Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints CZ rifles chambered in .223, anyone shooting one of these...?

Researching the CZ 527 synthetic stock .223 AND the CZ HS precision stock heavy barrel?

Looking for a .223 bolt rifle, varmints and target, using .55 gr bullets ideally, factory loads. Have great experience with the CZ rifle line, awesome quality for decent price, solid shooters in the CZ's I have.

The 527 M1 American synthetic stock in .223 has a 1 : 12 rate of twist with a 21' barrel

The 527 Kevlar Varmint, in .223 HS Precision Stock, 1 : 9 rate of twist with a heavy barrel 24"

Any experience with these?
Recommendations on best rate of twist for 5 gr bullets?

thanks!

Mike:

We have both of these rifles in our group of shooters, and they are both very accurate. The varmint 527 is a little tighter grouping than the 527 carbine with wood stock I own, but that said the best group out of the little carbine, is .318" at 100yds. I shoot 50 grain Sierra Blitz King/26H335, and its perfect in my rifle. We also shoot 24.8 IMR3031 with 52 or 53 grain Sierra or Hornady match bullets, they shoot one hole in both rifles.

Jerry

Jerry
Thank you for the info. That is good to hear. I am a fan of the CZ rifles performance/value. This is my first entry in .223 bolt rifles.

Mike

Had a CZ 527 Varmint 204 a few yrs back..shot well..had beautiful walnut...just too lightweight for my uses...sold it to a guy in Idaho...

The composite stock is nice, but the new polymer is absolute crap. The rifles themselves are great. I'm taking my 6.5 Grendel CZ-527 out today to thin the white tail population.

I just wish the kevlar stock didn't have the palm swells. I know lots of people like them, but I am not one of them. Perhaps someday a company will make a good aftermarket composite for the 527. Mine is under 7 pounds with a #5 barrel and walnut. I'm betting it would be hard to make a very light mountain rifle.

I have the 527 American 1/12 and I love the rifle,It shoots better than I do.Im shooting 40 vmax,but it shoots the 55's very well,Ive also loaded up some Win 64gr.pp and there grouping about an in.at 100yds not to bad for a 1 in 12 twist.
Bob.

iblong

The 1/12 http://www.cz-usa.com/product_detail.php?id=90 527 M1 American Synthetic is the one I am considering. 55 gr shooter until I work up a load.

What did you use for bases/rings, CZ or others?

thanks

I believe the were waren high ,to get the clearance I needed tried the mediums wasnt do able.

Interesting page on scope mounting:

http://www.icehouse.net/no7up/cz527ascope.html

Bruce

A friend and i both shoot CZ's, mine are in .204 his in .223. His .223 Varmint Kevlar shoots both 55 Vmax and 75 Amax over H4895 into consistant groups under 1/2". He is a older fella that has/had his share of rifles and i can say i have never seen him shoot as good as he does with this CZ. If i was to buy one of the two i would go with the 1:9 twist.

I just bought a CZ 527 M1 American model in 223 REM and mounted a Luepold 3-9x40mm VX2 (with the LR reticle) on it. It is a very nice handling rifle and the accuracy is superb. During break-in and zero at the range, it repeatedly put 55gr V-Max Hornady factory rounds on the money and touching at 100 yards. I expect .3" groups after working up a load. This thing shoots!

I highly recommend the CZ 527 to anyone looking for a compact and great handling walking coyote rig.

I have 2 CZ rifles and a SxS 16 ga. Shotgun, the Ring Neck. My CZ 527's are a 7.62x39 Carbine topped with a Leopold 1-4x20 VXII. I have killed a number of deer and hogs with it! My other 527 is the FS a Mannlicher stock in 223 Rem. never put it to paper, but it hits everything if I do my part. Has a Bushnell 4-12x40 with adjustable front lens! I too like and am impressed with all my CZ products!

Otis, I too was looking for a shotgun. I needed a gun for upland birding. I considered a SxS CZ Ringneck as well as the O/U CZ Redhead, all in 20ga. I ended up spending a lot more...got a sweet Beretta 686 White Onyx. Man is it nice! I think the CZ shotguns are a better value for the money but I have always wanted a high end over/under.

