Intro and rifle review

[Greatwhitenorth]

Hi everyone, I just thought I would introduce myself (2nd posting) and give you a review of the CZ 455 Thumb Hole Varmint. I'm from Canada.


Got a CZ 455 Thumbhole Varmint about 7 months ago. This is the new model stemming from the older 452's with some changes. It will probably not be available in the US until years end or later. Interchangeable barrels available in .22LR, .22WMR, and .17HMR. Bolt uses 1 lug instead of 2 and receiver was beefed up slightly in several areas such as the back tang ect.

Fit and finish is superb and the barrel interchange is not a pin system but rather a very secure 2 set screw attachment of the barrel stub in the receiver.
Triggers are still a brutish as often seen on new sporters but it is adjustable for weight to some degree and there are some cheap mods to reduce creep and weight some more. Barrel is fully floated with two action screws mounting it to the stock.

Thumb hole stock is most likely a Boyds stock from the looks and to me I find the grip is the right distance to the trigger...but I have big hands with long fingers. Someone with smaller hands may want to handle one first before buying. LOP on the stock is a bit short at 13" but usable off the bench. Off hand, one might want to extend the butt with some pads or something if they are large framed and find a longer LOP is needed.


From the box mine shot very well. A touch over 5/8" with Fed 711b and just under 1/2" with Wolf MT (@ 50 yrds). After a few accurizing upgrades this is a tack driver. Trigger got a YoDave kit and now weighs about 22 oz with maybe .01" creep, it passes the bump test. Action was pillared with 316 SS custom pillars and full bedding with ProBed 2000. Underside of trigger guard was also epoxy bedded to more securely fix the action screws that terminate in the trigger guard chamfers. The rile needs to be tuned to the ammo with a good torque screwdriver on the action screws. Crown was redone on tool room lathe with single point cutter .0002" TIR and trued up square to a indicated mandrel.

After all the work the rifle is shooting .3-.35" with Fed 711b now, .25-.27" with Wolf MT and around .2-.23" with Lapua Center X. All from bench, using front rest and rear bag. Very nice for a modified "sporter". I might squeeze some more out of it but highly suspect I will need a tuner and parrallel bottomed bR stock to do so.

A Mueller 8X32X44 A/O scope sits on top with fine dot reticle using weaver adapter and Burris sig Zee 30 mm highs as rings. Total weight is 9 lbs 2 oz.
Since all the accurizing was done by me total cost to get here including scope is roughly around $800.

Some pics...

 

[ridethe53]

Wow - great looking rifle!

Nice work and thanks for the fine review!

 

[Shynloco]

GreatWhiteNorth,
Welcome aboard! Sounds like you've done some good things to that CZ to make her shoot more accurately. I'm not into CZ's per se, but that rifle looks very nice. If I might suggest you get ahold of a box of two Rimfire Ammos that one of my Savages and my Anschutz really like and see how your CZ takes to them. The first is Federal Ultra Match UM22 which is about two notches above the 711b you have tested. UM22 is essentially what the US Olympic Team used in the early 90's and SOME rimfires REALLY like the stuff...we're talking in the .120 and below category. The other is Lapua Midas + that shoots far better in my Anschutz than does Lapua Center X. Just some thoughts for you to consider since you sounds to be in search of ultimate accuracy. ANd by all means, find the best ammo you can for your rifle and THEN put the tuner on for fine tuning. After all, a tuner will only make a good barrel even better.

 

[Greatwhitenorth]

Pretty sound advice Shynloco, thanks. I will actually be trying some longer 200 yrd shots with the rifle and several others this weekend and I used to get a lot of (more) vertical stringing at these distances. I can keep the horizontal grouping in around 4-5" inches but the shots string out to 5-6" or more at 200 . Usually only 1 shot or so out of 5 goes wildly north or south on me and I'm thinking its more an ammo issue then it is the wind, or me. I do have my good and bad days like most of us and don't really come on the net to talk about the ugly groupings too much, beleive me, i get them. I will pick a brick up a brick of some better ammo at this point since I need a benchmark to measure to if I go after a tuner. One thing I did was get a bit lower rings for the scope. They are a bit too high now and I'm not getting a good cheek weld. I might add that I tried free recoil with this rifle and it does not do very well...not nearly as well as a solid shoulder behind it.

