I read in the American Rifleman magazine that CZ has announced that they will chamber the CZ 527 in .221 Fireball this year. Anyone have any idea when we might expect them to hit dealers' shelves?

A fellow shooter called CZ about the Fireball, and the reply was " we don't know what you're talking about", and the same in an e-mail response. Then another e-mail said "it's under consideration".
Based on that, it's not happening soon, or the CZ-US guys are out of the loop.

Now THERE is a rifle that I would like to own.

Here is the reply to an email I sent to CZ American regarding the availability of a CZ 527 in .221 Fireball:

Shooting for 3rd quarter of the year.

-----Original Message-----
From: David E. King [mailto:kingd@netpath.net]
Sent: None
To: info@cz-usa.com
Subject: From WWW: CZ American in .221 Fireball

More than before, CZ knows there is an interest in their 527 as a Fireball. Hope it happens!

Me too. I am already moving this to the top of my Christmas list.