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Sometimes, when I'm looking for a little writing inspiration,
I dig through the huge pile of junk and rubble I call my
office, in search of a mental jump start. I was already
wearing the pith helmet when I opened the a cabinet and found a
rather mature box of 375 H&H ammo; Federal Premium Safari, loaded with 300
grain Nosler Partitions. I figured if I only had a gun to shoot them, I'd
have a legit excuse to wear the helmet. Neato.
I almost had my first safari 375 H&H bolt gun when I
was thirteen or fourteen. It was an early engraved Weatherby, built
on a Mauser action, with a hairline crack that ran right down the
small of the truly beautiful, almost black, walnut stock. I suspect
the crack had some relevance to the $270 price tag. So I hustled
after-school and weekend jobs, only to see the gun sold out from
under me as a result of my rather embarrassing single digit cash
flow. Truffato!
Fast forward two, maybe three hundred years. I was standing in front of the long glass counter at
Reeds in San Jose, CA, thinking how my bifocals did little justice to
distant objects. Sure, I could see well enough to
recognize a good looking rifle, but I couldn't make out the
writing on the little tags that indicated the price. Never a
good situation. After wandering around for a while, I concluded modern Weatherby flash was inappropriate, I needed a
more conservative cut. No Remington synthetics, too ordinary, too
pedestrian. No ultra lights or ultra heavies and no aluminum
receivers or bright
stainless steel barrels that shine like a signal mirror. I needed
satin finished walnut and blued carbon steel, and at a
bit more weight...heft, than the typical short magnum rifle. Yes, I'll say
it, I needed something produced in Europe. No, not something from
fancy France,
or stuffy England. I needed something from a European country, east or west, whose cities
still looked a little bit gray from smokestacks poking out of
politically incorrect factories. Enter Česká zbrojovka of
Czechoslovakia, or
CZ as we say in the U.S. of A.
CZ has been producing guns since 1936 and, based on
the CZ 550 American Safari Magnum, they've apparently been doing it
really
well. The gun, then in my hands, felt like a 375 H&H, It looked like
a 375 H&H and it had that guppy belly that suggested the gun was
made for hunting, not for posing, where two backup shots may not be
enough
insurance to hunt dangerous game. I handed the gun back to the
counter person and looked at some other firearms, but where ever I
went, the CZ followed me until, eventually, it followed me home. This is not a review of the CZ 550 American Safari
Magnum. CZ is a big company and can afford to buy whatever press
they need. No, this is a wandering and sometimes superficially
dramatic story of closure. A story that began with a pissed off kid,
who got screwed out of a used gun and dedicated his life to finding
a relatively inexpensive, yet fully functional 375 H&H bolt gun.
Sniff, honk, snort. Sorry, the story sort of gets to me. I can't
wait to see how it all works out.
The Tale of the Tape
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CZ 550 American Safari
Magnum |
 |
MSRP |
$875 |
 |
|
Weight Lbs |
9.9 (9.0 actual) |
|
Overall Length |
46.4" (46.0 actual) |
|
Barrel Length |
25.0" Hammer Forged |
|
Twist Rate |
1:11.9" |
|
Action Type |
Square Bridge M98 Mauser |
|
Bolt |
2
Lug Claw Extractor |
|
Safety |
2
Position |
|
Capacity |
5+1 Cartridge |
|
Magazine Type |
Integral - Hinged Floor Plate |
|
Pull |
13.7" (14.0" Actual) |
|
Drop |
1.6 |
|
Stock Material |
Walnut |
|
Wood Finish |
satin |
|
Metal Finish |
Satin |
|
Front Sight |
Hooded - Vertical Adj. |
|
Rear Sights |
Integral Base - Express 3 Leaf |
|
Scope Mounts |
Integral 19mm |
|
Trigger Type |
Single Set |
|
Not set Pull |
3
lbs1 oz - Actual |
|
Set Pull |
15 oz - Actual |
Express Sights
I came to an awareness when I was reviewing Lee's
reloading products. I love to poke and pick at products that
obviously have well considered designs; lots of little touches that
suggest the designer knew how the product would be used. The CZ 550
Safari Magnum has express sights, which are appropriate for this
type of firearm. The front sight is a beautify banded ramp
configuration, with a hood cutaway for lighting and a detent to make
sure it stays in place under recoil and under sustained banging
around associated with field use. The sight blade is secured by a
spring loaded button to facilitate substituting blades of varying
heights for the purpose of vertical sight adjustment. Optional
blades are stamped with an identifying number and they may be
ordered from CZ-USA's service department. Horizontal sight
alignment, windage adjustment, is accomplished by loosening a
central set screw and drifting the rear sight.
