Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Please tell me about your CZ 550

I have never owned one, or even handled one much.

I am attracted to the all-steel construction, and and the Mauser action, but just a little concerned about the weight and the degree of finishing.

Please give me your judgement on fit and finish, quality, and function.

Pictures are always welcome.

So I've only had their safari magnums, thusfar. The older of the two (375) was used and came to me with a fairly smooth action. Wayne at AHR turned that rifle into an absolute beauty. The 458 Lott was bought new in 2009, feeds terribly from the left rail, and has a pretty rough action. It's going to Wayne at some point for a makeover.

All in all, even with the money spent on an AHR uprade, you end up with a very reliable and reasonably priced rifle. They're a great platform to build on.

Bought this Swede three years ago just replaced the glass with a Leupy 3-9x50 CDS and love it. The Barnes 127 gr LRX shoots half MOA as is but I need to get off my rear end and adjust the trigger. Fully rigged it's 10- 1/2 lbs not a light weight but rather a piece o cake when you're used to lugging a Sharps or '86 Win around.

edit to add:

Better than average timber with excellent fit and finish way better than a New Rem or Win IMO.

Thanks Flem.

Great looking rifle! I love a good looking fullstock rifle with about a 20" barrel!

I'm not surprised to hear about the weight. Lots of steel there.

I have two, a FS in 6.5X55 and an American in 9.3X62. Both are very good rifles, accurate as well. Fit and finish is very good, better than I have seen on Remington's and Winchester's latest offerings. Both have "set triggers" which some do not like. I do like them for bench work. The actions are a bit stiff when new but free up and become very smooth. Wood can vary from fantastic to rather plain, the CZ roulette.. If you can view the rifle prior to purchase you will know. As to weight, they are on the heavy side. Around 7 3/4 to 8 pounds. For the money they are hard to beat in my book, although the prices are rising from what I paid.

No comments on the plastic follower or sharp safety lever? How about the set trigger. Dirtfarmer said they break fairly easily. The 550 9.3x62mm I had was a nice rifle, extremely rugged, a little on the heavy side, nice fit and finish, good balance and excellent accuracy. By no means a pre 64 model 70 though...

Pass on ones with full length stock. They are heavy, ugly and have balance of heavy pry bar. Now you get plastic forend tip, and follower. The bolt knob can also separate from the stem. The American model with plastic stock is a nice rifle. Better yet find ZKK 600 or ZKK 601 instead. The bolt stem and knob are one piece and rear sight is steel blade instead of cheap alloy Williams unit.

I've had mine just over 6 years now and have put around 200 rounds through it. It is a FS 9.3X62.

When it came it was a little rough to cycle the action, very similar to a Ruger African 375 my son got at the same time. Both smoothed up with a little use.

My safety was a little sharp, but minor work with a file then some cold blue touch up fixed that. The safety location and function (the FS safety is three position) is excellent. I'm a fan of the Winchester Model 70 safety but prefer the one on the CZ550.

I lucked out on the wood. The factory finish was quite dark and murky. I removed the old finish and did some minor work on the stock. It now weighs 8 lbs 3 oz. as pictured with the scope and mounts. I left the set trigger as is. The rifle is perhaps my most accurate. The current balance and handling is excellent; the stock work helped there.









This is what it looked like before refinishing the stock.

CKW . . . that's a beauty! I have not seen one with wood that nice before!

I am a fan of the fullstock, especially on a classic chambering like the 9.3x62. They just go together.

Thanks for the info

Mine is a 9.3x62 American and shoots just about anything I put into very well. Best load is a 250gr TTSX and 60.5gr of Varget. As new the stock was way to bulky and had a very long length of pull. I shortened the fore stock, slimmed the whole thing down, opened up the grip angle and cut the length to fit me. I also added a barrel band and took out the set trigger function. Love the gun and wish I could find a 7x57 or 30.06 to set up the same way.

Weight comes with all that steel; no way around it without compromising something else that's important like barrel stiffness. Some would argue that the 550 is Mauser-like, not the real deal.

