Severe issues w/CZ 527 Barrel pitting w/pics

[Gunraptor]

I have purchased two CZ 527's in .22 Hornet the last couple months and both came through with horrendous barrel pitting and such. I was in shock when I receive the 2nd 527, bore scoped it and it had the exact same barrel pitting condition. Both guns were returned back to GB seller. I have posted many pics of each gun on the other blog/website I am a member of and everyone was shocked at what they saw and basically no one had an answer as to what it was or what caused it. There were many guesses but only guesses. On the first gun I ran patches w/shooters choice thru it and it didn't even touch it. I then used some fine lapping compound with 100 strokes to see what that would do and again, didn't touch it. I finally returned the gun/s. Many members of the other blog had purchased many 527's in .22 Hornet and have never see anything like this before stating their bbl's came through perfect. One member stated that he received a BRAND NEW gun that had the exact same bbl issue which was shocking and hard to believe. I took many bore scope photos and both guns were identical and pics were identical. Whatever happened to the one gun happened to the other. Some members felt that the barrels were bad right from the factory and this condition just manifested itself. The serial #'s of the two 527's were over 1 million apart so a "bad batch" of bbls from one run didn't fit the puzzle. Another clue is that in both guns this pitting condition was ONLY in the first half of the barrel, the second half (muzzle end) was perfect which throws a wrench into many theories. The exterior of both guns was super with no rust what so ever, nice and clean. To date this condition remains a mystery and I and others would very much like to solve it.

I did recently read on one Shooting blog (don't think it was this one) that one gent stated he wasn't sure what in the HeL.. CZ packed their guns with prior to shipping but it must have been a combination of 90 wt gear oil, tar, Gorilla glue etc etc... something to that regard but he COULD NOT get it clean after spending hours with no results. He finally turned the gun bbl down and ran brake cleaner down it and this black gunk come pouring out.

So possibly this new info just might be a clue, don't know ?? If buyers are shooting their new guns with whatever this concoction is that CZ ships their guns in I can only assume that the barrel would end up severely compromised and possibly end up looking like my pics. Just a guess....

I am going to post several pics of BOTH gun barrels and hopefully someone here just might know what the answer is and solve the mystery. As you can see you cannot tell the pics from one gun to the other.

I not possitive but I doubt very much this condition is just from a "general" lack of cleaning after shooting.
The barrels were so pitted/rough that you could feel the roughness in the bore scope being pushed throught, thats bad !!
You can also see some copper fouling is a few pics. These are just a few of the pics, I have many more.

I sure hope someone has seen this and can solve the mystery. I was even thinking of sending pics to CZ but not sure if that would help,

 

[hogpatrol]

Every rimfire CZ I bought new had that gunk in the barrel. It was almost like some kind of varnish and took a lot of work to remove. The only thing I see to explain for those bores is either bad steel or the rifle was shot in a humid environment, left in a gun case and then stored without cleaning.

 

[Gabe22BR]

Yeah some idiot didn’t clean and oil the high carbon hammer forged steel barrel- that’s what happened, it’s no mystery-!!!!

If you wanted one, should kept one & had it rebarreled - then cleaned & oiled the barrel as you would ….just my experience…

 

[6.5 forever]

These were used guns, correct?

 

[Gunraptor]

These were used guns, correct?

Yes, used guns.

 

[Gunraptor]

Yeah some idiot didn’t clean and oil the high carbon hammer forged steel barrel- that’s what happened, it’s no mystery-!!!!

If you wanted one, should kept one & had it rebarreled - then cleaned & oiled the barrel as you would ….just my experience…

I was considering rebarreling but since I have never done that I didn't know cost and could only imagine that by the time I purchased a bbl, shipped the gun, paid to have a gunsmith rebarrel and a reship I was guessing it would not have been cost effective and just to return and find one on GB with good bbl. The other issue I had was..... if I did rebarrel I'm guessing that the net worth of the gun would decrease should I decide to sell down the road vs selling a "factory" gun. Now, if I absolutely new that a new match bbl and some bedding work, pillard and such would have gotten me a lazer shooter I might have still gone that route however I have heard that gun don't always shoot better with a new bbl. That was the deciding factor to send it back. I did call CZ and factory bbls for 527 are long gone. I would like to hear your opinion on what you think a rebarrel with some other work might have produced. I believe I would have been stuck with a pencil point sporter barrel as the snout (forearm) on those guns I don't believe would have allowed a bull/varmitt bbl which I really would have preferred. If you are familiar with rebarreling the 527 or similar, costs and possible advantages please by all mean advise as I just might have to do that down the road with one of my guns.

 

[L.Sherm]

I'm pretty sure its from neglect of the barrel.

