Does anyone have any info on where one could get a stronger follower spring for the CZ 550 mag---I called CZ USA and they're sending me one(no charge), but it's the same as the one's that are in the rifles, so I don't think it will help, but I'm going to give it a try--I've perused the internut, did searches here, but to no avail--of course I don't know what can be substitued either(via the net) and that's probably why I"m coming up empty --any help would be greatly appreciated--chris

brownells sells a mauser +10% spring...
jeffe

thanks Jeffe--

I went through the same issue w/ my 550 375HH. My problem was feeding last round. Advice given me was: 1. Brownell's +10% (this spring is designed for 8x57 magazine box, the Brownell's tech suggested not to use it. He personally converted several Remington 375RUM followers and springs over to CZ to fix the same problem but this required quite a bit of machining and hand fitting). 2. London Guns (they do not make any such part). 3. Wisner (they did not have anything available, though as a footnote I thought I saw a new magnum length follower and or spring in the new brownell's catalog that was a Wisner product). 4. AHR (they said go back to #1).

What I did: I took it to a co-worker/close friend who is a Guild member/world class smith. We went on an indoor range and I shot a blaze of furry on a bunch of computer run moving targets in effect jamming the rifle up several times on the last round. He inspected the malfunctions and determined that it was a combination of needing deburring and polishing in the magazine box and reshaping the follower.
What he did was shape the follower in a way that resembles the follower in a Winchester supergrade. In addition, he introduced me to (Mil-Comm TW-25B lubricant) this stuff is very expensive but is incredible. We use it on our Sig 551 machine guns. My problem was corrected and I'll doubt one could be made to feed better.

Now just out of curiosity I took a factory Winchester M70 supergrade long action spring and follower and put it in to see how it worked. I cannot tell the difference and cannot make it jam. Though the long action follower/spring is shorter, the spring has a tit on the bottom that holds it in the correct position so it will not move forward under recoil. I personally am going to order a M70 magnum length follower/spring and keep it as a spare. B.T.W., I'm not kidding about the TW-25B, I've been through quite a few advanced schools involving marksmanship and maintaining service/precision sniper weapons in the field. Nothing I have used professionaly in the last 18 years comes close to this stuff.

Good luck!

If you grind the left side of the follower ridge from about half way from front the last round will feed perfectly. Grind away like on some of the new Winchesters. This will allow the last round to come up under the extractor when its about half way into chamber.

I put the Brownells spring in mine, much stronger, did fine, I also worked the follower all the way around, worked on the box to make sure it didnt hang. A little work and it will feed fine.

Wisners sells an extra power spring for about $10.00. The stock number is MS. works great.

lawndart

I have A-square ammo, as this was all that was available when I picked up my gun--CZ 458 Lott--

-I ordered 2 springs from Brownell's --

if that doesn't help then I'll resort to some more massaging and Wisener's--

my prob isn't the last round--it can be any one of the 5--

first off I couldn't get one of the A-square's to feed--I've been massaging the ramp to lessen the angle and this has helped a lot, but now some will feed and some won't and it's not always the same ones that get stuck and a double stroke will usually get it to go, but that's not good--

I haven't reduced the height of the ramp at the lug just took a little hump out of it--

the cases were really catching on the ramp as the bullet enters the barrel and marring the case pretty good, now it's not as bad and I think I'm very close--I haven't reduced the height of the ramp where the lug would engage--

I've noticed that the follower won't always sit level and it's not hanging up on anything, so my thought is now get a spring that's stout enuff to keep things in line and then see what I run into and go from there---

this may be a case of A-square ammo also being wacky, but right now it's all I have, besides me getting to my reloading, but I want the A-squares to feed even if I never use them for hunting--

thanks to all for reponding---chris

Chris-- My CZ 550 in .416 Rigby also would not feed the last round, tryed their heavier spring routine Which didn't work. The last round would start op the feed ramp and the base would pivit down and allowing the bolt to ride up over the head of the cartridge. Finaly I sent the rifle back to CZ and they sent me a new one. The new one feeds fine, looks to me like the reciever rails are contured differntly. I am now in the process of changeing the bolt handle adding cross bolts, Glass and pillar beding the metal. Last but not least adding a barrel band sling swivel,and eboney forend cap,metal grip cap and adding a shadowline to the cheek piece ---George

if the follower is sitting level the last two rounds will feed as of now, if it's not sitting level the heads/belts get stuck between the rail and next round and the ramp or the last one will get caught between the rail and the edge of the follower and the ramp--this points to the weak spring I believe--the other rounds seem to get pinched at the head/belt between the next round and the rail while also sticking on the ramp still--so I'm thinking maybe a little polishing of the ramp in this case may do it, but I'll wait now until I get the spring and see what shakes--chris

Chris, I am by no means a smith (just an end user) and if anything I say here is off base, PLEASE someone correct me. I lost sleep over my CZ feeding problem trying to correct it myself before going to my smith. When I gave up and took it to him, he was able to look at it and fix it in less time than it took me to drive there. That said, I tried to soak up as much info I could on the mechanics of the magazine, spring, follower, rail, feed ramp, ejector claw and what he was doing.

