Hey guys....I currently own a CZ 550 Safari Magnum in .375 H&H. (It is the "European style" with the hogback stock). I really do not have the need for this rifle, since I already have a Winchester M70 in .375...but there is no way I'm selling it because I have always wanted one of the "hogback" CZ rifles.

I am considering having the CZ re-chambered/re-barreled to .416 (either Rigby or Remington). I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to gunsmithing, and would therefore probably not do much of the work myself.

Basically what I'm looking for is information on how to go about it....as well as approximate pricing. I'm not looking to get fancy at all, just re-chambering to a larger caliber and functioning properly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

(FYI....this is what got me to thinking about it: http://forums.accuratereloadin...2711043/m/9201005981)

Also, would I really be saving money....or would it be better to just look for another rifle in .416?

Wade,

You can rebore or rebarrel. Reboring is slightly less expensive and may take longer due to long lead times at the few shops that perform the service.

Reboring costs about $300; rebarreling with a high-quality barrel (Shilen, Lilja, Pac-Nor, Douglas, Lothar Walther) costs about $500.

In my opinion, reboring is preferable only if you want to retain the factory sights or if your barrel has an integral rib.

Rebarreling allows you to select quality, material, length, contour and sights.

George
P.S. May I also suggest the .470 Mbogo, which is based on the .416 Rigby case and was invented by a fellow AR member?

No interest in going even a bit larger? 458 Lott or 470 Capstick? Or wildcat a .435 diam.
bullet into .375 H&H brass (.425 Westley Richards diameter bullet, an old classic). The .416
is so close to the .375 I don't see why you want it, unless you have 30 cal, 338 cal, 375 cal,
458 cal, 50 cal and .550 cal already. Not trying to be critical, just asking.

give Wayne at call (AHR Rifles) and get a takeoff barrel for less than a new barrel blank. It already has sights and is threaded.

There is a 416 CZ barre lfor sell in the classified for $110. you are not going to beat that deal. the contour should be the same so it is just a matter of fitting into your stock and putting it in the stock and double checking the bedding.

Shane

Ohier
one of us

posted 29 May 2013 03:35
I bought this with visions of Taylor in my eyes. The truth is that I am not equipped with the proper bank balance for this activity. My rifling pic is poor, however the rifling looks great, I don't think this one has been fired. $110 TYD. Check or MO please I don't do paypal.

Many thanks,

Tim

Thanks, pm me Sir!

The thing with changing it to a cartridge like the Rigby is that you will have to open up the 375 H&H bolt face and possibly have the rails and feeding adjusted. It would be easier to trade someone for a 416 Rigby in the CZ who is looking for a 375 H&H.

I think the better option would be to have the rifle rebored out to 416 Rem Mag. Since the 416 Rem is basically a 375 H&H case with a 416 bullet in it, the conversion just requires the 416 barrel, no changing of the rails or bolt face. The CZ barrel has enough meat on it that it should balance quite well when rebored and you will already have the intregal rear sight and the option to reuse the existing front sight (or swap it, add a barrel band sling swivel, and whatever additional embellishing you may wish at the time). Other advantage of the 416 Rem is it holds 5+1.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
give Wayne at call (AHR Rifles) and get a takeoff barrel for less than a new barrel blank. It already has sights and is threaded.

+1 Rich is right. Call Wayne. He'll fix you right up. You have a true magnum length action so I would go with the Rigby.

I would prefer the .416 Rigby over the .416 Remington, but I am mostly going for the lowest possible cost if I am going to modify my current rifle (as opposed to buying something else).

I'm not sure if I'd be up to the task of making the necessary modifications to go to the Rigby. Sevens, how exactly do you "open up the bolt face" on the .375 to work with the Rigby?

I don't reckon anyone here has a CZ 550 take-off barrel in .416 Remington just laying around, that they would like to sell??

Thanks for the advice guys, and keep it coming. Your combined wisdom is being absorbed by a big-bore novice right now!!

Wade,
not for nothing.. get a 458 cz take off barrel, and do it in a 458 lott...

why?

CHEAP brass ... hornady magnum basic takes seconds to tirm... and you can fireform 375 hh to 458 lott

you can load it from 45LC to 458 whommperstomoper..

and

CHEAP bullets.. rem 405s for hogs.. and you can load them up to over 2500 fps for a water jug blaster

rigby brass is a touch more spendy... 4x touchs

quote:

Sevens, how exactly do you "open up the bolt face" on the .375 to work with the Rigby?

You'll have to have a gunsmith do it. You need to make more space on the part of the bolt where the bolt grabs the case head.

Getting a 416 Rem CZ take-off barrel wont be easy as the Rem caliber is not readily available for the CZ.

Jeffe has a good suggestion on the 458 Lott as a take off barrel as that will be easy to find and a 458 is "cheap" to shoot. Again though, would probably be easier to trade someone your 375 for a 458 (or the 416) otherwise you'll have to pay to get the barrels swapped.

As others have suggested, Wayne at AHR would be a great resource to discuss your options with. CZ's are his bread and butter.

converting to 416 rigby does require modification to the bolt and possibly the feed rails. a 458 lott would be a straight barrel switch and 416 remington even though finding a barrel in that caliber would be difficult. you could do 375 weatherby with just a barrel switch also

I've decided not to do the rebarrel....too much hassle and money for what I'm trying to accomplish.

Here is the goal for me....

I actually have little or no need for anything bigger than the .375 right now. The only reason I was contemplating the re-barrel was because I don't really NEED two .375's and I want something bigger to learn how to comfortably shoot heavy recoiling rifles. This is all in anticipation of the double I hope to buy in a few years. I would like to buy a cheap (yet reliable) .416 or .458 in the meantime to help myself get used to heavier recoil before I step up to a .470 NE or .500 NE.

