CZ 455 Lilja Build *Turning Point Reached*

RabidM4U5

RabidM4U5

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Picked up my Lilja barrel yesterday, arrived 2 weeks ahead of predicted delivery :D. Man, talk about quality this thing just glows. It has an aura that says "I rock and I know it". Inspecting with the bore scope shows a flawless bore, incredible craftsmanship. It truly puts factory barrels to shame. On to the build I had to sand out the barrel channel of the stock to fit the varmint taper and sand down the previous barrel bedding. Still debating in my mind whether to attempt to re-stain the sanded sides of the barrel channel or full length bed the barrel which will also hide the sanding. Waiting for DJdilliodon to get back to me with a recommendation. At the very least I'm re-bedding the original 3" barrel bedding I had done and it's a good time to also touch up some voids in the original bedding job.



 
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Sweet. My 455 American is wonderfully accurate in .17 HMR, a single perfect hole at 50 yds and almost same at 100yds. But the .22LR barrel leaves much to be desired. Have been wondering if i just haven't found the right ammo or if something is off. Where did you order the barrel from? Let us know how it shoots.
 
dwight_Shrute said:
The .22LR barrel leaves much to be desired. Have been wondering if i just haven't found the right ammo or if something is off. Where did you order the barrel from? Let us know how it shoots.
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A proper barrel should shoot just about any mid-grade or better ammo consistently under an inch. It should be readily apparent when the gun "likes" the ammo. If you are having a hard time figuring out if brand x performed better than brand y that would suggest something in the rifle is affecting accuracy, particularly if all ammo types display similar group patterns.

I got the barrel from Grand River Gunsmithing in Welland, ON. There are a few Canadian importers details on the lilja site h t t p ://riflebarrels.com/canada-importing/

Bedding compound applied and now setting up. I've opted to try and color the sanded wood again the barrel hides and shadows most of it so won't be too critical to get an exact match.





I relieved some wood in the transition area between the receiver and barrel so the bedding outline has a more visually appealing transition to the barrel channel. I didn't like the 90 degree hard stop going from thick to thin previously. Can't wait to shoot it :) The next question will be "which ammo do I want to represent it in my successful 1/2" challenge post"?
 
Been a long day but the build is complete and I finally have a chance to update.



Filled in void and much improved bedding of the tang area



Cleaned up and played around with some acrylic paint. I think I got a really good color match in the barrel channel. Peeling off the painters tape reminded me why I persevered with this rifle through all the challenges, the stock is beautiful. I really love it. It is a sought after limited edition and there are several "want to buy" ads for one. Not gettin' mine!



Ahh, the "F" ball. This time I fully disassembled the trigger group and learned first hand how it got that name... because a certain adjective preceding ridiculous perfectly describes this task! Lol.v:p



All in a days work









I was a little unsure how the stainless barrel to blued action would look but I am very pleasantly surprised. I think it looks great. Really nice.



Got 'er scoped up and range ready!





But what am I doing with a 24x scope on a .22??? I think I need a 35x! :xes
 
No time for the range lately :( While going over the new barrel install I checked headspace and it is waaay loose, plastigage method and no crush of the plastic observed. Rifle is currently at the smith's shop for adjustment.
 
Crap... I was hoping there would be a target posted by now. Good luck with the adjustments and keep us updated.
 
I got a PM from another guy on RFC giving me a heads up to watch for that exact issue. My take on it is that it's not that Lilja is "screwing up" the barrels but the measurement they are building to is slightly off. I would think it would be relatively easy for them to cut the extractor/ejector slots a little deeper in their future production runs moving forward.... *hint hint*

Typically a custom barrel is fitted to a specific rifle by a gun smith. The "drop in" barrel can only be built to a "one size fits most" specification as such variables on the action manufacturer's end are beyond the control of the barrel maker and if the tolerances the action is built to are getting sloppy there will be some poor fits occurring with the drop in barrel. At the CZ factory they can swap around a handful of barrels until tolerances line up, who has the luxury of going to the Lilja shop and fitting several barrels to their action before saying "yes, I'll take this one."? Then again if Liljas are built to a tight tolerance it won't matter which one you get as they are basically the same size. Gun smith adjustment is the only option if the drop in fit is poor.
 
I have one sitting in the factory stock.

It likes SK Standard +

I'm going to drop it in a chassis Iike this.


addtionalsideviews.jpg
 
ronnie01 said:
Another Lilja saga they can be just as disappointing at times as many other barrel. Are they good yes but again can be crap shoot when chasing the ragged hole. Or could it just be them an a CZ platform. Perhaps I won't order one up as quickly at this point in time.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=717241

R
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That guy hasn't shot his rifle with the Lilja yet, it is another CZ factory barrel tale of woe ;)
 
Read a couple of posts further up and there is a Lilja that didn't perform.

Here is the cut and paste

my cz 455 shoots 1.2" at 101 yards with slight breeze less than 6 mph. I too bought a lilja barrel thinking I could improve my groups, but that didn't happen. Got about the same group sizes.. I'll admit barrel looked great, but shot as good as my original.. thats my 2 cents. I now ordered a cz 455 16" barrel, first one didn't shoot well so I sent it back, second one is about as good if not slightly better than my original 20" cz barrel. Just prefer shorter barrel for moving around and lighter weight. So for a little less than the price of one lilja barrel I got two, a 16" threaded and a 20" varmint. Would have preferred stainless, but that didnt work out so well..

R
 
Testing three different lots of CenterX with my CZ455 Varmint yesterday under calm conditions.

Best 5 Shot group measured 0.726 (c-c) at 100 yards.
Bedding and Pillars made a vast improvement.
Does not like Eley match grades (Team, Match and Tenex).
Vast improvement with CenterX.
 
ronnie01 said:
Read a couple of posts further up and there is a Lilja that didn't perform.

Here is the cut and paste

my cz 455 shoots 1.2" at 101 yards with slight breeze less than 6 mph. I too bought a lilja barrel thinking I could improve my groups, but that didn't happen. Got about the same group sizes.

R
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1.2" at 100 yards with a .22LR, hmm yeah just terrible performance :rolleyes: No mention of ammo tested, if rifle was bedded and had other supporting mods, personal skill level. Sounds like the lilja barrel did just fine under the circumstances, it just wasn't markedly better than his factory barrel which seems to have been quite good.
 
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