New to me CZ527 221 FB

[Gerald D.]

Last Wednesday I walked in to a shop about an hour away that tends to have some interesting new and used rifles, saw my first Beech stocked CZ 452 American but quickly moved my attention to a as New 527 American in .221 FB sitting there. First I've actually had in my hands and as the price was reasonable it came home with me. Slickest 527 action I've had in my hands new, trigger is good as is, mounted a Nikon Prostaff 5 3.5-14x on it and started looking for ammunition. Wow, its hard to find any real variety, actually any at all locally, ordered in some from Midway but really lucked out on a Gunbroker auction for 200 rounds of Nosler 40gr. FBHP and a new set of Redding Deluxe dies for 200 plus shipping.






Computer generated test target shows there in about .25 at 50M's, we'll see soon.

Looking forward to getting it to the range.

[Rick in Oregon]

Gerald, congrats on the new CZ!

These are truly interesting rifles in a very understated caliber, and most of them shoot very well, even the American model with it's sporter weight barrel. Some folks are lucky enough to score really nice factory wood too, our buddy montdoug has a shining example of what the factory can put out.

My 527 221FB wearing her Lupy VX2 4-12X 40mm scope with the LR varmint reticle:



Not even close to BR accuracy, but plenty good enough for the grass rats and chucks she gets turned loose on. Her favorite powder is the same as my Cooper 221FB; RL-7 with either the Nosler 40gr BT or Varmageddon:



For packing around all day in the rat patch, cruising the juniper rock piles in search of rock chucks, this little number really shines. I'm sure yours will shoot as good or better, but when you get it sorted out, be sure to post how she did for you.

[montdoug]

Welcome to a new favorite !!!!
I have a tendency to like to monkey with things so most of my guns get tweaked in some way or another. When I first got my .221 American I slicked up the trigger a bit before shooting it as I always do and nothing else.
There was a number of guys singing the praises of AA1680 and 40 grain V-Max's or BlitzKings at the time so I started low and worked up slow to .2 or .3 less then the book max load. I did my break-in in my garage using my "garage log".
Cut to the chase. First time at the range after break-in the rifle ended up at -.2 below max with the 1680, it was shooting half to sub-half inch-ish groups that chrono'd 3,550ish FPS. I was done experimenting, still shoots the same load! There wasn't a thing on that rifle that rifle that needed attention. It's one of dang few firearms in my safe that haven't been monkeyed with at all. It is one of my go to guns!
Gerald, you're gonna love it ! A buddy found mine for me at a gun show, a bunch of the guys here were shooting these at the time and this was the first one I'd seen back in 2006, got fairly lucky on the wood too. Here it is before I'd even put glasses on it. Congrats, big time!

[Bill K]

Nice find, you will enjoy that one, for sure. Bill K

[Gerald D.]

Liking what I'm hearing folks and thanks for the loading info, my shipment of ammunition from Midway arrived today and the shipment from the gentleman on GB should go out late today or tomorrow. I hadn't realized what a stubby little round it was until I opened up the Midway stash, with your results it sound like a very efficient little round.

That stocks a beauty Montdoug, only have one 527 that even comes close.




and this ones not bad...

[montdoug]

This is out of the old Accurate Arms manual but Western Powders that distributes Accurate Powders still use the same data. I've been a .221 fan since my first new XP100, it cost around a hundred dollars new in the box. I always thought that the .221 belonged in a rifle and having one and others having produced them tells me I was right. At that time RL7 was the go to powder and as Ricks rifle shows it sure is accurate but the 1680 gives me the accuracy and considerably more velocity. If you are an experimenter it would also get a test run as it to is a dandy
Here's the data from Accurate Powders.

[Gerald D.]

Nice, thanks.

[TinMan]

Just to add what Doug and others have said, after wanting a .221FB rifle, I stumbled into a dealer at a gun show that had one, a Cooper M21 and it came home. That was 1998. Liked the round so much, I picked up a CZ 527 in 221FB at the tail end of that first production back in 2004. Both rifles, a bench rifle and a walking rifle that shoot right at 0.4MOA. Preferred loads use 40VMAX or 40NBT with RL-7 or AA2200, but I keep them down (around 3200fps) a bit for 100°F days on colony varmints. You will love the FB.

[TOU]

Congrats my friend...glad you finally got one after all this time.

Let me know if you want one in its little brother...17 FB.

Cheers,

[NeilA.]

Congratulations!

I liked mine so much I bought another and had the barrel shortened and threaded for my suppressor. They’re both shooters, although I find that with the suppressor, when it heats up my groups open up a bit. I didn’t have luck with 2200, Doug’s load with 1680 works best for me, haven’t tried the RL7, but have always heard good reports. 40 gr. Z or V Max!