Collectors firearms has a CZ in a lott, with not so fancy fancy wood, $1300, steep if you ask me, but gives a guy an idea of what it looks like. Might give a guy an idea of what to expect if buying sight unseen from FFL like some of us do.
http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/r1866.htm

Nice...hopefully I'll have one soon

Do you know if they're still X'ing out the "Winchester Magnum" marking and putting "Lott" below it? Just seems tacky...

thanks for posting..

to CZ... wow.. this is a really big YAWN!!!

leave the oil finish from the hogbacks... not a browning, needs a belt sander gloss, finish

while the pics probably don't do it justice, it's only FANCY if the other choice is "plywood"

jeffe

I guess I'll stick to my RSM 416.

Jeffe,

I guess if you set it side by side with the butt ugly 416 I have it's fancy. the delta between the hog back at $630 and the fancy americana leaves plenty room to upgrade with aftermarket wood.

Looks pretty good for the price...I will never understand the dumb ass bean counters that make the decisions at arms factories...They just have to be business men out of college and no knowledge of guns...Point being:

Why would anyone put a swivel on the wood of an English style short forearm (9") rifle like that, it is supposed to be on the barrel...that is beyond dumb..

/

This CZ rifle may be as sound as the good ol' yankee dollar (used to be?) but to my old-fashioned eye it is butt-ugly.

The front sight is a deformed abortion, three times as big as it needs to be, and with weird angles. NASTY!

The sling swivel location has been mentioned, and I agree.

The cocking-piece is an amorphous blob shape. There are few crisp lines, and the action area of the stock looks bulbous. The pistol grip is awful, and the angle where the bottom of the grip meets the forward curve should be 90 degrees, not that horrible dubbed-off angle that it now has.

From the grip on back, it actually doesn't look too bad, but ....

I'll never fault the TECHNICAL merits of the CZ rifles, but anyone wanting to build a FINE-looking rifle has only to look at some of the marvelous custom work being done today. While custom quality may not be practical to achieve, surely it can't be all that difficult to emulate custom DIMENSIONS, since all they have to do is punch the right numbers into the shaping machinery.

Just another ol' f--t's opinion, but I agree with Jack O'Connor's statement that a proper stock's shape should consist of straight lines and true segments of circles.

Regards from BruceB (aka Bren mk1)

Ray,

Bean counters are in the mix, but the product mgrs are responsible also, I have to agree on the lack of barrel band. I'd just as soon them seen me a box of parts and unfinished wood, if the spray on finish is like the hog backs is kinda hard to strip. If its an oil finish its got me fooled.

The old whitworths at the gun shows looking better all the time.

I wonder what the bean counter equation on the old handy dandy pocket calculator is for this view......YEEEEEUUUCH !

Good grief!



For what you are paying, it is an excellent rifle. All this hooey about barrel band swivels is just another one of Mother Hubbard's old wives tales. You don't need a barrel band swivel, they just look cute. I don't use a sling so why would I care whether it has a barrel band swivel?



With all this talk about forend studs you would think you are taking your life in your own hands. I've yet to feel one even when shooting the Lott.



I doubt that the Win. custom shop rifle for 3X as much money will have any better wood.



Give CZ a break!

Bill and Billy,
i won't be giving CZ a break... I can restock, myself, to just about ANY grade of wood for the 630 bucks difference in the hogback to this piece of CRAP grade stock.

In MY opinion, the pics of this stock are barely past plain... and that's being GENeROUS... go to this site http://www.gunstocks.com/grade.html as henry, like most others, does sometimes over rate by 1 grade.

630 bucks gentlemen, is a high grade grade of english walnut, fitted and checkered, with lugs and pad and finish, from gun stocks, if one was being lazy...

it's TWO macmillian stocks...

and for 1300 bucks, i'ld buy a ruger...


because my gorilla arms will have to restock it ANYWAY (15 3/8 lop) ask anyone that's shot with me... my guns fit ME... but they are generally an inch to long for anyone else.


SO, would i pay 1� more of the american, in the same grade of wood? ahhm NO, and neither should anyone else buying an XXXed out caliber and a restock, unless the wood is AWESOME.

