Will CZ ever make a left handed rifle? Any info appreciated.

When I inquired about this, CZ-USA told me that they had no plans for a LH CZ action.

Remember that CZ would not be willing to tool up for a LH action because they don't see a market for it.
If every lefty who wants one would contact them, they might change their narrow minds.

George

I've sent them an email expressing my interest. If I receive any response I'll post it.

I'm in too! I will e-mail them. I called Ruger yesterday about a LH version of the new RSM .458 Lott. The lady acted offended that I would even ask such a question. I suggested that if they would build such a rifle, they would be the only gun manufacturer in the world that made a nice left hand DGR.
I'm sorry, but I'm getting pissed off that no companies even consider us "lefties" except for the Plain Jane stocked, boaring caliber, run of the mill crap that nobody wants! Then they charge us more to start with and we have to spend even more to have enough custom work done to have a nice rifle that a right handed shooter could have bought for $600.
I understand that the lack of demand would require an upcharge, but if they would build something decent and interesting, I think that us LH people would gladly pay for it.

<-----------count me on the bandwagon. Jeff

Here is my email to them and their subsequent lame reply.

To: info@cz-usa.com
Subject: Left Hand Actions

Are there any plans to offer your rifles in a left hand version? Like perhaps the CZ 550 in .375?

Their reply..

"Sorry no left handed models at this time. Sorry"

Anyone interested should email them at the address above. Based on the reply, I'll bet no one beyond a secretary read it.

DennisHP,
Will CZ ever make a left handed rifle? Any info appreciated.[/QUOTE]

Why not send e-mail to CZ headquarters in EU. All rifle are made there, all rifles are design their too.

CZ headquarters

Ing. Ludmila NEPRA�OV�
Purchasing Manager

neprasova@czub.cz

Give em hell Dennis!

I to have gone throught the no left handed rifles sold here thing. I even had my gunsmith/store call the manufacturers and they all said they don't make L.H. rifles in a claiber larger than .338. Hence that is why I have a .338. Then, after I found out that they had long actions in L.H I had called their custom shops and asked if they could install a .375 or larger barrel onto a magnum action and assemble a big bore . They said they would not do it. My question is if they have L.H. actions and the breach face is the same, and the action is long enough why won't they assemble a L.H. to what ever you want? I just don't get it. Now there seems to be a growing interest in making some larger calibers in L.H. I know we are in the minority, but we do exist out here. Right I just don't see the need to go out and buy a L.H. in one caliber larger than what I now have. Heck, I even am getting used to shooting a R.H. action with a Monti Carlo style stock. I just can't see trying to shoot a R.H with a roll over cheek piece on it. It hurts too much. LOL

Apparently someone at CZ-USA forwarded my last email to someone else in the company and they replied that "I have been suggesting it and I will keep trying. Thanks" No indication who it was from other than CZ-USA. I still have no response from neprasova@czub.cz

I received a reply this morning from CZ-USA and I quote:

"I have been trying to get left hand rifles and I am still working on it".

I assume that this is a CZ-USA person that is trying to get them from the production plant over sea. Still could be just a "blow-off" line, but I hope that they are really trying. If we keep bugging them, it could happen some day?

I also sent an input to CZ-USA in early October on adding left-hand rifles to the line, in particular to the Safari Magnum version. I included the results I had found surveying shooters and hunters as to how many were lefties (the short of it: 10% of population, 16+% shooters, 20% of hunters).

They said they would pass the request and data along. More people asking should help, but Europeans seem to be really weirded out about building LH rifles.

I am still working my left-hand stopping rifle project. The first two Montana Rifleman M99 actions are on order. The RH action is due to ship real soon now, and the order for the LH is in the queue. That LH action will be built as a .458 Lott.

You can go to Dakota today and get a LH African rifle for $4,995.

My question to you lefties is how much will you pay for a semi-custom rifle? This rifle will have a M70 style action, a premium barrel, and a premium walnut laminated stock. The sights will be aperture rear ("ghost ring") and a barrel band type on the front. How much extra will you pay for a cut-rifled barrel over a button-rifled barrel?

jim dodd

I have been after Savage for the last two years to bring out thier African seris in the left hand action,its a shame they won't even consider it.
Savage used to be the one rifle that you could get in other than 270/06 i.e.338 winny.Keeping my fingers crossed on the Montana action.

[ 11-16-2002, 01:57: Message edited by: Dave James ]

Hunter Jim,
The LH Winchester Safari Express .375 H&H is around $900. I would pay fair value for a 9.5-10 pound .450 Ackley or .458 Lott with 3-leaf express sights, barrel band sling stud, and all the good African Express type stuff. What would such a gun cost? I am ignorant to the benifits of the cut rifling versus the button type. I assume that it helps accuracy, but how much? What is the cost difference.

