About two months ago I wrote a thread about what I should do with a CZ Safari in 375 H&H. See, the chamber needed to be deburred and there was a feeding problem as well. Instead of sending it off immediately to AHR, I went ahead and gave CZ the opportunity to fix it.

I got the rifle back yesterday and it feeds alright but it still marks up the brass something awful. When I cycle a round through the chamber it comes out with all sorts of scratches on it along the wall of the case and along the rim and belt. Needless to say, that is unacceptable.

By the way, this isn't a CZ bashing thread. I have owned many CZ rifles and this is the first one that had any problems. Anyway......


So, now I am going to send it off to AHR. I am thinking along the lines of having it turned into a 375 Wby, one of the 416s or possibly a 470 Capstick.

Oh well, I just wonder why CZ couldn't have repaired the rifle completely and not wasted two months of my time.

Landrum

If the chamber is bad and your overall happy with the rest of it then why not clean up the chamber with the webby reamer. Have you fired the rifle as is or are the shells scratching up that bad from just cycling them through the action? My CZ550safari classic in .458Lott lightly scratches the shells in a length ways direction as they come out of the mag well. Otherwise no problems. Rodney.

The scratches happen on the way into the chamber. This is a slight bit of resistence upon feeding once the cartridge enters the chamber...ever so slight.

The only problem with the 375 Wby idea is that the rim and belt are getting scratched as well.

Landrum

Sounds like the whole thing needs slicked up a bit. Yours must have been built on a Monday, too bad they didn't get it right the 2nd time. If it were mine I'd give AHR a call as you mentioned and see what they say about it. Overall I've had very good luck with CZ 4 out of 4 have been shooters. Hope you can get it resolved in a timely manner. Rodney.

well if even the belt is getting scratched then I doubt any other standard belted cartridge is going to smooth things out. either a larger case, like a 378/416/460Wby, or maybe a 375 Rum, 404 Jefferey (my vote!) 416/450 Rigby, or a 505 Gibbs. But nearly all of those require a new barrel. You can probably have the barreled rebored to the 416 Rigby or 404 easy enough, but the Rigby will also require bolt face mods. I would contact CZ and ask for a new rifle since they failed to make things right on their end.

What has happened to me is that I look from the back of the rifle, removed the bolt, it seems that the circle formed by the beginning of the chamber is oval, not a perfect circle. Is this normal? My rifle is one of Ceska 550 Magnum 375 H & H Magnum.

Thank you,

Oscar.

MileHighShooter

That's what I am planning to do...just scrap the existing barrel and get a new one in something interesting.

Landrum

Well Landrum, if you've got a spare 375 H&H action, you can always check out the wildcat forum and read the Poor Mans 404 and the 404-375 threads! We have thought up a relatively easy to accomplish 404 cat based on a necked up 375 H&H with no improving, lots of taper, easy feeding, and easy to get brass/dies/reamers.

quote:

Originally posted by Landrum:
The scratches happen on the way into the chamber. This is a slight bit of resistence upon feeding once the cartridge enters the chamber...ever so slight.
Landrum

Same thing happens on my new CZ550 Amer in 375H&H... this is my first CRF rifle and I was thinking it was just part of the break-in process. It feeds pretty well, but the last ~1/2" of forward bolt travel gets a little tight and requires some extra push to get it to close. I'm also seeing lots of scratching on the brass.

Now you've got me thinking about AHR as well... not that I'd want to change caliber, but at least get it slicked up.

Let us know what they say if you do talk to them.
Thanks

Landrum,

Management is everything. Why management makes decisions to piss off consumers is a function of the incompetence of managers hoping to be promoted.

The answer is CZ management did not think it had to completely repair the rifle because you already bought it and statistically would not buy more of them. CZ met its legal concerns.

Landrum- May I make a simple suggestion? Get a 3/8 wooden dowell about 8 inches long and super glue a 2" wide strip of 400grit emery cloth to it. Put the dowel in a cordless drill stick it in the action and polish your chamber paying attention to wobbling the emery cloth around the enterance of the chamber as best you can. If a 3/8 dowel doesnt let you wobble enough to break the edge use a 1/4 dowel. You are trying to just break the sharp edges on the front edge of the chamber. That is what is causing the scratching. CZ never broke the edges on that barrel for some stupid reason. Its not a big deal but really requires the barrel to be removed from the action and radiused or polished. Dont worry you cant screw it up if you polish for only a minute or so.. Walla- your scratched cases are a thing of the past.-Rob

I've seen several CZs that scratch brass because the magazine feed lips are sharp, and/or burred.

Wink,
Another good "point."
Polish the feed ramp and magazine rail edges too.

As Rob says,
it may just be on the bottom half of the chamber entrance, the area that contains the belt recess of the chamber base. A rubber&grit polishing spud and polishing compound from a Dremel Tool kit has fixed a few for me. Just enough polishing to dull or "break" any sharp edges, as Rob says.

I have stocked up on 400 grit emery cloth and various wooden dowels for 12GaFH chamber polishing. Good tip.

The small size dowels needed for a .375 H&H will fit a small hand drill very easily, you may not need to do anymore than wobble the dowel and 400 grit around the chamber entrance.
The fact that it feeds well but is just scratching brass is encouraging.

A related roughness issue: The latter days' Winchester M70 Classics from the factory often would have some sharp edges and points on the extractor cut at the breech end of the barrel. If so, a RN softpoint bullet could occasionally grab one of those burrs and cause a jamb. All those sharp edges need polishing to bevel, round, smooth, or "break."

Maybe these things happen to rifles finished up on Monday morning or Friday afternoon at the factory?

Howdy Landrum-

If the rims and belts are being scratched, it sounds to me like a burr on the feed lips. Pull it out of the stock so you can really see what's happening, use bright light and magnification. Run a piece of brass through the action a few times, remove the bolt, and look carefully and you might be able to actually see where the brass is being scratched. If you con't see anything, feel carefully with your finger along the lips- try your fingernail. If you find it take a smooth slip stone and carefully polish that area.

Anyhow, try to find it yourself before sending it out again. I'll bet, since the belt and rim are marked, it's pretty simple.

Best of luck

RG