I recently bought a cz 458 Lott. Was able to sight in with a scope mounted OK, however, found that the point of impact with iron sights is about a foot high at 50 yards. I know that the iron sights are designed for 100 yds on the cz, however the drop is nowhere near that. The load was the speer 350 gr bullet with 80 grains of RL7, which is not a hot load. My initial concern was being able to sight in with a scope since that has been a problem with some rifles. Confirmed the high impact by bore sighting with the bolt out of the rifle.

Anyone else had this problem? Should I send it end it back to cz?

PRW,
You will probably have to use a load that at least resembles a standard load for the cartridge in question. Something is the order of 300s in a .375, 400s in a .416 and 500s in your .458 Lott. The front sights are removeable and come in different heights with #14 being the hightest. Depending on what you have on your rifle a higher front sight will be a step in the right direction, but there are limits.

All iron sights are adjustable between interchangeable parts and files. Figure out the load you are most likely to shoot and make the sights point in the proper spot.

If you are using a center hold instead of a 6 o'clock hold, that will also likely be a problem out of the box as far as my experience with CZ factory rifles.

I have the same problem with mine even with the #14 front sight and no higher ones are offered. I guess a file could be taken to the rear sight but I haven't wanted to to that so, if not using a scope, I'll just have to remember to shoot low.

Another problem with mine is that the usual scopes don't have enough adjustment to work with 500 grain bullets. I believe CZ had a problem with the milling of their dovetail integral scope mounts. If yours is like that, I'd make CZ fix it. I didn't find out about my gun's problem until too late. I've solving my problem with a Nightforce scope that has much more than the usual range of scope elevation adjustment.

PRW,

I'll certainly bow to someone with more experience on this topic but IIRC and based on my limited open sight experience (yes, I'm a Scope Era Guy, read: Baby Boomer!)

I agree with Dogleg in that the load should be close to a standard velocity load for this cartridge.

The scope is sighted-in to the corresponding bullet impact anyway and different from the open sights since a SLOWER load (you mention the load as being mild) in my experience shoots to a higher point of impact than a FASTER load; so try using a heavier bullet at standard .458 Lott velocity to see if the bullet impact doesn't drop at that range before messing around with the sights - unless you want to stay with this mild load and fiddle around with raising/lowering the sights.

My 2 pence.

Sort your optical and iron sights to both shoot to the same POI for what load you intend to use however you may need to go about achieving that.

Thanks for your replies. My past experience has been that by using the same velocity with a lighter bullet, the impact is very similar to that with the heavier. So if an even lighter load is used, it should shoot to the same point of impact as a heavier. I do have some 450 gr tsx bullets that I could test.

When out shooting from the bench I stabilized the rifle looking down the bore and centered the bore on the target, then checked where the sights were zeroed which was the same as the point of impact.

I really don't want to file the sights, especially since it looks like it would take a lot of filing.

What options are there with other sights? Are other sights available and not require the services of a gunsmith?

PRW, I went thru the iron sight issue with my CZ550 458WM when I shortened the barrel and put on an NEC banded front sight, even with the lowest fiber optic front blade the factory rear sight was way too low. An easy fix is to replace the factory rear sight with a Williams "WGRS" rear sight, they make a flat-based model that is a perfect fit in the CZ factory dovetail. I attached mine with an adhesive called "GOOP" that comes in a tube, very durable and has suvived many rounds with no sign of coming loose. By playing around with different blade heights you will find something that will work. Simple, easy fix, easy is good. Hope this helps.

quote:

Originally posted by PRW:
I recently bought a cz 458 Lott. Was able to sight in with a scope mounted OK, however, found that the point of impact with iron sights is about a foot high at 50 yards. I know that the iron sights are designed for 100 yds on the cz, however the drop is nowhere near that. The load was the speer 350 gr bullet with 80 grains of RL7, which is not a hot load. My initial concern was being able to sight in with a scope since that has been a problem with some rifles. Confirmed the high impact by bore sighting with the bolt out of the rifle.
Anyone else had this problem? Should I send it end it back to cz?

Welcome to AR forums PRW.
You seem to be contradicting your self “Was able to sight in with a scope mounted OKâ€
Then you wonder if you will have a problem sighting in the rifle with a scope.
You need to shoot it with a factory load that the sights were regulated for at 100 yards before getting to worried.
I would think the lighter bullet traveling faster would shoot lower, less barrel time
I would try the 500 gr bullets and if they shoot to high with the tallest front sight then I would consider sending it back.
Bill

This is what I've experienced with mine and my loads are not at all reduced. The 350 grain bullets shoot a lot lower than the 500 grain ones. Even with the front sight at 14 mm, the gun still shoots quite high at 100 yards with 500 grain bullets.

The first thing I did with my CZ after the first 30 rounds of wearing the new off it, was had the lugs steel-bedded (might want to have this done if you are going to shoot it much). I had noticed (before bedding)it shot low for me,high for everyone else. When shooting from standing at 100yds with 6 o'clock hold & full post it was only 3"low, with a fine bead it was almost 12"low. From the bench it was approx 2" high with a full post 6 o'clock hold (I believe this is the sight picture they are set up with in mind). I think (and may be wrong) that when shooting these things off the bench they are going to shoot higher on account of the forearm not being controlled as much. I have experienced similar results with large handguns like the 500 & 475 Linebaugh, and 454 Casull. By the way I found out here that NECG offers sights for the CZ 550 although they are not listed on their sight, just call/e-mail and they will be happy to send you some for a small fee <--(read as FORTUNE).

My CZ Lott shoots 500 grn factory loads accurately at 100 yds with the open sights. In shooting a variety of loads through the gun at different distances a foot high impact at 50 yds seems way off. I would shoot 500grn factory at 100 and if they hit to point of aim then just play around with the lighter loads and see if you can get the point of impact to come around. When I was working up loads I had excellent accuracy and both softs and solids hitting to same point of impact at 2100fps. I cranked up the velocity to 2200fps and the point of impact spread 4 inches. Have someone else shoot the gun also and see if they are hitting high. If you determine its the sights just work up the most accurate bullet weight velocity combo that you will hunt or shoot the most and then get with a good gunsmith and adjust the sights accordingly

Thanks again for the replies. They got me on the right track. I initially was unaware of how easily the front sight could be removed. Found that it was a #8. I have since ordered a #14 and will try that and go from there.

My initial concern was whether I could adjust the scope to point of aim since I've read on this forum about the problem some have experienced there, but that turned out not to be the case for my rifle. However, it may be a problem with the 500 grainers.

I also own the CZ Lott. I use a diferent powder
and don't have any problems. IMR4320 Open sights
1.5 " group With a Burris Scope 1 3/4 X 5, 3/4" group