CZ 527 American Varmint
- Thread starter Topwater
- Start date
Have one in 17rem and 22 hornet love them
Overall, great rifles that shoot very well.
The Miller brothers(friends of mine) have a half dozen 527 Varmints between them that all shoot great.
I have one in 223, bought new, that has been a problem child from day one. Slow and steady, one change at a time, has brought it closer to what I expect. Not yet like the Millers, but better than when I started. Don't know anyone else, personally, that's had the issues I have had.
The Miller brothers(friends of mine) have a half dozen 527 Varmints between them that all shoot great.
I have one in 223, bought new, that has been a problem child from day one. Slow and steady, one change at a time, has brought it closer to what I expect. Not yet like the Millers, but better than when I started. Don't know anyone else, personally, that's had the issues I have had.
This raises a question of guarantees. Have you not had positive response from CZ regarding your dissatisfaction? I am in the process of trying to get one of their 457 MTRs to perform better for me. They tout their trigger in a positive light but I’m not very tickled with IT.
A shooting friend has the 457MTR in .223 is absolutely beautiful and well made rifle . The only thing I was surprised it didn't come with the 2 stage trigger as the Varmint , that is a nice trigger . The heavy barrel Varmint is also a great rifle , many of the guys I shoot with love them . If they could put that Varmint set trigger in the MTR it would be perfect.
Oddly, this was a replacement rifle for a true POS a friend had. After he sent back the original, he bought a Remington. This one showed up at his door a month later. He sold me a NIB rifle for a super price with 2 stocks. Ive put about 250 rounds through it, and with a few things I've changed is better than when I began. I haven't contacted CZ bc each change has brought at least some improvement.
I've got a 527. It's technically the 4th to pass through my hands. The first was second-hand and bubba-ed pretty badly so that was sent back to the seller. I never shot it.
The 2nd was a NiB .223 Rem M1 Synthetic. Before I shot it I ran a tight patch with solvent down the bore and discovered a loose spot about 6" from the muzzle. I shot it anyway. Afterall, if it shoots, I don't care what the bore looks like. It did not shoot very well so I sent it back to CZ under warranty (they paid shipping both ways) and it was replaced, outright. I believe that the new, third, one was a decent shooter with 50gr Vmax and 69gr SMKs (1:9 twist). A friend has it now. He traded the plastic stock for walnut.
The fourth one was another NIB .223 grey laminated thumbhole heavy varmint in .223 Rem, 1:9 I picked up for $350 out the door. It too shot 69SMKs well, but I wanted to run heavier projectiles so I rebarreled it with a 1:8 and sold off the thumbhole stock for a standard plank of walnut and bedded the action in epoxy. I had the bolt bushed as it was cupping CCI 450 primers pretty badly. It shoots as well as I need it to with the replacement barrel. It has a beadblasted matte finish. The finish affects how the bolt runs and took a while to "wear in." The bolt travel tended to bind and feel rough, but now it's quite smooth. The actions with a shinier finish seem to run a lot smoother IME. I quite like it now:
The triggers are not the best in terms of feel. Not that they can't be good, but they're inconsistent. Some are gritty and can be stoned smooth, others have a better finish on the sear and feel decent from the factory. With the set-trigger feature that doesn't matter.
For their price point I like them, but a little deburring/stoning of sharp corners doesn't hurt and watching a long movie working a well-oiled bolt seems to break them in pretty quickly.
The 2nd was a NiB .223 Rem M1 Synthetic. Before I shot it I ran a tight patch with solvent down the bore and discovered a loose spot about 6" from the muzzle. I shot it anyway. Afterall, if it shoots, I don't care what the bore looks like. It did not shoot very well so I sent it back to CZ under warranty (they paid shipping both ways) and it was replaced, outright. I believe that the new, third, one was a decent shooter with 50gr Vmax and 69gr SMKs (1:9 twist). A friend has it now. He traded the plastic stock for walnut.
The fourth one was another NIB .223 grey laminated thumbhole heavy varmint in .223 Rem, 1:9 I picked up for $350 out the door. It too shot 69SMKs well, but I wanted to run heavier projectiles so I rebarreled it with a 1:8 and sold off the thumbhole stock for a standard plank of walnut and bedded the action in epoxy. I had the bolt bushed as it was cupping CCI 450 primers pretty badly. It shoots as well as I need it to with the replacement barrel. It has a beadblasted matte finish. The finish affects how the bolt runs and took a while to "wear in." The bolt travel tended to bind and feel rough, but now it's quite smooth. The actions with a shinier finish seem to run a lot smoother IME. I quite like it now:
The triggers are not the best in terms of feel. Not that they can't be good, but they're inconsistent. Some are gritty and can be stoned smooth, others have a better finish on the sear and feel decent from the factory. With the set-trigger feature that doesn't matter.
For their price point I like them, but a little deburring/stoning of sharp corners doesn't hurt and watching a long movie working a well-oiled bolt seems to break them in pretty quickly.
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I have a cz in 204 Ruger I bought about 10 years ago brand new for $650. Mounted a Leupold vx3 4.5-14 scope on it and started shooting. It shoots factory Hornady 32 v max loads under 1/2” moa at 100 yards. It is the only rifle I have that came from the factory that shoots factory ammo under 1.5” moa and I have many factory rifles in bolt and semi auto. My set trigger is pretty good for a factory rifle also, in single stage mode it breaks at about 2.5 lbs.
I agree with MGYSGD as the CZ 527’s are one of the best values in the rifle world. If only they would produce a 527 in 221 fireball, left handed..... then I would have to buy another!
I agree with MGYSGD as the CZ 527’s are one of the best values in the rifle world. If only they would produce a 527 in 221 fireball, left handed..... then I would have to buy another!
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