 

[Shynloco]

Good Morning Greatwhite north,
Just read your latest post. If I may be so bold and meaning no offense, why are you shooting a .22LR at 200 yds? If accuracy is your thing especially with a .22LR (or even a mag for that matter), it is unrerasonable to expect tight groups @ 200 yds using a .22. ARA (American Rimfire Assoc) competitions are mostly shot at 50 yds and thats where you get those .100 and below by the serious shooters. There is simply no way you can avoid that velocity dropoff in a .22 at 200 yds. I guess I'm too much interested in that 5 shot one holer and that ain't gonna happen, even at 100 yds...been there done that. Even $3500 custom rigs aren't gonna give you tight groups at 200 yds. SO perhaps its just in perception, but I shoot weekly at 50 yds and have fun competing at that distance. Each to his own I guess. But best of luck in whatever it is you are chasing.

Alex

 

[Greatwhitenorth]

Thanks again for your comments Shynloco,

I will add a bit of background to this so you might understand where I'm going with all this. A fellow I shoot with regularly is a very good competitor and gives me pointers and such. I have improved quite a bit over the last few years with his help. At this point I find my wind reading and doping one of my worst weaknesses and wish to improve on this. When comparing our groupings at closer distance such as 50 yrds, its much harder to see the differences between us...out at 200, its night and day.

Its more of an exercise that helps me concentrate and more easily guage my progress in regards to wind. Not unlike 400m runners training with 2 mile runs for a competition or people putting ankle wrist weights on while doing regular exercises. Outside of it not being directly relevent to a formal competition distance, do you see this as a waste of time for any other reasons. As a side note, I have read from several people that their 22LR rifles shoot better for them comparitively at longer distances such as 50 vs 100 yrds with certain tuning/ammo. I would like to know how or why that exists so there is an investigative side to this also.

 

[Shynloco]

GreatWhiteNorth,
In response to your reply, there is one constant in accuracy and competition that I keep hearing over and over again. And that something is " identical or same repetition while trying to reduce the variables." And as I stated before, my "thing" is ultimate accuracy. Even in my reloading my centerfire ammo, I strive for "precision" and doing it the same way while reducing variables each and every time. And when you shoot off a rest or in Benchrest competition, you have to pay close attention to try your best to make sure the rifle sits the same way in your bags, each and everytime you squeeze that trigger. And that is so not matter how much you slighly change the rifle rest settings which is a must because of the recoil when the weapon is discharged. Many folks take breathing for granted and you simply must learn to breath (or not breath) while pulling the trigger after getting the proper sight picture. Now anytime you change a condition, whether it be distance, wind or anything that would change from shot to shot, you've introduced a variable that sometimes is UNCONTROLLABLE. Sure we all have to live with wind sometimes, but even that is not TOTALLY controllable even knowing how to read wind. So anything you might gleen from shooting at 100 or 200 yds, to me is useless if what you compete at is 50 yds. Even your "sight picture" is different at 50 yds vs 100 - 200 yds because of the size of the target as the scope presents a different sized target and for us OLD FARTS, our sight isn't what it once was. And so therein shows just a few of the challenges I face each and every time I sit down to either practice or compete. It is simply trying to be as repetitious as possible and produce the best accuracy as I paid good bucks for ammo I hope will response the same each and everytime. And thats another thing or VARIABLE you have no control over when you shoot cheap ammo which is why the Big Boys who compete nationally, don't use cheap ammo.

I believe as you spend more time shooting, you'll start to see how its the little things that make a difference regardless of the value of the rifle you shoot. Thats not to say you can reasonably expect to outshoot the custom rig boys. But sometimes the difference is in the shooter's abilities and not the weapon. I've seen guys with high dollar rifles who simply can talk alot better than they can shoot. But I wouldn't be making any serious waggers of outshooting the serious guys who've established themselves as good shots and are using high quality equipment. But for me especially, its the challenge and the fun of TRYING my darnest to outshoot them anyway. Take it from someone whose has loads of fun trying....sometimes the stars align, the ammo works consistently and I'm on and they're off. Just gives you a sense of accomplishment and the knowledge that IT CAN BE DONE!

Take care my friend!
Alex