CZ's 527 carbine - Out of the Box
Guns Magazine, Sept, 2003 by Jim Gardner
"I'm telling ya' man," there was a short pause while he chomped another bite from his sandwich, "try one, you'll like it!" I had been lamenting to my pal Dave Fortier the current state of affairs in California Self-loading .223 carbines like my AR-180, AR-15 and FNC, which once made such great camp guns for desert excursions, are all verboten now. As a possible replacement, Fortier was singing the praises of the CZ 527 Carbine.
Well, the rascal was right -- the handy CZ 527 is a peach of a gun, and being bolt action, it's a rifle that won't raise eyebrows, even in (yech) California.
The 527 Carbine is a mere 37 inches long overall, with 18-inch barrel. Weight is a tidy 5 pounds, 13 ounces. That may not seem feathery in an age of titanium and Keviar, but it's pretty darn trim. Length of pull is 13 3/4 inches.
The first two things to catch your eye on the 527 are the very Euro-looking iron sights, and the distinctive single column, detachable magazine. The sights sit rather high, and thus work well with a comb height designed with scope sights in mind. And speaking of scope mounting, the 527's receiver features neat integral dovetail bases.
But when did it become mandatory to sling a pound of glass on every bolt-action rifle? While I might be happier with a good aperture rear, I think the big bold open sights of the CZ 527 will suffice for my needs, but more on that later.
That racy magazine, as mentioned, is quick detachable. This has merit for a number of reasons, including making safe before climbing back into the truck. Capacity is only five rounds, but I think that's enough. If I had my druthers, the rifle would stow one spare magazine neatly inletted into the belly of its nicely checkered walnut stock, but maybe that's a winter project.
For an American, the safety will take some accommodation. We're used to forward for "fire," and back for "safe." The situation is reversed with the 527 Carbine. You must roll the safety back towards the butt to put it into "go" mode.
The trigger is both dreary and delightful at the same time. How can that be, you ask? Cycle the action and try the trigger. You'll note it's acceptably light (3 3/4 pounds) but horribly creepy, with perhaps eight gritty little stops and starts between take-up and discharge. Ah, but all is not lost. Push the trigger forward into the set mode, and you're rewarded with a true "glass rod" break at roughly 1 1/4 pounds pressure.
Now, how about accuracy? From the 100-yard bench, and using Black Hills' superb 52-grain match HP and 50-grain V-Max loads, groups ran 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Most groups showed four shots clustered tightly and one straying perhaps 3/4 inch from the main group, which I attribute to pilot error. These were fired with an ancient Weaver 4x scope in place.
With that out of the way, I pulled the Weaver from the rifle, and found the resulting groups opened up only a little. These are very good open sights, much better than the semi-V sights we usually see. With no scope in place, the CZ 527 is a delightfully handy little package, and if you can hit as well with the irons, why make it more bulky than it needs to be?
The bottom line? Good sights, a great set trigger, pleasing accuracy and handsome appearance make the CZ 527 Carbine a real winner.
