CZ rifle quality control issues?

[matt85]

recently ive purchased three CZ rifles, two 527s and a 550 magnum and all three rifles have needed to be sent back for work. all three guns have feed issues with the 527s strait up failing to feed and jamming up while the 550 magnum is binding binding up as the bolt closes on a cartridge. CZ-usa has been very helpful and has taken the rifles back and fixed the problem each time but the wait is often 6+ weeks to get my rifle back which is extremely frustraiting!

am i just unlucky or is this an ongoing trend?

-matt

 

[enysse]

Bump to the top.

 

[Royal27]

Fairly common as near as I cam tell. If you google the issue you'll find it both here and on other forums. I bought a 550 and had a similar issue and had to send it in for that same six week period. My cousin has bought two 550s and had to send both in, although only one for a feed issue, the other was an issue with the recoil pad. For the price though, I find them hard to beat and I would but again, but expect so send in to make it right. As you said, the service is great.

 

[bassasdaindia]

all of my CZ 550's were bought and sent straight to my gunsmith for polishing and smoothing work immediately

it never bothered me,but I knew from the start that they had to get worked on .

 

[PeteG]

matt,
my 550 was sticky from the get go, it took a lot of cycling to smooth it out. I honestly sat for months cycling the thing every day 100 times or more. it was ridiculous.
hornady dgx rounds don't feed properly from any side of the mag, I have to really smack it in to feed and more often than not it takes 2 attempts.
norma's are fine, both the 400gr a frame and the 450gr solids, I think it has to do with the flatter nose profile on the dgx.
the trigger is spongy and has tremendous creep in it. i will get a replacement trigger to put in it which will help on that front.

In hindsight, I will think long and hard about another big calibre in cz.

I love the calibre but I will be looking to replace it with a different make if i cannot have a smith go through it properly.
i am pretty sure a smith could easily sort out any of the concerns i have with it though. which would probably change my mind at the end of the day because it fits me well, the recoil is not bad at all. i would shorten the 300" long barrel to about 22" as well.

 

[Code4]

The 550 is an entry level Mauser CRF clone. I don't know of any other rifle (at that price point) with the features most people find attractive about the rifle and the cartridges it is chambered in. Compared to full customs or London best quality guns, the purchase price asked for these, is pocket change.

For me the cost of having some basic gunsmithing ( most of which has to be done to most mass produced rifles ) was negligible. The end result was far more personalised to my use and the ammunition I wanted to use.

If this is too much of an inconvenience, buy somthing else.

 

[Royal27]

matt,
my 550 was sticky from the get go, it took a lot of cycling to smooth it out. I honestly sat for months cycling the thing every day 100 times or more. it was ridiculous.
hornady dgx rounds don't feed properly from any side of the mag, I have to really smack it in to feed and more often than not it takes 2 attempts.
norma's are fine, both the 400gr a frame and the 450gr solids, I think it has to do with the flatter nose profile on the dgx.
the trigger is spongy and has tremendous creep in it. i will get a replacement trigger to put in it which will help on that front.

In hindsight, I will think long and hard about another big calibre in cz.

I love the calibre but I will be looking to replace it with a different make if i cannot have a smith go through it properly.
i am pretty sure a smith could easily sort out any of the concerns i have with it though. which would probably change my mind at the end of the day because it fits me well, the recoil is not bad at all. i would shorten the 300" long barrel to about 22" as well.

CZ will fix those issues under warranty. The trigger can also be adjusted by the end user ans you can get the instructions online. Like has been said, it takes about six weeks, but it doesn't cost a dime and they do good work.

 

[Royal27]

The 550 is an entry level Mauser CRF clone. I don't know of any other rifle (at that price point) with the features most people find attractive about the rifle and the cartridges it is chambered in. Compared to full customs or London best quality guns, the purchase price asked for these, is pocket change.

For me the cost of having some basic gunsmithing ( most of which has to be done to most mass produced rifles ) was negligible. The end result was far more personalised to my use and the ammunition I wanted to use.

If this is too much of an inconvenience, buy somthing else.

Completely agree. I did my research before buying this rifles and therefore knew what I was getting before hand. I was prepared to send it in and did so. I shot it first because I wanted to, but didn't need it for a hunt at the time.

