Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Ruger African vs CZ 550 in 9.3x62

which rifle do you prefer in the 9.3x62?

Both weight nearly 8 lbs unloaded

Ruger = 7.75 lbs
CZ = 8 lbs

Put on a scope and load them and your close to 9 lbs
Plan on a Mc light stock, that's what I did.

I went sako, after having the CZ, CZ is vary accurate, but I didn't care for it's action that much. I do like ruger but again all of them run into weight issues.
At least for me that is.

Its a toss up for me. I'd go with the one that you can get the better deal on. However, I don't care for the eruopean slope pos stock they are putting on some of the CZ's and the kevlar one is dog azz ugly....If you could find a nice old CZ 550 american with nice wood like the one I have then it would be a toss up.....Rugers have nice clean lines and generally have nice wood on them. I've never had a ruger I can't get to shoot well either.....Should I change my answer to Ruger??? Maybe

Having handled but not shot both, the Ruger hands down.

Ruger feels better shouldered.

I have a dog azz ugly CZ 550 American 9.3x62 with kevlar stock that is one of my favorites. It shoulders well, is accurate and is a real joy to shoot. Though not a Ruger African, I do own a M77 Hawkeye in a 358 Winchester that is a real shooter as well. I don't think you could go wrong with either.

The average CZ 550 weighs less than 8 pounds. I bought mine 10 years ago and it weighed 8-1/2 pounds with the factory stock and a 4x Leupold in Talley rings. Had it restocked in a fancy piece of walnut 4 years ago, and the stockmaker (Gene Gordner of Kilimanjaro Rifles) made it so nice and slim the rifle now weights 8 pounds on the nose with scope.

I had a Ruger Hawkeye African in .375 Ruger for a while and as I recall it also weighed about 8-1/2 with a 4x Leupold in the factory rings. The 9.3x62's weight won't be much different.

Of course either rifle's weight with a walnut stock will vary somewhat with the density of the wood.

Yeah, but which rifle would you pick out of the 2??? I love my CZ 550 american but it is an older one like yours. Sombeesh is accurate and tough as nails and looks good too....I can say the same for the rugers too...

I've got an older CZ 550 9.3x62 (maybe 8-9 years old, I bought it used about 7 years ago) and it's smoother than any out of the box Ruger 77II I've handled, with the exception of the RSM's.

Mine is the FS model, with the 20.5" barrel and in its McMillan stock it runs 8lbs with a Leupold 4x in Burris rings.

I also hav a CZ550 in 9.3X62, it was a bit stiff cycling when new. It is very smooth now. Great trigger either set or normal. Never have been a real Ruger fan, triggers normally need work, and the wood on my CZ is much better than what I normally see from Ruger. I do not have an Ruger African model, but have handled one, for myself I like the CZ.

I like both, but for me the Ruger is a better value. By that I mean less to do to it to make it how I want it. For me that's less $$ out of pocket for a finished product

That's what my Ruger H African with the same scope weighs exactly. I will add a
A McM McWoody though not so much for the weight factor as the durability one.

It ain't just weight. The Ruger stock "feels" much better than than that of the CZ. Go to a shop and play with them both. Short of ergonomics they are darn close (a win for the Ruger sights) to one and the same I believe.

I agree on the sights. The sights Ruger puts on their 9.3 are much better than the current sights on the CZ's. My CZ came with an EAW rear sight island with a two-leaf folding V-sight and an EAW banded front sight base with a hand-detachable red fiber optic bead. They stopped putting nice sights on the 550's about 6-7 years ago I think.

I have not handled a CZ 550 but know the Ruger stock is alright with me and was pleasantly surprised at the stoutness of the irons in this day "cheapening down".

I also bought a CZ 550 Lux 9.3x62 back around the same time - probably based on the praise you were giving it then (mine still wears the original hog back stock). I also picked up a Ruger African 9.3x62 last year and it is a bit heavier than my CZ - the Ruger is closer to 8# and the CZ closer to 7.5# (without scopes). As you say - different wood densities I suppose. I was planning to sell the CZ when I bought the Ruger but I can't seem to bring myself to art with it. If I was looking at both new today, I'd probably go with the Ruger mainly because I prefer the Lux to the American and understand the Lux's are no longer imported. They both shoot equally well - I'd have to give a slight edge to the CZ regarding accuracy, though both are easily sub-MOA with their preferred loads.

I own the CZ and have fired the Ruger some. They are very close in weight etc. The Ruger looks a little better but my CZ shoots Norma factory ammo crazy good, so I have to say CZ. I am not putting down the Ruger at all and if every thing were the same, I would buy American as I do at every opportunity. YMMV.

PS - Given the chance to put a Rifle's Inc. trigger on the Ruger and do some load development and my answer would probably change.

Again, YMMV!

Mine's older as well and I like some of the features they had then better than the newer CZ's.....The guy I bought mine from said it was an older one without the set trigger. He told me he "bought it way back when CZ's wern't really popular in the US". He's hunted with it in africa a few times and loved it but didn't see himself going back so he sold it to me.....All I know is the old one and I love it:

I chose the CZ550FS, I wanted a light stalking rifle and the hogback stock is designed for open sight use, I added a NEG peep sight. The gun shoots very well.

It's my observation that Ruger 77's have nicer looking stocks than the CZ 550 American wood stocks. My CZ 550 has the older style Lux stock with the wood and checkering as nice as a Ruger has. This is just my subjective opinion. Performance wise I experience the models 550 and the 77 as equal. My Ruger 77 in 270 is terrific. And my CZ 550 in 9.3x62 shoots as reliably and accurately.

The 270 and the 9.3x62 are a nice combination! A little less recoil than the traditional 30/06 and 375 H&H combo with less felt recoil.