Does anyone have suggestions for a cheap .416 or .458 CRF bolt gun that doesn't require any special treatment or "tweaking" to shoot? Perhaps a Winchester M70 in .458 Winchester would be a good choice?

Also, the wildcats are simply not an option for me. I do not reload, and I'm not going to reload. Therefore .416 Rem, .416 Rigby, .458 Win, and .458 Lott are my only logical choices.

Many thanks gentlemen.

Keep your eyes out for a used 458 Win Mag on something like a M70, M98, Ruger M77, or sako action. The 458 Win will generate all the recoil you need to train and is by far the cheapest to shoot of the over .400 calibers.

Save the big CZ action and build your dream elephant gun on it one day.

The cheapest you could probably get into a big bore is around $800. Look for an interarms mark x 458 win mag or 416 ruger rifle used. sometimes you can find a good deal on ruger #1 in big bore calibers. If your lucky, you'll come around a used m70 or CZ for under $1000. If you find something in the 458 lott, you will be close to the recoil of your final calibers your working up to.

Your main goal is to get proficient with recoil so I would not worry so much about the gun as long as it's safe and fires.

Cabelas in Lehi, Utah has a ruger bolt action 458 win mag in their gun library for $900. If you have a cabelas close to you they can contact the other store to send that gun to your store to purchase. The hazelwood, Missouri Cabelas has a ruger#1 458 win mag for $850

Also you may be able to find some of those interarm bolt rifles on gunbroker or gunsamerica

Cheapest way would be to rebore to 416 Rem. The 416 is relatively flat shooting to 300mts. I have one in 416Rigby. I can load this down so it is gentle to shoot or load it up to near 416 Weatherby. You could go the Rigby route and build your tolerances up that way.

The 458 route will give you cheaper brass and projectiles but with th egrowing demand for 416 the range of projectiles and brass will inprove and the price should come down a bit.

Or you can sell your CZ in 375 since you already have another 375 and buy a new M70 in 416 Rem or 458 Win or a new CZ in 416 Rigby or 458 Lott.

Just read your post and I had a similar situation. I bought a custom Pre 64 Model 70 375 H and H but didn't want to get rid of my Ruger 77 RSM in 375 H and H. It had been on a lot of memorable hunts but was rather heavy. I sent the gun to Randy Selby a gunsmith in WY. He re rifled and re chambered the existing barrel to 458 Lott. Since the Lott is a blown out 375 case, no other major gunsmith work was required. I would imagine that the CZ has enough metal on the barrel to do the same work. Cost was around $500. Just took it to Nuanetsi Zim and shot a nice buff. After damaging the scope on my medium rifle I used the Lott as a go to gun for plains game. It is much lighter with the bigger hole in the barrel. Very accurate and a great shooter. I posted the hunt under African Hunts. Good luck with your project.

If you're not going to reload, then you do not need the 416Rigby, because that great, wonderful cartridge only comes into its own when reloaded. It sounds like the 458 Lott is your natural choice. But you should probably considering buying a 458 Lott CZ new.

Find a push feed M 70 458. They are cheap, have a comfortable stock and, contrary to what you might hear, they work just fine. "Gunmakers' art" , well no, but functional.

Thanks for the input guys....but I actually picked up a Ruger No. 1 in .458 Lott from a fellow AR member: http://forums.accuratereloadin...4711043/m/7321005091

I will save the CZ action for a rainy day...when I have a hankering for a 505 Gibbs

Great rifle BUT it will kick the snot out of you with full house loads. It is about 2 pounds lighter than a "normal" Lott. Get a Limbsaver pad installed. Start with handloads at Marlin 45-70 levels and work your way up.

You never mentioned what you were going to hunt that a 375 H&H would not handle. After all with proper bullets the old 9.3x62 has no doubt killed more of the "big 5" than any other cartridge. Even John Taylor said it was fine for everything except following up a wounded Elephant.
With today's "super bullets" the 375 H&H is a very capable cartridge.

Agree with your "hankering" for a 505 Gibbs. For about 5 grand you can buy a "custom shop" CZ that will knock your socks off. (Recoil and looks)

Good luck with the Lott, it's a fine cartridge.

quote:

Originally posted by whitetailrun:
Great rifle BUT it will kick the snot out of you with full house loads. It is about 2 pounds lighter than a "normal" Lott. Get a Limbsaver pad installed. Start with handloads at Marlin 45-70 levels and work your way up.

You never mentioned what you were going to hunt that a 375 H&H would not handle. After all with proper bullets the old 9.3x62 has no doubt killed more of the "big 5" than any other cartridge. Even John Taylor said it was fine for everything except following up a wounded Elephant.
With today's "super bullets" the 375 H&H is a very capable cartridge.

Agree with your "hankering" for a 505 Gibbs. For about 5 grand you can buy a "custom shop" CZ that will knock your socks off. (Recoil and looks)

Good luck with the Lott, it's a fine cartridge.

The rifle I bought already had approx. 1 lb of lead added to the butt, as well as a Limbsaver pad. It comes in right at 10.25 lbs.

I've already shot it with full house loads (500 gr. DGX factory ammo @ 2300 fps) and I didn't find it all that harsh. I've never been super sensitive when it comes to recoil....but I bought the gun mostly to learn how to properly manage heavy recoil.

I have plans to buy a double in either .470 NE or .500 NE at some point, and wanted to get a jump start on the "recoil training" with a cheaper alternative.