I saw the CZ 527 carbine model you have....that is a very nice carry gun and it would make a good bush country deer rifle. I wish more companies would make a small easy carry varmint rigs.

For anyone looking for an easy carry coyote rifle, the Tikka T3 Lite in 223 is another good one. My beef with it is the palm swell and one pound more weight. On the cheap, even a Remington SPS would work but IMO, the low end Rem's are not the quality of a CZ. The Remington model 7 would work well but it needs a detachable magazine. (We have laws up here about loaded firearms in vehicles).

Anyway, have some great hunts!

Guys thanks for all the info. I have the CZ on order now.

So far I am impressed with CZ long guns. The 527 carbine in 7.62x39 is a favorite in my family, my sons both really like the weight, accuracy, and performance. These shoot really well with blue box Federal until I work up a load.

The 550's full stocks are stellar performers from my experience with 6.5x55, 7x57, and 9.3x62.

The shotguns are made by Huglu in Turkey, reviews are solid and above. I did have the 20g sxs pistol grip for awhile (well made, nice wood, decent triggers, but sold it when I tried a Beretta Silver Pigeon o/u in 20g.

Thanks for the info, I will let you know how this CZ performs!

I put together the CZ M1 American (wood) .223 this week and had range time.

Not having much .223 bolt gun experience, curious what to expect. Add a old BSA platinum 24x with CZ bases/rings (got to love that floating check weld!). Checked the float to the receiver as ok.

Conditions were not ideal, 10 to 15 mph wind in the face, wet air (light rain/fog), and left to right gusts. Using 55 grain Georgia Arms FMJ (not exactly precision BTHP's) I was getting two shot touching at 100m and the third a flier, usually 2" away with no consistent pattern.

So I had the opportunity to shoot, clean, and shoot to start breaking in the barrel. Trigger is heavy with no take up, the set trigger is light and crisp. So part of the solution is working on the trigger. Also need to check the torque on the receiver/action screws to verify.

The 62gr Winchester I tried was a pattern of 3 - 4 inches, nothing close. At 200m I had a 5" group, that was 5" low on the paper. Conditions, ammo and trigger stepped in on that one.

Thanks

A good friend has a FS, that he's done quite a bit of work on. He also did some pretty extensive testing with factory ammo, since he refused to reload.

His best results were with bullets under 50gr. I think he's now uses a Hornady load with the 40gr vmax.

Well, the range results are not good with this CZ.

Two range testing sessions and some tweaking with same results. At 100M groups are 3" and 200m groups are 6" with no pattern.

Checked the Receiver to Stock screws for torque, re-torqued with gauge, free float with no pressure points (it is a wood stock), trigger is OK/set trigger is lighter than light). First string is windage on first shot, next shot is left 1" with 2" low and the third shot is usually left another 1" and at least 1" low.

Have tried 55gr BTHP, 62gr, 50gr, gets worse with heavier weight bullets and no improvement going to 50gr.

So, not getting near the results I expected. CZ wants me to send it back, might be a barrel issue. RMA in process.

That is odd and I am sorry to hear your report. Yours is the first one that I have heard of that did not shoot well. Every new one comes with a target shot at the factory....did you get one? Mine was .5" for 3 shots @ 50 yards and my tests confirmed this level of accuracy @ 100 yards, even using factory ammo.

I'd sure send it back. Unless of course, could it be the scope?

I have had the same rifle for over 3 years and have been very happy. It will shoot most bullets under 1/2".
That being said, my father bought a CZ in 22-250 because I had talked mine up so much, and he had a miserable time with it. He had owned several .22-250's before, so its not like he had to search for some acceptable loads for it and nothing worked.
Finally, out of frustration he chopped the barrel to 18" to see if stiffening it up would help. As it turned out, the barrel was .012 thicker on one side. The bore wasn't in the center of the barrel and it shot like crap.
It has been rebarreled and shoots fine now.