Bought a 455 10 years ago and it was .22LR/.22 Mag. Definitely a gimmick. It had a horrible trigger . Sold it a while back and tried Savages. Nice guns but not as accurate. Recently bought a 452 Varmint .22. Great trigger and super accurate. A little on the heavy side but great on 100m Gophers.
CZ questions from a "CZ fan"
- Thread starter .22LRGUY
- Start date
The 455 model became available in the U.S. in 2010. Many report that the barrel change feature works well and without issue, and so it may not be fair to call it a "gimmick". The 452 and 455 triggers are very similar and can be adjusted the same way with a spring swap.
I look at anshutz prices in canada and then I look at a copperhead action and weigh out the difference between a custom built rifle and a off the shelf anshutz rifle.......and guess what....once you hit the magic 2 thousand dollar mark you might as well invest in a full blown custom rifle and never look back, and I can say that because I own 3 CZ 452's a savage MK II, Walthers and 2 full blown custom swindlehurst rifles...they all have their place
Pick your sport.....and get the rifle that works best for the game your going to play and one that fits the accuracy requirements to put you in the running, there is no simple answer thanks to all the disciplines we shoot, stick to your budget when you go shopping though...it's easy to go astray quick when opportunities present themselves.....killough shooting sports in the US always has some favorable options and they are more then willing to work with you to send them to a FFL dealer for export/import
Pick your sport.....and get the rifle that works best for the game your going to play and one that fits the accuracy requirements to put you in the running, there is no simple answer thanks to all the disciplines we shoot, stick to your budget when you go shopping though...it's easy to go astray quick when opportunities present themselves.....killough shooting sports in the US always has some favorable options and they are more then willing to work with you to send them to a FFL dealer for export/import
back to the original question though.......
the 452/453 rifles were superior to the 455, however they cut off their nose in spite of their faces in a ploy to make more money selling accessories.....gun owners like to tinker and they thought they could cash in on that with the ability to swap out barrels and change calibers without having to purchase a second rifle....
Do you know why there accessory line for CZ rimfires is so small?? becuase you can't mess with perfection and quality, but when you sold a man a CZ rifle he and the next 2 generations of his were set for life....their not coming back to buy another rifle....with the exception of those who fell in love with the walnut...that wood draws us back all the time....quality and wood to die for....they cut a few corners to keep costs down on both models, obviously the trigger but also the milled dovetail, for god sakes man.....just drill and tap 4 holes for us so we can mount bases and have unlimited scope mounting options.....even savage got that one right....
455 suffers in the accuracy department compared to the 452....barrel to receiver fitting methods are mostly to blame....when you pick up a savage, then a mossberg, then a CZ at the store you can see what your paying for, and those who prefer the quality purchase the CZ, those who owned a 452 then bought a 455 know the difference, then they want another 452, this is driving the price up, it's obvious it's better......and the plastic 5 round magazines that come with the 455.....garbage......the 455 is 200 bucks over priced, their trying to ride the 452's coat tails and success with a sub par rifle
the 452/453 rifles were superior to the 455, however they cut off their nose in spite of their faces in a ploy to make more money selling accessories.....gun owners like to tinker and they thought they could cash in on that with the ability to swap out barrels and change calibers without having to purchase a second rifle....
Do you know why there accessory line for CZ rimfires is so small?? becuase you can't mess with perfection and quality, but when you sold a man a CZ rifle he and the next 2 generations of his were set for life....their not coming back to buy another rifle....with the exception of those who fell in love with the walnut...that wood draws us back all the time....quality and wood to die for....they cut a few corners to keep costs down on both models, obviously the trigger but also the milled dovetail, for god sakes man.....just drill and tap 4 holes for us so we can mount bases and have unlimited scope mounting options.....even savage got that one right....
455 suffers in the accuracy department compared to the 452....barrel to receiver fitting methods are mostly to blame....when you pick up a savage, then a mossberg, then a CZ at the store you can see what your paying for, and those who prefer the quality purchase the CZ, those who owned a 452 then bought a 455 know the difference, then they want another 452, this is driving the price up, it's obvious it's better......and the plastic 5 round magazines that come with the 455.....garbage......the 455 is 200 bucks over priced, their trying to ride the 452's coat tails and success with a sub par rifle
I just picked up a 453 lux and compared it to my 455 Canadian, in my opinion the 453 is built much better. The wood is nicer and fit and finish is perfect, I'll compare the accuracy between them on my next range outing. The anshultz looks like a great rifle but they are so pricey, almost 3 times the cost of a Cz.
In what way is the barrel to receiver fitting method to blame? I appreciate a technical answer
those two set screws used to pin it to the receiver is a weak link, hard to ensure the barrel is square to the boltface, nothing beats a threaded barrel when it comes to precision
Is there any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, to support this contention?
It is curious, then, why Anschütz does not thread their barrels to the receiver? Just visualizing the assembly process and mating of parts, I cannot see how the set screws would cause misalignment of the barrel, they drive the barrel shank into the receiver until the barrel shoulder butts up to the receiver face. All squareness of the final assembly is the sum of the squareness of the receiver face to barrel shoulder mating, and having the barrel shoulder cut true to the barrel shank, breech face, and bore. Then the receiver machining, bolt body machining and bolt lug machining must also be dialed in to the breech face.
