For anyone who owns one or has shot one extensively...

I am seriously considering buying one to go with a CZ 550 American in 9.3X62 for Africa 2007.

Can you please comment regarding your experience and:
Feeding, ejection, magazine, weight distribution, etc.

Is the upgraded wood on the Classic good wood?

What mod's or work have you had done or recommend?

Which gunsmiths can you recommend who work on and like the 550 action. (Considering Jim Brockman, AHR or Serengeti, etc.)

SCI, NRA Life Member

"God, guns and Gibsons...it doesn't get much better than that!"

If you contact RIP on the Big Bore forum of accuratereloading.com, he can probably comment as I believe he owns one of these.

Deleted.

Sorry Scott I miss read your post.

Greg

I had one of the first 404's they shipped last year.

It never left the gunshop. I sent it back for repairs to the inletting of the american made stock.

The bolt release would not function, the safety would not move freely, and the floor plate would not release - all because of the wood-metal fit being poorly done.

In addition, the bolt handle contacted the wood at the bottom of the channel and on the rear inside edge of the channel when in the fully closed position [you could hear it "clunk" when it hit the wood!].

Mostly though, the wood around the bottom metal was very poorly designed. The metal behind the trigger guard was flush to the wood, while at the front end of the floor plate it was inset 1/8-1/4". [you can see this poor fit on other CZ strings here on AR.see these photos from a RIP Post

And, yes most of this could be fixed by a firm application of a dremel tool, and CZ did make attempts to do so. They were unable to do anything about the bottom metal fit however. They very graciously offered to give my money back, which I accepted.

I looked at their show samples at the SHOT Show last week and they are all exactly the same bottom metal fit and bolt handle misfit.

The "upgrade wood" is spotty at best. Mine was a nice color but very plain, those at the show were of nicer figure but the .404 was, again, very plain [not as pretty as a stock M-70 of recent days.]

Yes, some will say that all this could be fixed by re-working the stock, or replacing it with what ever, but this is a $2000 rifle! Come on! If it was the price of the rest of their rifles [under $900 these days] - OK. I would have thrown away the stock and gone on, but $2,000 - YIKES!

If Kimber can produce their degree of fit and finish for half this price, while working from Yonkers, NY, surely CZ and some good old boys from Missouri should be able to do better than this for the money.

I must reiterate that CZ was very agreeable to attempting to repair the rifle and then offering to refund the money. I certainly will not fault their customer service. I wish we could have worked it out as I wanted a .404, but I'll have one built or make do with my .458WinMag for now.

Les

I do not own the 404 but have purchased the 416 & 375 and my basic experience with fit,finish and how accurate the rifles are seem to be the exact opposite of Lhowell's. I am well pleased and the wood on both rifles is nice and dark with a good grain and satin finish.

Scruffy i have and used czs in 223,308,3006,375hyh two models,458,416rigby and i never experienced a trouble ,they are strog and reiable and very accurate,i used my 308 as sniper rifle while in the army shooting thousands of shots torough it ,then it was used by hundreds of clients and its like new buy the cz you will not be dissapointed here all the guides use mausers or czs .Juan

I have a 9.3X62 american. 375 H&H (Brockman stock), and 270 prestige american. I also shoot my son's 416 Rigby(Brockman's working rifle) and all are accurate and function flawlessly.I would consider them by and large to be the best buy out there today for the money. I would recommend Jim Brockman as well. He has done excellent work for me in the past and is a considerate man and more than willing to discuss work/issues with you.

Greg: No problem. Thanks for sharing your expertise on these forums. You're a good man.
Scott

quote:

Originally posted by ScottW:
Greg: No problem. Thanks for sharing your expertise on these forums. You're a good man.
Scott

I own 5 cz's a .22 Hornet, 9.3x62, .375 H&H, .458 Lott (was a win mag) and a .416 Rigby. I am very fond of the cz rifles and I think they represent good value.

Would like to see a all weather cz safari magnum in the future. It may have some bugs that need ironing out but over all you will have a tough reliable gun.

Forgot to add just ensure you get it bedded maybe a cross bolt added and have a smith check it over.

quote:

Would like to see a all weather cz safari magnum in the future. It may have some bugs that need ironing out but over all you will have a tough reliable gun.

We are starting to build a limited run of our "Bad Boy" rifles with comml Mauser actions, stainless bbls, and Hogue Overmolded Al bedded stocks in 375H&H, 416 Taylor, and 458 Win Mag. Price is just under $1000 with NECG express sights and black Z-kote finish.

PC, I can only agree with you I have been using my CZ#s in various calibers. My 416 Rigby is carried on a daily basis and I am yet to experience difficulty. Russ would you be so kind and send me some more detials on your "Bad Boy" project.

Kind regards
Dries
Mavela Safaris

Russ I to would like to hear more about your guns................although being in Oz they would be a difficult proposition.

Watch our website, we'll have them listed as complete rifles or kits (already headspaced, you just screw them together and do the barrel channel fitting and put sights on, if you want sights (they are drilled and tapped). The idea is to build something that is drop dead reliable (comml Mauser, hinged floorplate), that you don't have to baby (no AAA walnut), that's quiet, will stand up to weather (stainless bbl) and completely matte black (no barrel flash). The completed rifles have NECG fiberoptic express sights, banded front, and Timney Super Deluxe side-safety triggers. The Hogue overmolded stocks are just great...rubber over a fiberglass skeleton with a full length machined Aluminum bedding insert. They absorb recoil well as they are straight back and have a good pad. And they are SILENT in brush. We will offer 375 and 416 Taylor ammo with the gun (458 necked to 375 or 416) but these ctgs are a cinch to reload if you have the equipment. We can do a 375H&H or a 458 Lott as well, but that's a little more money due to the action work (and frankly the 375 Taylor is a better ctg than the H&H). Brass will be headstamped 458 or 338, if anyone knows where we can get Tayolor headstamped brass let us know, we'll use it. We did a prototype, it's sold, but we have pics if you want them email us.

RUss,
Is your website down? Can't get onto it.

Gents: With all due respect, I'm not sure what the last 5 posts have to do with my original question. I was not hoping to have it turn into an advertisement for a custom gun in unrelated calibers for Pete's sake! I see nothing about my original question in the second to the last post.

Russ

That bad boy sounds like a hell of a deal. Are these the MkX/CD/Rem798 actions?