- Location
- Calgary, AB
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put a pachmyr red pad on this zastava 8x57
honestly I have not found a load that doesn't throw the third shot or give massive groupings, I thought 1.5-2 groups with a third shot flier opening them up from 1 moa range were bad until I tried lighter bullets in factory loads and got 3 inch groups consistently.
With an adjusted trigger, some different bullets and powders and the new pad we will see if it's me or the gun.
The butt pad presumably was small enough, I had asked the gunsmith to trim it down if it was too large as the lop on these rifles is already verging on too long for me. I haven't measure it but they do very good work (corlanes) and it doesn't seem any longer than the factory configuration.
I'm a bit shy of lighter bullets after my experience with the hornady european ammo (can't remember the name) with 170 grain gmx. With the handloads I tested some of the groups certainly show sub moa potential with the exception of the flyer, I was playing around with the powder charges that produced these groups and then work picked up and winter came. Something to experiment with during the summer for sure.
I find for me the massive cheek piece is a little much, I don't think it fits the styling of the rifle very well. This particular rifle looks and feels like it was made with dense wood, I have never weighed it but it is very heavy.
Your posts about the accuracy of your rifle were a factor in my decision for sure. I'm hoping by using better projectiles and different powders I can get the groups smaller. The trigger job will certainly help. I found the factory pad to be very stiff, it wasn't unbearable at all but there is not way a rifle this heavy should be kicking that much with 200 grain bullets in a moderate cartridge. It will be much more comfortable now I'm sure.
I had a leupold 1.5-4 on it but switched it and ordered a 2.5x fixed leupold. This rifle always seems to be used as a carbine.
Complaint aside I was happy to take it out hunting this year and not to upset when I installed some scratches.
I was thinking of swapping it out for a synthetic stock, but now that I have spent money on the new recoil pad not to mention how nice the stock is I will keep it
around.
Before adjusting the trigger had a lot of creep and a heavy pull. I think this alone might bring my groups into a more acceptable range.
Dgradinaru did you ever try the privi bullets? It could just be a one off with the factory ammo and the gun likes 170's just fine...
that .222 is perfection. How does it shoot?
that is the nicest model Sako ever made in my opinion. Well the Finnwolf was nice to.
I call the 9.3 my "Tiger Rifle." (Not that I have ever even seen a Tiger in the wild). The full length striped walnut is great and also the stock is the slim version with a narrow grip. CZ later went to a much bulkier and heavier stock...and now, as of 2017 they have discontinued all their full stock rifles, even the .22s. I think as well they have discontinued a lot of the regular half stock 550 series. Its all too bad because the CZ 550s were always a lot of (and apparently finally too much) rifle for the money.
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Actually I believe the terms "fiddle back & tiger stripe come from back in the flintlock era cottage industry of the time. fiddle-back refers to the natural wood grain stocks & tiger stripe refers to a stock that was wrapped with coal oil soaked rope & the rope set a-fire and burned to a stage that pleased the stock maker or customer, who ever was doing the burning, a very common practice back then.