 

[bassasdaindia]

the beauty of the CZ is that value for money they are great rifles and with a little gunsmith work they become even better.

all competent gunsmiths know how to work them and I have found with a little work they become smoother and better than some of my rifles that I have paid three times the price for.

CZ 550 all the way , especially in the larger calibers ..... IMHO you can not go wrong .

 

[Rob404]

I,m about to drop my CZ 375 off at my Smith for a Bolt jeweling ,,and a trigger adjustment,,I,ve cycled it Plenty and it,s very fast but what other tweaks can he do to make it more reliable

 

[PeteG]

Code4 and Royal27 both have a point which I missed when I was purchasing.
I unfortunately did not look at and handle enough cz's or do enough research before I bought the cz, I bought it as it was a matter of opportunity when I had been waiting over a year for a win mod70 in 416rem which didn't arrive.
In Zambia the rifle cost me over $2,500, for that price, I was not expecting to have to spend more on it.
I had handled a couple previously in RSA and they were overall a lot better than the one I ended up with here. On those grounds I have no doubt that there will be some that will be great right out the box. Mine was not. Sometimes it happens.

I have not tried, but I feel it may be quite a story to ship the rifle back to USA for them to work on it for me.

I know the trigger can be adjusted, I am not a fan of the set trigger so I would prefer to swap it out.
Again if I had handled it more and tested it more thoroughly I would not have kept the rifle, I am to blame for not being happy with the rifle, I could have sent it back to the shop I bought it from, but I decided that as I had a buff hunt coming up (which was then cancelled by ZAWA's ban on hunting!!), I figured I would take it and make the most of it.
The OP asked and I gave my feelings on my experience, that's all.

If this is too much of an inconvenience, buy somthing else.

In my case, I am over 300km from the gun shop and it is a bit of an inconvenience to me, that is why in my first post I indicated I would think carefully before another cz in a DG calibre.

 

[PaulT]

PeteG, I bet you wish you had waited longer for that M70 !

I too had similar experience with the CZ as you had with yours.
Would not feed, very rough bolt drag and an assortment of other
(minor and repairable) issues.
Several buddies that purchased them had similar issues.

Not flagging this to rag on the Cz, for what it is, and what they sell it for, it is (can be) a great gun.

Many, many of them sold and it seems to me that only in certain calibers are they more likely to have problems.
All the .375's and .416's seem to be fine whereas .458 Lott's and some .404's seemed more likely to have issues.

Several years back now I bought a .458 Lott new took it home and rasped/sanded A LOT of wood off that excessive stock,shaped it properly and had it re-checkered, swapped out the crappy trigger for a nice adjustable single stage, got a Pachmyre kickpad attached a new front pin that was actually visible. A competant gunsmith fixed the feed issues and smoothed out the action and after all of this (and a few $$$$) this particular rifle functions 100% and handles extremely well. I sold it to a good buddy who is using it as his back-up rifle and he loves it.

Good rifles but in DG calibers I'd be making sure to check everything thoroughly before taking them hunting.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[matt85]

even having sent all the rifles back for more work, I still like my CZ rifles. I just wish they would hammer out there QC issues!

aside from the slight binding my 375 has it hasn't had problems feeding any types of bullets, even the blunt nosed bullets such as Hornady DGX and PPUs RN bullets. today I had a chance to compare it to a Winchester M70 in 375 and the CZ wins for features (express sights and set trigger) but the Winchester had a nicer action and weighed much less. im sure once my 550 has been fixed up it will be an outstanding rifle!

I know some people hate the set triggers... I love em! if I could I would have a set trigger in every gun I own. I come from a background of shooting muzzleloaders and the double set trigger was a feature i loved on my long rifle. the only time i use the standard trigger on my CZ rifles is for "on the fly" shots when i don't have time to aim carefully.

-matt

 

[enysse]

I know some people hate the set triggers... I love em! if I could I would have a set trigger in every gun I own. I come from a background of shooting muzzleloaders and the double set trigger was a feature i loved on my long rifle. the only time i use the standard trigger on my CZ rifles is for "on the fly" shots when i don't have time to aim carefully.

I feel the same way!