I cannot imagine CZ dialing in each and every single component for each and every single rifle, like, come on... it's CZ
Anschütz rifles aren't even dialed in to that extreme level of precision, so the 452's certainly aren't either. Anecdotally, despite the 452 having two bolt lugs, contact is usually not even and often only one lug makes solid contact (ask RFC gunsmith djdilliodon, who is my source on this). Anecdotally as well, barrel shank, barrel shoulder and receiver faces of Anschütz rifles are not precisely true as well. I base this on buying a replacement 1416 D HB barrel and dry fitting it into two Anschütz receivers, a Weatherby XXII and 64 MSR. In the XXII receiver, the barrel shoulder made contact only on a thin strip of the receiver at 12 0'clock, and in the MSR receiver only at 9 o'clock. I can show you pictures where I applied dry erase marker to the parts and contact is shown where it wore off. It is plausible that the originally fitted barrel to an Anschütz receiver is dialed in for a square and full mating, but I did not have a way to test this at the time. When you understand how metal shifts and moves on a day to day basis, it is no surprise that two components manufactured on different days have a low chance of being dialed in to each other, they need to be fitted on the same day to each other.We need to remember that rimfires are a different animal than centerfire, what applies with the big bore doesn't always neatly translate over to the smallbore. If the boltface squareness to the barrel has any impact on rimfire accuracy, it is most certainly very minor, and probably lost in the noise of inaccuracy due to inconsistent ammunition and an out of tune barrel.
455's ain't accurate, eh? What say ye to this? (Not my target)
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=921017&page=4 I would hardly say that the set screws are holding back accuracy in the 455 to a significant degree. What seems to be the most important factor, trumping all else (assuming other aspects of setup aren't defective/deficient) is a quality barrel with a match chamber. That's where your accuracy comes from. My theory is that CZ has lowered their production standards in recent years, I would need to get my hands on some 452's to inspect and analyze to confirm my suspicions. Early implementation of the 455 naturally had some bugs to work out, and with the C series that I've seen lately, they're nearly there, but for the consistency of barrel quality.
I have read so many posts bashing the 455 compared to the 452. What I can tell you is this, the 455 quality is superb, my trigger is polished and adjusted to a very crisp 12 oz's, and I will be publishing my 50 yard <1/2" groups very shortly.. so.. maybe I got lucky with this one or more likely those that put it down compared to the 452 are biased and regardless of the results could not be convinced that the 455 could possibly be as good or better then their beloved 452.
I would like to think that most 455's are up to snuff. CZ's minimum standard is 2 MOA at 50 yards; nevertheless many rifles do much better. But it's a fact that there are more posts on Rimfire Central (and here) about 455 accuracy issues than there are about 452 accuracy problems. Of course the number of posts about an issue doesn't in and of itself prove the problem, but it certainly lends weight to the idea that there may indeed be one. My own experience with CZ rimfires has borne out that on average the older model is likely to be a better shooter than the 455 which has replaced it. My first CZ was a 455 American, and it would not shoot very well until it was pillared and glass bedded and given a new barrel. My second 455 was a Varmint. Neither 455 shot as well as the 452 American I still have or the 453 Varmint and Lux rifles I've had. They were good, but not as good. There is a poll just begun this afternoon on RFC about stock 455 accuracy. It may provide some further information about this model's accuracy.
Nobody is talking about Sako rimfires here. I am guessing the reason is there are so few. Not many sell in Canada. For a few dollars more they are a step up from CZ. More accurate smoother action. Great rifles. Don't overlook them. I have had a plethora of 22's. Field rifles are Sako's and Annie. The only cz's I have kept are scouts.
I think most any Sako dealer can get them in but most don't, probably due to the high price point. That said, I recall seeing a Sako Quad at the Calgary Shooting Centre a while back (maybe quite a while, come to think of it) and Shooter's Choice has Sako Finfire II's in stock in .22LR and 17 HMR right now.
shooterschoice.ca/product/sako-finnfire-ii-22lr/
Well, 22LR guy, if you wanna go down the rabbit hole, I've got a 455 American (22LR) I'll sell you. It has pillars and Devcon bedding, striker pin mod for better ignition, and an epoxy pad under the barrel. Sitting in a luscious piece of tiger-striped Turkish walnut. I'll even throw in a Leupold VX2 3-9x33 EFR. Well, it's not really thrown in, but I'm not using it so it might as well go too.
It's for sale because it can't quite run with a 452 Varmint I own, easily the best shooting rifle I've ever owned.
Plus, I need safe space.. lol.
It's for sale because it can't quite run with a 452 Varmint I own, easily the best shooting rifle I've ever owned.
Plus, I need safe space.. lol.
^^ There ya go! Buy used 455 for cheap, tie this year's tomatoes to the factory barrel, order up a sweet custom barrel (contact RFC member djdilliodon), wait 8-12 weeks once Don sends your barrel to the import agent, glue 'er in once you receive it, and you'll be smokin' the factory Annies at a lower cost than that 64 Tactical Trainer
