Anyone owns one of these? Looking for opinions and feedback on performance and overall quality. Do they cycle smoothly out of box or need any work done? Any comments on fit and finish?

Thanks.

I had 1 that was originally a 458 Win mag. But factory rechambered to 458 Lott.
Mine cycled great. Everything worked on it. It looked nice . I did a little stock work to get a better fit for myself.
For the money, they are hard to beat. You can always update them if you want. But mine worked great.

I have one.It wouldn't feed and the bore was oversized--it will not shoot monometals for beans and had an extremely short life.It kicks like a mule too probably because it has a short LOP and a very soft recoil pad.The grip is positioned in such a way to cause my thumb to bash me in the nose.The trigger has too much slack and the magazine is way too big for a 458WM.Those cartridges will be swimming round in the magazine both back and forth and up and down.

shootaway shows his idiocy again.
Ditto CTF.
I have owned three of them.
Load it long with the 500-grain Barnes TSX (3.780" COL) and it will beat the .458 Lott, no problems.
Use AA-2230.

Rip ...

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
shootaway shows his idiocy again.
Ditto CTF.
I have owned three of them.
Load it long with the 500-grain Barnes TSX (3.780" COL) and it will beat the .458 Lott, no problems.
Use AA-2230.

Rip ...

"Load it long"
The metal spacer Ralf Martini soldered in the rear of my magazine box is about half inch long.
I am sure CZ designed the magazine as a one size fits all to accept their 505 Gibbs offering.
I have read reports from some saying that they had no feed issues and others like my self who did have.It could be CZ built another version.Mine were major feeding issues and from the feedback I got from Ralf,they were not easy to fix and were not fixed to the point that they would feed all bullet shapes.
I have also had ignition issues with it.Some rounds did not go off and only dented the primer.I never had such an issue with any other rifle.Wolff does not make a replacement striker spring for it and if they did it would require a smith to replace it.I suspect alot of people made money off of the CZ 550.It was a rifle you had to buy three times over.It was nothing like my CZ rimfire-a perfect rifle.

CZ's 550 Safari rifles almost always need some work to smooth out the action or fix a feeding problem. Don't trust them "outta da box."

I bought one used cheap. Rechambered it to 458 Lott. Sent it to American Hunting rifles had barrel chopped to 22", 3 position safety, barrel band front fiber optic sight, barrel sling swivel, ditched the "humpback" stock for the CZ synthetic, bedded, new express leaves, kept the trigger may have been a mistake but I actually like the set trigger but easy to replace, guncoated it. I think some action work. Holds 5 down from factory. Not as slick as my winchester actions but with some work I'm sure it will be fine and is good enough. Putting a swarovsski 1-6 and alaska arms rings on it. Taking to Australia in August finally gonna use it for something. As it sits now a fine big bore INMHO

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
shootaway shows his idiocy again.
Ditto CTF.
I have owned three of them.
Load it long with the 500-grain Barnes TSX (3.780" COL) and it will beat the .458 Lott, no problems.
Use AA-2230.

Rip ...

"Load it long"
The metal spacer Ralf Martini soldered in the rear of my magazine box is about half inch long.
I am sure CZ designed the magazine as a one size fits all to accept their 505 Gibbs offering.
I have read reports from some saying that they had no feed issues and others like my self who did have.It could be CZ built another version.Mine were major feeding issues and from the feedback I got from Ralf,they were not easy to fix and were not fixed to the point that they would feed all bullet shapes.
I have also had ignition issues with it.Some rounds did not go off and only dented the primer.I never had such an issue with any other rifle.Wolff does not make a replacement striker spring for it and if they did it would require a smith to replace it.I suspect alot of people made money off of the CZ 550.It was a rifle you had to buy three times over.It was nothing like my CZ rimfire-a perfect rifle.

The 550 is one of the very easiest bolts to change a striker spring on. You know that little screwdriver that came with it to adjust the set trigger? It's not just a screwdriver.

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
shootaway shows his idiocy again.
Ditto CTF.
I have owned three of them.
Load it long with the 500-grain Barnes TSX (3.780" COL) and it will beat the .458 Lott, no problems.
Use AA-2230.

