Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles CZ 527 Scopes

I am not sure this should be in optics, hunting rifles, or predators and varmints, but I thought I may get the best response here.

I am considering buying two CZ 527 rifles, one would be a Varmint Model in 204 Ruger. I would like to buy a Leupold with the Varmint Hunter reticle, and I think that means it has to be a VX-3, so it would be either a 4.5-14 or a 6.5-20. I don’t think it is a available on their 6-18, unfortunately. I don’t plan to spin dials and this would primarily be a prairie dog gun. I would like to keep the scope relatively trim and don’t want to go to 50mm objective.

-Is 4.5-14 enough magnification?
-Desirability of adjustable objective or side focus?
-Any need for 30mm tube if I am using the VH reticle and not spinning dials?

The second 527 would be an American, probably a 222, 221 FB, or 223. Used mainly as a walking varminter, semi fur friendly, and back-up on prairie dogs (I have a tang safety Ruger 22-250 for coyotes). Again, it’s a little rifle, i don’t want a huge scope. Probably just duplex reticle.

-Desirability of Adj Obj?
-Preference of 3-9 or 4-12?
-Preference on caliber?

The scopes I would be looking at for this would be 3-9x33 EFR, 3-9x40, 4-12x40 AO, 4-12x40 fixed objective, or 3.5-10x40. Any recommendations?

4.5-14 is about perfect IMO. I run the same gun/cartridge on prairie dogs with a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14. I also have a Zeiss conquest 6.5-20 on a 223 and prefer the smaller scope by a fair margin.
3-9 is fine for a walking varmint rig IMO.

If you read into extreme range shooting many people use the 25x -30x scopes on 14-15-16 power -not 20-22-30x .
I also have a 4.5x14-44 zeiss conquest -- hands down my favorite scope .
No 'need' for a 30mm tube , but they're nice - easy to get behind/look through .
222 all the way for the American CZ .

Walking varminter type rifle something starting at 3x - 3.5x to 9x - 10x - 12x is nice when you stumble right up on a critter . Nothing wrong witha quality 3x9-40 scope -ever- , I have two 2x8-32 nikon monarch scopes that I really like , although they don't look as good as a 40mm on the CZ due to the highish rings/bolt throw .

Good luck - you'll love the CZ's .

Lots of good info in there. Some more questions:

On the 4.5-14, is adjustable objective or side focus desirable for a prairie dog gun? I don’t think Leupold makes a 4.5-14 AO any more, although used ones come up for sale here and there. So I would probably have to go either fixed objective, or with side focus, which I believe is a 30mm tube. I was under the impression that the main advantage to the 30mm tube was greater elevation and windage adjustment for dialing. Are there other advantages to the fatter tube?

I was thinking 222 on the other rifle as well. For that use, would a guy want fixed or adjustable objective? Seems like maybe fixed would be easier. There are still some VX-2 AOs floating around and the 3-9x33 is available in the freedom series.

I had also wondered about the 33mm objective - I have a 3-9x33 efr on a t-bolt 17 HMR, and it would be a nice fit size-wise on a 527. They have a smaller eyepiece, which I thought maybe helpful on the 527 because of the high bolt throw, but if lower rings aren’t available a guy could just as well use a larger objective.

I have read many, many positive comments about the Conquest scopes on this site. It seems like several years ago, they were priced real well and were a lot of scope for the money, but then Zeiss raised the prices a lot - is that the case?

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

The side focus is faster but turning the objective is no problem of coarse just preference maybe - or what you have onhand or what comes along that has worked for you before .

Scope tube size - bigger does allow for more elevation/windage . The way I heard 1'' vs 30mm vs 34mm vs 40mm scope tubes - try looking through a drinking straw - then one of the 3/4'' BB gun scopes - then a 1'' - right on up to a 40mm scope tub [IOR Valdada Crusader] . You can imagine how that process would go pretty easily .

