I think I saw someone on this list who has a contact at the CZ factory in the US. I have a lot of respect for what the CZ folk are doing for putting big calibres within reach of common prices. And I'm very happy with one on their 416Rigbys. All of this said leads me to a "request":

Would CZ consider producing a 338 Lapua in one of their standard 550 lines? Their action can handle it nicely. Brass is available from people like Hornady. Great bullets are available.
But hunting rifles in this calibre are very scarce and I haven't seen one under $1200 or
even close.

Anyway, it would be nice for those with connections to pass on this request to CZ.

They chamber a tactical rifle in it and I've seen literature indicating this chambering in both Ruger and CZ sporting rifles. Whether they followed through or not is beyond me. I suggest you call their custom shop.

Yes, CZ list it for their Custom shop at $3000. I've left an email question for them requesting them to consider the plain SafariMagnum model at $1179. This would be a chance to use what appears to be one of the greatest long range calibres ever developed. While similar to the 338/378 Weath and 338 RUM, the overall design of the 338 Lapua appears to be better balanced for slightly better inherent accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
While similar to the 338/378 Weath and 338 RUM, the overall design of the 338 Lapua appears to be better balanced for slightly better inherent accuracy.

But the 338 RUM has the plus of being a real conversion of a Rem 700 and that in turn provides lots of goodies like Jewell triggers.

Personally, I think the 338 Lapua carries the same baggage as the 338/378 but only gives 338 RUM case capacity.

And your REm 700 is without controlled round feed, should you wish that. Granted, the advantage of a super-magnum over the 338 WM is distance, which tends not to need the 'controlled round feed'. But sometimes these guns get used up close, too. And controlled round feed is commonly one of those 'desirables' among PHs.

quote:

Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
And your REm 700 is without controlled round feed, should you wish that. Granted, the advantage of a super-magnum over the 338 WM is distance, which tends not to need the 'controlled round feed'. But sometimes these guns get used up close, too. And controlled round feed is commonly one of those 'desirables' among PHs.

I would argue an inline feed PF will beat a CRF everyday for relaibility. You can add the HS Precison magazine to the Rem 700.

But the point is why would anyone worry about the 338 Lapua baggage to put it in a CZ. Any accuracy differences between a 338 Lapua and either a 338/378 or 338/416 would take a lot of rifles to establish. Sticking the 338 Lapua in the CZ is like using an M70 long action for the 308 when you can have the 30/06.

Actually, in a rifle like the CZ I would much rather have either a 375 RUM or 378 by than any of the big 338s

I guess I'm prejudiced because I like my 416 Rigby in CZ550.
And the 338Lapua is fat enough, fatter than a RUM, to justify the big, cozy safety of the 550.

But the Rem700 is a great rifle, too. I'm not sure how many of the PHs fail their test because of pushfeed problems. There was a great article on this here:
http://forums.accuratereloadin...=427106051#427106051
One section in particular should get our attention, though the whole article is a must read for someone hunting without a PH backup:

"I�ll start with my least favourite rifle:- the Weatherby. We don�t often see them out here, thank goodness. The one we had this year exhibited the usual Weatherby failing of going off when the safety catch was disengaged. Like all I�ve seen with this problem, they work fine on the range. It is only after they have been bounced, bumped or jolted whilst loaded and on safe that they do this. I�m sure the problem is correctable and not all do it, however, this one would also not extract at all after the eighth round. It showed decidedly sticky extraction after the first three shots and finally died on number eight. It gives me great pleasure than to dig out my 2lb hammer and beat the bolt of a new rifle open whilst giving the owner a lecture on the benefits of reloading. Weatherby factory ammo always gives extraction problems and needs to be down loaded for use in hot conditions. The .460 is notorious and this .416 proved no different.

"Remington 700. The 700 may be a very fine hunting rifle. I don�t know because I�ve never used one, but I do know that it is a piss poor dangerous game rifle especially in .416 Rem calibre. Apart from the odd inexplicable misfire, a broken extractor cost us an elephant wounded and lost at Rifa. This is not the first year that I�ve seen a broken extractor on a Remington 700 in .416 either. In addition they are just about the hardest rifle to refill the magazine in a hurry. My memories this year of students and candidates using them is that of youngsters frantically trying to thrust cartridges into the mag, only to have a double feed, the rounds pop straight back out or many other problems. A two round reload took on average, twice as long with the Model 700's as it did with just about any other make of rifle. The difference between the Remington and the Weatherby is that the latter can be downloaded a little so as to operate flawlessly and the safety fixed, whilst I do not know that anything can be done with the Remingtons except to re-barrel them to a plains game cartridge and leave them at home when out after the dangerous stuff. To be fair though, all of the extraction problems seem to be confined to rifles in .416 and .375. and they seem reasonably reliable in .458 provided you are prepared to tolerate the awkwardness of the reload. I am not. A good single shot or even a Weatherby is a better choice.

"Then we come to one that surprises me. Ruger. The early Ruger M77's with the non rotating claw extractors but still a push feed mechanism, in .458 Win could be relied upon to jam if the bolt was worked quickly. In the 1980's the National Parks culling teams found this out the hard way and the new Rugers were quickly disposed of or issued to stations where a heavy rifle was seldom required. The new MkII Ruger with a proper controlled feed seemed to be a vast improvement and were reputed to work a whole lot better and of course come at a top dollar price. I learned differently. All but one out of seven I�ve seen or handled this year (6 in .416 Rigby and one .458 Win) would not eject if the bolt was opened vigorously. Slow down just a fraction and they throw the empty case half way into the next province. For a client coming out to Africa this may be acceptable. Any really fast fancy shooting is going to be the PH�s."

I hope the rest of the article is less "make it up as he goes" than this:

quote:

Weatherby factory ammo always gives extraction problems and needs to be down loaded for use in hot conditions. The .460 is notorious and this .416 proved no different.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike McGuire:
I hope the rest of the article is less "make it up as he goes" than this:

quote:

Weatherby factory ammo always gives extraction problems and needs to be down loaded for use in hot conditions. The .460 is notorious and this .416 proved no different.

The article's author posts on this forum. Perhaps an interesting debate will follow.

Actually, I found the unreliability of factory rifles to be a very informative discussion. It made me recognize the greater demands put on them by heavier loadings and the functioning under duress that African hunting imposes.

quote:

Originally posted by Winchester 69:

Actually, I found the unreliability of factory rifles to be a very informative discussion. It made me recognize the greater demands put on them by heavier loadings and the functioning under duress that African hunting imposes.

If you want see duress on gear try shooting roos in mid summer while chasing them in a 4 wheel drive.