Rip ...

"Load it long"
The metal spacer Ralf Martini soldered in the rear of my magazine box is about half inch long.
I am sure CZ designed the magazine as a one size fits all to accept their 505 Gibbs offering.
I have read reports from some saying that they had no feed issues and others like my self who did have.It could be CZ built another version.Mine were major feeding issues and from the feedback I got from Ralf,they were not easy to fix and were not fixed to the point that they would feed all bullet shapes.
I have also had ignition issues with it.Some rounds did not go off and only dented the primer.I never had such an issue with any other rifle.Wolff does not make a replacement striker spring for it and if they did it would require a smith to replace it.I suspect alot of people made money off of the CZ 550.It was a rifle you had to buy three times over.It was nothing like my CZ rimfire-a perfect rifle.

The 550 is one of the very easiest bolts to change a striker spring on. You know that little screwdriver that came with it to adjust the set trigger? It's not just a screwdriver.

The CZ 550 magnum? Really?
There was no such screw driver that came with mine.If there was, along with instructions on how to use it then that would be another story.

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by Dogleg:

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
shootaway shows his idiocy again.
Ditto CTF.
I have owned three of them.
Load it long with the 500-grain Barnes TSX (3.780" COL) and it will beat the .458 Lott, no problems.
Use AA-2230.

Rip ...

"Load it long"
The metal spacer Ralf Martini soldered in the rear of my magazine box is about half inch long.
I am sure CZ designed the magazine as a one size fits all to accept their 505 Gibbs offering.
I have read reports from some saying that they had no feed issues and others like my self who did have.It could be CZ built another version.Mine were major feeding issues and from the feedback I got from Ralf,they were not easy to fix and were not fixed to the point that they would feed all bullet shapes.
I have also had ignition issues with it.Some rounds did not go off and only dented the primer.I never had such an issue with any other rifle.Wolff does not make a replacement striker spring for it and if they did it would require a smith to replace it.I suspect alot of people made money off of the CZ 550.It was a rifle you had to buy three times over.It was nothing like my CZ rimfire-a perfect rifle.

The 550 is one of the very easiest bolts to change a striker spring on. You know that little screwdriver that came with it to adjust the set trigger? It's not just a screwdriver.

The CZ 550 magnum? Really?
There was no such screw driver that came with mine.If there was, along with instructions on how to use it then that would be another story.

Obviously one of the factory rats forgot to put that tool in the box with the rifle you ended up with.

You got hosed, dude.

The only CZ 550 I ever had that I used much was a 9,3X62. The bolt cycle was pretty rough from the factory, so I had Kevin Wyatt of Wyatt Outdoor back home in Oregon smooth it up for me before I took it to Namibia in 2007.

great value - should be bedded prior to shooting, works great -- shootaway may be overly critical, though has unique experiences with these, compared to the rest of us.

when bedded, expect it to shoot better than you expect, when scoped, expect better than most mediums

bobbing the barrel to 23" doesn't hurt them a bit, btw

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
shootaway shows his idiocy again.
Ditto CTF.
I have owned three of them.
Load it long with the 500-grain Barnes TSX (3.780" COL) and it will beat the .458 Lott, no problems.
Use AA-2230.

Rip ...

I can't remember this guy RIP, registered in 2002, This isn't a Todd E, Judy incarnation is it? I am out of date as you can see.


To the OP, back in the day

1 x 458, worked fine out of the box
375H&h worked okay, had barrel shortened at one point and smith smoothed the action when he did it.
1 x 416 rigby fine out of the box. Eventually converted to a 585 Geh.
Another 416 rigby, needed work, was having problems feeding with a magazine full, fixed easily by a smith.
The biggest issue we heard of in the day were with the first 550's stocks breaking for the big kickers. I think they got on top of this many years ago.

Karl,

Todd E, Judy, Ass Clown ... No, not me.
Remember when Ass Clown, firearms authority extraordinaire, claimed to own only three guns?
A .50 Beowulf AR
a Daisy BB gun,
and a .30-30 Marlin?
The latter because he learned here at AR that flatnose bullets and low velocity was the way to go!