I've seen 550's with better wood... and i've seen 550's with about as much grain and figure as a #2 2x4 stud.

jeffe

Will, if you want to hunt with a Fugly gun please by all means do so. If I need a beater or utility gun it will have a synthetic stock. If I get a wood stock I prefer one far nicer even if it does cost more. Personally I have never been one to buy the cheapest or least expensive. Life is indeed waay to short to hunt or even shoot with a Fugly gun ! IMO

Will all those that only shoot new Holland and Holland's please stand up?

Cause there no reason to shoot an ugly gun.

Will,
I sure don't think a barrel band swivel is "hooey", if one has a short English forend (8 inches") then the gun needs a barrel band forend or you will surly sooner or later bark your left pointer! With a std. classic, probably not...

Also it allows the gun to hang lower while walking for whatever that is worth..I don't like a sling either, but I always have my littel 7/8" sling in case I have to crawl while stalking, nothing is worse than crawling a 100 yards with a rifle and no sling..

All my rifles have "hooey bands",

Will,
there's a range from a savage to an HH...

and for 630 bucks more than the base gun, there best be something better than just a stock config change... in this case, there aint

jeffe

Ranting and raving today, eh? You are just trying to horn in on my territory.

LMAO, well ok you got got me. But here is the thing and in spite of all our witty banter and colored bubbles their is no way around it. The Second Amendment protects your right to keep and bear arms.....Even Fugly ones ! Enjoy

I'm guessing that these rifles are being rechambered and restocked here in the US. That means that the cost efficiency of the CZ is lost when you add on American wages and parts.

There is also the possibility that the rifles are being imported complete with their original stocks. That means you are actually paying for two and getting one.

I give CZ a lot (or Lott) of credit for using actual 98 extractors. However they miss the ball when it comes to accrutements such as sights, bolt handles, safeties, wood finish, etc. We tried to see how nice we could convert a CZ550 FS in 9.3x62. We stopped when the price doubled, but we could easily have trippled or quadrupled it to turn it into a work of art.

I shoot one!

I have to agree, nevertheless I just ordered one, 'cause it's cheap and should be well functioning. When I get mine, the missing barrelband will have to be installed the wood oiled, the trigger and the action smoothed and for looks I will have to do something about the front sight too, but after all that is done, I expect it to be a good "tool". Still cheaper than most other rifles and just as good or better.
I beats me though, why CZ doesn't make it look right the first time. Especially since they have made an effort to make a version of the 550 especially for the american market. Here in Europe we are still stuck with the hogbacks, (if we don't special order)

Niels, Here is where I must be missing the boat. By the time you do all that tune up and shipping back and forth to the gunsmith hopefully it will work well but it will still be fugly. By my calculations you will have spent as much or more than a used Mauser or pre '64 model 70 so why bother

CW,

None of them are cheap: Mod.70 Safari ($850+), new bottom metal ($400+), new barrel installed ($400), new sights ($100+), new McMillan stock and pad ($600+), etc., minus selling the factory stock and barrel, but it still winds up to $2200+.

Or you can be happy with the way the Mod.70 or CZ come from the factory. They work. All the extra stuff is just that, extra. They really don't need it. Some just think they do. It is just not that big a deal to me to HAVE TO shoot a factory rifle right out of the box. I don't , but I could.

ChuckWagon-- If I was in America, you would be right about the price of a winchester etc. compared to fixing up a CZ. But I am not in the USA. and prices are certainly not the same over here. EX: Ruger 77 in 416Rigby is around 2600$ a normal hogback CZ is 1200$, I get mine for 830$ (because I now the shopowner, I get it cheap) I'll fix it up to get it right, for a lot less than an out of the box Winchester or Ruger.

Collector's is a great place to browse and drool. They also are the most expensive place in Houston! We will "adjust" the price on a particular piece with you haggle with them.

Niels, I definitely think something can be made out of the CZ hogbackstock ; it doesn�t have to have a straight comb though. I have turned the curv of the hogs back to a rather straight monte carlo. There still is a lot to do but I might get there..



With files, sandpaper and chequering tools maybe there might be a nice handy 416 emerging in spite of the hogback. And surprisingly nice wood underneath that awful finish..

my point is that if you are interested in working it over, you can yourself customize the out-of-the-box CZ. There is plenty of wood to remove..

Boha