I finaly got to examine one of the CZ 550 Magnum rifles in person. (It was a 416 Rigby)I know the factory stock is BUTT ugly, but it actually had a very nice feel to it. Questions: Does anybody have experience in using a CZ in 416 or 458 with the funny factory stock?? If so, any problems with the front hand hitting the front sling attachment, or the single recoil lug not being sufficient to prevent cracking?? If I do decide to go with the CZ factory setup, should I glass bed the rifle first?? Thanks, all advice appreciated.

I found out that the front swivel should be removed when I touched off a round on the bench and the rest went flying off to my right and almost hit my buddy who was standing behind me.The swivel had snagged the front of the rest.
I'm going to have a couple of inches taken off the barrel and will have a barrel band swivel installed.
Personally I think that the stock feels quite good, although mounting a scope low enough that the bolt will open is the trick.
One of the other posts mention removing some metal from the bolt handle will enable the scope to open while using low mounts. I tried Warne high QR's and could not get a solid cheek weld on the stock so the gun will have that done also.
I personally think that CZ/Brno's are very under rated and are IMHO one of the best values out there.

The CZ 550 is OK with Med. Warne QR rings with a straight tube scope (Leupold VarXIII) 1.5-5X.

The stock is also OK but too ugly for me. The front swivel is fine; I think it is an old wives tale about it hitting the hand when the rifle is shot. Never happened with me in the Rigby, 458, or Lott. I did leave them off the McMillan stock, but that's me.

You should search for the CZ topics. There are about 2 million posts about the CZ.

Thanks for the replies. Any problems with the single recoil cross bolt??

Papa,

I think the stock will be fine if you steel-bed it. There's a barrel lug hidden in the forearm as well as the action lug that bears on the cross bolt.

There really are about a zillion posts on bedding this rifle, you should use the search button at top right of this page to find alll the posts on the subject.

Don

I thought the factory stock was pretty nice, but I don't know enough about rifle fit that my opinion should count for much.

It did seem fine for iron and acceptable for glass. You can also get wrap-on cheek pads and combs made of recycled jelly that alter the fit and soften the surface touching the cheek.

I cut off and slotted the front sling swivel stud and screwed it back in, because everyone seemed to say I'd be sorry if I didn't. They were probably right, but I haven't had any evidence of that, after eighty-some rounds of .416 Rigby.

check out czforum.com, rifles and shot guns section. some real nice folks with knowledge to spare can answer just about any question on cz rifles.