[Picher]

I found a CZ American at a gunshop Sunday. It's cherry, and it followed me home after ransoming it for $285.

The bore is beautiful, trigger is typical, and stock is great. It will receive a Picher trigger job, then glassbedding and barrel floating, except for the barrel lug. If that doesn't work, the barrel lug will be removed and a new screw installed near the front of the action.

Great project rifle!

I'll let you folks know how it performs. It needs to group under .300" at 50 yards with match ammo, or it may find another home.

John

 

[willscary]

Good to see you again John. I just got my Richard's Microfit stock for my American .17 HMR and spent the last 6 hrs finishing the inletting and sanding sanding sanding! It really looks nice now. Tomorrow I am going to give it a final sanding and seal it. Friday I can give it a light sanding and the first full coat of tung oil.

These CZs are better than anything else I own, and at least as good as anything I have ever shot, so I am sure you will like it unless it has been abused in a way you can't detect right away.

 

[2764]

Did CZ Change the American Action?

John, Has CZ changed the American action? The reason I ask is that the American already has 2 action mounting screws. The barrel did not have a barrel lug. The barrel on the American is also suppose to be "Free Floated" from the front of the receiver. I have seen some that had tight stocks and were only partially free floated. The Lux and Special have a barrel mounting lug. Would you let us know? Thanks, Joe

 

[Picher]

Not having any experience with the CZ rifles directly, and this being a used rifle, I'm not 100% sure that it's an American. The receiver markings say "CZ 452-2E ZKM" then "CZ USA Kansas City KS."

There's checkering on the pistol grip, but none on the forend, which is shaped similar to my Ruger 10-22 Deluxe.

Maybe you guys can tell me just what model this is.

John

 

[eraser5]

The American has two action screws and forearm checkering. The Varmint has one action screw, a barrel lug, heavy barrel, and no forearm checkering. My Varmint is a very good shooter and I have not noticed it being finicky about barrel lug tension. At this point it is shooting so well that I am putting off the barrel float. Don't fix what ain't broke.

 

[2438]

John, the "ZKM" is usually the Lux or Special", but barrel length will usually be the telling facter. Is it 24" or 20"? The American has a 20" barrel with a Turkish Walnut stock. The scope mounting rail is 3/8", while the Lux and Special is 11mm. You can go to www.cz-usa.com and see all of the different models if you want more info. I think you will be extremely please with your CZ, regardless which model it is. More and more of them are showing up on the firing lines of the various shooting diciplines. Price/Performance Value is hard to beat. I wish some of the American gun manufacturers would wake up. Best Wishes, Joe

 

[Picher]

It's a Varmint model.

Today, I drilled and tapped the receiver and installed the scope. I also cut the trigger spring to reduce the pull weight to 2.5 lbs.

Hopefully, I can find a lighter spring at the hardware store.

The sear was also polished a bit with a felt bob on a moto-tool.

I think the receiver should be glassbedded and about an inch either side of the barrel lug, but relieve the bottom of the barrel lug so it doesn't touch after the Acraglas sets up.

John

 

[2438]

John, good luck with your project. A friend of mine "Brookie" has a spring kit available, as well as other accessories for the CZ. If you would like I will send you his web address. Many here, have installed his spring kits and have been pleased with the results. I believe you can do a search here to find those posts. Let us know how you make out. Out of the box, these CZs will usually group less than 1 inch at 100 yards with the ammo they like. Best Wishes, Joe

 

[knitepoet]

Picher, I've got Brookie's spring kit, with the second lightest spring installed I have WONDERFUL 18oz trigger. Unless inflation's got to hium. The kit's only $9. It includes 4 different springs and 2 "bushings" to get rid of creep (unnecessary in my case)
Paul

 

[Picher]

John, good luck with your project. A friend of mine "Brookie" has a spring kit available, as well as other accessories for the CZ. If you would like I will send you his web address. Many here, have installed his spring kits and have been pleased with the results. I believe you can do a search here to find those posts. Let us know how you make out. Out of the box, these CZs will usually group less than 1 inch at 100 yards with the ammo they like. Best Wishes, Joe

Yes, please send me his web address. Mine is [email protected].

BTW: I put some epoxy putty ahead and behind the barrel lug and also at the rear of the action then went out to shoot the rifle for the first time.

I'm not impressed. Groups were around half an inch with good ammo. That's not good enough.

I'll try something else. The barrel will be slugged to see if it's uniform and whether it is larger at the muzzle. If it seems good, plan B is to do a good bedding job with Acraglas.

John

 

[147]

You can get to my website by clicking the "Website" button below this message. If that doesn't work the address is http://cz452.com

At what distance were you shooting the 1/2" groups? At 50 yards that is decent for an almost-out-of-the-box gun. At 25 yards you have a good complaint.

 

[BobD]

Picher, you will need to add a pillar to the center action screw and then bed with Acraglas or whatever you use. I used threaded lamp fixture tubing cut slightly longer then needed and then gradually ground it down with a dremmel. The nice thing about threaded lamp fixture tubing is it screws right into the existing stock hole and can be glassed in when you determine the correct heigth. I removed my magazine assembly and entire trigger when adding the pillar and glassing. The pillar is slightly wider than the distance between the magazine well and the sear, so some of the front and rear of the pillar will have to be ground off so that everything will fit back together. Some have added a receiver tang screw to their Varmints, others have removed the barrel lug altogether. Mine has the pillar I described, and is Acraglased from the tang to 1" in front of the barrel lug that I still use. I glassed the bottom of the stock hole for the barrel lug too so that when I tighten the barrel lug, there is support on the bottom of the barrel lug.

