On the heels of my Merkel 470 NE doubling every time, I contacted my gun dealer to arrange their help returning the gun.

I had recently purchased a CZ550 from them

in 458 Lott. I had taken it down to have a scope mounted. I inquired about the progress. They told me that I had another problem. They mounted the scope, bore sighted it and took it to the range. It shot low. They check the bore sighting again. It was fine. They moved up to 25 yards. Again it was low, not even on the paper. They attempted the maximum adjustment and still couldn't get it on paper. Something was obviously wrong.

They made contact with CZ. CZ indicates that they have a batch of guns with a similar problem. They indicated to send it back and they would fix it. Obviously at no cost. According to CZ, this effects an entire batch of rifles.

I do not know if this applies to other calibers.

If you are having similar problems you may want to contact CZ.

Hi, could you put the serial number of your gun?, I have a 550 Ceska Safari Magnum 458 Lott and I wonder if it can be within the range that gives problems.

Thanks,

Oscar.

Larry,

Having one of those weeks, are we? Wish you speedy recovery on both rifles.

BTW, I have an early CZ 550 American Safari Magnum in .458Lott NIB if you need one NOW and can get your $$ back on the faulty one. I sent the stock back and had them put the cross-bolts in the wood stock, so it's ready to go. After I bought it, Bill Ruger Jr got me an RSM Lott so the CZ has remained in the box, never used.

WINCHESTER

SSR

quote:

Originally posted by Cross L:
WINCHESTER

SSR

Yeah, but Winchester is not making the Lott, and good luck finding a used one.

Oscar:

It is at the dealers. I will see if I have anything with the SN on it.

I see CZ still having this problem. I got one like this a year ago. I was able to get zero by switching from Nikon to Leupold. Just barely.

I heard here on AR,the fix was for the CZ shop to bend the barrel. If you include your scope they will bend it just enough to get on target. if not, you might have to send it back twice.

I would forget the serial number question, its an on going problem. Mine was also in Lott, but think there been other calibers. My understanding based on clues piece together is the actions are machined out of square, so the threads are cockeyed. I'd be curious to hear what if anything you are told.

Yea, too bad about Winchester. No Lott! Several members of this forum actually think this is a good idea for Winchester to withhold the Lott chambering. I think Winchester is missing a good oportunity here to put a real dent in CZ business. The Ruger is no longer available in 458Lott. That leaves CZ with the market cornered. Stupid if you ask me.

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Cross L:
WINCHESTER

SSR

Yeah, but Winchester is not making the Lott, and good luck finding a used one.

I have 5 of them.

M

Larry, I would be interested to hear how they fix that. Just to confirm or get story corrected on the barrel bending.

There was some reference to either bent barrels or barrel bending. I am a bit under the weather today. I don't recall the specifics. I will find out.

Larry, give me some lottery numbers. I want to know what to avoid! Are you sure that in your travels no one has put a curse on you?!!!
Peter.

I think you need a psychologist, psychiatrist, soothsayer, palm reader, or something.

I had the same problem with two CZ's in 458WM and a 458 Lott. I sent both back and they fixed them. They said the barrels had been pulled down and they had to straighten them. I have shot both until hot and the groups are steady. I was afraid that the groups may wander or string when it got hot but they didn't in either rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
I think you need a psychologist, psychiatrist, soothsayer, palm reader, or something.

not- or -should be and something



SSR

I've had two CZ's with this problem... a 375H&H and a 416Rigby.

In both cases they were fixed by CZ with no issue, other than the lost time and shipping. On the 416 I asked for and received a barrel band at no additional charge in return for my trouble with having to deal with two "bad" guns.

The guys in KC explained the problem is that the barrels were being installed at the plant in Czech Republic without verifying straightness. The fix is to pull the barrel and straighten it like what should have been done initially. He also said this affected only 1-2% of production (for what that's worth). Lucky me... I managed to find two.

The process may sound crazy, but apparently it's not uncommon to hand straighten barrels during production. I've seen pictures and videos of the process where a gunsmith will put a warped barrel in an overhead straightening fixture to straighten it. This is a "vise" with a large wheel mounted up above the operators head. The operator looks through the barrel which is pointed at a black line on a white wall. The black line makes shadows inside the bore, and the smith can detect exactly where the barrel is bent by the shape of the reflected shadows in the bore. He slides the barrel to that spot in the fixture and rotates the wheel to bend the barrel. The smith tweaks the barrel until it's straight.

So it's not as if they put one end in a bench vice and grab the other with a pipe wrench and start crankin'.