When the bolt is closed it pushes the cartridge forward into the feed ramp that angles it towards the chamber. At this point the follower and spring must give some for the cartridge to ride over the follower (if it is the last round) or over a cartridge (if more rounds are in the magazine box) so the cartridge rim can slip under/behind the ejector claw and be control fed into the chamber.

With mine, the follower itself had a poor unfinished shape to it and burrs on the magazine box. It would feed fine when there were rounds in the magazine as the cartridge being loaded would easily ride over the rounded cartridge below it and the follower was below the burrs. When I was at the last round, the follower would ride up into the burrs causing the follower to hang up and it would not give as the bolt pushed the cartidge forward into the feed ramp angling the round until it wedged between the rail and a sharp lip on top of the follower. The ramp would not give at all and the only way to clear the malfunction was to drop the box/follower. If you tried to drive the bolt home hard you could make the bolt face ride over the case rim destroying the round. Sometimes you could double stroke the bolt and the follower would give but this was no good as you said. A stronger spring would not help this.

If yours is doing the same thing when rounds are in the magazine, I would say it sounds like the follower is binding just like mine but just further down in the box. I read Zimbabwe's post and that sounds like what my smith did. He smoothed out the edges inside the box and where it mates the receiver. he smoothed the outer edges of the follower where it rides inside the box. He added a relief cut on the left side of the follower (I don't know why but the same thing is on my factory Winchester follower), and he worked on the ridge along the top of the follower to make it easier for the cartridge to ride over and slip under the claw.

If you can look at all this, identify the problem and fix it yourself, DO IT. If not, give it to someone who can or send it back. I would hate to tinker w/ something like that and never really know what you did or did not do to correct it.

Best of Luck!

GaryVA--thanks for the info--I'll check into it--as at this point it could be the rail--

if one was to look down into the magazine and look at the rail you notice it steps (gets wider about 1/2 way in the action from front to back if you will---when I get binds the head of the round is about 1/8" from getting to the stepped(wider) section--this is after my ramp massage, before it was almost 1/4" from making it to the step--this will happen anywhere from #1 to #4 round and then the last round will not feed unless the follower is level or pushing the last round up tight to the rail(thus my thought of a weak spring)---now maybe something is hanging the follower up with rounds #1-#4, but I can't or haven't duplicated it yet to prove this is a prob--

one thought was do I maybe relieve the edge down the middle of the follower or widen it a smidge to allow for some cartridge movement of the last round--that may have been suggested before, but I need to go back and read all the tips to be for sure, but if it hasn't been suggested I wonder if someone can tell me this is a definite NO, NO--chris

Zimbabwe's info in his post is exactly what I think may work also--thanks for the info--

Gringo--can you detail what you did to your follower a little more---

I know I saw somewhere if you make the follower thinner you can get 5 in the mag--not sure it's necessary, but why not--I may try this also after the feeding issue is whipped--chris

I've been tinkering(massaged the bottom of the ramp and the follower(thanks to Zimbabwe) and polish) and let's say we call the first round put in the mag box it #5, then #4 and so on to #1---

#1 hangs up--the belt on the round gets right to the step in the feed rail when it binds--there's no burr--it's getting pinched in 3 places--the actual bullet is in the chamber and sitting tight up against the top of the chamber, then it's hitting the ramp and finally the rail comes into play--

#2 feeds with a slight hiccup once in awhile--just needs a tad more force to send it home--not much but more than #4 & #5

#3 is like #1

#4 & #5 are great as long as they are close to being tight to the feed rail--this came to fruition with Zimbabwe's tip--massaged the follower and no probs with these two rounds, as long at they are in position--which they pretty much seem to be every time(need to cycle a bunch more to be 100% sure)


my first thought is maybe the spring is too stiff and won't allow the rounds in the mag to be pushed down so that it can be sent home---

then I thought could this A-Square stuff be too long--so I measured it---3.512"--well within the 3.6" max--

is the mag box to tight side to side for the rounds to move freely--they come up pretty good and seem to move down ok when I push them, but maybe it's too tight when trying to cycle the action??

the last two work great--so I don't think it's the ammo being too long--

the spring may have a slight say in the matter, but I'm not sure--

can it be the rails aren't cut right--I'm fairly sure if I take that step back an 1/8" or so my probs are history--same if I wack the very top of the ramp, but the ramp I think is the last place to play for now--

one other thing is to massage the inside of the mag box and the underneath sides of the rails to give the ammo some side to side movement--but the mag box is so thin I'm not sure this will help, but maybe---

can some of you guys measure the length of you ammo and tell me what you get and then check your bullets inside the mag box and let me know if there's some play side to side--

chris

Check the surfaces on the extractor claw to ensure it has no "burrs" which might prevent the cartridge rim from entering the area between the claw and the bolt face - I found this on my cz550 416 as well as my model 70 winnie in 416 rem - smoothed the claw with emery paper very slightly until the cartridge slips under easily - KMule

tried the factory spring I received from CZ today and it did nothing--next week I'll receive the 10% stronger spring--chris