All of the modifications are done and I took it to the range today. It has an old 1.5 X 5 VariX III in Talley detachable mounts. The Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 400 grain softnose gave a 3 shot group 1 1/4" exactly 2 1/2" inches high. Avg.velocity was 2,325 fps Without any sight chenage a hand load of 96 Grs. IMR 4831 with 400 grain Nosler Partitions printed 1 1/2 inches high and gave a 3 shot group of 7/8". Avg. velocity was 2,392 fps. Recoil was surprizingly managable. Sissy bags helped here

I think I'll just leave it at that.

Rich Elliott

Rich, As the saying goes, "That dog will hunt!"
May I recommend Bayer!

I'm working up to a similar load (Nosler). 93 grs gave me about 2300 fps. I'll push it some more. Surprisingly I've decided on the same scope, might as well follow your lead with the mounts as well. Got side tracked by purchasing an interesting Lee Enfield, maybe I should arrange for a hunt to put some pressure on this matter.

Maybe it's time to retire that .375h&h?

Rich:

I happy for you, buddy. You never really know what you have until you pull the trigger, yourself.

BTW, how did the factory supplied target look. With the last few CZ's that I've had, the target was always a little bit bigger than I could get with reloads... say, if the factory target was 1.5" (as with my 9.3x62 FS), I could squeeze it down about a third with a developed load. I've never found a CZ factory target to be too "optimistic".

Here is a picture of my latest CZ. It's a .458 Lott. It shoots irons, right to point of aim, about a 2.5" group at 100 yards with old Barnes 450 grain solids at 2350 fps. I've never shot it at 200 yards, but with the 200 yard sight flipped up, it prints about 4" high at 100 yards. I put the scope on another rifle since I never plan to shoot at anything further than 50 yards, anway.

Maybe someday we can get them together in Africa?

Judge G,

Nice stick of wood.

Hog Killer

quote:

---

Nice stick of wood.

---

JudgeG - is that a custom stock or a redone factory stock?

It's a factory stock. The blank was probably worth more than the rifle, but was just sitting in the CZ warehouse, all ready to sand down, re-checker and re-finish... and to add cross bolts, etc.

With a minimum amount of work.. not that mine doesn't have lots of cosmetic work... I believe that a CZ Safari Magnum is the way to go on a moderate priced customization. I've got two "duded" up, and find little fault in them. They hold 5 to 7 rounds, are quite accurate and after a little fiddling, are very reliable feeding, etc.

Rich's .416 won't stay in the gun cabinet but will be used for real in Africa, and it's his choice. That should say something.

Gotta love a CZ. I even get sentimental over the hogbacks.

Sentimental? That's a mild word to describe your relationship with hogbacks.

dart

The factory target was 1&1/8". This with the iron sights. That's a hell of a lot better than I can do with irons. With Federal sledge hammer solids I'm shooting about 2" high at 50 yards. The TBBC 's are just a bit lower. I'm looking into getting a higher front sight (thus lowering the POI). The current front sight is a #.6. It would help to have a front sight a bit bigger too. So I could see it!

Rich Elliott

Yes cz's are definitely the way to go

quote:

---

Originally posted by lawndart:
Sentimental? That's a mild word to describe your relationship with hogbacks.

dart

---

Jawohl! Oink-oink! Love those Hogback CZ's! Fit me to a Tee. I am the same size as Elvis minus 40 pounds from his final weight. Trying to stay away from those fried-in-butter banana-PB-mayo sandwiches. I think Elvis would have loved the Hogback, and he was King. There. Is that exaggerated enough for you?