I decided to do a search of Canadian gun shops for a new, or possibly used .416 Rigby (I got a set of new dies a couple of months ago for a good price, and figure I need a rifle to go with them).

Anyway, only 1 store lists both rifles. Ruger $1899 and the CZ $1049 (Cdn. dollars). WOW!! What a difference in price!!

Is the Ruger really worth $850 more?

It's a much nicer rifle to most eyes and more "British" in style. One spends a lot more than the difference spiffing up a CZ.

From a target's perspective there's little difference except I think the CZ holds one more down than the Ruger.

I paid $1110 for a new .416 Ruger about 1 year ago, the CZ's were about $700 then.(US $) The Ruger functions smoothly and looks like a dangerous game rifle, sights are good as well. I sighted it in with irons and a 1.75-6x Leupold, have shot 250 rounds through it, with no sight change, works great.

Did you check stock shape and fit? The CZ I bought (didn't want to spend the $$ on the Ruger) with the straight stock doesn't provide me with enough support, not even for the open sights. Resulting in rather unpleasant meetings of stock and cheekbone during firing.
Of course I'm a small individual with not a lot of excess weight to carry around, so that may be completely different for you.

I ended up with one of those hideous neoprene comb raisers for now.

Frans

I agree that the Ruger has more of the classic look...

BUT, there is no way it is worth the additional $$, unless you only want the looks...the CZ is a more robust rife and with the 1 extra down - a better DG rifle for sure!

Which begs the question....when are the American rifle companies going to get the message and start making great rifles once again.

JW

I shoud clarify my last remark: American "production" rifle makers.

JW

Fischer

The only way to go is get the Ruger. It has the complete package for the price. Try getting a Quarter-Rib with the sights put on a new rifle and you'll be shocked. They're finished much nicer than the latest CZ's. They don't need the price of the rifle to tweak it to the way you like it. I own a few RSM's and, in my case, ALL my rifles have great wood, 3-3 1/2# trigger pulls and ejected ALL my rounds with no problem. The only thing I did was to glass-bed them just for my own peace of mind.

Jeff,

Go with the Ruger. Yes it is worth the extra money. You are going to spend much more than the difference in making the CZ to be near as good as the Ruger(and that is not just looks either). The only tow things I did to my Ruger is to replace the "lawyer' trigger with a Timney Adjustable one and added a C&H Research mercury recoil reducer. Lawdog

I would agree with everything you guys say about the ruger - it looks great. The only thing that needs further investigating with the ruger is persistant reports from others that the ruger action can misfeed when the action is cycled very fast. Thats a worry but I am sure it could be sorted out by a gunsmith.

Well I am a cz fan and I have heard that the action lug set up is better on the cz and you get one more down.

The Ruger is better looking, IMO. Quarter rib, nice wood, classic stock.

Is it -- on average -- more accurate, reliable, shooter friendly, etc. than the CZ? I doubt it, even though I'm a dyed in the wool Ruger fan. They're both gonna need some attention to bring out their best.

So the question, IMO, should be "Are the looks of the Ruger worth the extra money?"

It was for me. YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by PC:
Well I am a cz [...]and you get one more down.

Well, I don't. Three down is all I get. I'm assuming the Ruger gets three down, right?

Frans

Fischer,

I have RSMs in 416 Rigby and 458 Lott, and CZs in 375 and 416 Rigby. I really like the Rugers. The wood is usually good to great, the quarter rib is nice, and the finish is better. Accuracy is good from the CZs, but better with my RSMs. I like the 3 pos safety of the RSM but the wing is a little small. The recoil "pad" on the Ruger is crap, where the CZ has a nice Pachmyr. Both require some smithing to bring them up to 100%. Handle both of them and pick whichever "feels" better to you. Spend the bucks for a _good_ smith to sort out whichever one you choose. The Ruger is a "classier" rifle IMO and well worth the price difference.

John

quote:

Handle both of them and pick whichever "feels" better to you. Spend the bucks for a _good_ smith to sort out whichever one you choose

Good advice from JKS and that goes for a Model 70 as well.

Dear Fischer,
The Ruger has a useless tiny safety that cannot be ficked off in a hurry.The ejector is crap too.(check out the many posts).
The CZ is a rough rifle and the safety is dangerous but easily enough replaced.
After all was said and done I bought the CZ and spent the $ to get it to work.

Get the Ruger. It's a bargain at the price. I love my RSM in 458 Lott. I have a Sako 75 Hunter in 375 H&H that I would love to trade for a Ruger RSM.
Best, Starcharvski.

quote:

The Ruger has a useless tiny safety that cannot be ficked off in a hurry.The ejector is crap too.

Yeah, I wish the Ruger's safety was bigger. I keep meaning to have it welded up and reshaped, but inertia... The reality is that when I expect contact, I move the safety to the middle position where it sticks out quite a bit and is perfectly easy to find.

As to the ejector, IMO that's another "I hate Ruger" bandwagon that is so common at AR. Of the dozen or so modern Ruger bolt rifles that have spent time with, not one failed to extract or eject flawlessly under all conditions.

I think the biggest problem with a Ruger heavy is one JKS alluded to: the butt area is too small and the pad is a joke. A Decelerator helps, but there just isn't any practical way of increasing the butt area. (Maybe my ex wife can pass along her method.)

Look at the Ruger this way..It has an tegral quarter rib, that option alone on a Custom rifle today would cost you about 3K......that feature alone should make up for the difference in a CZ and a Ruger quite neatly IMO.....not to mention a M-70 type safty, barrel band front sight....

integral, intregal, whatever!

quote:

Originally posted by MLG:The only thing that needs further investigating with the ruger is persistant reports from others that the ruger action can misfeed when the action is cycled very fast. Thats a worry but I am sure it could be sorted out by a gunsmith.

Don't worry about rumors because that is all they are. I own a number of Ruger M77's, both the older tang safety model and the newer MK II, and have never had a problem with "misfeeding". Lawdog

Any factory gun can faill to feed, they all need tweeking, especially the CZs...

My Ruger 416 needed a little tweaking. Had a bad habit of hanging up at just as the bolt face entered the breech area. 130bucks to Mark Penrod fixed that. It now feeds like glass and it took me no time to pump five rounds (with a reload) into a buff about 3 weeks ago. Mine is also one of the older models and it's way too heavy. That's the only complaint I have. jorge

I have a Ruger RSM 77 in .375. I have put the rifle through its paces. I had ejector problems during the first 100 rounds only if the bolt was worked very aggressively. Once in a while, every 20 rounds or so, I would get a misfeed. The pad is aweful. I've put over 150 rounds through it and now no more ejector problems. Ruger agreed to fix this and the feed problem. I will put a leather pad on. The quality of the rifle is outstanding the trigger at 3.5 pounds and the wood is very nice. Buy the Ruger, just shoot it in before you make a final assessment.

Maineguide

I bought a new Ruger 458 Lott about 6 months ago and paid 1195.00. The factory price is not what they sell for unless you don't care.
I like it much better than the CZ I had last year. IMO it is worth the price differance of the CZ. CHEERS.

quote:

Originally posted by Fischer:
I decided to do a search of Canadian gun shops for a new, or possibly used .416 Rigby (I got a set of new dies a couple of months ago for a good price, and figure I need a rifle to go with them).

Anyway, only 1 store lists both rifles. Ruger $1899 and the CZ $1049 (Cdn. dollars). WOW!! What a difference in price!!

Is the Ruger really worth $850 more?

I got some .416 dies too! It seems to me that the dies were a lot cheaper than the brass!!