Which CZ 223?

[viking499]

Been looking at a CZ 223 for awhile. Thought I wanted a varmint, but not sure now. The light weight of the American is starting to look a little more appealing as a walking/carry rifle. I like the 1:9 twist, but am liking the lighter weight of the 1:12 twist.

Thinking 55 grains will be the common fodder of choice. So, which rifle would be better, American or Varmint?

Wish they made the American with a 1:9 twist.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

for hunters, a heavy varmint barrel really only provides an advantage when you're firing a lot and heating up the barrel (prairie dog hunting, for example). 1:12" will stabilize 55 gr. you will hate walking around with a varmint barrel.

i'd get the American.

 

[Screamin'Eagle]

With everything I've heard about teludyne, I'd be tempted to go with a rifle with a slim countour barrel and buy a straightjacket if you find you need the characteristics of a heavy barrel.

 

[stubbicatt]

Personally I'd get the FS model. I believe it is a 12 twist. It is just such a pretty rifle. They all shoot really good.

My experience may be unique, but I used to use a "Lux" model on prairie dogs with 4 loaded magazines, and only stop long enough to load 'em up again. The barrel got really hot, sort of a grey color, from time to time, but the heat did not seem to affect point of impact. 300 yard kills were relatively easy.

Based on my experience, and personal belief that heavy is bad if I have to carry it very far, I would get a rifle with a lighter barrel.

HTH.

 

[redneckrepairs]

I just picked up a 527 carbine myself and so far love it . Its a joy to carry around the place and i am not much on centerfire prairie dogs so i never worry about heating the bbl up . I wouldn't really worry about the 1/12 twist unless i was looking to go over 70grn for extreme long range work . Mine seems real happy with 55 grn , and does ok with the 62 grn green tips .

 

[viking499]

Last week, I was favoring the Varmint, this week, I am thinking American.

 

[targetshooter22]

This past week I was in exactly the same boat. After thinking long and hard, I went with the Varmint. It's something like 2 LBS heavier, but it's still under 8 LBS, which is the weight of my 550. Which is still less than many military rifles. So I went with the faster twist and will play around with heavier bullets and see where it lands in the end. Part of it for me was also price. For some inexplicable reason, the Varmint was about $50 less through my FFL.

The process was almost a crap shoot between those two and the Lux and the FS. They all look cool, and there weren't many bad things said about any of them.

 

[viking499]

I would like to be somewhere to find both in stock, or at least a 527 American and Varmint of similar calibers, and compare side by side. Maybe things will come back to reality sometime soon where that will happen. Hard to window shop when none of the windows have any inventory............

 

[greyling22]

I found that with my little pencil barrel 223 bolt gun that after the 4th shot the barrel is hot enough to make the 5th wander. And they keep wandering until I let the barrel cool back down.

 

[saenzrich]

Just curious, has anybody used wolf/brown bear 62gr hp ammo in those 1/12 barrels? How did it do?

 

[C0untZer0]

Lucky Gunner did a test on federal, Wolf, Brown Bear and Tula out of Busmasters:

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/