CZ 452 VS CZ 455

[Fotheringill]

Guys-

I KNOW it is a barrel problem. New, but after getting the right torque settings, it was shooting a bit above 3 MOA which was not acceptable for a new gun. I am scrupulous about carbon and lead cleaning. It went back to CZ. They said it fired within their specs. Their specs, by the way, are 2 MOA at 50 yards. They were not wholly accurate. I pillared and bedded (properly) with no significant improvement. I bought a new stock and started over without bedding, then went back to bedding the whole channel on the original stock.

A bulge developed in the barrel about 3.5 inches from the muzzle. I have a suspicion how it got there when someone else was shooting the rifle. I cannot go under 16" legally in New York. I had a gunsmith cut me to 16.5" and recrown. Bulge was gone. So was accuracy, such as it was.

Anyway, I am not lamenting what occurred but rather brought it up to bolster my suggestion of a 455 over a 452. I would have swapped out the barrel myself with little fuss.

 

[CTK]

Guys-

I KNOW it is a barrel problem. New, but after getting the right torque settings, it was shooting a bit above 3 MOA which was not acceptable for a new gun. I am scrupulous about carbon and lead cleaning. It went back to CZ. They said it fired within their specs. Their specs, by the way, are 2 MOA at 50 yards. They were not wholly accurate. I pillared and bedded (properly) with no significant improvement. I bought a new stock and started over without bedding, then went back to bedding the whole channel on the original stock.

A bulge developed in the barrel about 3.5 inches from the muzzle. I have a suspicion how it got there when someone else was shooting the rifle. I cannot go under 16" legally in New York. I had a gunsmith cut me to 16.5" and recrown. Bulge was gone. So was accuracy, such as it was.

Anyway, I am not lamenting what occurred but rather brought it up to bolster my suggestion of a 455 over a 452. I would have swapped out the barrel myself with little fuss.

I lost the fact that this was a 452 rather than a 455. What a pain. Sorry.

 

[Fotheringill]

CTK

On the bright side, it feels great with the thumbhole stock. I am quite the Pollyanna.

 

[John from MN]

I can't comment on the 452 as I've never owned one.

I have spent a fair bit of time playing with a 455 precision trainer with barrels in 22lr and 22WMR. After bedding, a bit of trigger work, and fire lapping the 22lr, both barrels will hold 1MOA at 100yds in reasonable weather. I don't think I've tried more than three or four different types of ammo in either barrel.

Out of the box, the leade in the 22lr barrel was very rough. I embedded 20 rounds of subs with 400 grit lapping compound and fired them, pausing every five rounds to bore scope. From what I can gather, a rough leade is not unheard of in CZ rimfire barrels. I chose to set the shoulder back on the 22WMR barrel a few thousandths to tighten up headspace.

I don't use a torque wrench on the grub screws when switching barrels and still need very little windage adjustment when sighting in. That suggests to me that the design features that enable the easy swaps were reasonably well done, both at the desk and out on the production floor.

 

[mbz hunter]

I can't comment on the 452 as I've never owned one.

I have spent a fair bit of time playing with a 455 precision trainer with barrels in 22lr and 22WMR. After bedding, a bit of trigger work, and fire lapping the 22lr, both barrels will hold 1MOA at 100yds in reasonable weather. I don't think I've tried more than three or four different types of ammo in either barrel.

Out of the box, the leade in the 22lr barrel was very rough. I embedded 20 rounds of subs with 400 grit lapping compound and fired them, pausing every five rounds to bore scope. From what I can gather, a rough leade is not unheard of in CZ rimfire barrels. I chose to set the shoulder back on the 22WMR barrel a few thousandths to tighten up headspace.

I don't use a torque wrench on the grub screws when switching barrels and still need very little windage adjustment when sighting in. That suggests to me that the design features that enable the easy swaps were reasonably well done, both at the desk and out on the production floor.

Hmmm... While I have not bedded the action, my experience mirrors yours, at least with the 22Mag. I noticed that the leade in mine was a bit rough, as well as a bit lopsided. I lapped with 400 and 800 grits that did even up the leade a bit. It shoots 1" at 100 with a 6-8 shot string-it likes Hornady 30 grainers the most.

 

[mrh1958]

Doc- Ok to have one's wife load for the husband unless she is VERY passive aggressive.

MRH- I am a stubborn SOB. On my dog 452 Varmint, I added another action screw at the rear that goes through the tang and the rear of the stock. I finally bedded it to the front of the stock and shot it yesterday. At 50 yards, groups went down to 3xMOA with a scope. I will now try it with Midas + instead of Federal Automatch. If it gets better, great. If not, an excellent learning experience. It is still better than the 5-6xMOA I was getting.

I understand where your coming from Fotheringill one thing I have learned about 452 Varmints and any of the CZ's with the dovetail cut into the barrel, they tend to have tight spots right above that dovetail cut, not all of them do but more than I like do.

Another thing about factory rimfires......if they are not decently accurate right out of the box with good match ammo usually they wont do well no matter what you do, this is not always the case but most times it is.

 

[Fotheringill]

I understand where your coming from Fotheringill one thing I have learned about 452 Varmints and any of the CZ's with the dovetail cut into the barrel, they tend to have tight spots right above that dovetail cut, not all of them do but more than I like do.

Another thing about factory rimfires......if they are not decently accurate right out of the box with good match ammo usually they wont do well no matter what you do, this is not always the case but most times it is.

You are 100% correct.