I am going to buy a CZ 550 in 416 tomorrow. The store has two of them in stock, so besides the wood what should I be looking at to help me decide on one over the other. Are there any typical problem areas on the cz guns that might affect one gun but not the other. Are there any tests I can do in the store to insure that I get the beter gun. This is my first NEW rifle and also my first big gun. Any help you guys can give will be appreciated. Thanks.

I doubt they would let you do it in the store, but if you had some dummy-rounds to cycle through it - that would be a worthwhile exercise. But realistically, you should count on having some "feeding" work done on almost any CZ you buy.

The best advice is to plan on having it bedded before you shoot it - or plan on sending it back for a new stock shortly after you shoot it...

I always check the firing pin spring support method: Is it the C-clip that locks the support nut? ... Or is it the better method with a lock nut backing up the support nut?

Two nuts are better than one nut and a tiny piece of piano wire that is supposed to stay in a groove, IMHO.

Of course you need to glass bed and put in crossbolts fore and aft of the magazine box, and reinforce the front of the magazine box to prevent nose battering and denting due to recoil. This may be done simply by having the glass bedding extend into the magazine well, tight up against the front of the magazine box, in a final step after the rest of the bedding is hardened.

Down the road, a model 70 style safety and a simpler trigger mechanism are desirable for the custom touch, but the current CZ 550 safety and trigger are quite functional as is, unless something goes south with hard use. I have had no problems so far, and am still waiting to convert mine, hoping to see some new options come onto the market.

I did convert a BRNO ZKK 602 using a Wisner setup, but that had to be done because the BRNO safety was bassackward. Not so with the new CZ 550.

I agree with what RIP said, I got laned with two c clips one on my .416 the other on my 9.3x62, my smith fixed them buy making a lip in the nut and setting the c-clip under the lip so it actually can't move forwards. He feels this is safer than the two nut method as the clip can physically not go any where and secondaly it now acts also so that the nut cant work loose either.

I just got a non-set, single stage trigger from AHR for one of my CZ 550's. I will have my gunsmith (George Vais) polish and install it tomorrow. My girlfriend is undergoing surgery tomorrow. I told the anesthesiologist to keep her under long enough for me to run down the road to George's shop.
I'll give a report on how well it works (the trigger, that is).
lawndart

Best wishes to Quickfinger, hope it is something routine.

I was about to order one from AHR/Ed Plummer, trigger and safety, but the Tom Burgess thing got started, and I have heard nothing else about it.

So please do tell any poop on the AHR hardware.
I reckon I ought to go ahead and try AHR too ...

Well,
I pussed out and spent the day in the waiting room. Lois did fine. She had the new "Prevent Prolapse & Hemorrhoids" procedure. It is the internal equivalent of a face lift. She now has a circumferential row of titanium staples going around the inside of her colon about 4cm upstream from the end. I told her she now has a titanium afterburner section in her can. She said, "no, now I have a perfect asshole to remind me of my other perfect asshole".

It is my turn on the table in a week or two. The rest of my L5 disc has been squirting out over the last three months. Lois says I am so grumpy that if I don't get it fixed in June, don't bother coming home in July. right now I look like Festus on "Marshall Dillon".

lawndart

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to both of you.

Thanks Bro'.
We'll be in fighting trim in time for chukar season.
Here are a few pictures of the AHR trigger: