Problem: .223 Won't Chamber in CZ, Will in Tikka

IMFletcher

IMFletcher

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Hello everyone,

I was hoping to call on the collective knowledge of the experts in this section of the website in regards to a problem I witnessed at the range today. Two gentlemen at the range were shooting .223 Remington today and one was having a lot of difficulty getting his .223 reloads to chamber in his CZ 527. The interesting thing is that his friend had a Tikka T3 and a number of the cartridges that wouldn't chamber for the CZ, chambered for the T3. Factory ammo chambers without problem in the CZ. At it's worst, the bolt was nearly 3mm from being fully closed with a cartridge that chambered just fine in the T3.

I asked and was told the CZ is quite new, maybe ~150 rounds through it. I'm not sure if that makes a big difference or not. The T3 is also quite new.

What might be causing this problem? What can be done to prevent it in the future? Is all the reloaded ammo, roughly 500 rounds useless or is there a fix for it?

Thank you for any help with this. It really was puzzling.
 
Different rifles have different chambers, even though they are both chambered for the same cartridges. So a cartridge fired in a chamber in your Tikka could well end up being too large to chamber in your CZ. Shoot them all in the Tikka, then resize them completely until they chamber in the CZ. You may even have to use a small base die, though I doubt it. - dan
 
dan belisle said:
Different rifles have different chambers, even though they are both chambered for the same cartridges. So a cartridge fired in a chamber in your Tikka could well end up being too large to chamber in your CZ. Shoot them all in the Tikka, then resize them completely until they chamber in the CZ. You may even have to use a small base die, though I doubt it. - dan
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those are my thoughts, the OAL is to long for said rifle.
 
IMFletcher said:
Hello everyone,

Factory ammo chambers without problem in the CZ. At it's worst, the bolt was nearly 3mm from being fully closed with a cartridge that chambered just fine in the T3.

I asked and was told the CZ is quite new, maybe ~150 rounds through it. I'm not sure if that makes a big difference or not. The T3 is also quite new.

What might be causing this problem? What can be done to prevent it in the future? Is all the reloaded ammo, roughly 500 rounds useless or is there a fix for it?

Thank you for any help with this. It really was puzzling.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my CZ527. CZs have chambers that are quite tight compared to a Tikka. I thought I was being very clever once by only partially sizing a bunch of once fired brass, it was only the thickness of business card off of being fill length sized, but it was enough to stop it from chambering. I ended up pulling all the bullets completely full lenght sizing; all was well after that. I don't have enough nerve to run a loaded cartridge through a sizing die.
 
I doubt its an OAL issue. More likely the brass is oversize for the CZ chamber. In many cases, its the diameter near the base that is offensive - very hard to correct with a sizing die.
 
If your CZ 527 is like mine, it has a tight chamber.

This isn't at all unusual for CZ 527 rifles. Their chambers seem to be almost match grade.

I found the same thing with the new Marlin bolt rifle offering.

If it's giving you trouble with factory ammo, then you have a serious issue, that will have to be rectified by the distributor.

If it chambers factory ammo easily or with a little bit of pressure and is as accurate as I think it is, keep it and buy a set of small base dies.

The one thing I can tell you about the CZ 527, 223 Rem, it is one of the few bolt action rifles out there that will consistently ignite the hard primers in the Norinco yellow box and shoot it into tight little groups.
 
junkdude said:
I had the same problem with my CZ527. CZs have chambers that are quite tight compared to a Tikka. I thought I was being very clever once by only partially sizing a bunch of once fired brass, it was only the thickness of business card off of being fill length sized, but it was enough to stop it from chambering. I ended up pulling all the bullets completely full lenght sizing; all was well after that. I don't have enough nerve to run a loaded cartridge through a sizing die.
Click to expand...

Redding body dies are made to run loaded ammo. The bullet and neck are not touched, buy the body is resized the the shoulder is bumped back slightly. You use a regular shell holder so nothing is touching the primer to make it go off.
 
Thank you to everybody that took the time to reply to this so far. I'll pass these thoughts along to the gentleman that owns the CZ 527. I really do appreciate the help because I don't yet have a lot of reloading expertise to offer. If anyone else has any thoughts on this I'd be curious to hear them.

All the best,

- Fletch
 
maynard said:
Redding body dies are made to run loaded ammo. The bullet and neck are not touched, buy the body is resized the the shoulder is bumped back slightly. You use a regular shell holder so nothing is touching the primer to make it go off.
Click to expand...


Right on the money.

Just one CAVEAT, you need to use case lube or you will get a stuck case.
 
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