 

[Gabe22BR]

Ok-
Fact- no longer made
- parts are no longer made-except striker springs-
Value of CZ rifle will be what it is- some think gold- others not so much- sentimental value has no place on it-
New barrel will be a new barrel-
Guarantee to shoot better than the pitted, voided, neglected one that was on it-
-you can choose your contour, length, twist rate-
#3 or #4 with a 1.06” breech- length( up to you)
-Choose your caliber of your choice

Work up a load for it to the best of your

-If you don’t reload, avoid the above-

Now that out of the way, I used a 527 as a platform to get what I wanted-a repeating action for the cartridge I wanted-
When I decide to sell it- I’ll ask a little more than I have for it, and know it has been taken care of, is very accurate.
I bedded the action, installed pillars front back, changed the action screws, done away with the wood stock( not all are walnut, they are birch, covered in brown shellac to look like fancy walnut) I used a B&C stock.
I added a picatinny rail, added trigger spring,adjusted the trigger to my liking, changed the FP spring, rebarreled it to my cartridge-

Choice is yours, it’s a good platform
Funny how everyone thinks value goes up, knowing there’s no parts offered.. & the company quit making them or went out business-

 

[ronsatspokane]

Should have kept them both. I've had barrels that were hand lapped and well finished from major barrel suppliers that would not shoot (won't give names but you know who they are). I've had barrels that looked like the lands where cut by hand with a chisel in the middle ages that shot 1/4 MOA (Savage for one). As was stated, they are not making anymore and they are getting hard to find.

 

[precision1]

IDK... I think you done good.that looks like a WW2 surplus rifle that went through hell.....id take my money back all day...
That's pathetic

I would not expect any accuracy out of it and it would foul horrible.

Yeah I'd move on.the cz rifles are a little hit or miss anyway compared to others

I have no experience with 22 hornet not my cup of tea though

If I have to rebarrell a new rifle.....buy a new action and build exactly what I want with quality barrel

 

[Knotwild]

Lately I’ve noticed some CZ and BRNO rifles listed for sale. I think they came from over seas and most I have seen are 222 and 223 and they have threaded barrels which even in pictures looks rough. In fact there are some up for auction at Montrose Auctions currently. These rifles don’t look perfect, but they do look like candidates for having bad barrels.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Looks like someone thought the never clean copper equilibrium theory applied to blued barrels in humid places

 

[Mark W]

Yeah I'd move on.the cz rifles are a little hit or miss anyway compared to others

I don’t know about that….lol. I have 5 CZs and every one of them has been excellent. I certainly can’t say the same about any other brand that passed through my gun safe. Of course, none of mine came to me used and abused. They are all on my never sell list.

Edit to add that I probably won’t end up owning any more CZs past the ones I have now, except for maybe a rimfire because they dropped the 527 and 550 lines. Used ones are definitely not worth the prices they’re going for these days.

 

[whatsupdoc]

That looks like some caustic chemical was used to clean the bore and not properly removed.

 

[DShortt]

It is not at all uncommon for shooters to subscribe to the 'don't clean it or it'll take multiple rounds for it to return to zero' thinking about that above everything ELSE.

So.

They save 50 or 100 rounds over normal barrel life *they think*.

What really happens is, a barrel is destroyed by corrosion in less than 1/4 of it's life over the reluctance to properly clean and oil it after shooting. And occasionally it happens nearly immediately.

There ain't no short cuts.

Clean and oil your barrels after shooting. Borescopes are very inexpensive these days and show you exactly what the bore condition is. Not all solvents work well in addressing all problems. Some don't work well in addressing any problems. How do you know if a solvent is working? Look at the bore with a borescope.

Load development will never make a barrel like that shoot well, if it ever did.

Used guns are a crap-shoot, like used cars. You'll inherit problems sometimes.

Not all new guns shoot well. Not all new cars are problem - free, either.

I've yet to see a bore damaged by cleaning and oiling from the breach end. I've seen 100's damaged by corrosion.

 

[Mark W]

It is not at all uncommon for shooters to subscribe to the 'don't clean it or it'll take multiple rounds for it to return to zero' thinking about that above everything ELSE.

Guilty as charged. I do this annually with my hunting rifles. They get shot a few times to check zero before season and then they don’t get cleaned again until after season closes. I might push a couple of very lightly oiled patches in between, if I did some hunting in wet conditions.

I do bore scope my barrels and I have never saw any signs of corrosion in anything but one factory Savage barrel that ironically was not a hunting rifles, so it got cleaned after each outing like all of my target rifles.

 

[DGP4]

You did right in returning those rifles. They might have shot well, but then you could not return them. You can buy a brand new Ruger 77/22 in 22 Hornet for a grand and be under warranty. A lot cheaper than rebarreling a CZ and it has the same controlled feed action as the CZ.

 

[DShortt]

Guilty as charged. I do this annually with my hunting rifles. They get shot a few times to check zero before season and then they don’t get cleaned again until after season closes. I might push a couple of very lightly oiled patches in between, if I did some hunting in wet conditions.

I do bore scope my barrels and I have never saw any signs of corrosion in anything but one factory Savage barrel that ironically was not a hunting rifles, so it got cleaned after each outing like all of my target rifles.

I understand what you mean. Hunting rifles get abused that way. I had one heavily damaged once due to a significant temperature and humidity change. It was before bore scopes but it never shot good again after that.
That particular experience is what opened my eyes to corrosion damage and how quickly it can occur under certain conditions.