I have a brand new CZ 550 in 375 H&H. It will not feed from the magazine, it will single load but even that it tight. I was using a dummy round with new brass and I even tried a round of factory ammo. Does anyone have suggestions to help with the issue?

With a dummy round in the magazine, try working the bolt quickly.

George

I tried that. When I looked at it closer, the bolt isn't "grabbing" the round. It is just attempting to push it into the chamber.

The trick with feeding problems is to watch closely as you attempt to feed a cartridge from the magazine to see exactly what is causing the cartridge to hang up.

My experience with my Mauser when I first acquired it was that while a 404 cartridge did feed from the mag it was stiff feeding and scratched hell out of the brass. I could see that as the cartridge was being pushed forward out of the mag the rim was not sliding smoothly up behind the extractor and it was not until the bullet and case started to hit the mouth of the chamber did the rim finally clip in behind the claw extractor.

The problem was resolved easily with a slight stoning of the heel of the extractor and cartridges now just pop up and feed like butter, with no scratching of brass and are held firmly by the extractor (tested with the bolt out of the rifle and a round clipped into the face of the bolt under the claw extractor which should firmly hold the round horizontally off the bolt face).

So before heading off to open up rails etc, just check the extractor first.

Which part of the extractor is the heel?

I would guess from your description of the situation that the rim of the cartridge isn't moving smoothly up under the extractor as the cartridge nose move up the feed ramp. Check for a sharp edge on the lower rear face of the extractor where the rim first contacts it. Round it a little with a file and perhaps remove a little metal behind the extractor face where it contacts the cartridge. This will make it easier for the rim to begin to feed up behind the extractor and seat on the boltface. The feeding process should be smooth and the bolt/extractor should hold the cartridge firmly, but not excessively tightly.Hope this helps.-Rob

Send it back and make them fix it.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I put a good lube one the bolt and rounds chambered though they were still stiff. It seems to be getting smoother by just being worked. I hope that just working it will fix it. If not it'll be making a trip to the gunsmith.

quote:

Originally posted by alxndrsalmndr:
Which part of the extractor is the heel?

Robgunbuilder describes it exactly.

Work a set of dummy rounds a few hundred times and it will help smooth the ramp repair described above. I also used a shotgun swab coated with auto paint rubbing compound very slowly to help polish the metal a bit.

If this is a new gun, then send it back to the factory or have a gunsmith tweek it..Lots of advise as to what MIGHT be wrong but without the gun in hand its impossible to really know, and you shouldn't have to be concerned to start with..This has been a common problem with CZ I have been told...Make them fix it.

quote:

Originally posted by alxndrsalmndr:
I have a brand new CZ 550 in 375 H&H. It will not feed from the magazine, it will single load but even that it tight. I was using a dummy round with new brass and I even tried a round of factory ammo. Does anyone have suggestions to help with the issue?

Don't worry about it.

After Wayne at AHR is done working his magic it will work perfectly.

You are planing on sending it to Wayne for an upgrade, aren't you?

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
If this is a new gun, then send it back to the factory or have a gunsmith tweek it..Lots of advise as to what MIGHT be wrong but without the gun in hand its impossible to really know, and you shouldn't have to be concerned to start with..This has been a common problem with CZ I have been told...Make them fix it.

Agree with your advice Ray but it would be good to know just what is causing the the poor feeding. Many of us are capable of fixing small problems but as I posted earlier, it is important to carefully observe and try and identify exactly what is causing the problem. Obviously every gunsmith has to do this too before they 'attack' a problem.

As a matter of interest, and this would highlight the issue being most likely with the extractor, do controlled feeds show more propensity for feeding problems than push feeds (before any gunsmithing work to fix the problem)? Anyone?