Rebarrel a CZ 527 to a Vartarg Questions

[toasty]

I picked up the last CZ 527 in my area about 18 months ago. It is a 223 and I haven't shot it yet. I want to pull the barrel and rebarrel it to a 20 Vartarg. I have heard I can send my action to Pacnor and get it installed, but I have installed many savage and Remage barrels and prefer to do it myself. A couple questions for those in the know. Where do you recommend to get a 527 prefit barrel? Is it possible to DIY rebarrel at 527? Can I get a barrel that would have the correct headspace and not need to be machined?

 

[L.Sherm]

Can I get a barrel that would have the correct headspace and not need to be machined?

No you cannot.

 

[Bill K]

Pre-fit to my knowledge, not at this time. Can you DIY and re-barrel, if you have knowledge and a lathe to fit a barrel, you could.
Best and overall less costly would be send it off to Pacnor or a good gunsmith and have the re-barrel to what you want.

 

[B23]

Pac-Nor has a pretty good reputation, especially, with their small caliber barrels and they're usually pretty reasonably priced so instead of messing with it yourself to save a few bucks which sometimes DIY jobs can end up costing you more money and headache I'd send it off to Pac-Nor and have them do the chambering and rebarrel work. Even if you had all the tools to do it yourself it's not like there's a huge savings on something like this, AND, if for some reason it didn't turn out well you are to blame versus if Pac-Nor did the work you have a home for it

 

[L.Sherm]

Whoever you have do it make sure the reamer is set the brass you wanna run.
Theres a difference between R-P, Norma and LC vrs Lapua

 

[B23]

Whoever you have do it make sure the reamer is set the brass you wanna run.
Theres a difference between R-P, Norma and LC vrs Lapua

That's probably very good advice right there.

Also, the OP may want to source some Fireball brass before they officially decide on a 20VT because it's not always the easiest stuff to find and getting good FB brass isn't the easiest thing either. Lapua discontinuing 221FB brass a few years ago certainly didn't help.

You can always make it from 223 brass but I've always wondered what does that do to the neck thickness and do you pretty much always have to turn the necks when you make FB brass from 223 brass?

Nothing against the 20VT but why not make life easy and just go 20 Practical instead. I almost had a 20-221FB built but ended up doing a 20-222 instead because at the time getting Lapua 222 brass was easy peasy but its been some time since anyone has seen that stuff around which again would point me back to a 20 Practical.

 

[L.Sherm]

You have to turn the necks on 223 brass made into 20VT. But Hell ive got nothing better to do alot of the time in the winter.
I make 17 Badger, 17 MachIV and 20VT.
If you dont wanna make it buy it from CZ kid on here.
I've got 3,000 223 LC brass sitting in my reloading room i can turn into a few different cartridges so I'm not stuck beholding to a mfg of the brass I can turn them into, so there's that

 

[17VLD]

To the OP I would not hesitate to let Pacnor chamber your barrel and fit it to your CZ. I have quite a few friends that have done the same thing and absolutely love the end result. As far as the 20VT and current brass situation, you could reform brass from other cases or possibly consider the 20-222. Starline makes some fine reasonably priced brass in 222 currently and a simple neck down would be very easy with dies that are readily available.Same is true for the Practical as mentioned already but depending on your shooting needs the 222 case may be more in league with your original 20VT idea but with a touch more pizazz. Just my .02
Matt

 

[L.Sherm]

If it was me I would just send it to Pac- nor and have them spin you on a 3G 11 twist and chamber it in 20VT run LC 223 brass converted to 20VT and go have fun.

 

[B23]

To the OP I would not hesitate to let Pacnor chamber your barrel and fit it to your CZ. I have quite a few friends that have done the same thing and absolutely love the end result. As far as the 20VT and current brass situation, you could reform brass from other cases or possibly consider the 20-222. Starline makes some fine reasonably priced brass in 222 currently and a simple neck down would be very easy with dies that are readily available.Same is true for the Practical as mentioned already but depending on your shooting needs the 222 case may be more in league with your original 20VT idea but with a touch more pizazz. Just my .02
Matt

Best idea yet, have Pac-Nor chamber it to 20-222. Easy to get and less expensive dies and one pass through the sizing die to neck down and set neck tension and you are done with your brass prep so you get to go start having fun, sooner.

 

[L.Sherm]

Why do you believe there is any brass prep on reformed 223 to 20VT, its no different than new 222 brass for a 20-222.
The only difference is gonna be in dies.
If you have the correct dies like I do when you reform it builds the correct shoulder its not like your blowing a shoulder forward.
Correct formed 20VT brass is 1 pass through your FL die and done.
Correct reformed 20VT brass there isn't even any necking down so there's less brass prep.

 

[linebaugh]

That's probably very good advice right there.

