I have been having similar problems with my new CZ as discussed in Landrum's thread below ( I got my 375 back from CZ and all is not well. ) .

The brass was being scratched lengthwise when feeding (to include the belt). I've tried polishing the feed lips with some 400grit as well as a scotch pad which seems to have helped a bit.

The bigger problem is that the case is being scraped severely when entering the chamber (right at the 6 o'clock position)...


After feeding 3-5 rounds, there is a little pile of brass shavings at the bottom of the groove where the belt would seat. When I first noticed this, I had already fired ~50 rounds and there was a definite layer of brass pounded flat along the bottom of the entire chamber. It did clean up easily.

I tried polishing the edges of the chamber mouth as recommended by Robgunbuilder in Landrum's thread, but it hasn't helped... I'm being as aggressive as I feel comfortable, which probably isn't too aggressive, but I'm no gunsmith.

As I was just slowly feeding rounds to see what I could see, I noticed that the rounds would not fully seat under the extractor until the very last 3/4" of bolt travel... and this is my (long-winded) question...

Once a round pops free from the magazine feed lips, should it slide completely under the extractor? or is it normal for the round to push hard against the chamber mouth to force it the last bit onto the bolt face?

In my gun, once a round pops free from the magazine, the case head is only about 2/3rds of the way onto the bolt face...

until the case mashes against the bottom of the chamber mouth and the bullet pushes against the top of the chamber and you give the bolt a little extra oomph to close...

Is this why the brass is getting whittled on the bottom surface by the chamber opening? If so, is there an easy fix short of sending to CZ (for months and maybe not getting fixed) or to AHR (for $$$)?

Thanks
Mike

Looks to me like your extractor is the problem - it seems to be too tight - and needs to be better fitted.

MR...I agree with the extractor, but looks like maybe the rails need a touch of work too if the case is being scraped that much. Could be something at the mouth of the chamber, but I would think that would be seen/felt easily.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Looks like another Monday morning/Friday afternoon job at the extractor claw-shaping station in Czechoslovakia.

Get a CZ that works properly (if you can find one) and look at the shape of the extractor.

I have successfully reshaped several of the many I owned, using jeweler's files and Dremel tools (grinding and polishing spuds).

Finish up with a polish of every surface the brass might touch: boltface, extractor, magazine feed rails ("lips"), feed ramp, breech entrance lower segment, even the insides of the magazine box.

If the brass is not seating in the boltface by that much when it hits the chamber opening, then even a properly beveled and polished lower (6 O'clock) chamber entrance might still scrape brass.

If you have just been wobbling the dowel and 400 grit around the chamber entrance, do more, with a more intense shaping and polishing tool: Cautious use of a Dremel tool in the lower 60 degrees of the breech/chamber entrance ... or send it back to CZ USA.

Send it back. I see no reason a 1000$ rifle should have these type of problems. If this is par for the course with CZ, then they need to drop the price of their guns since they're rough from the factory.

I really hate to say something, but I have been busting for several months to do so. However, trying my best to be a nice guy I have refrained from doing so. I hear on this forum CZ CZ CZ until it drives me crazy. I have but two experiences with CZ and both were POS. I am sure there might be some good ones, they are big and cheap so you can build on them if you wanted, and other attributes I am sure they must have.

The two I have seen were both 458 Lott--neither rifle would feed nor retain cartridges in the magazine. Basically a single shot. One chap I had here on the compound to assist on a hunt to Zim a couple of years ago could not get his to work. He went with it anyway, buffalo hunt, single shot. All went well but I would not have done so.

Mike I am sorry you are having an issue, but not surprised at all. I'm with milehigh, send the thing back. Get it working and get rid of it.

Really trying not to be ugly, and must understand that I have extreme prejudices. So if anyone offended, well sorry, but too bad.

Can anyone spell W I N C H E S T E R?

Michael

step 1, remove the extractor and see if it works better.. if it does, thats about a 20 dollar part from cz
step 2, find a GOOD smith to bevel the edge of the chamber

Thanks to all for the input, but after another range session last night this thing is going back to the factory. I'm not comfortable/qualified to be shaping the extractor or whittling on the chamber.

Plus, in addition to the raping of the brass, I am out of vertical adjustment on my scope and it is still shooting 4-6" below POA at 50yds. I've tried two sets of rings (Warne Med QD's) and 2 scopes (Burris FF2 2-7x35 and Weaver Grand Slam 3-9x40) with the same results.

Just got off the phone with "Scott" at CZ who seemed genuinely concerned and was very accommodating. So rather than me screw it up worse, I'll bite the bullet and wait the 4-6 weeks for them to fix it/screw it up worse/tell me there's nothing wrong/give me a new rifle/etc etc etc. After that, we'll see...

Mike

Good choice. I had the exact same issue with mine, only to start off with, Mine wouldn't feed at all unless you slammed the bolt hard and very fast. I decided to go the route of smoothing my own because it was my first 375 h&h and was impatient and wanted to do some of my own work to make it nicer. I took some metal off the extractor claw slowly, and little by little it started to feed farther. I also filed the inner edges of the magazine rails. I was getting tons of scratches and even dents, but now it's feeding perfect without scratches, but it's been a long slow process and I think I would have rather just sent my rifle back and have CZ make it right.

I must be the "chosen one" with regards to buying CZs. All four of mine work perfectly as issued.

