A good friend and I are trying to figure out what is going on with his rifle. As it says in the subject line it is a CZ 455 Varmint in .22LR with a 5 round magazine.

This rifle shoots great for the most part. 4 rounds inside 1" at a measured 100 yards off a rest is virtually a sure thing. Now the problem.

The first round out of every magazine fired is anywhere from 2" - 3" to the right of the next four. It is always the first round fired, cold barrel, hot barrel, no difference. Also, if we just load 4 rounds the same event happens but with 3 in a nice cluster and the 1st round fire out to the right.

It does it with all brands of ammo we have tried. Bedding seems fine, crown is clean and crisp. Screws are tight.

Anyone ever seen or heard of this before? Any ideas?

I am posting this in Gunsmithing as well.

There are as many "solutions" as people who post. ONE, however, stands out as a "possible" help... SCRUB the chamber WELL and see what happens.

Dave, I would suspect the magazine. Might be the spring is so strong that round 1 is slightly cut or deformed, or perhaps the lips need tweaking. Does it do it with just three in the magazine?
Also, have you closely inspected the ramp and chamber mouth?
Might also try chambering round one, then extracting without firing to see if it is being damaged in some way.

Posted this up in the Gunsmithing section as well.

As it seems to have turned out, the folks saying it was lead build-up in the throat were apparently correct. Got it all scrubbed out and 5/5 in a MOA from the rest. Several brands and several times. Seems that unlike many other .22 rifles, this one needs the throat de-leaded (made that word up) after about 50-70 rounds.

Now it is known and all is well.