New stick

[6MT]

Brand new CZ-527 Varmint in .223rem with a 1:9" heavy 25" barrel. My second 527. (The other was a 17HMR.) Topped it off with a Vortex Viper HS 4-16x44. This will be my new 300 yard gopher, rabbit, and coyote gun.

Looking forward to doing some load development with some 69gr SMK's and BLC-2......if this winter will ever end. So far, I've found the lands and rolled up 5 different charge weights. The great thing is that with a .010" jump, the magazine geometry is perfect! I can mag feed this beautifully even with the longer seating depth!

[Xbolt7mm]

Originally Posted by 6MT

Brand new CZ-527 Varmint in .223rem with a 1:9" heavy 25" barrel. My second 527. (The other was a 17HMR.) Topped it off with a Vortex Viper HS 4-16x44. This will be my new 300 yard gopher, rabbit, and coyote gun.

Looking forward to doing some load development with some 69gr SMK's and BLC-2......if this winter will ever end. So far, I've found the lands and rolled up 5 different charge weights. The great thing is that with a .010" jump, the magazine geometry is perfect! I can mag feed this beautifully even with the longer seating depth!

Very nice

[gtr]

I like the press.

[6MT]

Originally Posted by gtr

I like the press.

Yeah, you really can't beat a CO-AX.

[6MT]

Here's the pic's again from above (postimage had some coding issues).

So, I've been out twice with the new stick. Tested the 5 different charge weights with the 26.3gr being the best of the bunch at 2970fps velocity and 3/4moa at 100 yards. I decided on the second trip to try a last weight of 26.6gr to see if I could squeeze out any better accuracy. It actually was just a bit better. The speed was 3005fps.

I was also curious to see just how the 69gr SMK would perform beyond 300m. So I did some plinking out to 500m. It was a very calm Sunday...it seemed I was having a hard time missing the gong (silhouette).

I really like this rifle. The smaller stock fits me beautifully. And the wood is pretty to boot. The quality feel and fit and finish is pretty much CZ....excellent.

The heavier contour barrel did heat up with quicker shooting. Although with the 5 round magazine, I could let it cool down between reloads. The mini Mauser action is a well proven design and there were no feed or extraction issues. The Vortex scope is as advertised... not top notch, but decent enough to 300m (which is just what I am looking for in this set-up).

Cleaning is a breeze. But the "latch" or "button" bolt release to remove the bolt also needs to be pressed to get the bolt back into the action. That's something I wasn't used to, and I had some pretty perplexing moments the first time I tried to put the bolt back.

I have had a CZ-527 before. It was the shorter carbine in 7.62x39. It was pretty similar in performance even though the x39 round is not really known for its accuracy. I find that the 25" barrel on this rifle is the ideal trade off between "compactness" and versatility. This is going to make a pretty decent bush gun.

So all in all, I would rate this around an 8.5 out of 10. For what my stated purpose is...an up to 300yd varmint gun, it fits the bill very well.

Price paid: $1145 (all-in) for the rifle and $800 (all-in) for the scope, rings, and sling. (It also met my personal goal of keeping the costs below $2k.)

Load info:
Brass: Lapua
Bullet: Sierra 69gr SMK
Primer: CCI BR4
Powder: BLC-2 26.6gr 3005fps
COAL: .010" jump with no mag feed issues

I would recommend one. Thanks to Clay at Prophet River in Lloydminster for the very fast 1 day service to get one.

Andy 6MT