 As
express sights go, CZ has done a good job. The dovetail is integral
to the barrel, which I assume won't create weird harmonics as a
result of an odd distribution of barrel mass. There are three
leafs; 100, 200 and 300 meters, the first fixed, the last two
folding. CZ notes the sights are optimized for 100
meters use. Sights of this type are intended for shooting up close
and personal, where a lion's nose or an elephant's nostril might
otherwise fill a scope. They are sturdy and fast, which is about all
you have a right to expect. Serious use over a variety of
distances, and with a variety of loads, would require a pocket full
of front blades, an Allen wrench to unset the
dovetail, a small brass hammer, and perhaps a file...maybe a saw. But, you know,
you can't have an express rifle without folding express sights. They
look stylish and they are absolutely fine hiding under a more
practical optical sighting device. Before I make this sound like a
criticism of the CZ sight system, I need to clarify this is not the
case. The sights are fine, I just have nothing more then distain for
metallic sights, until some company begins to make them in a Braille
version to suit my eyesight.
The Dark World of Integral Scope Mounts
The CZ 550 Safari Magnum is built on a large square bridge Mauser
action which, coincidentally, make a heck of a flat spot to mount a
scope. 19mm dovetails are cut fore and aft into the receiver and serve as a
sturdy scope mounting platform, not unlike the systems incorporated
into Sako and Tikka products. Quality rings, fixed and quick detachable, are
available from Warne, Tally, Leupold, and CZ, typically priced between $40 and $60.
In the picture above you'll notice a recess below the rear dovetail.
That's right, that one.
This serves as a locating point for the aft scope ring and prevents
the rings and scope from moving rearward under recoil, or forward if
you favor the Dick Cheney carry and the guy in front of you stops
abruptly. Personally, I
like the concept of dovetailed receivers. This means one less part
to fall off in the scope mounting system, the bases, and one less expense. The only
problem is the lack of standardization across various manufacturers,
and sometimes within manufacturers, which means ring
sets may be dedicated to individual rifles and fluid reassignment of
scopes is not always probable.
Built for Hunting
The bottom metal and mechanics of the gun are
noteworthy. First of all, it is all nicely blued steel; no plastic, no
cheap aluminum stampings. The heavy duty latch, located safely out
of the way at the front of the trigger guard, has no problem
retaining a magazine with 5 rounds. One of the things I don't like
about the big cartridge Weatherbys I own is their two cartridge
capacity. These are not small guns and they are intended for hunting
dangerous game. It does not seem reasonable that the compromise in
design should manifest itself as overly limited ammo
capacity. CZ deftly avoided that pitfall; no problem carrying 5
lbs of ammo in this 10 lb gun. Insert happy face emoticon here.
A Finesse Trigger in a Standard Firearm
 For
those of us who have watched American manufacturers practice design
by litigation, or design with an emphasis on cost reduction, the
trigger is an outstanding feature of the CZ 550 and very much
reminiscent of the old days of European rifles with single and double set triggers.
Whatever did happened to "The Shooter's Bible" and Mannlicher rifles?
