CZ 550 scope rings?

[375er]

I have had Leupold QD rings on my .375 for over 25 years with zero problems. Take that for what it is worth.

 

[Puddle]

The ring set that came with my CZ were beasts! Swing those in a sock and you could really hurt someone
Instead I went with the usual suspect - Talley.

 

[PARA45]

Alaskan Arms LLC QD rings … Took my rifle to South Africa, and hunted in the Eastern Cape, and the Kalahari. Survived 3 airplane ride, and rode in the back of the Land Cruiser for 15 days, and my rifle never lost zero. I believe they are solid rings.

 

[BeeMaa]

@RockSlinger404 - Does this drawing help? I believe the 92mm is the distance between the bridges. Drawing is from the Alan Rhone Store for a Contessa CZ550 Magnum Picatinny rail mount adapter.

 

[RockSlinger404]

@RockSlinger404 - Does this drawing help? I believe the 92mm is the distance between the bridges. Drawing is from the Alan Rhone Store for a Contessa CZ550 Magnum Picatinny rail mount adapter.

@BeeMaa thank you so much! That is exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Jaegger]

Other options if you choose to broaden your scope: these quality German made mounts are popularly w/ my German hunting partners.

EAW & Recknagel. Both these suppliers have websites: Optics-trade.eu & U.S. Co., New England Custom Gun.

Whenever I finally get back to the great USA … I intend to have New England Custom Gun tweak each of my CZ ZKK 602.

 

[BeeMaa]

@BeeMaa thank you so much! That is exactly what I was looking for.

I used Warne low QD rings for my Leupold VX3 1.5-5x20 with great success. Always returned to zero. This is a picture my wife snapped shortly after my Blue Wildebeest went down.

 

[RockSlinger404]

I was looking at the Recknagel rings, however I didn’t know which length extension to take. Without turning this into a scope thread, I’m considering a Swaro Z6i 1,7-10x44 or Z8i 1-8x24. With the straight tube the length is less important.

 

[Clodo Ferreira]

Hi CoElkHunter,

I like the Alaska Arms Rings. They were original designed around the BRNO/CZ actions dovetails. I have a low ones in my BRNO ZKK 600 9,3x62. Works great! They are very well machined in steel, VERY STRONG and the lightest I know for that action.
Good luck!!

CF

 

[BeeMaa]

I was looking at the Recknagel rings, however I didn’t know which length extension to take. Without turning this into a scope thread, I’m considering a Swaro Z6i 1,7-10x44 or Z8i 1-8x24. With the straight tube the length is less important.

However clearance between the bolt knob and the scope will be the determining factor. The Z8i is a 30mm scope tube and you may need the medium or high rings to prevent from chunking your hand on the eye piece. The 1" scope I had with low rings had just enough clearance for it to work well. This was to keep my head as low as possible on the stock.

 

[ZG47]

Excellent post by @One Day... BUT there is a little bit more to understand about exit pupil size. The larger the exit pupil, the longer the so-called ‘eye box’ which is useful for a slow-match shooting cadence and … especially for snap-shooting i.e., real life bush stalking or pest control BUT there is more !
The Dark Lord of Optics put up a video, possibly a couple of years back, where he also talked about the concept of ‘eye pupil’. The pupil of the eye moves up, down, left and right in order to obtain best focus, so … you want that larger exit pupil, both to minimise eye fatigue during a slow-match shooting cadence and to give your eye pupil the greatest possible freedom to obtain optimal focus for snap-shooting. This also applies to spotting scopes!
Apologies to any optometrists for possibly abusing their terminology !

 

[Jaegger]

@One Day … I really enjoyed the informative read on CZ unique double square bridge & dovetail design + Need to Know info on the Magnum Action = proper scope length, that was reiterated by Morris @ Alaska Arms when we spoke.

I just recently purchased a ZKK 602 in .375 H&H … pristine condition for its age & finalizing the marriage of rings/scope - so, your post & details was Money to me!

Only bummer, I could not access your upload drawings.

Happy Trails

 

[One Day...]

@One Day … I really enjoyed the informative read on CZ unique double square bridge & dovetail design + Need to Know info on the Magnum Action = proper scope length, that was reiterated by Morris @ Alaska Arms when we spoke.

I just recently purchased a ZKK 602 in .375 H&H … pristine condition for its age & finalizing the marriage of rings/scope - so, your post & details was Money to me!

Only bummer, I could not access your upload drawings.

Happy Trails

@One Day... Do you perhaps still have this drawing of the scope requirements for the CZ 550 magnum which you can share?

I've been looking everywhere for a schematic which shows the distances between the bridges without success.

Sorry guys, I was away for a couple days. Here it is:

 

[One Day...]

This should also help

In this example, Talley rings are used with a Leica ERi 2.5x10x42 on a .375 H&H. The position of the rear ring is dictated by the position of the recoil lung. The front ring is positioned approximately centered over the groove cut in the front bridge, far from the rounded front end of the groove.

