Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 457 stock refinish ???

Has anyone tried Mule Deer’s suggestion on the thread in Ask the Gunwriters? He suggested rubbing with OOOO steel wool to knock the mud down showing more grain. Seems like a reasonable thing to try for someone who is intimidated by the whole stripping process as I am.

Sitka deer suggested using Formby’s Furniture Refinisher with rough rags. It looks like that product has been discontinued by a large firm that produces Minwax Furniture Refinisher and I see reports that many think it is not nearly as good. Apparently there are a few sellers of old stock of Formby’s but it’s pricey — $149 for a pint!

After putting another hundred rounds through my 457 American I found that the polished horn butt plate was just too slick, it keep sliding around on my shoulder. So I took it off and tooled in a jack rabbit to keep the squirrel some company.

I like the jackrabbit. Very cool. The only problem I'd have is it reduces the LOP. I'm leaving my new CZ 457 American just the way it is now. It's shooting great, after glass bedding and freefloating. I may remove the original recoil pad down the road, and add a red pachmayr, but I can't afford to lose any LOP. Your rifle looks great! Nice work..

I don't mind the dark brown finish on my new rifle:


While it's not nearly as nice as my 52 sporter, it's not bad. Could be a lot worse. The main thing with my rifle was the barrel was riding on the stock a little bit, and not quite centered through the barrel channel. Got that fixed, and properly glass bedded it, and now it's damn near perfect.



That's all that is required. Like I've said before, if you think you can squish the plastic pillars, good luck with that. It's not going to happen. Since the steel recoil lug is in the back of the receiver on these rifles, a good epoxy pad under the chamber and a little at the face of the receiver, is all that is needed. Others can do it how they want, but that was my approach, and I look at things in a mechanical manner.

Also, the targets downrange show some proof. It's always nice to be able to show proof, when a certain method works.





Also, as I've said before, these are not "target" or benchrest rifles. However, the rifle is performing as well as I would have hoped, after a little work.

I agree though, if you can live with the factory finish, do it. Some can, and others not so much. Most times I' am more focused on the mechanics, but try to start with a rifle that is not hard on the eye. Some of these 457 American's are worse than others. Which is why it's taken me over 2 years to finally lay my money down. I've seen some that were absolutely gorgeous. Some I've kicked myself in the azz for not buying.

After reading all of the comments and seeing pictures of how different stock refinish projects have turned out I am just going to live with the dark factory finish. Like I mentioned in the original post I don't have the patience or knack for doing a nice refinish, mine would likely turn out poorly.

As far as accuracy - I have the action screws tightened to where that when one or the other is loosened there is no movement of the barrel that can be felt when holding on to the fore-end tip of the rifle with my thumb against the barrel. It seems to want to shoot right around 1/2" ten shot groups at 50 yds with ammo it likes. While it is not becnhrest accuracy it is plenty good enough for gopher shooting.

The 457 American is by far the most ammo sensitive rifle I have ever owned though - perhaps I am just spoiled by my Tikka T1x 22LR though, it shoots any ammo very well and with mid-level ammo it really shines.

Some 457 group pocs using inexpensive ammo - the broad black lines are 1" and the small inner lines are 1/4" for reference

5 shots @ 50 yds Norma TAC


10 shots @ 50 yds Norma TAC


10 shots @ 50 yds CCI S/V - a lot which groups very well out of any of my 22's

Nice clean job on the bedding. So you just bedded about 3 or 4 inches of the barrel in front of the action? Any bedding around the rear lug?

It's always nice when they cluster in like that. I also agree, that my 457 is not my most accurate rifle. It is a lot more finicky than any of my other rifles. Even my new to me 1974 Winchester model 320 shoots better. The new to me Winchester 52 sporter shoots lights out with many different types of ammo as well. I do like and appreciate a rifle much more, when it shoots cheap ammo good. From my experience, most rifles will shoot the expensive ammo real well, when properly tuned and the mechanicals right. That is good that your rifle shoots CCI SV well, that ammo is $5/box at wally world. That's a great rifle that shoots ammo like that well. My favorite ammo to test different rifles with is the Federal Automatch. I have a lot of boxes of that stuff, because it's always inexpensive. I bought a bunch when it was like $18/box. Some of the newer boxes were $21/box. The strange thing is some of my rifles prefer the newer stuff over the old boxes I have. Go figure...

This is real world results with my 457 and cheap wally world Federal Automatch^^^ The Kidd barreled 10/22 will put that ammo into a small ragged hole.

I think the cheapest ammo, besides the Fed Automatch, that I've used in the 457, that really surprised me was the copper plated older Aguila. That stuff shot way above its price point ($4.95/box):


I even shot the St. Patrick's day challenge I posted in this forum, with that ammo in my new 457, because it seemed to shoot well enough. Didn't score quite as high (62) as I was hoping for, but again, it's not a benchrest or even a varmint type rifle.


You should try that shoot with yours. Elijah is accepting targets until the end of this month.

It doesn't need it, as the action is very solid in the stock right now. Kind of locked in, in fact. Just the way I like them.