Single set; push forward to set, then trigger pull is
measured in increments of a few ounces. Don't set the trigger and
the pull is a clean of 2.4 - 4.4 lbs depending on owner's
adjustments. The set trigger function minimizes sear
engagement and needs to be smack tested when adjustment is
accomplished. This feature
is principally used when ground squirrels are clearly in the shooter
sights , the shooter is already in the prone position and the bullet
has only one place to go. I set my gun's standard trigger to 3 lbs, I'll save the set function for
a special occasion, although none comes to mind.
"A" is the normal trigger pull adjustment, "B"
determines trigger travel prior to release, "C" is trigger travel
after discharge. "D" is the set trigger pull adjustment. Adjustments
are made with the stock removed from the firearm and very specific
procedural instructions are provided in the manual. Honestly ? Great trigger.
 I'm
use to pulling a couple of guard screws and lifting out a barreled
action without much resistance. This is not the case with the CZ 550. The
stock hangs on to the metal parts like a monkey in love. In fact,
I couldn't slip a .003" piece of shim stock between the stock and barrel.
The picture illustrates the lower barrel contact areas. The wood
is sealed inside and out, metal and wood parts line up on the same
plane and there are protective inserts or steel ferrules wherever
there is a fastener. All little touches I have not seen in a mass produced gun for a long time. Well done.
I called CZ-USA marketing and asked why the American
Safari Magnum did not have a cross bolt when one was present on the
Austrian style stock. The response was that the American stock was
beefier. I have both American and European stocks for the CZ 550
Safari Magnum, dimensionally the American version is actually
thinner at the small of the stock than its European cousin.
Neither gun has a cross bolt that captures any
part of the action or barrel in recoil. The European model has a
through stock
reinforcing bolt that would seem more decorative
than functional. The
reason there is no cross bolt became obvious with disassembly; none
is needed because of the gun's embedded recoil management systems.
Besides the heavy duty hardware and close inletting that locates the
action tightly within the stock, there are four
huge recoil surfaces that prevent the action from driving back and
causing damage to the wood. I don't know if you can tell from the two
preceding pictures, but the stay is a chunk of steel with two large
legs that lock it tightly into recesses inletted into the stock. The face of
the stay bears against the trailing edge of the barrel's forward
integral recoil lug, thereby blocking the barrel from rearward movement.
Both the American and European style stocks have the same support.
My guess is that the European stock has the additional of a
reinforcing
bolt either, as noted earlier, purely for aesthetics, or because there is increased drop
at the heel and recoil hits the small of the stock at angle that
creates greater stress. In any event, neither stock is in jeopardy
from recoil fractures. I will cover the difference in stocks in
detail later in this series.
Locking Lug Surface Contact
Just for drill, I put a little Dykem on the back side of the
bolt
locking
lugs and chambered an empty to check the contact. One
lug had about 65% surface contact, the other about 50%, which
comparatively speaking isn't bad. I will wait until I have finished the handload
segment, after applied pressure and use dimensionally settle things
down a bit, and
check again. I can't bring myself to lap lugs for full contact
unless the gun is going to get a new barrel and headspace overall is
being established.
Preparation for the Range
I selected Warne Maxima steel rings #2BLM for this
application. They have the locking tab specifically for the CZ set
up, they are quick detachable and based on prior product experience,
with all of that Torx head hardware, they will stay put. I began
using Warne rings and mounts a while ago on some of my harder
kicking guns, then started using them on all my guns with their
quick detachable rings set up. The fact that they also look good
doesn't hurt a bit. After lots of experimentation, I no longer lap rings
or play with them in any way. I just follow the manufacturers
instructions. In this case, torque fasteners to 20 in/lbs and that
means with an actual torque wrench present. I do not use any form
of thread sealant or adhesive.
The Wisdom of Warne factor....
