Oregon,
I've got a CZ Model 3 that is in 7mmWSM and I'm quite happy with it. As you suspected, it is a Montana Rifle 1999 action and barrel and every one I've seen is stainless, not nickel plated. I really like the rifle. While true, the action is not finished perfectly, there are very few factory rifles out there that are. It took me a little work to slick the action up, but not much at all. The barrel, I think, is fantastic for a factory tube. It has the smoothest finish of any factory rifle I've ever seen and cleans up nicely after shooting. The action is basically a Model 70 clone, with the only real difference being the bolt relase, which on the CZ is cast into the side of the receiver. The trigger is identical in design to the Model 70 and adjusts the same way. My rifle has a very nice wooden stock that is very trim, with fancy checkering. I debated about bedding the stock, since there is no bedding as received from the factory, but decided to shoot it first to see. It shoots very well, and while I have only tried 160 gr. Accubonds in it, I can easily get 1" groups at 100 yards if I do my part. After removing the action from the stock, it is apparent why I don't need to bed the action since the inletting of the stock is done very well, with little slop. I have yet to find out who stocked these rifles for CZ, but whoever did, did a great job for a factory rifle. Other good things are a generous magazine length to allow seating bullets out as far as you need to, a 24" barrel, and fluted barrel, although I did hear that some of these rifles did not have the barrel fluted. The only down side I see to owning one of these rifles is that they are not light. Without scope, I think mine goes about 7 1/2 pounds. For someone looking for a slightly different rifle from a Ruger or Winchester that is CRF, I think it is a good value. I personally like the look of stainless in a wooden stock, but I think if you were to put this action into a synthetic stock, you'd have an incredibly rugged, reliable rifle for most anything you'd want to shoot, especially in 300WSM. Just my 2 cents! Best of luck to you.
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