EPILOGUE:



Thanks to everyone that helped guide me down this process, especially DagaRon and RIP. Here are a few "After It's All Done" thoughts. I may get some flak from the pros (perhaps well founded) but my main intent is to keep someone else from "finding out the hard way."



MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS:



** NEWBIE -- If you are new to this, then two heads are better than one if nothing else but to have a "sound board" to talk the whole thing thru. I had a friend who was as "in to it" as much as I was. We met at his home each Tuesday at 800pm reviewed all the literature, copies of this thread and advise we recieved, made our plans, did our work, and pondered what we had done. We didn't pursue things any further than what "felt right" that night (we were walking on egg shells), then we'd stop, go out on his front porch, drink a couple beers each, smoke a cigar and talk. In between Tuesdays, I'd post on this forum and get help on things we were uncertain about. Now we feel we could do the same job in a several hours. If you don't have experience all you can do is be REAL careful!



** SPRAY RESIST: We used Brownells spray resist and liked it a lot.



** CLEANERS: Read the instructions for resisting and bedding carefully and make sure you have the requisite cleaners. Note: The warning label read NASTY so plan ahead rubber gloves, outdoors, etc.



** THE BLOODY GLASS -- If you haven't worked with glass bedding before, then before you do the glass bedding job, mix up a little dab and get a feel for the setup time, this lets you know whether "we got lots of time" OR "we got to hurry". Also, since the Accuglass kit is only $18 it doesn't hurt to have a spare one (return it later) just in case you make a silly beginners mistake along the way.



** USE ENOUGH GLASS -- The wife says I live by the motto, "If a little is good, then more is better" This is TRUE for glassbedding just be ready to clean up the mess (overflow) --- you DON'T want to "break it open" and find out you didn't use enough to get the gel to migrate everywhere it was supposed to go. Eye it carefully and visualize if what you put in there is enough, then add somemore. Just be ready to clean up the mess and keep it off of your fingers.



** WATCH OUT FOR YOUR STOCK FINISH -- Speaking of mess. I personally recommend that you cover ALL the cosmetic surfaces that you care about with masking tape (forearm to recoil pad - anywhere you can lay a hand). When you put the barrel and action into the stock and the glass bed squeezes out some and the clock starts running you can get a little goosy -- if some gets on your fingers and then on your stock finish you almost have ignore it and keep after the main job -- once it's bedded (gooped) you HAVE to get it all together! By the time that is done, a light smear will have dried and will have marred your finish where ever it touched.



** STRAIGHT CROSSBOLT HOLES -- Use a drill press or an effective jig! Also, after you drill one crossbolt hole, go back and make sure that your stabilizing jig/drill press set up has not moved before you move on to drill the next crossbolt hole.



** BROWNELL'S CROSSBOLTS -- They are beefy, but they are also "thick" and they are stainless steel colored, thus leaving a bluing or heat treating job ahead. Atkinson metioned Talley crossbolts. I would investigate them before doing Brownells again. Time was running and I kind of put myself in Brownells hands and went for it.



** BROWNELL'S CROSSBOLT JIG -- The jig itself of no help to us on a CZ; however, the auxillary pieces, bits, spanner, etc. were worth the cost. Per Atkinson, who says he modified his jig, I can see where with some additional apparatus (something to "clamp" it onto the stock and a beefier center "depth" adjustment) it could be really good. We didn't use it though.



** DON'T LOCK IT UP -- Where ever you have machine screws (3) where the glass could get into it, use lots of vaseline. Use clay in the "slider nut channel" and make sure it is also well resisted.



** FORWARD BARREL LUG -- Fill the sliding nut channel, forward and aft of the sliding nut, with modelling clay or your barrel will be bonded permanently to your stock. While you can move the nut in the clay (a little) get it so it lines up with the hole in the stock perfectly. Then take a chisel or a punch and "peen" the rail front and back so it can't move on you, BEFORE you glass bed. Once the glass is spread and you HAVE to get it put together, you DO NOT want to be chasing your tail getting the machine screw to mate with the slider nut because it has moved to where it no longer lines up!



