My first .204 was a Savage build utilizing a long varmint weight barrel used off the internet. A real shooter! Sub .2" at 100
It was too cumbersome for day to day ranching and I found a 24" sporter barrel and it wears it to this day. The sporter settled in as a sub .3" and losing .1" in accuracy was ok in my book when the lighter rifle is more portable since it is dedicated to predators.
Along comes a CZ American .204 (used) with a storied history of high accuracy and I added it to my stable of long guns. Now it was shooting clover leafs for years with the factory 32 gr vmax by Hornady but the previous owner never got handloads to shoot as fast or as accurately as the afermentioned Hornady load.
Well, I had to dig into the whys on that mystery!
It turns out that CZ 527 rifles from the era this one was built in (late 2004 to early 2005) had been shipped with front action screws a little too long. So long as the barrel was still riding in bottom of the barrel channel of the stock users did not notice the problem. The previous owner though he had floated his barrel but only lightened the touch.
When I totally floated it after I acquired the gun, I noticed that the whole action was flexing off the rear screw. The front of the action moved up and down 1/16" of an inch! Man that was a surprise!
I have temporarily fixed that with a suitable flat washer under the bottom metal.
The other thing I remedied was that the barrel needed a deep cleaning. USP Bore paste took care of that.
Now that little CZ American .204 puts them all in tight little clover leafs at 100 yds. factory and hand loaded ammo alike and a full case of Rl 15 lit by a CCI 450 pushing that 32 gr vmax is the ticket!
They say a "path that does not have a few obstacles, does not lead anywhere". I have always found that to be true and my CZ in 204 is a good example. Not simple but very well worth the effort!
Three44s
It was too cumbersome for day to day ranching and I found a 24" sporter barrel and it wears it to this day. The sporter settled in as a sub .3" and losing .1" in accuracy was ok in my book when the lighter rifle is more portable since it is dedicated to predators.
Along comes a CZ American .204 (used) with a storied history of high accuracy and I added it to my stable of long guns. Now it was shooting clover leafs for years with the factory 32 gr vmax by Hornady but the previous owner never got handloads to shoot as fast or as accurately as the afermentioned Hornady load.
Well, I had to dig into the whys on that mystery!
It turns out that CZ 527 rifles from the era this one was built in (late 2004 to early 2005) had been shipped with front action screws a little too long. So long as the barrel was still riding in bottom of the barrel channel of the stock users did not notice the problem. The previous owner though he had floated his barrel but only lightened the touch.
When I totally floated it after I acquired the gun, I noticed that the whole action was flexing off the rear screw. The front of the action moved up and down 1/16" of an inch! Man that was a surprise!
I have temporarily fixed that with a suitable flat washer under the bottom metal.
The other thing I remedied was that the barrel needed a deep cleaning. USP Bore paste took care of that.
Now that little CZ American .204 puts them all in tight little clover leafs at 100 yds. factory and hand loaded ammo alike and a full case of Rl 15 lit by a CCI 450 pushing that 32 gr vmax is the ticket!
They say a "path that does not have a few obstacles, does not lead anywhere". I have always found that to be true and my CZ in 204 is a good example. Not simple but very well worth the effort!
Three44s