I wouldn't want an adjustable objective type scope on a walking varminter rifle , if a shooter lines up his cheekweld looking straight through the scope - parallax error is so tiny it's not even worth considering .
The compact 33mm objective scope you speak of sounds perfect to me for the walking around rifle.
A few guys on rimfire central did a multi gun multi scope test on the 50 yard ''rimfire scope'' vs the common centerfire 100 yard parallax type scope , they came up with the fact that a ''rimfire scope'' is a farce . Nothing wrong with it but nothing to worry about when putting a centerfire type scope on a rimfire . The only way there was any perceptable difference in groups on paper was to get so far away from the center of the scope that the black halo was covering the point of aim . THEN the point of aim would only be off 3/4''ish never 1'' off . Point being look through any quality scope like a shooter with common sense would and parallax won't be an issue . The guys doing the test shoot barrels out on 17hmr's - takes about 10,000ish rounds - FYI .

I see deals on Conquest scopes here on the Fire quite often - haven't paid attention to the new scopes or prices .

My comment on the big magnification scopes was about longrange shooting - where mirage can effect you - nothing wrong at all with a 20-24x scope for targets/group shooting/varmints . I have a 6.5x20-50 conquest on a 280AI - really like it and use it on 20x often .

Have a good one - Mike

I have a CZ 527 American in .204 with a Bushnell Elite 4-12 mounted on top. I wouldn't want to go any larger than that for my use.

On a side note, I was never drawn to CZ's in the past but this .204 came a long at a price that was just too good to pass so I decided to give it a shot and boy am I glad I did. That rifle will put a smile on your face any time you take it out. Makes me look like a better shooter than I am.

The last scope I had on my 527 was one of Doug's closeout Hawke 2-7. It was a very good fit, with plenty of eye-relief. It's a bit heavier than Leupolds at 15oz+, but everyone that handled it liked the package.

I have 2 CZ 527 rifles, one is the first I ever saw in 223. it must be 15-20 years old and it wears a Leupold VX-III in 4.5X14 AO.
The other I bought 3 years ago and is a 222 that wears a Leupold VX3i 4.5X14 with no parallax adjustment, don't think that I would ever buy this scope again because there is parallax at 14X

Thanks everyone for your input

I think that I am leaning towards a 4.5-14x40 with side focus and 30mm tube on the 204 varmint. I would like the varmint hunter reticle for that rifle.

For a 527 American in 222, I think that I will stay away from fixed a objective in 4x12. Really, for field of view at low power, I really don’t want it to start higher than 3x or 3.5x. Maybe a 3-9x40 or 3.5-10x40. I still think the small size and narrower eyepiece of the 3-9x33 efr may be a nice fit, just not sure it gets me anywhere because of the limited ring mounts available for these rifles.

I would like to get up to 12x on the high end - because I think a 222 could use it. Seems like a 3-12 would be about perfect. I will do some research on Conquests and have also heard a lot about Meopta - I think they made the earlier Conquests. I am not so tied to Leupold on the 222, as a duplex reticle is fine on that.

Thanks again!

Which rings are you going to use on your 204? I just ordered a CZ Varmint in 17 Hornet. Probably going with a 30 mm tube Vortex with a 50 mm obj. Don't know if I need medium, or high rings. The rifle will. E here Tuesday or Wednesday.

You are ahead of me in the process. The two I plan to check out are the Warnes and the Burris. I think that the Warnes are supposed to be slightly lower and that is the way I am leaning.

The scope I am looking at would be 40mm objective - I am not sure how the Warnes or Burris will work with 50mm. I really hesitate to give you bad advice, because I am unsure, but I think the factory CZ Rings May be higher and may work with 50mm. I believe that Warne only makes one height - not sure about Burris or Leupold.

Thanks. Yes, all I could find was high Warn. Going to check around a bit. Will post up some pix when I have it all together.

I have a left handed CZ 527 American 223 rem. I put the Leupold 3-9x33 efr scope on it as it look good fit on the petite mini action. I have not had time to play around with it as I've kept playing musical scope with it.

Would sure like to hear how that works out for you, and pictures would be much appreciated