Was going to put this in the CZ thread, but figured there are a few other things here that may be better off in their own. Mod, please feel free to move it if you want.
I picked up a CZ 22 Varmint last year, mostly for a squirrel rifle. Did some accuracy testing on it and found out a few interesting things.
What I did was to sort a brick of Wolf Match Target. It was sorted by rim thickness using an RCBS Case Gauge and their 22 rim thickness tool. The rims ran fairly consistent and sorted out to .037â€, .038†& .039â€. I also sorted some by weight using a MXX-123 scale. That sorted into groups of very light, 51.1g, 51.2g, 51.3g, 51.4g, 51.5g, & a group of heavy. The groups were tested evenhandedly on 5 or so still days, outdoors, at 50 yds, off of concrete benches, using Midway’s new BR front rest. While testing I played evenhandedly with 3 scopes, a 36X BSA, a 4X12 Burris RF, & a 6XBR Sightron. Unfortunately I didn’t keep records on how the scope compared. But I do remember the 36X was a good tenth of on inch or more better than the 6X. Made me appreciate those Hunter Class BR shooters.
Anyway, the rim thickness groups came out to:
12-5 shot groups of .037†rim thickness averaged .66†& .45†-worst.
12-5 shot groups of .038†rim thickness averaged .60†& .42†-worst.
8-5 shot groups of .039†rim thickness averaged .82†& .59†-worst.
9-5 shot groups of unsorted untouched averaged .57†& .32†-worst.
And the weight sorted came out like this:
6-5 shot groups of light averaged .74†& .48†- worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.1g averaged .64†& .44†- worst.
8-5 shot groups of 51.2g averaged .73†& .46†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.3g averaged .69†& .47†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.4g averaged .76†& .53†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.5g averaged .64†& .38†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of heavy averaged .89†& .49†-worst.
9-5 shot groups of unsorted untouched averaged .57†& .32†-worst.
The 44-5 shot weight sorted groups came out to a .73†average.
The 32-5 shot rim thickness groups came out to a .68†average.
The 9-5 shot unsorted groups came out to a .57†average.
There were 6 groups over 1â€. The worst was a 1.81†flyer. Next worse was a 1.13†group.
The best group was an unsorted 5 shot group of .23†& .10†-worst.
How do I explain it? I’m GUESSING the results show it’s best not to touch 22 rounds that are lubed like Wolf’s because the lube gets onto the case and causes erratic pressures &/or erratic gripping of the chamber walls??? Those that sorted heaviest had the 2 worse flyers in them and those heavy groups would have been average if it wasn’t for those 2 of its 30 rounds. The thick rims had 1.14â€, .96â€, & .95†flyers in them. So if it wasn’t for 3 of the thickest rims 40 rounds they would have been average too. You’d have to do a lot of sorting and eliminate a lot of rounds just to find those few flyers and I don’t know if a test this small is statistically reliable or has results that are transferable to other brands of 22s. I’m done sorting 22s.
As for the CZ, it’s one heck of an accurate rifle for the cost. Mine shoots Lapua better than Wolf. So it is fair to say it’ll shot under ½†average at 50 yards. I noticed it’s fickle with shot placement when the clip is played with during a string. The trigger is the worst of any gun I have. The safety is backwards and drives me nuts while out hunting. The wood fit is very nice. Too nice for a guy like me that gets lost in a hunt and forgets to keep care of not denting up his stock. Mine shot horrible when I first got it. But I saw where some were coming through with rough crowns & mine looked it. So a small rubber cone on a Dermal, ya I know, smoothed that out and it started to shoot pretty darn good. A real crown job might make it even better. I keep putting off getting a trigger for it in hopes that something with a plastic stock that shoots as good will come my way. But I’m just about ready to bite the bullet and pick up another trigger. Although that still leaves me with a wood stock and backwards safety.
The Burris Compact has an eye alignment that is way too critical for me. So I sold it and sent a 3X9 Ballistic Plex Fullfield2 back to Burris and had the parallax set to 40 yds for a squirrel scope. Plus the Burris now works fine for practice shooting at 50 yds.