BE AWARE:



** FULL LENGTH GLASS BEDDING -- This is what we did, fore arm to tang. The more I talk to folks including Atkinson, the more I think I did more than was necessary and incurred some additional hassles and mental anguish for my trouble. Doing it over I would glass bed from (and including) the front of the magazine to just beyond the front "recoil lug"/F Block/Attachment screw area.



** EPOXYING THE "F" BLOCK -- We parted with convention on this one and it worked quite well (at least for us). (Remember the F Block will become entombed in the forearm glass bedding.) The key was, don't use epoxy glue that is "too good", as you want it to release fairly easy. "Poor" expoxy glue tends to be that which dries the quickest, and the "strongest" tends to take a bit longer. So when we were at the store we went for the "double barrel" syringe set up that was guaranteed to dry in 5 minutes.



** THE OOZE -- In the video (an option, so-so but okay) that came with Brownells Accuglass, the guy did a very sloppy fitting stock on a Mauser military Rifle. All his mess came out the top. The CZ, for an economical rifle, fits together rather tightly. The ooze did not come out the top where we expected, it came out the bottom through the machine bolt holes for the front and main recoil blocks. (The recoil lug/slider nut/trigger guard holes were filled with vaseline, we q-tipped out all the glass we could and then put in the vaseline dipped lug screws, what little bit of glass got up in there didn't have a chance to bond to anything.)



** WRIST CROSS BOLT -- If you decide to replace the CZ cross bolt in the wrist with a larger one to match your other two, then be aware when you enlarge the hole through the wrist it WILL erupt to where you can "just" see the cross bolt at the halfway thru point for about 3/8". CZ has that one VERY shallow under the surface (looking from above, on the inside with the action removed).



DON'T DO:



CAREFUL WITH SHARP OBJECTS -- We used the depth gauge on a caliper to measure on the inside of the stock where we wanted the cross bolt to go thru and then translated that to the outside of the stock where we MARKED it. DON'T use a ball point pen, use a dull pencil -- the wood isn't all that hard, you can leave marks in the wood.



MODELLING CLAY -- Some literature encourages using "play dough" to "dam off" areas where you don't want the glass bedding to migrate. We used a lot of it near the magazine box and near the action. The clay interfers (absorbs/rubs off) with the oily spray resist. It also interferred with our first attempt at putting the gun together after all the glass bed was spread (panic). Over all, I would not use clay again except for filling in small machining holes in the action and the front "sliding nut channel" near the front recoil "lug/F-Block". Doing it again, I would probably use the "dab it on with a brush" resist that comes with the Brownells Accuglass Gel kit for the magazine box and count on the Brownells spray (oily) resist to protect the action, chamber, ramp, and rails.

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Hopefully, being open about the potential challenges and "watch out fors" will not serve to discourage you from taking a shot at this. IT IS DOABLE!



Per my wife, I am NOT the handyman type at all. I like guns though and this project was rewarding. With what I know now, I can utilize the CZ line of DGR's very economically and "beef them up" while getting some entertainment value in the process with the result being a very servicable DGR. Compared to Rugers (very nice) I can have two CZ's for the same price (plus my time) -- I like that a lot.



Perhaps before prices go up, pick up one of the CZ's in 458WinMag (hopefully used), ream it to 458 Lott and do it again -- should be easy this time.



EKM

Just a observation: TAlley cross bolts are longer and have more adjustment than B-Square (Brownells)...Nothing has ever ticked me quit as bad as every thing in wet glass and the damn criss bolts were too short, that was a mess to clean out and have to start all over, maybe my fault for not trying them first but I assumed they knew what they were doing, wrong! Lots of stuff out there in production that was made before it was properly thought out..I have run into a few others lately...