 The high rings pretty much peek over the top
of the express sights and with a good quarter inch of clearance
under the objective bell. I called Warne to ask the cosmic
question, "If I lower the scope and put the view of the honkin' big
express sights closer to the center of the objective lens, would
this deteriorate optical performance?" The answer was that at higher
magnification this wouldn't be noticeable, at low magnification it
might, however, getting closer to bore centerline is the priority
when weighing minor tradeoffs. The caution was that the problem
might be on the other end of the scope, the ocular lens and bolt
handle clearance. The scope I installed happened to have a healthy
size ocular lens, sitting inside of an 1 3/4" diameter eyepiece. The
high rings offered sufficient clearance. For reference, the high
rings are .535" from the receiver to the lower point of the ring saddle, the
medium rings are .425". The .110" difference was essential to bolt
handle clearance. It's nice to talk with tech people who know and
like the products they sell. Thank you Ron.
Mueller 3-10x44 Tac II
 I
first heard of Mueller
Optics on our message boards, and I then I noticed them being
offered by E. Arthur Brown. This is not to suggest they are unknown as much as to
illustrate how much information zips right past me.
We have a review of Mueller Optics in the works, so until then - We selected the Mueller 3-10x44 Tac II
with Mil-Dot reticle. The glass is exceptionally clear and bright
with excellent contrast, probably thanks to
all
Japanese optics and assembly. Adjustments are click precise and
repeatable, eye relief and field of view are very good for a scope
with this magnification range, and not a single part moved around or
broke after 100 pounding rounds of full up 300 grain 375 H&H loads.
At a time when other value scope manufacturers are suffering from
business consolidation, less than tolerable design problems and
degradation of quality cost reduction efforts, it
is really nice to see an alternative to overpriced "Premium" scopes
that have become more expensive than the recipient rifles. Within
the context of this project, I put the rifle with it's integral
mounts in the maintenance cradle, I put the rings on the scope and
bolted and everything together. I plopped in an optical bore site
and found I only had to move vertical alignment down two clicks and
horizontal over right once. Of course I assumed the alignment was
too easy and therefore wrong, so I used a laser boresight and got
the same results. Then I brought the gun to the range and barely had
to move the adjustment. Usually I need to spend time chasing groups
around the target - not this time. The Mueller scope has a wide
range of adjustment, approximately 95 MOA elevation and 90 MOA
windage, but in this case the finger tip controlled turrets stayed
at approximately mechanical adjustment center. The Range
A muzzle blast pressure induced headache, a slightly
longer right arm and possibly a detached retina, all and all, a damn
fine day of shooting. After a little over 100 rounds of 300 grain
full up loads I can honestly say the CZ 550, at 10.5 lbs with scope
and a load of ammo, shoots like a very large varmint rifle.
Recoil
Recoil was a very manageable at 38 ft/lbs, compared
to about 24 ft/lbs for a 30-06 sporter, or 90 ft/lbs for my 416
Weatherby. Muzzle climb was minimal and the wide factory recoil pad
was actually pretty resilient. The European stock comes with a
Pachmayr Decelerator pad, but I can't say there would be a great
difference. I mistakenly installed a Limb Saver slip on pad in
anticipation of a lot of bench time. Excessive pull length can lead
to a hyper extended rotator cuff and that is where this change was
headed. I noticed the additional discomfort immediately, so I
removed the pad and finished the day without much of a problem. I
think the straight line cut of the American stock may have had to do
with the absence of upward rotation, but I will install the European
pattern stock and compare the two. Weatherbys have a good deal of
drop at the heel, something I feel converts some of what would
normally beat the shooter silly into harmless and sometimes quite
spectacular upward rotation.