Timberghost,

If Chay Zed built left-hand rifles and sold them for the same prices as their right-hand guns, no one could compete with their price point -- especially considering what you get.

Taking the Winchester LH .375 H&H and building that up means you are paying $900 for the action. Adding all the goodies you expect would move the price up really fast and really far. Perhaps one of the custom makers will comment on what they would charge. I think you are looking at the $2,500 to $3,000 range.

My philosophy is to build a rifle suitable for a PH to carry backing up clients, and have it last for his career. This rifle won't have express sights or a scope, just the ghost ring. No sling either. It will be a .458 Lott. It will be effective and suitable in all ways for PH use (reliable, etc.). If you want extras, you have to add them. Now, how much would you pay for that rifle if you could get one in 30 to 60 days?

thanks...jim dodd

Jim,if you could get CZ to build a mirror image of their big bore,that would beat any thing going right now,as most of the LH 70's in my area are going for $900 and up a CZ for $1000.would be in the ball park for me,

Jim,
My needs are more tuned to the American on first African safari rather than a PH , however I own several big bore rifles and enjoy shooting them all. This one would be a little different which intrigues me. I played with a ghost ring sight this week and was impressed with the quick targeting. I would be interested for around $1000, but would like to know more details. E-mail me if you can make this happen?

Guys,

To amplify the cost discussion, I got a few numbers from various websites. If this rifle is built on the Montana Rifleman M99 action, we are looking at $499.50 (chrome moly long action, magnum boltface, plus shipping). The rough finish drop-in stock stock from Acra-Bond in Bastogne walnut is $340. A Pac-Nor chrome moly barrel plus cryo is $240, and a Krieger cut-rifled barrel to the same specification is $335.

So we are looking at $1,100 to $1,200 just for the parts laying there on the table. We haven't bought the sights or fitted them yet either, or fitted the barrel to the action, or inletted the stock, or bought and put on the recoil pad, and several other labor chores.

I expect labor totaled would equal the cost of the parts, so we are looking at $2,200 to $2,400. Adding some overhead to pay for the business and stuff like marketing, you can see how the price to the hunter can go up real fast.

With those details, how much $ will you consider paying?

jim dodd

I think I see where you are going with this, and while I don't think I could participate in a group purchase, I'd like to contribute a few ideas.

I think you are better off starting with a bare plate and letting people pick from the buffet as they like. The one thing in common is the large, LH action, preferably already sitting in a stock and ready to go bang in a popular caliber. The thing to do is to sign up a bunch of people, and get CZ to make a run of LH 550s, preferably with the .378/.416/.460 boltface. Then anything from a .338-.378 Wby. rabbit rouster to a .500 A-Square goat getter is possible. Instead of building from pieces, you get a whole rifle and only pay the LH premium, maybe offset by the group purchase discount (hope springs eternal..).

Admittedly there are no popular calibers built on that bolt face, but you have to keep the audience in mind. At AR, there are probably a lot of LHer's who are ready to try something on a larger boltface.

If you take 5-6 months to organize this, I might sign up.

Dennis,

How about keeping track, and do a post on what it costs you to go the Winchester LH M70 .375 H&H route?

If you stay with the .375 H&H I suppose that the expense can be kept smaller by doing far less. If you move up to a more robust caliber, you will have both a new barrel and at least a re-worked stock to buy.

I recommend by the way that you phase it so you have a shootable rifle after each major modification.

Heck, I'll be VERY interested in something cheap, with a larger bolt-face. I had a Lott built, because to go beyond that meant the price would go way up. But I'd love something in .50, that could shoot BMG pulls.

Pertinax

The manufactures are smart,LH rifles don't sell worth a shit. You take a forum like this,with a hand full of guys that want a LH offering and you'd think that masses of LH shooters are standing in line for these rifles. The reality is,left handed rifles are slow movers and usually end up being run out of stores at reduced prices, just to get rid of them.

RMK,

Please provide a list of stores that are running LH rifles out the door at reduced prices. You can e-mail or PM it to me.

The fact is that the big manufacturers like Ruger & remington are only producing .270s, 7mmRem.Mags, .30-06s, and .300Win.Mags. Remington offers the .223, .22-250, and .308 ONLY in a high-priced VS version.

Winchester sells every LH .375H&H they make. If they made a LH .416 and/or .458, they'd sell also.

How many .270/7mm/.30-06/.300Wins. does a guy need?

If they were willing to make say, 1000 LH .416s and .458s, Winchester and CZ would be VERY pleased with the sales numbers.

George

Jeff! Now cut that out! No cutting the line!

