Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires CZ 453 Americans for sale

For those that do not surf over on Rimfire Central too. Dunn's Sporting Goods in MO has these for sale ... a special run from CZ. They are priced @ $530 + $25 shipping. Seems to be a fair deal to me. Much to my wife's soon to be dismay, I just purchased one. Fellow I spoke to said there were about a dozen left of the 60 they received.

https://www.shopdunns.com/products/rimfire_rifles/483/1/b_13/

I just wish I could get over the CZ rimfire safety configuration. Can't.

GE

Ive been contemplating letting my ruger 7722 go down the road and get a cz for the more traditional good looks, but I don't know anything about them

Is that cz 455 @ $370 a good one?

Mixed bag of feedback on accuracy. Some shoot wonderfully, some not so much. They are a switch barrel setup so it could be as simple as a poor shooting barrel and vice versa.

Most of the reports on the 452/3 series is that they shoot. I know mine do.

Folks over one RFC love the 455 about as much as the 452. I never owned a 455 so cannot comment, we have several folks here that are loving them though.

Oddly enough, I learned to shoot rifle on a Marlin/Glenfield Mdl 25 and it has a "reverse" safety. Going from that to other rifles was really confusing. But after swapping back and forth over the years, I'm used to it. I also operate several types of mass spectrometers for a living and NONE of those operate similar to each other. So the reverse safety isn't an issue as I just need to be aware of what's in my hands.

Best,

+1. Shooter know thy gun. Just takes a second to familiarize yourself with the controls, much like driving a new or different car. IMO, anyone who cannot do that should not be handling different guns.

Thats fine when you are at the range, but it doesnt apply to a defensive gun. Thats the reason glocks took over revolvers when police departments changed because the operation was similar.

Me personally... I bought a lever action with high see through type mounts and used it one season... and when a 10 pointer came running out - I put my cheek down hard just like my trap shooting and my other normal scoped mounted guns and lost the sight picture. I got the buck and those rings are gone now.

Whats this matter to a 22... well we practice with them for our other guns and sometimes you get a charging racoon you cant fumble the shot on.

It's not that I couldn't remember how to use mine. It was awkward to reach and operate under the scope. It was a fine shooter, and very nicely made.

I love my 453. I don't think you can go wrong buying one. I've yet to decide if my Annie is any more accurate at twice the price.

I posted that note about Dunns over on RFC, after I ordered and received mine. You cannot really compare the old 452 and 453 to current 455 guns. The finish details and QC did vary over time with the 452 as it does IMHO for the entire CZ line. The 453 is the best of the best, for CZ rimfire, IMHO.

The 455 is a whole different gun. Not to say bad, just not a 452/453 old world classic. The 455 is less cost to build. A less rigid a gun with an ill conceived switch barrel system and switch magazine system. Ugly plastic spacer to allow 22mag & 22LR magazine switching. The bolt does not guide in as well with that 'extra' locking lug removed. As a different gun, it has its fans who either dont know or care about the old discontinued 452 or they really want a platform to customize. It is very easy to swap barrels with after market. Unfortunately the dud 455 barrel seems to turn up pretty often. The crown is primary problem. Well bore and chamber on occasion. On the plus side, a good barrel can be locktite in for the long haul. Over torque on the barrel attach can bend the action. It is very easy to dump $1000 into a $400 cz and end up with a gun worth $400. IMHO. One of my buddies has one, he is happy. Opinions vary.

Well, 453 has set trigger and hi gloss blue on well polished steel. My trigger lets go at 2.25 pounds unset and 1 pound set. I never adjusted it. The barrel has a contour profile just like a big rifle (unlike 455). Mine is very accurate. The 453's have a recess match type crown (unlike the 455).

The safety works off the bolt, just like 98 Mauser or Winchester 70. It is 100% positive and another old world feature. I like it fine and prefer backwards over locking the trigger. This directly locks the firing pin. A fair criticism or point to consider.

My only gripe is the issues mounting a scope. Most 452 and all 455 use European std 11mm tip off groove. There are solutions with several rings and bases. Research required. The 453 uses 3/8 USA size tip off, BUT it is NOT standard. So again, there are numerous solutions, but not easy peasy like Marlin or Ruger. What CZ should do with the new 455 is drill and tap for a Weaver style base. CZ offers both size rings for those not wanting to do the research. There are several weaver scope rail solutions, just take a little digging to find them. And CZ sells a base. DIP has a better one. J&P has another base. Some rings fit well right on the groove. I had a Weaver 12 base and scope on my Ruger American, same day - done. After a month I am still considering the features and benefits of the numerous options for the CZ.

Fourbore that link may end up costing me. Duns isn't but 15 min away from me and I don't need temptation. Luckily I'm tapped out somit should be easy to say no.

Jim, a little plastic and you'll be tapped in

I had mine out this week-end for some limited shooting. SK match was a great ammo choice. Wolf MT wasn't bad, but SK printed 5-consectutive groups under 0.5". Still too soon to say this is a 1/2" rifle, but it looks promising. I topped it with a 3-9x AO Leupold RF scope in Warne rings. It may be damn close to becoming a favorite of mine. These groups were obtained with (3) and without (2) the set trigger. Only fired one group @ 100 yards with it. It went 1.25-ish for five rounds so there is really NOTHING that can be said about its precision at that range with that ammo. Nice thing is the scope has plenty of goes upsa for shooting matches at 100 yards meaning a base is not needed.

A year ago, I woulda said CZ ... why? Now I own a 452 Military Specical and 453's in Varmint and American trim. I'm now like, why not? Funny thing was I didn't originally like these rifle due to the cheesy trigger guard, I can like with'em now. As I stated earlier, the safety is no biggie as I rarely use'em. I typically walk with an empty chamber and learned to shoot in a model 25, which has a backwards safety.

Visa = Tapped in

Some nice old .22s have a strap trigger guard too. DIP has a very nice one in two styles for about $120.

One weakness of the 453 American is the single action screw. When I got mine, I noticed a tapping sound when I was handling the rifle. It was caused by the barrel contacting the forend at times because of the single screw holding things together. Before I ever fired it, I shimmed the barrel just behind the forend tip with a piece of flexible plastic.

The best two loads I found for mine were Agila Match Rifle and RWS SSHPs. Both averaged under .4" for 3 five shot groups at 50.

Besides the set function, the 453 trigger, unlike the 452 and 455 triggers, doesn't look like it came off a SMLE.

Both my 453's have TWO action screws (American & Varmint)

I thought for sure all the 453s had 2 action screws. Interesting that yours has one.

This is clearly a defective gun. Or got a screw loose. What ever you call it, another slip past CZ ever vigilant QA dept. But it sounds very accurate, so; I would leave it be.