, I'll give it a go on my home range. Price of the ammo was just under $10. seems good, compared with other prices I've seen.

Due to having to heat the receiver to get the old barrel out, I removed the front scope base, then re-installed it after setting the new barrel in. I'll post pictures of the first 100 yard groups tomorrow.

There was no choice of ammo, but after initial trials, am hoping to find some Hornady ammo, which has been found by others to be the most accurate. If the rifle groups 1 MOA, I'll be happy, but the CCI ammo may not make it. Hopefully, it will be fine to break in the barrel and get close to 1 MOA.

JP

 

[LoonWulf]

Looking forward to your report on this combo!

It's time I own a "good" Rimfire, and I think a 455 is going to be it. I've got an accurate but rough .22, so I'll probably go .17hmr on the next rifle.

 

[Jerseykris]

Sounds like you've got a great set up, can't wait to hear your results.

Hornady tends to have the best ammo in .17 hmr, I personally don't have the best luck with the CCI offerings. In .22, they're great, but my Marlin & Savage .17s just don't get that same level of accuracy out of them.

Outside of Hornady, I've had really great, consistent accuracy results with Federal Premium V-Shok 17-grain TNT HP, particularly with my Marlin.
I know your CZ is a different animal, but it might be worth a try if you come across some.

It's rarely on the shelves near me, but it's easy enough to find when I order online, pretty fairly priced. Luckily, the local shops near me carry a decent Hornady selection, so I only have to order online every so often.

 

[Picher]

I intend to get some Hornady ammo, after reading good things about them, but the barrel caught me off-guard, several days ahead of scheduled delivery date...can't be disappointed with that! As soon as things get brighter this morning, I'll head down back and see what she'll do.

The barrel slipped easily into the receiver, a bit looser than expected. I hope the medium-strength Loctite is enough to guarantee decent accuracy. If it doesn't shoot as I think it should, I'll take it apart and use some shim stock to tighten the joint, along with more Locktite...Medium strength. I want to be able to swap barrels, since there's a lot of WMR ammo in the shop that's calling to me.

 

[bamajoey]

Good luck with the .17. I bought the heavy barrel for my 455 Varmint and was very disappointed. I have better accuracy at 50 yds with .22 than I do the .17

 

[Picher]

I just got back from shooting down back. It was pretty windy with tricky gusts, but I managed to shoot a couple of groups. Nothing to brag about with the CCI ammo though. I'm hoping to get to the Club range when my truck gets back from the mechanic, hopefully later this week. It's having a valve job and the hold-up is caused by the machine shops being busy with racing engines this time of year.

The next thing I'm going to try is a target scope that has been quite good. The scope on the rifle was one that fell onto the concrete floor when my son's dog knocked over his rifle that was leaning against a counter. It was just before he walked out to go deer hunting with his '06 and caused him to miss a nice buck 6 times at under 100 yards. Turns out, the objective was bent downward toward the barrel. I let him take one of my scopes and I straightened the objective of his with a rubber hammer on with the scope on a padded surface.

Now I have to order some Hornady ammo that is supposed to be best.

JP

 

[Picher]

Looking forward to your report on this combo!

It's time I own a "good" Rimfire, and I think a 455 is going to be it. I've got an accurate but rough .22, so I'll probably go .17hmr on the next rifle.

If this one doesn't shoot better than 1 MOA, it might be available at reasonable cost. Going to the range today, so we'll see how well it will do under reasonably good conditions. It wasn't all that good yesterday.

 

[Picher]

It was nice shooting at the club range today almost no wind, sunlight, and a bit of mirage.

The rifle shot pretty well, but it's obvious that it doesn't like the CCI ammo I bought at WalMart. Shot a 2-inch, 10-shot group that was fairly round with several clustered near the center. At least it's not stringing them vertically, like it did with the .22 WMR barrel. The rifle's trigger doesn't help things, since it's a long pull that usually has a "soft" hitch at the beginning that isn't always there.

The other problem is that the bolt release is at the end of the trigger pull, so it can't have a nice stop unless I make a levered stop that can be swung out when removing the bolt. I don't know why they made such a lousy arrangement to remove a bolt.

I found some 17 grain Hornady ammo on-line and ordered 5 boxes. I hope they shoot better. Everything I read says Hornady makes the best ammo. We'll see if the rifle likes it. The source only had the 17 grain stuff, but I was hoping to find some that were 20.

(Hope you don't mind, but I don't like posting 2-minute groups. Hoping for something better with the Hornady ammo.) Practically speaking, a rifle that puts all its shots within 1" of center at 100 yards is really killer medicine on any larger varmints. When younger, I killed most of my small game with a .22LR rifle that didn't group 2" at 40 yards!!! Critters don't come with scoring rings.

 

[LoonWulf]

don't know why they made such a lousy arrangement to remove a bolt.

It's pretty standard on the bolt .22s I've used. Probably cost cutting.
I agree tho I wish they installed a real bolt release.

Errrr.....bolt rim fires

 

[saiga308]

.

There was no choice of ammo, but after initial trials, am hoping to find some Hornady ammo, which has been found by others to be the most accurate. If the rifle groups 1 MOA, I'll be happy, but the CCI ammo may not make it. Hopefully, it will be fine to break in the barrel and get close to 1 MOA.

JP

v

 

[Picher]

Shot the 455 again today, after removing/shimming the barrel. I first fired the CCI 17 grain ammo that was used previously and it shot very well, making a 3/4" group on the first target, then several 1" groups. Wind and mirage was getting worse as I shot and I didn't try to correct for it.