George

Gents,

I mentioned this before, on another thread, but I think anyone gearing up to produce left-handed rifles should basically skip the smaller calibers, and concentrate on medium-big bore rifles.

Most left-handed hunters can hunt deer and other small game with right-handed bolt actions, with little to fear, except a slightly slower follow up shot. This is probably very true, when hunting from a tree stand, or over long distances, like antelope hunting, etc.

(I say 'probably' because I've never had the chance to hunt from a stand, or hunt antelope, so I could be wrong)

Even in the mountains, hunting sheep and goats, the shots tend to be longer, and the terrain more 'open' for those follow up shots.

It's in the realm of hunting animals which have sharp teeth, claws, and horns, where a southpaw really needs the bolt handle located on the correct side. Those rifles (of course) tend to be our favorite 'dangerous game' big bore rifles.

Just my opinion, and it's worth every cent you guys paid for it.

Jewff & Lefties,

What do you consider a "reasonable price", and how much of a rifle do you expect to get for it?

Or maybe there is a sliding scale?

Dakota looks like $4,995, and the Winchester Custom Shop is on the other side of $3,000 for their dangerous game rifles.

Davidson's (for example) commissions runs of a particular model of firearms, and then sells them. The examples I know of have been runs of 1,000 guns. If they had Browning/USRAC build 1,000 left-handed M70 Winchesters in .416 Rem Mag, what would you pay for that rifle on 30-day delivery?

jim dodd

Jim,

Considering the fact that USRAC would use the same-quality parts on the LH .416 that they use on the RH .416, they should not cost more than say $100 more than the RH models (which is what they currently charge for LH versions).

They already make the LH actions and stocks; all that is required is to rotate the barrel 180 degrees before making the extractor cut.

The feeling that lefties can or should be gouged is just plain wrong.

At $1000 or so, I'd buy one (although I am going to re-barrel one of my LH M-70s from 7mmSTW to .416RM shortly).

But I'd rather pay $2000 for a gun made to MY specifications than $1500 for one made to a mass-manufacturer like USRAC's.

George

George,
You have nailed the thoughts of most LH hunters. As I stated above, we can buy all the boaring caliber deer guns we want, from any company, but no one makes a DGR at a reasonable price--$1000--
I liked the thought of the .603" bolt face suggested above in a CZ 550. They could do it for under $1000 if they can sell RH ones for $600. How about Zastava/C. Daly, they make a LH 30-06 CRF, on a Mauser based action, at a reasonable price. How about a big bore from them?

Hunter Jim,
Your points are valid as to the cost of a custom gun on todays market, but this is what we lefties are bitching about. We want a reasonable priced factory DGR that we could simply rebarrel (or not) to meet our personal wishes. We are tired of having to go to a custom gun builder and pay custom prices ($3000-$4000) for guns that RH shooters buy for $600-$1000.

At least they didn't jack up the price on my left handed coffee cup.

Timberghost,

The Zastavas are not available yet; they are awaiting Congressional action to allow their importation from Yugoslavia.

Look for them sometime in '03 (after the Republicans take over in the Senate).

I'm going to buy 2 of the '06-length actions as soon as they become available. IF they're any good, I'll buy a couple of the .223-length actions for other projects.

George

Jim,the sounds of your semi-custom sounds fine but at a cost I would have to pass on,any thing pass the $1000 dollar mark I realy think twice about.
Hell I just bought the Judge's 450Nitro on the RUger MK-1 for under that.
I still say any LH DG gun in that range will sell

Yes I am guilty
And can't wait have spoke with him couple of times now,and am looking for dies already,may try my 120 dies and see if i can get close,may be able to use the brass don't know yet.
We can always find a stump for you to shoot George

Stump?! I was thinking boulders, buddy!

Hey, for dies, check out CH4D (www.ch4d.com). I got my .470 Capstick dies from them at a much lower price than what Redding or RCBS wanted.

George

George S,
I am aware of the import issues with the Zastava rifles. Hope our Republicans can help out. This action will not be big enough for a magnum though, will it?
I am wanting a 416 Rigby or larger LH DGR. I have several LH guns built on the .532 bolt face, but want to go up to a really big case with a .590 to .603 bolt face like the Rigby or Weatherby cases. I, like most lefties, don't want to pay over $1500 though, and $1000 would be much better.

TG,

I doubt the Zastava can be converted to .416 Rigby at a reasonable cost; perhaps a .458 Win.Mag. would be the best choice on this action.

I have a .470 Capstick on a LH M-70 action, and will be building a .416 Rem.Mag. on another M-70 soon.

For a 'long' magnum, our choices are limited...

George

I have the current LH Mod 70's Safari Grades in 375 H&H for sale.
Listed on my web site at www.hunters-hq.com.
We just took one and made it into a 458 Lott.