CZ 550 Safari 458 Lott won't feed from the left

09 February 2007, 04:54

Toomany Tools

Guys, I have little experience with these big cartridges so I'm looking for experienced advice.

This rifle was factory converted to 458 Lott and it doesn't want to feed a cartridge from the left side of the magazine; it feeds consistently OK from the right side.

From the left side of the stack the bullet gets jammed against the barrel at the 2-O'clock position long before the cartridge rim slides under the extractor. The only test rounds I have are Hornady factory 500 grain soft-points.

The only things I've done so far are to polish the sharp edges off the rails and also polish the extractor lip. This helped feed from the right a little but did nothing for the left.

Returning to CZ isn't a viable option.

What do you think?

09 February 2007, 08:37

KurtC

How did it feed when it was a .458 WinMag?

09 February 2007, 11:44

Will

quote:
Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
Guys, I have little experience with these big cartridges so I'm looking for experienced advice.

This rifle was factory converted to 458 Lott and it doesn't want to feed a cartridge from the left side of the magazine; it feeds consistently OK from the right side.

From the left side of the stack the bullet gets jammed against the barrel at the 2-O'clock position long before the cartridge rim slides under the extractor. The only test rounds I have are Hornady factory 500 grain soft-points.

The only things I've done so far are to polish the sharp edges off the rails and also polish the extractor lip. This helped feed from the right a little but did nothing for the left.

Returning to CZ isn't a viable option.

What do you think?

What bullet are you trying this with?

When I did my own conversion, it was a combination of grinding down the ramp a bit and lengthening the wider rail space that existed at the front to about half way to the back of the action.

It turned out to be exactly how the factory converted rifles wound up being.

The problem is that this is trial and error, for me. I would take it slow. Of course if you remove too much you have an expensive fence post.

The least you could do is post a pic(s) so one has something to compare to for the ones that do feed.

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Will / Once you've been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun.
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09 February 2007, 16:43

malm

I agree with Will. Sounds like the left feed rail is a bit wide and forcing the round too far to the right. As you advance the cartridge, watch what the round does as it starts up the ramp. Look at the part of the feed rail that begins to push it off track and begin to "lightly" remove material from there, forward. This should only affect the forward portion of the rail. Good luck!