Trigger Squeeeeeze
Some trigger chat - I like old military triggers. I
like to take up slack and preload a trigger, feel a clean let off,
then have a respectable amount of over travel. I don't know why, it
just works out that way. Fall to the prone position, turn my hat
around backwards, settle my face on the comb of the stock, adjust my
grip, then start my long term relationship with the trigger. I don't
like too light of a trigger, I like to feel polished machine surfaces
contacting one another and I want to know I am doing something. The
unset CZ 550 trigger is excellent. Set to 3 lbs it never got in the
way and detracted from my shooting. The set trigger? I guess I am
just not that good. Just the act of placing my finger on the trigger
was enough to discharge the rifle and I never felt as through I was
settled in when it happened. Almost all of my shots pulled right
when I used the set trigger feature, yet were tightly grouped
without. I will give it more time and see if I can't change the way
I set up to get the benefit of this feature. The set release is
predictable and it is consistent, I just don't do well with a very
light trigger.
Temperature
 I
like to get to the range early when shooting my large cartridge
Weatherby rifles. Four or five shots in rapid succession and a
breakfast of fried eggs in a potential. Another four or five shots
and I can entertain myself with a heat mirage. In fact, for the
longest time I entertained myself with the simple phrase to friends,
"Touch that barrel and tell me if it is warm". The picture, left, is
offered as evidence of instrumentation and copious note taking.
We opened the session with ambient 60.5°F and closed
the session at 61.7°F. After three rounds the barrel just forward of
the receiver ring climbed to 69.5°F. Left sitting for 10 minutes to
heat soak, this temp climbed to 70.0°F. Three more rounds raised the
same area to 71.2 and, after ten shots, 74.3. The point is the gun
never really got very warm, at least with any frequency practically
anticipated from this type of rifle. The 375 H&H doesn't exactly
represent recorded setting pressures, but at 62,000 PSI+ it isn't a
slouch either. I'd suspect at the recorded velocity, the Federal
ammo was operating in the 54,000 PSI range so this may have
contributed to the cooler operation. The ammo velocity range ran in
2468 - 2506 fps range. The velocity average for any group of ten
shots was relatively uniform; the gun did not get faster as the
barrel was breaking in. Then again, neither did I, so who am I to
judge?
Group Size and Consistency
 To
tell you the truth, my expectations for the gun's ability to group
was not very high. Packaged with the rifle was a signed factory test
target with a 50 meter 3 shot group that measures just under 2". It
was clear, deer size game was as small an animal as I could expect
to hit, and I don't mean small deer, I mean Texas lying size deer.
Ignore the vertical string, that was me playing with the Mueller
scope to verify click increments. The group in the circle is five
shots in a 7/8" cluster, shot from a rest. The first three shots
fell into half an inch. I think that speaks a lot for the gun, as
well as for the Mueller scope and Warne mounts. I'm going to send
that CZ test shooter a pair of glasses. Of course, if my job was to
shoot these things all day, I might be a little punchy also.
Retrospective Hair Splitting
Overall, I'm very pleased with the gun's form fit and
function and I believe the quality of the gun rivals competing
products selling at twice the price. I like the traditional look and
feel, and I like the shot to shot consistency. I like the expanded
ammo capacity and I like the blued steel and genuine wood stock. I
like the scope ring set up and I think the Mueller Mueller 3-10x44
Tac II, which I thought would be an overkill, worked out perfectly.
I don't like the ugly importer stamps on the gun, they are
almost disrespectful of the product and they could easily be
corrected. The
integral express sight is fine, but a conventional surface
mount sight would allow the owner to further personalize the gun.
Shaving a pound off the gun would make a big difference and probably
make it easier to use for more general purpose hunting, but then
again, this would also up recoil.
And then...
I've got a replacement Austrian pattern stock and
swivels, a ton of brass, maybe the same amount in bullets of
varying kinds, two or three kegs of powder and at least one good
shoulder. I'm going to fix up the gun a little, although not really
much is required, and work up some good handloads for the 375 H&H.
There is a lot of potential here. Think of a 30-06, only throwing
270 grain rather than 180 grain bullets. It is a flat shooting round
with lots of retained velocity and energy. Coming soon.
Get The Big Gun...and call me Bwana Part I
Get The Big Gun...and
call me Bwana Part II
Get The Big Gun...and
call me Bwana Part III
Thanks
Joe |
