Guys,

I put a note out asking for help locating a CZ 550 in .416. Aleko Jensen of Heritage Arms replied that he had a good one available with the stock work already done.

Mr. Jensen sent pics and I talked to the smith who indicated that the rifle had been pillar bedded, a second recoil lug added, internal cross bolts installed, and Kickeeze pad added to an angle corrected butt. In addition, a Weaver bridge had been fabricated for scope mounting. Indications were that the rifle grouped very well.

The rifle came in and looks great! The wood even looks very nice. I installed a Leupold 2.5 Compact with a #4 Premier reticle. Only rings I had on hand are junk and will have to be replaced.

Got it to a short range today for initial testing. Only had one load ... 350 gr Barnes X on 98 grains of IMR 4350. At 75 yards on a poor target for precise location of the center the rifle grouped 0.7" center to center for 3 rds. The bottom of the holes is actually two rounds!

The rifle:


The initial group:



Please note, the first group was shot on a target that was not designed for sight-in, by a shooter to whom the gun is new, with the first handload built ... not a tailored, fully developed load. I expect the rifle will always shoot a whole lot better than I can ... exactly what everyone wants in their prized arms.

We finished the day shooting 4" diameter 1" thick steel plates ... piece of cake. Plates went down as if they were stuck by lightning! Will post a picture of one of the bullets recovered soon. It is truly amazing.

Cudos to Mr. Jensen and Heritage Arms for a fine piece that I am very happy to own! Thank you very, very much!

Front, rear, and side view of a Barnes X pried out of a 4" steel plate after a 75 yard impact:







[ 04-13-2003, 03:02: Message edited by: mstarling ]

Thanks, Mike!

Aleko

As usual Mike practices the Art of Understatement, the true story is that from a shaky table not designed as a bench, using a haphazard stack of sandbags with a new rifle shooting initial loads using a 2.5X scope he couldn't MAKE the rifle shoot over 1" groups! It's one of those mystical rifles that automatically places it's bullets on top of each other, never have I seen a fellow so lucky with gun purchases. Heck! I even hit what I was shooting at with it!

Thanks again Mike for letting me shoot your new toy and that nifty .375 H&H.

Rick

http://www.mstarling.com/Album/Rear.jpg

SPECTACULAR

add 6oz in the rear, and 4 in the forearm, and it's a donedeal!!
jeffe

Aleko is a good guy, he bought my lunch last week...however he did express some degree of getting even at a later date..He was passing through Twin Falls and we met and had lunch, heck of a nice guy.

mike, could you weigh that bullet if possivle, I would be interested in knowing the retained weight of that bullet.

very nice looks like it shoots pretty darn good! wish he had one like that in 458!
Dean

I do, but that one is not up for grabs!

Cheers, Aleko

Guys,

I cleaned up the projectile shown in the beginning post and dried it well. Weighed it and took the average weight of 10 new projectiles from the box of slugs the fired one came from.

The mushroom weighed 347.6 grains, and the average weight of new bullets in that box was 349.6 grains. So the bullet retained 99.4% of its estimated original weight.

Pretty impressive.

Now that you have one in .416 Rigby, is a 500A2 or 470 MBOGO in it's future?-Rob

if you get one that is let me know. I am going to get a cz550 in 458 in the next month. One started like that would be a good way to start.
Dean

Rob,

As exciting as this experience is and has been, I think my wife needs a breather from expenses for a while.

I need some practice time with the bigger guns and shooting sticks for sure. The .375 and .416 are not going to be wall hangers!

My next serious investment is definitely going to be a trip to Africa. I have enough frequent flier miles from my working days for one ticket to Joberg. Now I have to figure out how to pay for the safari and get my wife there too

All of this is complicated in that the economy sucks and my small consulting company is just starting to get a little work. Has taken two years to get rolling after Dow bought the company with which I had worked for 25 years and sent 60+% of us away.

(Plug!! The small but slowly growing income from knife making is going into the Africa fund. I make a good knife Fellas .... take a look!)