Has anyone here fiddled with a CZ Varmint in .22 Mag.??

[montdoug]

I already fell on my sword so don't say anything bad about em now............I'm so weak !!!
455 Varmint, no time to go into details tonight but I will say that right out of the box the trigger is breaking at a crisp 2 lb almost to the oz on six or eight consecutive try's so couldn't be much happier on the trigger part, feels like it's already been tweaked.
I also bought a scope I've never had experience with before which is sure unlike me but the store owners always been real good to me and he says it's pretty decent for the money?? It's a Vortex Viper "VPR-M-04BDC" 4X12X40 with adjustable parallax. I like the reticle with the subtended lines for anything with mortar like trajectories .
Half decent wood, more to follow. I found 4 or 5 different types of ammo so bought enough to either get things lined up or show me what a terrible mistake I made, guess we'll see.
Any input on the scope??

P.S.
I was kidding about the don't say anything bad part, all opinions still welcome. Great info so far and thanks!

[Daryl]

Doug - I have a new Vortex Crossfire 6-18X with the stadia wires on my new .22-250.

It was initially on my new HMR Marlin, but got moved to the newer CF rifle. The optics are GREAT and I really like the reticle. I also like the easy focus/parallax adjustment along with the easy turning power-adjust ring.

I'm impressed so far, but then, I'm relatively easily pleased. If it works, I'm happy. I need to get out to our new "Blackwater" range (1,065meters) to find out the impact points of the stadia wires, now that I have a couple loads that shoot fairly well.

[montdoug]

That's reassuring to hear Daryl . I like the clarity and the ease the controls turn as well so "pig-in-a-poke" or not maybe it'll all work out fine with zero research.

[Johnly]

I took my 455 American with its 22 mag barrel out to range today with about a dozen different boxes of ammo. The weather was far from ideal with some blustery winds at 10 that were blowing the bullets around. Tried to dope them best I could and pulled the targets in from 100 yards to 50.

Nothing was done to the rifle prior to shooting it today, just to get a fair assessment of the factory bedding. It was really clear that placement of the forward bag was super critical, as I could easily induce vertical stringing by varying the bag position. For the remainder of the day I kept the bag just forward of the clip. This just seemed to be the least sensitive area.

The rifle didn't care for the Winchester Supreme load, and scattered the CCI gold dot offering. The CCI Vmax load shot ok, the Remington Premier and old Federal Premium shot slightly better, but since they shoot so well in my Ruger 77/22 that's where they'll get used. Plain ammo by Winchester, PMC, CCI, and Fiocchi were also fired. There might be some hope for the Fiocchi, otherwise this stuff will get shot in my Single-Six pistol.

The rifle made it crystal clear that it prefers the Hornday 30 gr. V-max load. It wasn't uncommon to fire 3 shots at 50 yards and have them all touching.


Going to float the barrel and make another trip to the range and see if I can desensitize the vertical stringing tendency of the rifle.

Added..

The barrel is free floating from the factory, so I'll have to see if rebedding the rifle helps with the sensitivity to stringing.

John

[montdoug]

Good info Johnly as well as others. I shot mine yesterday and while I don't put to much stock in things till a rifle had a few down the pipe it shot "ok", windy here as well so basically just a getting to know the rifle and scope session (love the scope and the trigger is outstanding!). I figure too that if it doesn't shoot well enough to satisfy me as a .22 Mag the change to .17 HMR would only cost $134.00 for the switch barrel from CZ. My barrel is free floated and it was to windy to get serious but the sensitivity of bag placement idea is definitely one to consider for the next range trip.
As Fat Cat pointed out and rightly I think.

(QUOTE)
" Ive shot the CZ 455 in 22 magnum and it shot good, about like most 22 magnums, it shot around 1/2" at 50yds and 1 1/2" at 100yds. The 22 magnum was designed for killing its not a target round!
Reply With Quote"
(QUOTE)

Not sure about the final assessment of this particular rifle but I agree with that take on the .22 Mag in general. Mine is minute of gopher already and certainly minute of jack-rabbit, badger or fox.
Also mentioned above was an ammo I have most of a box of that I sure wish they still made , that is the Federal Premium with the 30 grain Sierra bullet (that was before they went to the TNT for cost I'd guess). Great ammo that was.
More to follow. Jeeze I love new toys .

[Larry]

Good report Doug, Glad you're having fun with the new rifle. How was barrel cleaning? Continue to enjoy, and we need to know if the CZ wood fairy continues to have a crush on you!
Pics of the stick,please!
Larry

[fat cat]

Mountdoug, youre right! That Fed 30gr. Sierra was the most accurate 22 magnum ammo I ever shot. Last time I shot it out of my Ruger VMBZ it went .960 for 5 shots at 100yds. and chronoed at 2,360fps.!!Great ammo!

[montdoug]

I have close to a box of that ammo left Fat Cat and I figured once I get the rifle seasoned and on a day with good conditions that would be my test ammo to see how accurate it truly can be. An accuracy baseline basically. Wish I'd a stocked up on that stuff when I had the chance .

Larry I'll try to get a few picks tomorrow if it works out. Like I said, I think it's a half decent piece a wood I'll see what you think.
Sure has a heavy barrel compared to any other CZ Varmint I've seen, it's a 20.5 inch barrel with an .866 muzzle. To put that into perspective, the cut down Anschutz MPR in .17HMR Jim is holding here has an 18 inch barrel that is .890 at the muzzle.

[montdoug]

Nothin special. Typical disclaimer that it was overcast so the striping that's there doesn't show much.
Here's the muzzle. I had no idea that CZ even made a barrel like this, I gotta get out more.
They not only make the same barrel in .17 HMR but in a heavy fluted version as well. I like heavy barreled rat smackers personally. Swaps over quick just like a 10-22 Ruger barrel, nice touch CZ!



Left side.




Right side (looks a little better than the picture shows, "honest").



Fairly normal CZ with one side looking better than the other but all in all it's ok. Now if I can just find some ammo that makes it shoot better than a "normal" .22 Magnum.

[fat cat]

WOW!! Look at that stock! Nice Mountdoug.