I was at Cabela's in Mitchel the other day and happened to see a CZ in 505 Gibbs so I picked it up and sighted it.....it was surprizingly good fitting for me.....weight wasn't too much and the sights seemed to be crude but adequate. There was no scope on it.....I asked if they had ammo and the reply was that they was trying to get some.....I snickered.

Then I opened the bolt to see what diameter the bolt was.....and the rim on the bolt was paper thin....I mean it was about .010 thick as the bolt just wasn't big enough to make the gibbs correctly on that bolt face.....so they just made the thing un reasonably thin.

Just an observation.....

i'm not really too well versed in all the fine details of custom gun building, so i'm not going to say "yeah i saw the same thing and thought the same thing" but i can tell you i was up at the cabelas in dundee michigan a few weeks ago and happened upon the same rifle in their gun library, CZ 505 gibbs. it did fit pretty well, and it handled nice. surprisingly it was relatively inexpensive, so i talked to the guy in charge and he said it was basically a poor rifle. gave me a bunch of specs about this being too small or this not being built the way he would have done it, i smiled and nodded, pretended i knew what the hell he was talking about. so i think i'm going to pass on the big 505 gibs.

Yup, my converted 505 CZ has the same knife-edge rim on the bolt face. Drop it on a hard surface and you are screwed. AHR is supposed to be doing a deal to make big diameter bolt conversions for the biggies like the 505 and 600 OK cases. Don't know the cost. Second problem with the 505 on a CZ is the action is it's just too narrow to make a staggered box feed well with that giant case. Robgunbuilder tried to tell me but I had to learn it the hard way. Now I have a single stack system (2 down, one in) and it feeds perfectly. Much slower to load, though.

If anyone really wants a true DGR in 505 Gibbs they should use a more suitable action. For playing around and non-dangerous game, its fine.

OTOH, if all you want is max power in a modestly priced and portable package, the CZ in 550 Magnum can't be beat. Same case head as the 416 Rigby and way more horsepower than the 505. Either 4 or 5 down (can't remember for sure which, mine is still at Brockman's) and one in the spout. Reloads fast like any good Mauser should.

I noticed that one of our posters (new_guy?) has some new Heym bolt actions in 505 Gibbs. I would bet they are better out of the box than the CZ. Have you seen those posts?

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
I noticed that one of our posters (new_guy?) has some new Heym bolt actions in 505 Gibbs. I would bet they are better out of the box than the CZ.

They had damn well better be for 4x the price. Not that they aren't worth it....they are.

JMHO,

John

Just how much does a CZ in 505 Gibbs cost in the good ol USA? I heard they were rebarreled with McGowan barrels and had other upgrades. But even my 416 Rigby has very thin bolt rims. It doesn't really meet CRF test of pulling the bolt, inserting a cartridge under the extractor and watch it hold the bullet on at any angle, because it won't.

At cabelas in dundee, the asking price was 2300.

I know a guy who ordered one through a local gun store and paid $1850.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
But even my 416 Rigby has very thin bolt rims. It doesn't really meet CRF test of pulling the bolt, inserting a cartridge under the extractor and watch it hold the bullet on at any angle, because it won't.

That sounds more like sloppy extractor clearance than bolt rim. It can be corrected, too.

I think the safari classics line used to be 1750 for the 404 and 450 and 1850 for the gibbs. A few months ago new pricing came out that wat 500 bucks more. Seems like a pretty big jump from 2005 to 2006.

I got one of the CZ 505 Gibbs for about 1700, IIRC, early on, way too much for just adding an NECG front sight and a barrel band sling base to a standard CZ 550 Magnum.

Yes, the box is too narrow and the boltface is too small for such a big case head. It does feed roundnose bullets but balks on the left side with FN's. It is also stamped to indicate the max safe pressure with the Gibbs case head is about 55K psi.

It is a shop mule.

It is the reason for the 500 Mbogo RIPoff.

The first batch of A-Square-made CZ factory ammo would not even fit in the chamber. That is another tale of woe.