Another product rushed into production. Hopefully they fix the issues soon.
All this hullabuhloo about the barrel change system... That's not the concern. It's their barrel making/chambering/crowning. Any 45xx that has a good barrel, will shoot well. Those that have "dud" barrels, do not shoot well. All I ever see is "well, I don't like the 455 barrel system", but nobody can demonstrate that there is an actual difference in performance. What's so bad about how it's engineered, anyway? Why isn't anyone ripping on the Tikka T1X barrel attachment? That's just 3 grub screws cranked into the barrel shank, and there isn't even a flat milled onto the shank for the screws! Besides... for the average quality of the barrels coming out of these factory production facilities, whatever very minor difference the barrel attachment might make, is not perceivable. In other words, most of the barrels aren't good enough for the method of attachment to amount to a hill of beans.
If the barrels are good, the 455's and 457's will shoot under 1/2" at 50 yards reliably, barrel attachment method notwithstanding. As hunting/sporting arms, what more do you want from them? You want a .22 that shoots under 1/4" all day? Go build a full custom on a Stiller 2500X action, chase ammo lots, and enjoy that precious "threaded to the receiver" barrelMost Anschütz and Walther rifles aren't threaded to the receiver, heck, who does still thread?
I won't defend CZ for the crappy barrel workmanship I've seen personally in a number of 455's, and reports of the same in 457's I see on RFC. It's pretty sad that I can cut a better crown in my garage with the Manson crowning tool than CZ can on a lathe... there's no excuse for that. A little more QC attention on the barrels, and there'd really be little to complain about. Sadly, it seems that CZ is just letting the barrel quality slide. I've got a safe full of .22's that meet all my needs, actually just sold one that wasn't seeing much use. 457's just don't offer me anything my other rifles can't do. I'll say the same for any other rifle, I'm just not in the market to buy. Wouldn't mind trying a few, but I'm not buying just to do that.
I don't disagree with any of that really, but my question for you would be this~if there were 2 CZ 457s being offered to you, same price/workmanship/wood etc....but one had it's barrel threaded into the receiver, the other held on with grub screws..which would you pick?
In spite of my username, I only have a few 22s that I shoot allot...and am not in the market for anything new. I could be tempted...and am MOST likely to be tempted by a CZ. I love the look of the 457s, and I'd be setting aside money for one were it not for the barrel issue. (something I consider to be an issue, not speaking for anyone else) We all have our own sensibilities.
We've already determined that there are 455's that shoot very well, some not so much, based on that I would take the 457 that shot the better of the two, regardless of how the barrel was mounted, but that's me, other manufacturers have moved away from threading barrels including Anschutz and get very good results, hopefully my 457 will be one of the better ones, CZ guarantees 1/2 moa on the 457 MTR, I would be very happy with that
I don't disagree with any of that really, but my question for you would be this~if there were 2 CZ 457s being offered to you, same price/workmanship/wood etc....but one had it's barrel threaded into the receiver, the other held on with grub screws..which would you pick?
I don't disagree with any of that really, but my question for you would be this~if there were 2 CZ 457s being offered to you, same price/workmanship/wood etc....but one had it's barrel threaded into the receiver, the other held on with grub screws..which would you pick?
Hey don't get me wrong, I have a 457 and put it onto the 1/2 inch challenge in the first 50 rounds of ammo, only modification was to the factory trigger, but I did swap the 17 barrel for a .22 barrel designed for the 455
The qualified guys in the shop got pulled to the side to fulfill the contract when Walther got CZ to build their rifles for them using the CZ 452 receiver, the apprentice was left in charge of making barrels for the 455 as the journeyman was busy fitting hammer forged russian barrels to the 452's that were released with walthers name on the side in laminate 3 position stocks, not available in north america, well rare as hen's teeth anyways, it was Walther's design that called for the sides of the action to be slabbed off, and for the tang to be cut, heck if it was good enough for Walther for almost 20 years, it's going to be great for us now
Still looking for that rifle, it is proving elusive...
we need to find 2 of them lol
We've already determined that there are 455's that shoot very well, some not so much, based on that I would take the 457 that shot the better of the two, regardless of how the barrel was mounted, but that's me, other manufacturers have moved away from threading barrels including Anschutz and get very good results, hopefully my 457 will be one of the better ones, CZ guarantees 1/2 moa on the 457 MTR, I would be very happy with that
I see what you're doing, baiting me into giving you the answer that agrees with your sensibilities. If accuracy was equal, I'd take the prettier wood, but oh, wood is the same too you propose. Well, for what I would do with a 457 if I ever bought one, I'd take the grub screw barrel. Why? Because first thing I'd be doing is tying up my tomatoes to the factory barrel and calling up Benchmark for a custom blank. Cheaper and easier to fit the barrel on the non-threaded version, and Loctite 680 is an excellent way to affix a barrel.
In another scenario, I already have a 455 that I'll swap .22LR and .17HMR barrels in, so I don't really need another rifle offering this capability. In that case, I'd take the threaded version since it'll remain a one-caliber rifle for it's time with me anyway. A "grub-screw" rifle doesn't add value to me, truth be told I don't swap barrels that often anyway. Might be different if I lived somewhere I could pop out into the backyard and plink, with a gopher patch nearby too for using the .17, but I don't. So, if it's all the same, might as well have the threaded one. What if I had to pay full price for the threaded version, but was offered the grub-screw rifle for 30% off? I'd definitely go with the discounted rifle, as I don't see the threading as having any real advantage to justify paying full pop. I'm fine with either system, it's not a sticking point to me, there are other factors that I am looking at to base my decision.
The qualified guys in the shop got pulled to the side to fulfill the contract when Walther got CZ to build their rifles for them using the CZ 452 receiver, the apprentice was left in charge of making barrels for the 455 as the journeyman was busy fitting hammer forged russian barrels to the 452's that were released with walthers name on the side in laminate 3 position stocks, not available in north america, well rare as hen's teeth anyways, it was Walther's design that called for the sides of the action to be slabbed off, and for the tang to be cut, heck if it was good enough for Walther for almost 20 years, it's going to be great for us now
I landed a 16" MTR yesterday and quickly patched it out and ran the lyman bore scope into it. The chamber/throat is flawless. The bore is pristine and lacking the 'rings' I've seen reported on RFC. The crown is clean and even.
I see what you're doing, baiting me into giving you the answer that agrees with your sensibilities. If accuracy was equal, I'd take the prettier wood, but oh, wood is the same too you propose. Well, for what I would do with a 457 if I ever bought one, I'd take the grub screw barrel. Why? Because first thing I'd be doing is tying up my tomatoes to the factory barrel and calling up Benchmark for a custom blank. Cheaper and easier to fit the barrel on the non-threaded version, and Loctite 680 is an excellent way to affix a barrel.
In another scenario, I already have a 455 that I'll swap .22LR and .17HMR barrels in, so I don't really need another rifle offering this capability. In that case, I'd take the threaded version since it'll remain a one-caliber rifle for it's time with me anyway. A "grub-screw" rifle doesn't add value to me, truth be told I don't swap barrels that often anyway. Might be different if I lived somewhere I could pop out into the backyard and plink, with a gopher patch nearby too for using the .17, but I don't. So, if it's all the same, might as well have the threaded one. What if I had to pay full price for the threaded version, but was offered the grub-screw rifle for 30% off? I'd definitely go with the discounted rifle, as I don't see the threading as having any real advantage to justify paying full pop. I'm fine with either system, it's not a sticking point to me, there are other factors that I am looking at to base my decision.
Will you be able to tell the difference after shooting both?