Anyone actually own a CZ 453 Varmint yet?

[Jason]

I'm currently using a heavily modified CZ 452 Varmint for smallbore silhouette and can't make my mind up between upgrading a little to a 453 Varmint (better trigger, two action screws, etc.) or just saving up more pennies and getting an Anschutz with a 2-stage trigger. Anyone actually own one of the 453s yet and have an opinion they want to share on it?

Thanks!

[Simple Man]

Jason,

I wish I could say that I do but I haven't even got to hold one yet. There just isn't hardly any shops here in my area that sells the CZ's so it's a real chore to see any of them. If you do decide to buy one then I would sure like to hear what you think of it. Maybe someone will chime in soon and give us all a good feel for it.

[firstshot]

Jason

I just ordered a 453 American last week.  It's supposed to be delivered Monday.  There were none in the local shops around here either.  Had to order it through the internet from Whittaker Guns.  They had both the 453 American and Varmint in stock for $409.

I'll post first impressions when I get it in hand.

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

[Jason]

I'd appreciate any opinions you can give me. I'm holding off ordering my own until I get some opinions from others and hear if the single set trigger will be legal for NRA hunter class silhouette shooting. Oddly enough, the last few new guns I've bought were all purchased from Whittaker's, too. With their low prices, cheap shipping, and not having to pay sales tax, it's cheaper to order from them and pay my local dealer $20 for the transfer than it is to buy locally.

[firstshot]

Jason

Picked up the 453 American today.  It's a beautiful gun.  

The stock is a lot nicer than I was expecting.  It has some character to it and the checkering is prety good.  Fit & finish is great.  The bluing is really nice.  The barrel is free floated, but not much clearance.  I was able to get a piece of typing paper to slide all the way to the receiver, but no way a business card would fit.  It came with a steel magazine, but the magazine well is plastic.  I'm ordering a steel single shot magazine and magazine well for it.  The standard trigger came with a 4LB pull and the set trigger was a little over 1 Lb.  The trigger was real easy to adjust.  I adjusted the standard trigger to 3 Lbs and adjusted the set triger down to 16 Oz.  The set trigger might be a little light.  I'll just have to see how it does at the range and will adjust if I need to.  There is absolutely no creep with either standard or set modes, and the trigger has no side to side play in either mode.

I cleaned it up real well and polished the bore with JB compound.  Plan to break in the barrel tomorrow morning with the 3 shot clean, 3 shot clean process.  Then I'll see how she groups.  I've had some RWS subsonics on hand, and picked up some Wolf Match Target, RWS Target and Federal Gold Medal today.

Can't wait to see how she shoots!

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

[Simple Man]

Awesome!!! I can't wait to hear the range report.

[firstshot]

Jason / CZMan

Check out Pics and range report at:

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=74457

firstshot
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Make your first shot count!

[cal sibley]

You guys have pretty well sold me on CZ.  I'm almost embarrassed to say that with over 20 rifles in my gun cabinet I do not have a .22.  I want one but am soured on US manufacturers and CZ is probably just the thing I'm looking for.  The heavy barreled version, the 453, seems to be quite accurate and well made.  Does it have any drawbacks that you'd care to share with me?  Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[dwl]

Jason;

To shoot the 453 Single Set Trigger in Silhouette you'd have to show that the trigger was greater than 2lbs in set mode for Hunter Rifle.  For Standard Rifle it wouldn't matter.

I don't think that a super light trigger is going to do you nearly as much good as a good trigger control and follow through.  

Now let me take an excpetion to my own statement.  I too was shooting the 452 Silhouette.  The original condition of the trigger was insufficient for me to shoot more than about 25 because the sear engagement was soooo long that I drifted off the target by the time the sear released!

A Remington 541S came along and I started shooting it.  The improvement in the quality of the trigger allowed me to go to the next level of control but there is still more to be had.

If I were still working with the CZ 452 I'd take it down to a good gun smith and have a trigger job done.  We've one out here in Utah that has done a fine job on 452s and some AA and AAA shooters are using them.  For $50 bucks or so you can improve that 452 enough to keep shooting silhouette.

dwl

[Jason]

Thanks for the replies. I actually did about as good a trigger job as can be done with the stock CZ 452 parts myself, and then did a little better with Eric Brooks's little kit. That still wasn't good enough, though, and I was ready to throw in the towel on the 452. Then I found the adjustable sear (think it was from Automated Solutions or something close to that) and I'm much happier with it. The trigger is much better now and I doubt there's going to be much out there other than a Jewel or 2-stage Anschutz that would be a significant upgrade. I recently moved up from A to AA class, and on a good day can knock on AAA class's door with my scores so I want to make sure my equipment is never my limiting factor, only my skill. I just picked up a new Sightron 24x scope to ride on the 452 Varmint, and I'm seriously considering trying to pick two or three guns that I don't shoot much anymore to sell off and start working toward the purchase of an Anschutz 1712. I'd guess that's a year or more away, though, if it happens at all.