Can you improve a CZ?

[dave]

Was just having a think.....dangerous i know! And ive got the old mans cz in the rifle in 22wmr. Has hardly seen the light of day in a few years now ive got hold of a trigger kit and its quite nice, new mags, 3-9x56 and millet rings on the way but should i try something else with the bedding etc which might tighten up groups perhaps?

[Brad Y]

replace the barrel with a 17 cal jobby chambered in 17HMR....

lets just see what that stirs up hehe

[stinkitup]

What model is it? bedding the action and floating the barrel should help as in most occasions, the guys over at rimfirecentral might be able to help, there is a great bunch on the CZ forum there.

[Curtley78]

G'day Dave,

Many years ago there was a man by the name of Himo Petzal (spelling)? However, I am led to believe that he passed on.

His Brunos were legendary and he himself was the only qualified gunsmith in the country (having completed his trade in the Bruno factory).

Himo would shorten a barrel to 18 inches, thread the end for a running bore weight, remove the front & rear sights by sweating them off, he also removed the front screw and lug that fastens the barrel to the forend of the stock which when completed freely floated the barrel.

You may also want to have the tolerances within the action and chamber reduced to minimise movement and improve co-centricity.

I am going through the improvement stages with a model 4 Bruno at the moment, however I think that it may need to be re-barreled with a faster twist as the slightest breeze tends to impact upon the projectiles point of impact.

I am also led to believe that Himo's brother may be operating and performing custom work for a gunsmith in Brisbane, Chris Tyne (a member of this site should be able to help you with your endeavors).

[trevort]

you can get a rifle basix trigger I believe, depending on the model and lija barrel and mcmillan varmint stock. How far do you want to go

[dave]

jezz trev your all custom these days arnt ya

[chris.tyne]

G'day Dave,

Mate what do you expect from the rifle.................................what does it group like at the moment,what do you want it for ie paper punching,hunting,bit of both,I seriously doubt that you want to target shoot with it,if thats the case test some hunting ammo,use the one that suits the rifle and accept the reality that a WMR is not a one hole grouper,oh yes you may get a couple of good groups but the ammo lets it down in the end.Dave bedding may or may not make a difference...............................only one way to tell and if done correctly it sure wont make it shoot any worse and at the end of the day enjoy using the rifle.

On a side note,I had a CZ varmint in .17 HMR from the first shipment that came to Australia from my local dealer and it didn't group like I had imagined.....................so I had dealt with PVM @ Pro-cal previously and worked out pretty quickly that he knows his sh*t and tells it like it is,rang him and told about my problems and he said how much did you pay for it,told him $6##,he said so you purchased $6## worth of accuracy,what do you expect.
Peters comment about what you get for what you pay has always stuck in my mind.




Regards Chris.

[Trev]

CZ
Fix the trigger and thats it. They shoot pretty damm good outa the box, the best thing you can do with a CZ is buy ten different brands of ammo and group test each brand.

I did that, then went to range and grouped. Came home did the trigger job and went and shot again. Big improvement with the trigger job.
Came home again, dremeled out the action, welded the round screw bosses to the action, filled it up with some epoxy for a nice bed job. Back to the range again, no bloody difference. What a waste of two days work the bedding job was.

Trev

[Knackers]

Give the WMR a go Dave. All CZ's shoot great, they just may need a bit of tuning.
My mates CZ American .22 WMR was crappy at grouping and missed heaps in the field. We floated the barrel only to see if this alone would make a big difference and it did, but the trigger let it down.
Shane Clancy did a trigger job on it and we purchased some premium ammo, ( this is about the same price or a bit more than .17HMR ammo) the remington 33grn V-max consistanty grouped at or under .5" at 50 yards with two groups being as small as .333". The hunting ammo all grouped around the 1-1.5" at 50 yards which is terrible IMO. We removed the sling swivels and used sand bags to get those results.
You could go further and have it recrowned and get it bedded, but it really comes back to the ammo IMO.

[Davyd]

I agree there is a never ending list of things to do - but it depends on how much accuracy you need. They area pretty good rifle.

The trigger and floating the barrel in front of the front sight are the biggies - possibly followed by paying with the torque on the action screws.

For a rifle of that age check the float of the barrel in front of the front sight. Many of the touch on the right hand side - causing stringing of shots when several are fired together and the barrel warms up - it certainly did on mine.

Easily fixed by taking the barrel action out and sanding the stock channel area where it touches until it floats free and then resealing it with a bit of varnish - a picew of dowel wrapped in sandpaper or one of those little sanders that can do curves is all it takes.

Agree the CZ section of rimfire central has lots on this - I was asking the same questions there several years ago as Aussie Jumper. And I ma sure others have asked it since.

Converting to an HMR - tempting - but I gather the new generation ballistic tip .22mag ammo closes the gap a lot if you can afford it

[GIJ]

I put in a Brookes trigger kit, happy now.