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Am I missing something as the CZ 550 I have is a 2 position safety but Mule Deer you mention a 3-position?

The CZ-550 rifles have been produced with BOTH "2" and "3" position side safeties.

Okay, thanks for the clarification.

I like the CZ safety, other than that, it's just aesthetics for me. I like the straighter bolt handle, barrel band etc..

Here's the pic of the Burgess handle. I should have taken it from farther away, sorry.



This is a pic Tom sent me while he was doing the work.

On the CZ-USA website, it says the current 550 has a 2 position safety. Are there some models with a 3 position or was that just on older models?

The 3-position was on older models. My 1999 .416 Rigby and 2002 9.3x62 both have the 3-position, but my recent .270 Winchester American has the 2-position. I don't know exactly when they made the change; maybe somebody else does.

The two main mechanical things about either version are that when the safety's on "safe" the firing pin is locked back and the bolt handle locked down--unlike on many other rifles made these days. It's also in a very handy place and doesn't have to move a vast amount to go from safe to fire.

I'm very happy with the three position safety on my CZ550. However, I understand why someone would convert it to a Winchester type bolt mounted safety. Familiarity under stress. Or simply personal preference.

Thanks, I love looking at Tom's work. He was the best.

Here's a picture I got on line, showing a Tom Burgess .404J, Enfield. Really nice.



Here is AHR's version of the CZ

I am fairly certain that I recall that Burgess rifle as one built by him and stocked by some guy called "Echols" or something like that? I seem to remember it as listed for sale on Maurice Hallowell's site several years ago and it started at about 8K, but, was subsequently priced at $6995.00, a STEAL for a rifle like that.

I also seem to recall that it was a .416 Remmy, but, this was circa 2006-2007, IIRC and I might be mistaken. In any event, it is a simply stunning example of what a "DGR" can be and I lusted after it!

Fortunately, as I have NO use for a rifle like that, it would cost several hundred $$$ over the list price to import it into Canada, and while my wife has been a tremendous supporter of my "gunaholism" as few I know of have been, she also queried my "need" for it. However, it made me then and still does, go a little weak in the knees!

That four letter word, "NEED" gives me the jitters...

But, our ladies are usually right. Sorta aggravating that they're right so much...

But, as John Keats, the Scottish poet wrote many years ago in his Ode on a Grecian Urn, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever".

Maybe if ole John was still around he'd write an Ode on an Untimate Rifle...

DF

No 'why-nots' available here, I have one on a VZ action as well, very accurate and recoil is much lighter than a comparable 416 Rigby.

Gunner

That type of rifle, while gorgeous and a masterful example of the American "best" in gunmaking, is not very useful or practical here in BC. It is too heavy for a "mountain rifle" and "kicks" too hard for the "beanfield" shooting which does exist in a limited way in some regions here.

I can certainly understand and empathize with any obsessive "gun nut" who would buy it simply to own and admire it, but, all of my rifles are, have been and will continue to be strictly practical and "working" guns. I can see buying an Echol's "Legend" or one of Simillion's rifles of a similar type and using it for almost all of my hunting---if, I were 15-20 years younger---, but, my fascination with wooden stocks,etc, has long since disappeared and so that one caused "lust", but, was never something I would actually buy.

Each to his own, what works for me and I prefer may well be much different than another's cherished and well-used favourite piece.

BTW, no offence, I was an "English major", long ago and also owned my own bookstore for a few years, so, am "interested" in literary matters. John Keats, was not a Scot, he was a "Sassenach" born in London, England and as English as his fellow "Younger Romantics."

Thanks for the correction. I must have dozed in English class.

Can't blame me for trying to make him a Scotsman.

DF

One minor point but, I think, a valid one.

For some reason, many smiths who convert the bolt handles of CZ 550's and other rifles tend to make them 90 degrees from the bolt body. But there is a real reason for the bend in the bolt handle of the 550, FN Mauser commercial actions, Model 70 Winchester,Remington 700, etc: It places the knob further back, where it's easier to raise when a quick second shot is needed. Your arm doesn't have to stretch as far forward to find it, so your hand can grasp the handle faster and more easily.

This is one of the basics of bolt manipulation, and one of the reasons the Lee-Enfield is one of the fastest and easiest bolt actions to cycle, and the Mannlicher-Schoenauer one of the most awkward. Yes, the LE's service bolt handle is at 90 degrees from the bolt body, but the handle itself is further toward the rear of the bolt than on a Mauser, Model 70, Remington 700, etc. Which is why some hunters who don't care for the curve in the bolt handle of the FN Mauser or CZ 550 have them replaced with a Model 70 type handle, rather than just having them bent straight.

My Mk V bolt knob bumps my trigger finger just above the 2nd joint. Aggravating.

My 90* AHR CZ and Oberndorf style Mauser handles, don't. I don't find 700's or 70's, with their swept back bolt handles, to be that bad. I even thought about having the Mk V handle bent forward, but haven't pursued such a radical idea. I don't want to mess it up and the McWoody stock may not accommodate an altered bolt handle angle.

DF

Yeah, the bolts that whack your finger are annoying!

One reason I like the factory handle on my CZ .416 is it doesn't bump my finger, but can still be works really fast--and I've had to, once or twice.

Will the CZ allow you to put a round in the barrel and close the bolt over it or does it have to feed from the magazine?

You can put a round in the chamber and close the bolt.

Which is why so many people replace the swept back handle with one that is more perpendicular. Some folks just hold a rifle differently such that the same rifle you can shoot comfortably whacks them in the finger. Those are the folks that come to me requesting I change the handle.

Different strokes.