What do you think of the CZ 557 Ranger in 308 Winchester?

[Kosmonument]

I'm looking at getting this as my "one good bolt action rifle". It seems on the low end of the price points for quality rifles, at least to me, and seems to be outfitted with some nice features like built-in irons and a removable rail. It was submitted for the Rangers to use, but they picked a Tikka instead, probably because it's a bit on the heavy side. I do love the wood on it however, and that's not really a concern to me.

Do you have alternative recommendations? Is it a good choice?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Had one in hand and almost bought it. Great little rifle. The only thing that held me back was the beauty Sako Bavarian already in my safe that would prevent the CZ from ever leaving the locker.

 

[gorby]

I haven't shot it, but my friend has one and it feels really nice in the hand. If I was looking for a comfortable, iron sight, bolt action I would get a cz 550 or 557. Had one on order once, but it was cancelled

 

[philhut]

I own one....it is a really nice rifle and feels like a battle rifle when you hold onto it....like something you could trust and use for life. My only use is that the magazines are plastic and not steel like the fantastic CZ527 magazines. I have both the 4rd and 10rd mags and both work perfectly with no feeding issues. Rounds can be fed from the top but are not as easily loaded that way compared to loading the magazine itself. It depends what you want to use the rifle for. I thought the CZ557 would be the perfect replacement to my Mauser K98 that I had been carrying for moose hunting and otherwise as an all around rifle. I brought it out for 1 hunt during deer and only carried it 1 day, otherwise I took out the CZ527 instead....my issue was the weight of the rifle. With a scope it became top heavy and was not as easy to carry as the old K98 which with scope and mount etc was not that much heavier. I 100% trust that K98 for being perfectly accurate. So it is a tough transition for me. The rail on top make it easy to mount a scope but somewhat difficult to visualize the iron sights through the notch in the rail meaning that if being used for an iron sighted rifle you likely will want to remove the top rail. I mounted a Bushnell engage 1.5-10x scope on it and I feel that while a great optic is entirely too heavy for hunting use on this rifle. As for function the action was decent when I got it but not perfectly smooth like all CZ firearms I have ever owned they shoot themselves smooth....after about 20 rounds down the pipe the bolt smoothed out to near glass and accuracy zeroes in around 100 to 140 rounds (this is good my other CZ's usually took 200rds)

In short it's a great gun but consider what it will be used for. If you just need a 308 iron sighted bush gun then the standard wood stock one will likely be a fair choice as well. I like the CZ Ranger but it's not my favorite rifle yet I still need to tinker with the set up to meet my ideal.

I have also handled the Tikka Arctic and shot a few rounds....I'd take the CZ rifle to war over the Tikka if I had to choose. The tikka rear sight with its dial seemed like something I could break if knocked around a bit and it was heavier than the CZ at nearly 9lbs with the CZ starting around 7 5lbs. The bolts on both were about equal with a long handle CZ bolt on one and the wide knob tikka bolt on the other...both magazines were plastic. I dont see the benefit of the Tikka at double the cost