I killed my buff with one last month/year.

It's all I can ask for...

Rich
Buff Killer

I had the same problem with the 458 lott CZ that I bought in 2007. I ended up filing both the extractor and the feed rails. It feeds smoothly now, and hold cartridges OK. I'm not complaining, it only cost new $860. It has nice straight grained wood and double cross bolts. However, the front sight on mine is too low and it shoots really high. I've been reluctant to file the rear sight.

Do all of the 458 lotts start off as 458 Win Mags? The barrel on mine is marked 458 Win, with Lott stamped above it.

I think that the rails are designed for the shorter cartridge, which produces a sharper binding on the rails for the longer cartridges. The rails have a job inward in the rear area that helps produce the binding. I found that by filing that down to blend the "jog" helped with the feeding. An the extractor was too tight.

The factory should check and correct these areas.

quote:

Originally posted by gohip2000:
I decided to go the route of smoothing my own because it was my first 375 h&h and was impatient and wanted to do some of my own work to make it nicer.

gohip2000, those were my exact thoughts as well. This is my first "big" rifle and I searched and searched here on AR for old posts discussing how to slick-up a CZ. Landrum's thread was very timely and at first I figured I could polish and grind with enough care to keep the rifle at home and get it working.

After a little effort on the workbench, I quickly realized how easy it would be to really screw something up and in process void the warranty so off it goes to Kansas City. Scott/CZ said the standard turnaround is 4-6 weeks but they are pretty slow right now so he expects them to do much better than that.

Also, with the "shooting low" issue, I figured I really needed someone who knows what they are doing to check it out.

This is also my first CRF rifle so it's not readily apparent what is "tight" vs. "slick" vs. "wrong" without asking around.

Again, thanks to all for your input.
Mike

Feeding and extracting are a couple of the common problems that CZ's have. I understand all manufactures have an occasional dud, but CZ has many more than usual.

I considered buying one when they were in the $500 range and found them to be marginally acceptable at the price point, but for what they are asking now is out of line for what they produce. U agree that they do put nice wood on some of their rifles, but IMO, that's analogous to putting frosting on a dog turd. Lou

Wonder if its a CZ USA thing. I'm on my fouth and all have fed perfectly. No issues at all.

Send it back and have it fixed. I did that with mine and am very happy with it.

Chuck

Got an unsolicited call from the CZ gunsmith (Matt) yesterday, just wanting to update me on what was going on with my rifle.

The extractor was "very tight" and was causing the case to scrape on the chamber mouth. Also there were burrs on the rails and ramps which they took care of.

They also will be sending the rifle to their custom shop to have the barrel pulled and "tuned" to make sure the bore is correct and is parallel to the receiver.

I have to say, CZ's customer service has been pretty good so far... night-and-day compared to a certain other major US-based arms manufacturer (associated with the color green)that I have had the misfortune of dealing with in the past.

Of course the true test comes when I get it back and it actually works right, but so far so good.

I have actually had this issue on my model 70's in the past (not from the factory).
I have taken the steps the replace the cast
extractor with a billet milled unit. I have simply reattached the new extractor.
They need to be fitted by a knowledgable gunsmith.
They can be a bit "tight" to begin with. Probably nothing a bit of emory cloth and elbow grease required for a fix but on a dangerous game gun, I believe it is best left to an expert.

step 2, find a GOOD smith to bevel the edge of the chamber

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
step 2, find a GOOD smith to bevel the edge of the chamber

Sir,
One of the problems with CZ's and SOME of the other mauser clones is that the smith does not "break" the edge chamber to face.

Well.. it's back.

Feeding is drastically improved. Per the smith at CZ (Matt) the extractor was far too tight and there was some clean up needed on the rails and feed lips. No more whittling of the cases and no more binding when working the bolt rapidly.

Also, before I sent it back, I was having a problem where I ran out of vertical scope adjustment and the rounds were still hitting 6" low. Searching around here on AR it appeared like several people have had this problem before with these rifles.

CZ-Matt sent the rifle to their custom shop to check and "tune" the barrel. Things are now shooting great and I'm sighted-in at 100yds with ~5" of adjustment from the scope's "center". My latest range session resulted in 1"- 2" groups at 100yds with a variety of loads. The gun is shooting better than me at this point.

Even though it didn't work great out of the box, I have to give credit to CZ for making it right. While they had the gun, I received 2 unsolicited calls from CZ-Matt just to check in and tell me what was going on. And now that it appears like they actually fixed my problems, I am even more impressed.

So now the fun can begin in finding a good load (I'm working with Hornady 220, 270, and 300 gr SP's with RL15 and Win760)... and learning to shoot my first "big bore".

Thanks for all your input earlier with this thread.
Mike

Mrjulian, keep me posted on the loads you are working on. Like you, I too bought my first big bore in the exact same thing- CZ550 375 H&H. I am also having the same issues you had although not as bad. I think my feed ramp just needs a little Dremel work. And I also noticed the bolt not closing smoothly as the case is about three/fourths in. And what few rounds I shot with, the express sights were pretty far off. But I attributed that to starting loads being fairly mild. After reading this discussion, I am now considering sending mine back to CZ/KC for a looksy.

Michael, I've got a CZ I really like but I had to send it back once myself. I can't fault your choice in Winchester. The new M70s look really nice. Now if they would only come out with some larger african calibers they wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.

Regards,

Chuck