After the fix, both of my rifles have shot well. Am I a little turned off to CZ's after all this? Yeah, but the available calibers for the required expense was the initial draw for me (and I figured after the first one, there's no way I'd get another bad one, right?).

Saw a show on Savage showing just that. A smith would hand straighten the barrel. The show said that was one of the reasons for Savage accuracy.

You guys are funny. Especially the lottery numbers comment. You know the old saying,when it rains it pours. That is certainly the case with my recent gun purchases.

Well Larry, it's one of those situations where we are all right there with you, but somehow saying "I fell your pain" doesn't quite sound right!
Peter.

For all you future CZ 550 buyers, here's my recommendation. Don't buy one off of the rack. I bought mine from Sportsman's Warehouse, got a sale price and then had a 10% off coupon, but I had them special order it because I wanted a barrel band, action job, high gloss oil, and a mercury recoil reducer added. Even though I special ordred it, they gave me the sale price and honored the coupon. All told after everything, it cost me just under $1100. The cool thing is it was put together at the CZ Custom shop, got a McGowen barrel and I got a really nice stock thrown in. They also test fire it.

So if you're willing to wait a couple of months for your rifle you can have Harlan at Triple River put it together for you for really not much more than buying off of the rack and you get some goodies with it. It's not fool proof, but if anything's wrong, Harlan will fix it for free and get it back to you soonest.

Winchester should make a 458 Lott with double cross bolts and an ebony forend and red english recoil pad and i would buy one !i dont know why they persist with the boring old 375 and 458 win

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
So if you're willing to wait a couple of months for your rifle you can have Harlan at Triple River put it together for you for really not much more than buying off of the rack and you get some goodies with it.

That reminds me... in both of my instances, the barrel tuning/repair was done by Triple River, not by the guys in KC... again, for what that's' worth.

Shipped the guns to KC, they shipped them to Triple River for the tuning, shipped them back to KC, who then shipped them to back to me.

quote:

he process may sound crazy, but apparently it's not uncommon to hand straighten barrels during production.

I certainly dont know enough to dispute this statement, but any idea why all the reported problem would be shooting low? I would expect, if, the barrel was bent it would be a random error. Not saying it aint true, just seems illogical. Or are they bent downward during installation? All these guns cannot be just one bad batch. That does not ring true.

In another thread it was stated it would be easy to verify this at home on a table. I asked how and no comment. The question being is the barrel curved or are the threads angled?

quote:

Winchester should make a 458 Lott with double cross bolts and an ebony forend and red english recoil pad and i would buy one !i dont know why they persist with the boring old 375 and 458 win

My opinion too - I was called a troll for pushing this idea. I did state the Lott was easier to hand load and more versatile at the high end. Dear me.

_____________________________________________

Here is a thread on a CZ in 375H&H just bubble back up to the top of the forum (same problem with a 5 year old gun):

http://forums.accuratereloadin...4711043/m/3301053541

Save your money and stop buying crap guns.

quote:

Originally posted by fourbore:

quote:

he process may sound crazy, but apparently it's not uncommon to hand straighten barrels during production.

I certainly dont know enough to dispute this statement, but any idea why all the reported problem would be shooting low? I would expect, if, the barrel was bent it would be a random error. Not saying it aint true, just seems illogical. Or are they bent downward during installation? All these guns cannot be just one bad batch. That does not ring true.

My guess is that something in the manufacturing process related to the forging of the front recoil lug and the front sight island lead to the barrel being consistently bent in the same direction. The smith in KC was pretty clear the problem was not in the receiver threads.

If the CZ barrel was a simple tapered cylinder I would agree with you that the bend should be random once installed. But since they are forged with a recoil lug at "6 o-clock" and a sight island at "12 o-clock", and installed with the corresponding orientation every time, I can convince myself that a suspect manufacturing process would consistently produce the same downward bend.

As for "saving my money and buying non-crap guns", I'm wide open to suggestions for a factory made rifle guaranteed to not have issues. If I'm expected to spend 5x the money for such a guarantee with a custom build, I'll continue to take my chances with factory. I'm just not in that tax bracket. Sorry. Look, I can sip coffee and read a paper in a snobish emoticon fashion too -->

The process of straightening barrels is as old as barrel making. I've had to sraighten (at least I THOUGHT I had to straighten) some pretty big name barrels.

I have not seen many though. I think integral barrels are more prone to getting the "whips and jingles"

The CZ is one of the best acions you can purchase...Tom Burgess said "These would sell like hot cakes if they tripled the price" ( A perceived notion of value, I guess.)

From the front of the trigger guard forward, they are 100% Mauser. The ejector , bolt stop, trigger are CZ...But....actually...damn well thought out.