Also, the OP may want to source some Fireball brass before they officially decide on a 20VT because it's not always the easiest stuff to find and getting good FB brass isn't the easiest thing either. Lapua discontinuing 221FB brass a few years ago certainly didn't help.

You can always make it from 223 brass but I've always wondered what does that do to the neck thickness and do you pretty much always have to turn the necks when you make FB brass from 223 brass?

Nothing against the 20VT but why not make life easy and just go 20 Practical instead. I almost had a 20-221FB built but ended up doing a 20-222 instead because at the time getting Lapua 222 brass was easy peasy but its been some time since anyone has seen that stuff around which again would point me back to a 20 Practical.

That comment on brass is spot on. Wish Starline or someone would make it. Necking down 300 blackout might be an option also but you would need to neck turn more than likely.

 

[linebaugh]

Why do you believe there is any brass prep on reformed 223 to 20VT, its no different than new 222 brass for a 20-222.
The only difference is gonna be in dies.
If you have the correct dies like I do when you reform it builds the correct shoulder its not like your blowing a shoulder forward.
Correct formed 20VT brass is 1 pass through your FL die and done.
Correct reformed 20VT brass there isn't even any necking down.

Neck thickness and concentricity

 

[L.Sherm]

Neck thickness and concentricity

Concentricity on what, CZ kids as far as I know is ready to run through a FL die and shoot with necks turned.
Like I said the Correct reformed brass.

 

[linebaugh]

Concentricity on what, CZ kids as far as I know is ready to run through a FL die and shoot with necks turned.
Like I said the Correct reformed brass.

Because constricting/reforming brass that far typically results in uneven neck thickness and if its not turned it probably won't fit in the majority of chambers due to necks being too thick. Brass gets thicker the farther down the cas you go so cutting and reforming 223 would give oversized and uneven neck thickness.
I probably could not and would not attempt to even try re-formed 223 brass it the necks are not turned after the process.

Edit... I see you said to turn necks. Yup, good to go at that point.

 

[L.Sherm]

Its well know you can't reform 223 brass without turning the necks, ive made somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 20VT and 20SCC brass from 223.
Here ya go, neck turned ready to go. Even makes some for a Lapua chamber.

 

[B23]

Why do you believe there is any brass prep on reformed 223 to 20VT, its no different than new 222 brass for a 20-222.
The only difference is gonna be in dies.
If you have the correct dies like I do when you reform it builds the correct shoulder its not like your blowing a shoulder forward.
Correct formed 20VT brass is 1 pass through your FL die and done.
Correct reformed 20VT brass there isn't even any necking down so there's less brass prep.

Come on now, Ray Charles could see there's less work involved. It's just silly to pretend there isn't more work involved making 20VT brass from 223 then there is necking down 222 for a 20-222

You, of all people know there is more work involved. Don't you have to cut all that extra length off, that's an extra step. Neck turning, per your own admission, is mandatory, that's an extra step.

I take 222 brass run it through a Redding 222 bushing die to neck down and set neck tension in one pass and I'm done. No trimming, no neck turning, just one pass through the sizing die and load em. Oh wait, I chamfer the necks but that's a given with all brass so I don't even count that.

I'm not saying it's hard work but lets not pretend there aren't more steps involved turning 223 brass into 20VT then there is necking down 222 to 20-222.

 

[L.Sherm]

I never said there wasn't if you do it yourself, I said if you buy it from CZ kid already done one pass load and shoot.
If you dont want to make it its out there to buy.
The O.P asked about 20VT and thats what I'm giving him the options on chambers, rebarreling and brass

 

[shoot4fun]

I picked up the last CZ 527 in my area about 18 months ago. It is a 223 and I haven't shot it yet. I want to pull the barrel and rebarrel it to a 20 Vartarg. I have heard I can send my action to Pacnor and get it installed, but I have installed many savage and Remage barrels and prefer to do it myself. A couple questions for those in the know. Where do you recommend to get a 527 prefit barrel? Is it possible to DIY rebarrel at 527? Can I get a barrel that would have the correct headspace and not need to be machined?

hmm. Seems like I remember them being metric threads.
I sent my worn out Weatherby SVM 22-250 to PacNor last winter. They did a great job and did it quickly. The rifle had for many years been dubbed "Death Ray" by a good friend and the new barrel still lives up to the name.

 

[toasty]

Thanks for all the input guys. I talked to Pacnor yesterday and got all the information to have them rebbarel it. I did forget to ask them if they had a no turn vartarg reamer. It will end up being double the cost vs just getting a savage barrel from Urban Rifleman. Still deciding between the 2 options. As far vartarg brass, I already formed some from new Starline 222 brass. Went surprisingly well, but will have to use a no turn neck reamer as it came out to .234" with a seated bullet unless I decide to turn the necks.