DO slide the scope in the rear ring up until the bell of the rear ocular contacts the rear ring. The scope will never slide forward under recoil, and there will be plenty of eye relief for any shot, including snap shots or uphill shots. Do not make the mistake of seeking "perfect" eye relief on a DG rifle and bringing the scope too far back and too close to your head...

DO NOT rest the front ring against the rounded front end of the groove. As the rifle settles under the recoil of a few dozen shots, the front ring will dig into the rounded front end of the groove and dismounting/remounting the scope rings will not be repeatable. Leave at least ~2 mm / ~1/8" clearance in front of the front ring.

Per previously shared drawing, scopes that meet the following specs will mount perfectly:

Among such scopes are:

Note that unless your .375 H&H will be your only DG rifle, and may need to be used as a "stopper" rifle (a role to which it is poorly adapted as the .375 is a great killer but not a good "stopper"; a 45+ caliber rifle throwing 500 gr slugs at 2,150+ fps is a much better option), a straight tube scope going down to 1x magnification, such as 1-4x24 variable, is not in my view the best choice for a .375.

The .375 versatility is much better served by a scope going up to 6x magnification, and there are some very good 1-6x24 scopes, but more importantly, it is much better served by a scope with a 42 mm objective that offers incommensurably better light gathering at dawn and dusk than the 24 mm objective of a straight tube scope.

 

[Jaegger]

@One Day … thank-you Sir, illustrations & charts received + greatly appreciate the mounting tips offered.

Bests,
Jaegger

 

[Jaegger]

@One Day … *side note: I must, make some time & a proper group plan to visit HuntersHill Safari for my Blesbok Slam along w/ afew other unique trophies.

Happy Trails

 

[RockSlinger404]

Thank you @One Day... I really appreciate the information!

 

[RockSlinger404]

Does anyone perhaps know whether the action will need to be drilled and tapped if Eramatic (Recknagel) swing mounts are used? Its not clear to me from the pictures I've seen.

 

[One Day...]

Does anyone perhaps know whether the action will need to be drilled and tapped if Eramatic (Recknagel) swing mounts are used? Its not clear to me from the pictures I've seen.

This is a free country, and certainly to each our own, but the logic of doing this entirely escapes me.................

1) Screwing bases on top of a CZ550 can only result in a less solid and less reliable system, and there is no shortage of issues with screwed-on bases coming loose on high-recoil DG rifles. Conversely, bases machined directly on the action bridges are by definition unmovable.​

​

2) Swing mounts by definition are not as repeatable/reliable as clamp mounts. Some play ultimately develops in the swing pivot, which is logical as there needs to be some play in order for the swing to pivot. It also places almost all recoil forces on the front pivot as the rear mount generally only locks laterally and does not contribute much, if at all, to absorb longitudinal recoil forces. Finally, since you will want that front pivot to be greased, when the scope is removed, the pivot hole becomes a dust and grit pit that grinds the pivot when the scope is put back on.​

​

3) Adding one layer of extraneous mounts raises the scope higher above the bore, which is detrimental as it increases the risk of being hit by the scope on high-recoil DG rifles.​

Believe me, I have "been there and done that", and I have plenty of experience with the Mannlicher swing mounts (the best in my opinion), the EAW pivot mount (mine broke - these are cast parts...), and other Recknagel etc. copies of EAW, and I also have plenty of experience with Suhl claw mounts (more reliable but requiring a true professional to install as the adjustment must be made on a case by case basis by stoning slowly the claws to exact tolerance), and I fully understand why Blaser decided to use a modernized clamp system for their mount, and why best-in-class rifle smiths continue to use clamp-on rings on dovetail/recoil shoulders cut directly in the bridges on the actions that allow it: there is nothing stronger and more repeatable.

The only thing I would have done different on the CZ550 action would have been to have a recoil lug (or better yet a recoil shoulder) on both rear AND front bases (as Mauser double square bridge actions custom-cut for Talley rings have, or as Blaser did with their front and rear barrel notches), but no one has ever heard of a ZKK 602 / CZ 550 loosening or loosing a set of properly installed rings, while about any other system has had its issues, especially with screwed-on bases (the old hands used to silver-solder the bases on the action), and especially as caliber increases. This is just a fact.

You may get away with it on a .375 but good luck on a .458 Lott or even a .416 if you shoot more than one or two box of ammo per year, which few folks actually do, which explains why so many shoddy mounts apparently work, because they do not get the pounding of repeat frequent fire...

 

[RockSlinger404]

Thank you, @One Day... , that is valuable information.

The rifle in question is a 375H&H. I have a set of Recknagel rings on a K98 in 404J and it seems to work well and hold zero without issues after it has been setup properly.

I prefer the look of the Recknagel, however I do take your point on the practicality of the Talley rings.