 

[Picher]

You can get to my website by clicking the "Website" button below this message. If that doesn't work the address is http://cz452.com

At what distance were you shooting the 1/2" groups? At 50 yards that is decent for an almost-out-of-the-box gun. At 25 yards you have a good complaint.

It was at 50 yards. Yes, I'm fussy about accuracy. I'm used to shooting sub .25" groups with my custom bench rifles and selected Eley Match Extra.

I'm never satisfied with a rifle used for target shooting until it's shooting groups very close to .10". Saturday, during an IR50/50 Unlimited competiton, the Winchester 52-C shot 245-13X, 247-8x, and 247-14x out of a possible 250. I was mad that they all weren't perfect scores because the weather was so great for shooting. Today, I readjusted the barrel tuner in hopes of getting that 250 next time.

John

 

[2764]

Hi John, you might be expecting too much from the CZ if you're expecting it to shoot .10 or less (assuming Outside to Outside, minus the bullet diameter). Mind you I'm not saying it can't be done. It just might just take you a while to get there. Isn't that half the fun? I took a $70.00 Norinco JW-15 and got to .2175 (.4415-.224). Perfection is a journey, not a destination. Isn't that what "They" say? Please let us know how your "Project" progresses. Thanks, Joe

 

[Picher]

PowDing: I realize that the CZ probably won't average near the .10" mark, but it should average around .300" and shoot a few groups near the elusive .10" mark. I've tuned Ruger 10-22s that would do about that.

The CZ doesn't have a tight match chamber. That will probably limit it's potential, but we'll see. I don't give up easily, but if it just doesn't have the potential of shooting some really satisfying groups, it may find itself in another home.

I really like the heft and balance of the CZ for offhand shooting. If it turns out good, it would make a fine turkey shoot rifle. My other rifles tend to scare the competition away. My Rem. 581 was bad enough with the Fajen thumbhole, but now the stainless barrel and wide forend pad make it look way too scary.

John

 

[Nick Bangkok]

John : Now that you're tinkering with the Varmint, we'll all get to know how it compares with the 10/22.

About bedding this gun, the best shooting CZ we have seen in our club keeps its barrel lug and has pillar under the action screw. The lug also has full support under it. Bedding extends from action screw to 1 inch beyond barrel screw. The rear of the action is floated.

To get to this arrangement, we tried one, two, three and four screws. How, you'd ask ? A hole was drilled and tapped at the tang. Another screw went in the existing hole for the magazine - the gun was meant for single-shot use in BR match. Eventually we settled on original mid-action plus barrel setup.

This gun won our Annual Point Match two years in a row, and came in second the third year. This past year, the guy taught his daughter to shoot it and she came in third overall.

 

[Picher]

I'm thinking that it would be best to pillar-bed the original screws, then add a pressure-point about an inch and a half back of the end of the forend. The action will be fully bedded and there will be bedding around the forward screw about an inch in each direction. The pressure pad will be added last...maybe after testing.

Oh, I also will try to place sheetrock screws in Acraglas across the stock opening near the rear screw to keep things from spreading.

That's the plan right now. Things may change after testing.

John

 

[snellville-dave]

I just picked up a new 452 Silhouette on the way home this afternoon. The factory target appeared to have a 1/2 inch group, because of possibly one pulled shot? Appeared to be a five shot group one double hole group; one two shot group touching; and the single shot by it's self. I'll be using this rifle to hunt with and if it will shoot near the factory target groupings, when I get a scope on it I won't have a thing to gripe at. But I'm not a benchrest shooter either.

 

[Nick Bangkok]

Dave : we've all been wondering how they fired the group at the factory. For a gun with no sight, getting it to shoot onto that piece of paper at 50 meters would have been rather tricky. If it's shot on a separate piece of blank paper, then the group cut and attached to the certificate then we understand the gun was in a fixture.

The good thing is, while most CZ owners realize later that the test group doesn't represent the gun's accuracy potential, they usually get better group than the one from the factory.

 

[Picher]

The Acraglas glassbedding was done in two stages. It involved placing a pillar made from a piece of steel golf club shaft (roughened) at the rear screw. The Acraglas had great amounts of hand-cut fibreglas insulation in it to keep it from running and to provide extra strength. (IMHO, Acraglas binds to wood better than the gel and putty types of bedding compound.)

A piece of sheetrock screw (used as reinforcing steel) was inletted about a quarter of an inch on each side across the action slot, just behind the rear action screw and below the sear. That will keep the stock from spreading when the stock screw is tightened.

The action is bedded fully, as is the barrel from receiver through about 1 1/2" beyond the lug. The lug was relieved top, bottom and all around, so the barrel can bear evenly on the bedding and the barrel is free to expand and contract with temperature. The flat spots of the barrel near the lug were filled with clay before bedding so only the rounded barrel surface is in contact.

The stock swell and shrink shouldn't affect the barrel bedding much. (I was originally going to bed the rear of the lug, but decided to relieve since the action provides a recoil surface at the rear and positive stop at the front to assure accurate positioning within the stock.)

An Acraglas pressure-pad was placed in the forend with about 7 lbs of uplift. After setting up, the bottom and sides of the pad were routed out, leaving 3/16" X 1" long pads at 4 and 8 o'clock. Should the stock warp a little, the barrel will still self-center. The bottom of the barrel channel was also routed out 3/16" wide and 1/32" deep - to spread force to the bottom third of the bedding on each side.

The barrel lug screw has a lock washer to allow some adjustment in pressure. The pressure pad will provide "spring loading" by bending the barrel a bit when the barrel screw is tightened, assuring good contact between barrel and pad. The rear screw is tightened down pretty hard.

(See next post.)

John