Thread: Cz 455 varmint thorghts

I have a CZ455 varmint in 17HMR, and a 22LR sporter barrel. I have done a lot of research on CZ455 before and after I bought mine. I also shot a lot of different CZ452s.

In terms of workmanship, there is little difference between 455 and 452. General consensus is that 455's production has been modernised, resulting in slight improvement. I dont see the difference myself. CZ455 uses third party sourced screws and uses 1 less screw to hold the action in the stock (2 compared to 3 of 452), they make no practical difference considering 10/22 has only 1 screw.

In terms of accuracy, they are about the same. My observation has been that accuracy is a bit of hit and miss with all CZ. There are examples with extremely good accuracy, examples with very good accuracy, examples with ok accuracy, and examples with substandard accuracy. It is a matter of luck.

Having owned 17hmr in varmint barrel, and having shot so many other CZs, I would say there is no point in buying a varmint barrel, for either 17hmr or 22, but for different reasons.

For 22LR, the truth is that CZ barrels are mid-tier barrels that simply is not precise enough for varmint profile to matter, CZ are mass production hunting rifles, designed to tolerate all sorts of hunting ammo. Long before sporter barrel harmonics would affect accuracy, your accuracy is affect by the inherent quality of the barrel itself. if you look at the US forums, everyone who want better accuracy gets a Lilja, and only CZ with Lilja barrels win any competitions (and astonishingly, they do win competitions against Annie, Sako and other high end hunting 22LR rifles).

For 17hmr, there is no point in a varmin barrel period. On top of the same reason that affects 22LR, there is another reason. As a hunting gun, accuracy only matters within effective range of the round, which is about 120~150 metres. Beyond 150, you will need an impossibly calm day (especially in New Zealand's mountains) for that slight barrel accuracy difference ( if it exists) to make a difference. What I mean is, sporter or varmint 17hmr barrels will probably both shoot within 1 MOA. which is good enough for possum, rabbit and magpie hunting within 120~150 meters. beyond that range, the wind will make the shot much less predictable than any barrel accuracy. the heavier varmint barrel's accuracy edge (if it has any) will only matter in very few situations (rare calm day 150+ shooting), but you have to live with the extra weight all the time, every time. if you want to reliably shoot between 150 - 200m, I say dont buy a 17hmr, buy a slightly bigger calibre like 17WSM, 204, 222, or 223. they are all around 1 dollar per round so in practice they will make only a very small difference to your overall cost.

Now, on the topic of barrel change, there are two ways to do it. First way is what most people do: re-zero the rifle with a different barrel by shooting it. This involves not just a few rounds, but a trip to the range. Time and opportunity cost are the biggest costs. The second way is to simply note down the turret positions and turn the turret to the correct position with the changed barrel. This approach is obviously much more efficient but requires a very good scope whose adjustments are accurate and repeatable, and also happens to be suitable for the different applications for which you would use 17hmr and 22lr. Not many scopes meet both requirements. For example I use VXII 6-18 for my 17hmr, I like the reach of 18x and I do not shoot close enough for 6x to be too long. But this scope is not suitable for 22LR because it does not focus any closer than 35 metres. On my 22LR hunting rifle I use a 3-9 because I only shoot less than 2/3 the distance as when I use the 17HMR.

I really like the wood stock on the 455 varmint, It looks good even with a sporter barrel.

CZ has a super cheap trigger tweak options - yodave. Stock trigger is also quite good.

Whistlepig now makes 455 barrels in 22LR, they also are considering 17hmr. All Whistlepig barrels are varmint profile and would require a varmint stock. Whistlepig is a cheaper and lighter alternative to the Lilja (about half the price). Currently they cannot exported to NZ but that may change in the future.

Overall, I would say this about CZ455: it is a tried and tested formula, it feels good and solid, generally speaking accurate. There are some sample variations so you may not get a super accurate one, and you could easily get a just OK one. But on a whole you have better chance of getting an accurate CZ randomly than an accurate gun from another maker of the similar price range.

Tikka is releasing a 22LR it may be worth waiting for a bit to see how they are priced and how they compare to CZ455.

One last thing, I have been waiting for an opportunity to get a Lilja barrel (or maybe two, one in each calibre). I wish True Flight did CZ455 barrels in the same quality and price as Lilja, I believe many people would buy them. There are now enough CZ455 owners in New Zealand to support such a product.