EKM,

Thanks! I am RIP now. Just wondered if you got the elevation adjustment on the scope worked out? Could that have anything to do with your F-Block technique? Tightening the forearm screw too tight? Having epoxy between the barrel lug and the F-Block for preliminary bedding? Then knocking off the tiny bit of epoxy between, then tightening the forearm screw might torque the barrel down a bit.



With barrel lug and F-Block in contact and neutral pressure on the barrel, with remainder of bedding good, no binding or high spots, etc., gently snugging the forearm screw and checking frequently is best for accuracy of the CZ550 Magnum. No white knuckles on the forearm screw, eh?



JJP,

I think that if you are seeing barrel movement when you tighten the forearm screw, that's a bad thing. I have had best luck in full contact bedding from receiver to barrel screw area, then free floating forward to the tip of forend. Works for me.

I,m no gun guru ,but by coincidence ,Ive only just come home from a top quality gunmaker. The main thing I wanted to talk to him about was a custom stock for my 602 action. The conversation turned to cross bolts and I saw saw some examples. Some of these top makers can sure turn out works of art for those willing to pay. I sure learned a few things from what I saw. Nothing I can help with ,just chatting about what I was looking at today.

I almost hate to ask this, but I just ordered a CZ 550 .375 and thought it was a good rifle. But the more I read about them it seems like I should have spent more for a rifle that didn't need to be "rebuilt" just to make it serviceable. I am concerned, and need some assurance. While I realize that any rifle needs some sort of "tweaking" to make it capable as a DGR, I keep hearing horror stories about the CZ 550's in all calbers. Are they really as bad as it seems ????

1115,
Don't worry, be happy. The CZ 550 Magnum is a basically sound design. Be it Ruger, Winchester or CZ, out of the box they all needed a going over.

In a gentle caliber like the .375 H&H, you may not have to do anything to the bedding if it shoots decently. The older 550's did not have the crossbolt rearward of the tang. This has alleviated the splits behind the tang.

Any factory rifle deserves a good custom glass bedding. EKM has done a "bank vault" job on his.

The only thing I don't like about CZ's is that recently a "dinky C-clip and firing pin spring support nut" have replaced the more reliable "firing pin spring support nut and lock nut" on some of the rifles, not all.

I think the factory has realized the error of their ways and will not produce anymore of the abortions. If you get one with the abortion, get on to CZ USA and they will replace the entire firing pin assembly for free.

Here's the best CZ stock "reinforcement" money can buy: A McMillan replacement! (the one on top) The bottom rifle is a Ruger Safari in .375 H&H.

Nice stock! What did that "reinforcement" cost? Seriously, I'm curious to know -- always an option.

EKM

RIP,

Here I am reading all this for entertainment purposes only and you take a cheap shot at me.

I'm glad someone else pointed out the McMillan alternative. I was sorely tempted. The cheap CZ turns out to be expensive when adding in the cost of a new stock, but I so happy with McMillan's work.

I read on another post that if you saw that hogback stock up into 1/8"x1/8"x3" pieces, it makes excellent kindling.

$400 not counting the bedding...

Will,
It was just self defence, had to return fire from your many cheap shots.

Yes the McMillan is nice, my favorite synthetic. But honestly, I like the CZ walnut. However, it is not for the average elitist sycophant sissy.

RIP,

If I didn't know you to be self-dillusional, I would be laughing right now.

I am just too lazy to go to all that trouble. Easier to ship it off to McMillan. They don't need 74 cross-bolts or barrel lugs!

When I get my new Lott CZ 550 American, I'll sell you the stock and you'll have another project.

Will,
Wow! You would do that for me? It would be interesting to compare the shootability of the American style stock to the Lux. I'd sure take you up on it. In defense of CZ walnut, please don't turn that one into kindling.

Has anyone pillar bedded a CZ 500 Mag? Is it applicable to a CZ? If so whose pillar system was utilized.