At Sound Metal Products, we saw the basic action as superb..just needed a litle cosmetics..hence designed the replacement bottom metal...selling well...

A number have gone to Europe..as well as the US....These actions are a product whose time has come.

quote:

As for "saving my money and buying non-crap guns", I'm wide open to suggestions for a factory made rifle guaranteed to not have issues. If I'm expected to spend 5x the money for such a guarantee with a custom build, I'll continue to take my chances with factory. I'm just not in that tax bracket. Sorry. Look, I can sip coffee and read a paper in a snobish emoticon fashion too -->

These threads always crack me up. Buying a quality rifle has NOTHING to do with tax bracket and snobbery. Rather than risk being assasinated by a representative for one of the numerous D-O-G S-H-I-T manufacturers repeatedly discussed in these forums, I'll just offer, there are many makers of rifles which NEVER require neanderthaling a barrel into alignment or would even consider such antics an acceptable method of quality control. Lemme add that, if any MOFO representing himself as a gun manufacturer shipped me said POS, he and his organization would find themselves in front of a jury in short order.

quote:

"These would sell like hot cakes if they tripled the price" ( A perceived notion of value, I guess.)

That's a great post.

My CZ 550 shoots pretty well. Here's a 3 shot group taken at 100 yards off sandbags as it came from the CZ Custom Shop when it was a little 375 H&H shooting 350g Woodleighs at 2430 fps...




Here it is all grown up (I had the CZ Custom shop rebarrel it to 500 Jeffery, because I was disappointed with how little it recoiled and made the mistake of joining this forum ... lol) shooting 570g TSX's at 2410 fps. This is a 3 shot group taken at 50 yards from a lead sled. The weather was cold and I was doing load development and was too lazy to walk the 100 yards to change targets for each load.




Finally here's a picture of "Baby" my CZ in 500 Jeffery on the bench ...




Duane, been thinking about ordering your bottom metal. Would I be able to get 4 down in the magazine instead of three with it?

Regards,

Chuck

That was a good idea throwing that puny 375 pea shooter away and making it a 500

Yeah, my coworker told me Reba shot a 375 in "Tremors" he called it a lady's gun ... lol I ended up buying a Remington XCR II stainless / synthetic 375 H&H for Alaska. A gun safe isn't complete without a 500 and a 375 ...

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
My CZ 550 shoots pretty well. Here's a 3 shot group taken at 100 yards off sandbags as it came from the CZ Custom Shop when it was a little 375 H&H shooting 350g Woodleighs at 2430 fps...




Here it is all grown up (I had the CZ Custom shop rebarrel it to 500 Jeffery, because I was disappointed with how little it recoiled and made the mistake of joining this forum ... lol) shooting 570g TSX's at 2410 fps. This is a 3 shot group taken at 50 yards from a lead sled. The weather was cold and I was doing load development and was too lazy to walk the 100 yards to change targets for each load.




Finally here's a picture of "Baby" my CZ in 500 Jeffery on the bench ...




Duane, been thinking about ordering your bottom metal. Would I be able to get 4 down in the magazine instead of three with it?

Regards,

Chuck

Even with a reasonable Rigby (coffin) floorplate.can only get 3-3/4 down. I have a prototype made up, will have to start out with 1" stock for the floorplate...i.e. has to hang down 3/4"

Being a fan of the 500 Jeff, I'll probably make a small run and see how they go over.

Duane if you need me to pay for one in advance, I'd be happy to. You can PM me if you wish.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Cross L:
WINCHESTER

SSR

Yeah, but Winchester is not making the Lott, and good luck finding a used one.

A 375 H&H Model 70 is a rebarrel and a bit of work away from a Lott. Some M70 458 win. mags are just a rechamber away from Lott.

For the Rigby sized case the CZ is way ahead of the winchester but for the 375 H&H length stuff I would much prefer a M70, as the CZ is too much of a good thing for that sized cartridge.

I have a 375 H&H M70 that is being reworked to a 458 Lott now and pretty sure I will end up with a much handier package than what I could achieve by purchasing a CZ 458 Lott....just my preference. I will ended up with 4 in the magazine.....the CZ does have the advantage of mag. capacity but there is always a trade off somewhere...

Larry,
You need to get back to Africa and fix your juju.

I am told my rifle is back and is shooting insanely small groups now. After the fix, they had to change front sight blade . It was apparently too low. I haven't seen it myself yet. I hope to take it to ventilate an elephant in October.

[/QUOTE]Being a fan of the 500 Jeff, I'll probably make a small run and see how they go over.[/QUOTE]

Duane, I have one of your Enfield coffin bottom metal assemblies and would also pay up front for an extended .500 Jeff CZ version.