CZ-557...Canadian Rangers?

screwtape said:
That rifle is definitely a CZ-557 and not the slightly older CZ-550? If so, it is almost certainly a prototype trial rifle offered to testing for the Rangers. The reason I say this, apart from the crest engraved in the exact spot where CZ usually puts engravings on rifle butts, is that that rifle has options on it that are not available so far on the standard commercial CZ-557:

1. Two front QD sling swivel studs;
2. Detachable box magazine; and
3. Iron sights mated with a straight non-Monte Carlo buttstock.

According to the CZ website, while the Lux model of the 557 does come with iron sights like the ones on your rifle, it has a walnut stock with a Monte Carlo cheekpiece hump. The straight buttstock like the one your rifle has only comes on the Sporter model, is made of beech instead of walnut (is yours beech or walnut or can you tell?), and that model comes standard without any iron sights and doesn't offer them as an option.

The Sporter model does comes standard with QD sling swivels, but only has one front swivel instead of 2 several inches apart.

The real kicker however, is that according to CZ itself, the company DOES plan to offer detachable magazines as an option for the 557 -- but not until 2014. The only 557s commercially available now have internal 5-shot fixed magazines.

Oh yes, and that sight mount for the scope is not a standard CZ commercial mounting either. CZ hunting rifles are usually offered with optional rings that mount separately into dovetails in the receiver (much like Ruger rings that fit into "notches"). That mounting you have looks like a variation of the picatinny rail system CZ offers with its Military/LEO 750 sniper rifle.

Add all that together, and that is definitely NOT just a commercial off-the-shelf CZ rifle that someone engraved with the Ranger crest as his own personal commemorative rifle.

BTW, what is the year of manufacture of that rifle? According to CZ, they stamp the year of manufacture on their weapons: "Pistol marks are located in a small oval behind the extractor/ejection port. It will be a 2 digit code indicating the year it was manfactured. Rifles generally have the manf date stamp on the right side of the action, slightly behind where the barrel threads into the receiver. The rifle mark is a proofstamp along with the 2 digit code."

You may want to try contacting CZ itself and asking them about your rifle's history. You could start with CZ-USA at the following email address: info@cz-usa.com.
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Perhaps they would release it this year .. it would be great in 223 I would not hesitate to grab one
 
According to CASR the weapon was, "...selected and the contracted awarded in Winter/Spring 2013 and the start of delivery of the new CRR begins in Fall 2013/Winter [20]14." Too bad for the bolt action requirement, it would have been an honor to see the CR crest on a Blackfeather "RS."

In the Introduction, it states:

"The New Canadian Ranger Rifle (NCRR) [will be] a robust bolt action hunting rifle with minor customization that can fire both commercial .308["] Winchester and 7.62 x 51mm NATO ammunition."

and...

Only robust Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products will be considered to limit the testing required to validate that the proposed NCRR is effective and robust enough to meet its intended role. Only rifles chambered for either the NATO C21 [ Canadian ball ] 7.62x51mm or commercial .308["] Winchester cartridges. Manufacturers will be required to certify that their rifle meet this mandatory requirement.

An 8.6lb Blackfeather "RS" sporting a Canadian designed M14 is an accurate, reliable and proven semi-auto rifle suitable for any environment. ;)
 
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Talked with my old man. He is head of the rangers in manitoba. Asked if he new about a cz rifle for them. His response was it may have been submited or was being considered but if that was the case it would be gov. Property. So he thinks its just a one off that was made for an individual.
 
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What the procurement staff for DND seem to have neglected is the complex processes used to manufacture some firearm parts.

I don't doubt that Colt Canada could setup tooling to manufacture a different design *provided* the metal working processes are similar to those used to make the C7 and C8.

If there is a process required they are not geared up to perform it could be another matter entirely.

For example, Glock receivers are manufactured with very complex 4-part injection molds. I've read that the molds cost something like $250,000 each,
and would be fabricated by a very skilled tool and die maker. The original molds would have been built and then tweaked to produce a working product.

In an even more complex vein, Ruger uses investment casting for their receivers. In fact, Ruger has a separate division that just does
investment casting, both for the firearm division and for other end-user products unrelated to firearms. (Pinetree Casting).

ht tp://www.ruger.com/casting/

Both above examples are serious industrial processes that Colt Canada is probably not currently setup to execute.

So even if a candidate product was approved *and* the current mfgr is willing to supply the TDP is no guarantee
that Colt Canada could actually manufacture all of the relevant components without serious inventment and acquisition lead time.
I doubt they would setup an investment casting facility for a 10K unit contract.

So if the procurement people were really on the ball, they would somehow have the Colt Canada production engineers
talk to each of the candidate mfgr about the feasibility of economically replicating their complex fabrication processes
at Colt Canada's facilities.

Neat trick.
 
enefgee said:
You know, with or without the engraved stock, that's just a very nice design - everything you'd want in a rifle, without a lot of junk.
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Yep. It pretty much looks like the ideal "scout rifle" to me. Of course, reading Cooper's "scout rifle" concept, I always thought myself that he was really describing a Lee Enfield with see-through scope mount added. If you can't have a 7.62 Lee Enfield, like the AIA M10 B1 model, then this CZ offering makes a very nice substitute.
 
screwtape said:
Yep. It pretty much looks like the ideal "scout rifle" to me. Of course, reading Cooper's "scout rifle" concept, I always thought myself that he was really describing a Lee Enfield with see-through scope mount added. If you can't have a 7.62 Lee Enfield, like the AIA M10 B1 model, then this CZ offering makes a very nice substitute.
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I kind of thought that a No5 with a forward rail (XS) and scout scope made a great poor man's Scout.
 
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