550s were on my short list for a while, but since the price went up there are other choices that are more apealing to me like Ruger Hawkeyes, M70s, and MRCs. For a bit more, blued/walnut Kimbers are very handsome as well as very light and handy. The last Kimber I saw in the flesh was a SS/walnut .30/06, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

I have only owned four 550's, a Magnum .416 Rigby purchased used in 2001, a 9.3x62 rifle purchased new in 2002, a 9.3x62 Stutzen purchased new in 2005, and a .270 Winchester from only a couple years ago. All were very accurate, but I only own the first two now.

Some comments on the posts so far:

In general, older 550's were more finely machined, but the .270 was plenty nice.

I've adjusted the set triggers on all of mine so the primary (unset) pull was around 3 pounds, at which point the set feature went away. I have heard about 550 triggers being delicate but have had no trouble with mine, and both the rifles I still have have spent considerable time hunting both in North America and in multiple trips to Africa.

The length of pull on factory walnut CZ stocks is longer than on typical American rifles because that's how many European companies make 'em. Instead of providing a one-size-fits-all length, they make them long so they can left that way for taller shooters and cut down for shorter shooters. This also how many European companies make shotgun stocks.

All four of mine have been very accurate, along with the several other CZ rifles I've owned, including several rimfires and couple of 527 centerfires.

I prefer the CZ 550 safety to the Model 70 type, as it doesn't stick out as far and is easier to work. But all of mine have been 3-position, while newer 550 safeties are only 2-position.

A little work had to be done on the .416, including installing a stronger magazine spring, to get it to feed perfectly every time. The others were fine out of the box.

I worked over the stock on the .416 to fit me better, and it turned out to have very nice figure. The 9.3x62 rifle eventually got custom-stocked, which resulted in a rifle weighing 8 pounds exactly with scope. The weight seems to be perfect for me with 550's chambered for larger cartridges, but those chambered for smaller rounds (like the .270) are on the heavy side by present standards.

Mine is the Lux model in 9.3x62. While I hear mixed opinions on the hump back stock, it does feel trimmer / less chunky (to me) than the American stock version. I do find this stock shape more difficult to shoot on a bench - recoil drives my elbow into the bench. I could live without the set trigger in this chambering and am considering one of AHR's replacement triggers. It's a quality rifle and shoots extremely well - one of my favorites...

The Brno 98s made until relatively recently were better rifles. Sadly they no longer seem to be available. Who knows maybe all Vz24 actions ended up with rifle manufacturer in South Africa.

I can't recall the last time I saw one locally. All we seem to get are rimfires and 527s. The lumber on the 527s has ranged from okay to pretty bad; made on Monday I suppose.

The 550s are, I believe, the best deal going for those who favor traditional materials and don't want to buy used. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if there's anyone else making forged CRF rifles these days.

What leads you to believe CZ550 action is forged?

Dang! Don't tell me I got caught assumin' again.

After reading your post, I poked about on the www a bit, but only found one reference on the construction, and that described a cast trigger guard assembly. Are the receiver and bolt cast too or machined barstock?

If they're cast, that's just another reason for me to keep buying FNs when I'm feeling Mauserish. Lots of nice rifles are cast, of course; Rugers, Noslers, MRCs, etc. I just prefer forged when possible for entirely foolish, old-timey, Luddite reasons.

Like mine and the weight helps with the recoil,even the 7x57.


This one weighs about 9-3/4 lbs.




This one weighs 9 lbs and is a sweetheart to shoot.

I have owned two. One was a full stock. The best thing about them is the action. Everything else is near average. One stock was so poorly finished I tackled that before even mounting a scope. The FS barrel and action was actually off center in the stock. Both shot reasonably well but they were not particularly well balanced rifles. The scope rings that came with them looked as if they had been turned from a used truck axle. I would not put them on the top of my list if looking for a rifle today.

I think my CZ 550 is a terrific rifle. My only issue is CZ should import them them with prettier wooden stocks for the American customer.
But deer and elk don't care how pretty your rifle is...