Bill Slattery Jr.
I picked up a CZ 22 Varmint last year, mostly for a squirrel rifle. Did some accuracy testing on it and found out a few interesting things.
What I did was to sort a brick of Wolf Match Target. It was sorted by rim thickness using an RCBS Case Gauge and their 22 rim thickness tool. The rims ran fairly consistent and sorted out to .037â€, .038†& .039â€. I also sorted some by weight using a MXX-123 scale. That sorted into groups of very light, 51.1g, 51.2g, 51.3g, 51.4g, 51.5g, & a group of heavy. The groups were tested evenhandedly on 5 or so still days, outdoors, at 50 yds, off of concrete benches, using Midway’s new BR front rest. While testing I played evenhandedly with 3 scopes, a 36X BSA, a 4X12 Burris RF, & a 6XBR Sightron. Unfortunately I didn’t keep records on how the scope compared. But I do remember the 36X was a good tenth of on inch or more better than the 6X. Made me appreciate those Hunter Class BR shooters.
Anyway, the rim thickness groups came out to:
12-5 shot groups of .037†rim thickness averaged .66†& .45†-worst.
12-5 shot groups of .038†rim thickness averaged .60†& .42†-worst.
8-5 shot groups of .039†rim thickness averaged .82†& .59†-worst.
9-5 shot groups of unsorted untouched averaged .57†& .32†-worst.
And the weight sorted came out like this:
6-5 shot groups of light averaged .74†& .48†- worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.1g averaged .64†& .44†- worst.
8-5 shot groups of 51.2g averaged .73†& .46†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.3g averaged .69†& .47†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.4g averaged .76†& .53†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of 51.5g averaged .64†& .38†-worst.
6-5 shot groups of heavy averaged .89†& .49†-worst.
9-5 shot groups of unsorted untouched averaged .57†& .32†-worst.
The 44-5 shot weight sorted groups came out to a .73†average.
The 32-5 shot rim thickness groups came out to a .68†average.
The 9-5 shot unsorted groups came out to a .57†average.
There were 6 groups over 1â€. The worst was a 1.81†flyer. Next worse was a 1.13†group.
The best group was an unsorted 5 shot group of .23†& .10†-worst.
How do I explain it? I’m GUESSING the results show it’s best not to touch 22 rounds that are lubed like Wolf’s because the lube gets onto the case and causes erratic pressures &/or erratic gripping of the chamber walls??? Those that sorted heaviest had the 2 worse flyers in them and those heavy groups would have been average if it wasn’t for those 2 of its 30 rounds. The thick rims had 1.14â€, .96â€, & .95†flyers in them. So if it wasn’t for 3 of the thickest rims 40 rounds they would have been average too. You’d have to do a lot of sorting and eliminate a lot of rounds just to find those few flyers and I don’t know if a test this small is statistically reliable or has results that are transferable to other brands of 22s. I’m done sorting 22s.
As for the CZ, it’s one heck of an accurate rifle for the cost. Mine shoots Lapua better than Wolf. So it is fair to say it’ll shot under ½†average at 50 yards. I noticed it’s fickle with shot placement when the clip is played with during a string. The trigger is the worst of any gun I have. The safety is backwards and drives me nuts while out hunting. The wood fit is very nice. Too nice for a guy like me that gets lost in a hunt and forgets to keep care of not denting up his stock. Mine shot horrible when I first got it. But I saw where some were coming through with rough crowns & mine looked it. So a small rubber cone on a Dermal, ya I know, smoothed that out and it started to shoot pretty darn good. A real crown job might make it even better. I keep putting off getting a trigger for it in hopes that something with a plastic stock that shoots as good will come my way. But I’m just about ready to bite the bullet and pick up another trigger. Although that still leaves me with a wood stock and backwards safety.
The Burris Compact has an eye alignment that is way too critical for me. So I sold it and sent a 3X9 Ballistic Plex Fullfield2 back to Burris and had the parallax set to 40 yds for a squirrel scope. Plus the Burris now works fine for practice shooting at 50 yds.
Bill Slattery Jr.