I'm VERY happy with the rifle now. It's shooting both CCI 17 grain and the new Hornady 17 grain ammo my wife got for me at LL Bean yesterday at 1 MOA or better. This is fantastic!!!




I think the lower left group is also 5 shots. The hole at 6' o'clock in the ring may be 2 shots.

 

[LoonWulf]

Looks good!
That's honestly about the best I got from my Savage. It was closer to a 1.5" gun.

 

[Picher]

Got to buy a .17 cleaning rod. The pull-thru I had isn't working for me anymore. Some day I'll share why.

 

[Picher]

Walked down to the blueberry field range with my CZ and the .17 barrel. I sat on my concrete bench waiting to see if I could call-in any critters with the varmint call, but no luck. There wasn't any wind until starting to go to the target frame and as soon as I tacked up the target it started to blow a bit. The first group, shot with the best-shooting ammo Hornady 17 grain, I made 4 shots before the wind started blowing from about 10 o'clock. I compensated for wind and apparently over-compensated, so that 5th shot was out of the beautiful 4 shot "group", but the rifle/ammo combination's accuracy is evident.

Next, I fired with the CCI ammo and got a 1.5" group, showing the wind effects without compensating. The new ammo, CCI A-17 that I bought at WalMart yesterday is the worst of the bunch, showing considerable vertical dispersion...disappointing, since I bought 200 rounds of that stuff. DUH!

Anyway, the stars of the show continues to be the Hornady ammo and the new barrel. I love the way it shoots, looks, and the way it gives the rifle just the right balance at the front action screw. It feels great holding it offhand!

Can't wait to get a critter with this rig, to compare killing power of the .17 to the .22 mag.
(Sorry about the target condition..had to roll it up to put it in the fanny pack.)

 

[22250Rem]

Thanks for the report.... I've been tempted to get another barrel for my CZ-455 that already has a heavy, fluted, 22LR barrel on it, not that I really need another barrel like that; but just because I can..... Just thought it would be a cool, multi-purpose, rimfire rig. Would that be a good enough excuse to justify it?

 

[Picher]

Thanks for the report.... I've been tempted to get another barrel for my CZ-455 that already has a heavy, fluted, 22LR barrel on it, not that I really need another barrel like that; but just because I can..... Just thought it would be a cool, multi-purpose, rimfire rig. Would that be a good enough excuse to justify it?

You really need to do it! The 17 HMR is the most fun I've had with a cartridge and I still haven't shot any critters with it. I just sighted it with 17 grain Hornady V-Max, for 3/4" high at 100 yards, and it's within an inch from 50 yards to almost 150, according to a chart I downloaded. It's perfect for small to medium varmints at decent range.

 

[Picher]

Polished up the trigger/sear surfaces and used some Dri-Slide moly on it, getting the pull down to 2.5 lbs and smooooth!

 

[627PCFan]

Your doing better than I am with groups. I have a Savage 17 and get 2 inch groups, years ago I got some .5 moa groups. Ive heard it before but my barrel takes almost 30 rounds to settle in after a cleaning. I'm jealous your already into it.

 

[Picher]

My neighbor got a new Savage .17 HMR and it pooched, so it was sent back to the factory by the dealer. The factory may have junked it, because she got a brand new one shipped to the dealer. She shot that one and it split cases at the shoulder, so brought it to me. We fired some of my new ammo in it and it didn't split cases, but it was obvious that the shoulder was blown out a lot. Excessive headspace! You'd think the factory would have made sure the new rifle worked well before shipping it to replace a defective rifle.

 

[Picher]

Your doing better than I am with groups. I have a Savage 17 and get 2 inch groups, years ago I got some .5 moa groups. Ive heard it before but my barrel takes almost 30 rounds to settle in after a cleaning. I'm jealous your already into it.

Unless you've shot out the barrel or fouled it, you may want to check stock screw torque, or do some epoxy bedding to improve accuracy.

 

[LoonWulf]

My neighbor got a new Savage .17 HMR and it pooched, so it was sent back to the factory by the dealer. The factory may have junked it, because she got a brand new one shipped to the dealer. She shot that one and it split cases at the shoulder, so brought it to me. We fired some of my new ammo in it and it didn't split cases, but it was obvious that the shoulder was blown out a lot. Excessive headspace! You'd think the factory would have made sure the new rifle worked well before shipping it to replace a defective rifle.

My .17 would split a case or two every box no mater what brand I used.

 

[Picher]

Did you do anything about it? Obviously a headspace/chamber issue.

 

[LoonWulf]

Did you do anything about it? Obviously a headspace/chamber issue.

No, it shot adequately, and since it didn't seem to affect function I just left it be.
It also didn't explode like my .17m2, 10/22 conversion was prone to, so splitting the necks on fired cases didn't seem too bad.

 

[Picher]

Splitting necks isn't that bad, but the neighbor's rifle is splitting shoulders...badly. That's just not right, could spit powder back into the action and may also affect accuracy, since bullets can enter the leade a bit crooked.

 

[LoonWulf]

Splitting necks isn't that bad, but the neighbor's rifle is splitting shoulders...badly. That's just not right, could spit powder back into the action and may also affect accuracy, since bullets can enter the leade a bit crooked.

Agreed.
Now and then it would split back down the shoulder, but for the most part I it was just neck splits.