My CZ 505 came in today. All it all looks ok at first glance. The stock is very poorly inletted adn will need to be bedded ASAP.
All in all a good starting point. I'll bed, cross bolt, polish the feeding and rails, put on a 3 position safety and a new trigger.

I'll get some more details tomorrow but wanted to get this posted today.

The top gun is my 404 which I got a few weeks ago and the bottom one is the 505 Gibbs.







John

Pictures are too small. I'll try to correct that later. You can lint to Photobucket until then.
Sorry

Bear or bison with those thundersticks? If the picture gets bigger it might tell. Thanks.

John,
Congrats!!! Now you have something to do while you heal up!!
jeffe

very nice!

quote:

Originally posted by fritz454:
Pictures are too small. I'll try to correct that later. You can lint to Photobucket until then.
Sorry

Nice rifles. Thanks for the pictures. You just have to delete the "th_" in the URL for the full-sized ones. Of course, then they are really big.

Here are direct links to the large pictures:
Picture 1
Picture 2

Thanks guys,
Bison, RIP
I always have something to do but you're right this will be fun, Jeffe
Thanks for the tip Charles

John

Oh No- John's got another gun! Best of luck and let me know how it feeds.-Rob

quote:

Oh No- John's got another gun!

Yeah Rob you can talk.

RIP’s measurements are almost identical to my rifle. Only difference is the weight. Mine weighs in at 10 lbs even. I think a bit light but it won't be as bad as my 9lb 500A2.

Wood to metal fit is lousy. There is a dab of bedding compound at the lug and behind the tang. Not enough to help in any way. If I were to shoot this gun as is it would come apart in quick order. The wood is OK looks wise but is not very dense. In fact it actually feels like plastic.

While the 404 feeds great and is was quite smooth from the box that is not true of the 505. The bolt sticks in 3 places on the forward push and 2 when ejecting a shell. It is rough and feels like there are small rocks in the action. Rails look rough and unfinished. This one will take some time to get it to feed correctly. I'll also have to lap the bolt and action raceway to smooth out the tight spots.

All in all this is a disappointment after the 404. In truth it is about the worst functioning CZ I've ever handled. Nothing I can't sort out but more than should be on an $1850 dollar rifle.

By the weekend I should have a 3 position safety, new trigger, 990 recoil pad, rails and action slicked and feeding right, 2 cross bolts and it bedded. Only then will it be ready for the range.

I think 500grains said is best in RIP's post. CZ is having the customers do the testing of the rifles.

In the end I'll have a nice rifle but is will take more than I though.

John

I've owned 8 CZs over the years (5 ZKKs, 3 CZ550s). They've all been rough, poorly inletted, etc. but make nice rifles with a little extra handiwork. Yours have pretty stocks. I'd glass bed, add crossbolts, new pads, ebony tips, steel grip caps, add a little weight to butt & forearm, reshape and checker British express style.

I agree with fla3006. I think you could turn it into a very nice rifle with the right components and a little elbow grease.

Good luck.

John,
You summed it up well. We have pretty much the same situation with our two rifles in .404 and .505. The .505 is indeed rough as a corn cob, but fixable. The .404 was much better, probably partly due to its having a box that is proper width for the cartridge, and somebody at factory knocked off early when it came to smoothing up the actions on our .505's. Let me know if you have any inkling that the .505 is short chambered or too tight with good ammo, please. I am still waiting on brass.

Ron, I loaded up some 505 Bridgers in Bertram brass. I full length resized and although there is definitely a crush when the bolt is dropped it does fit. I do think you are right about running a reamer in another .001 or .0015.

I've got a reamer that is with a friend and will get it back. Once I do I'll send it to you so you can clean up your chamber if you need the same.

The Bridgers feed from the left side but not the right. Both sides are rough and need work. The 404 was a lot better than the 505 from the box. I think they rushed the first run of 505s. Originally I was thinking another 700 bucks to get it up to snuff now I think it will take a grand. Of course if you can do the work yourself I think it can all get done for 400 or 450.

Either way I'll have everything sorted out in a week except the chamber issue. I've got to call my buddy in FL to see how long he needs the reamer. By full length sizing it will certainly fire fine but I'll need to watch pressures with such a minimum chamber. Since I'm thinking of staying conservative with the pressures anyway it shouldn't be a problem.

John

John- What did they do to the 550 action to get it to fit the 505 Gibbs? My experience was this cartridge was extremely hard to get to feed reliably. You have to shape the rails just so or it's a pop over the rail problem. This is a dyechem swiss file project if ever there was one. Did they cut up into the locking lugs? I rememeber ED plummer telling me thay had problems getting the CZ to work with the 505.-Rob

fritz454, before you open the chamber I can tell you a lot of people have had problems chambering ammo loaded in Bertram 505 brass. A friend of mine had two different batches from Superior that would not function in his Champlin 505 and I can tell you for a fact that gun was made RIGHT. BTW, Superior made good on all of it.

I would try some Horneber first.

John,
i've got at least one, if not 5, hornber 505 brass around here.. want me to send them to you?

jeffe

Hi John,
Once you have your action polished get your bolt nitrided and it will be really slick.
Take care,
Dave