Rip ...

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Karl,

Todd E, Judy, Ass Clown ... No, not me.
Remember when Ass Clown, firearms authority extraordinaire, claimed to own only three guns?
A .50 Beowulf AR
a Daisy BB gun,
and a .30-30 Marlin?
The latter because he learned here at AR that flatnose bullets and low velocity was the way to go!

Rip ...

Ron sorry for the way that was worded. I was asking you if you knew whether the other guy was Todd E, not if you were Todd E yourself .

Geez I wouldn't even joke about calling you Todd E. I don't mess with anyone who shot 577 trex off a bench with Mitch Carter.

Update...there are bad mid 2000 458. Ask me how I found out. Barrel alignment issues. Looking to get this resolved now. Before hunt

I also have a CZ 458 Lott.Same issues.This one has been years at the gunsmiths.It now has a Krieger installed.It will be getting some other upgrades as well.

Wow I though I was going insane or got a bad scope till I called wayne at AHR. Unfortunately I spent the money on the upgrades before I found this out. Supposedly CZ custom shop can fix this. Waiting for a reply......I guess it can be an open sight gun Blah

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
Wow I though I was going insane or got a bad scope till I called wayne at AHR. Unfortunately I spent the money on the upgrades before I found this out. Supposedly CZ custom shop can fix this. Waiting for a reply......I guess it can be an open sight gun Blah

Wouldn't trust CZ's alleged 'Custom' Shop to fix squat. They might make it worse.

Just ship it to Wayne at AHR. He'll get it all fixed and slicked-up fer ya.

Wayne has no fix. He told me to send it there and they have been successful. Barring that a RMR or peep sigh or a scope with greater vertical travel

Thank you all very much. I can always count on you for first hand reliable information

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
Update...there are bad mid 2000 458. Ask me how I found out. Barrel alignment issues. Looking to get this resolved now. Before hunt

No news, been discussed here before.
I bought a couple of those CZ rifles in the "mid-2000s" year.
Returns to CZ, CZ shipped two of those to a local dealer as "gunsmith specials." They dumped them for $350 each, to me, for a .416 Rigby and a .458 Win.Mag.
I bought both, and they went to good use, re-barreled or further parted out.
Original barrel timed wrong/canted sights or other misalignment of bore.
Re-barreling was a good fix and $350 was a good price for an action, stock, and take-off barrel,
which could be set back/ rethreaded from CZ 550 Magnum to Pre-'64 M70, etc.
The major diameter of the M70 threads fit inside the minor diameter of the CZ, believe it or not.

Rip ...

Well I got mine used now I know why. We will see how it comes back. Not from CZ but triple river....

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
Well I got mine used now I know why. We will see how it comes back. Not from CZ but triple river....

Okay, good luck.

Post a follow-up report when you can.

I will. I listed this along with another rifle on an import permit so do or die it's going. The bridge peep sight will work last resort and will be very recoil resistant...

Megan at triple river said I should have it back in a week. Very curious as to the problem and the cure. But it's all hush hush

[QUOTE]Originally posted by eezridr:
Did a lot of work on mine and turned out pretty nice. It stated out as a 458WM but as noted the cartridges moved around in the magazine so I had it bored to a 458Lott.
Bedded it and changed to a single stage trigger. Added a Mod 70 type bolt shroud and 3 position safety. Slicked up the action and it feeds flawlessly. Installed a barrel band for the sling and an NECG banded front sight. Bobbed the barrel to 23". Installed a mercury tube in the stock with a Pachmeyer decelerator @ 14" LOP.
A ton of firepower with 5 down in the magazine.
It does kick but I have yet to mount a scope.
I have been planning to send it to AHR for years to install a more tailored stock, larger bolt handle and mauser bottom metal. Might even add a quarter rib.
So many projects......
I might add That I have a Browning Safari grade 458 WM that I would likely take hunting before the CZ simply for the fact it handles like a nice bird gun and no problem getting 2150 FPS with a 500 gr lead copper projectile.
It was ging to use a TSX the the CZ 458 Lott is a better option.
Swift A frames and Accurate 2230 are a match made in heaven for the Win Mag.