New CZ 527 American in 6.5 Grendel - Early Impressions

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  • Striper
    Unwashed
    • Sep 2017
    • 2

    #16
    This thread makes me glad i got the howa for $350 at whittakers

    Comment

    • usmcm16a2
      Warrior
      • Aug 2015
      • 538

      #17
      Striper,

      I agree, for ease of use, and just load and shoot the Howa is the more practical choice. I wanted something Mauser style, walnut, and metal. A2

      Comment

      • GreatWhiteNorth.
        Unwashed
        • Feb 2017
        • 8

        #18
        I must have gotten lucky then. My 527 (american, 6.5grendel, leupold vx3 3.5-10 with Leupold rings) arrived just over a week ago and It is beautiful, the quality of the wood is amazing and the grain is gorgeous. front barrel channel has lots of clearance 20 dollar bill fits in no problem at all just tried it when it was warm and no worries, the action is tight and will take a bit of use to sooth it out but i would much rather a tight action than a loose one from the factory. I took it out and got it dialed in at 100 yards, out of my truck bed I printed sub 1'' groups with factory Amax and just picked up factory sst ammo. I cant wait to get to a real bench and get it all dialed in for some tight groups. What types of groups/velocity are you guys getting/expecting with your reloads? half inch? better velocity than factory?

        Comment

        • SDguy
          Warrior
          • Oct 2015
          • 367

          #19
          Originally posted by GreatWhiteNorth. View Post
          I must have gotten lucky then. My 527 (american, 6.5grendel, leupold vx3 3.5-10 with Leupold rings) arrived just over a week ago and It is beautiful, the quality of the wood is amazing and the grain is gorgeous. front barrel channel has lots of clearance 20 dollar bill fits in no problem at all just tried it when it was warm and no worries, the action is tight and will take a bit of use to sooth it out but i would much rather a tight action than a loose one from the factory. I took it out and got it dialed in at 100 yards, out of my truck bed I printed sub 1'' groups with factory Amax and just picked up factory sst ammo. I cant wait to get to a real bench and get it all dialed in for some tight groups. What types of groups/velocity are you guys getting/expecting with your reloads? half inch? better velocity than factory?
          Seldom are guys exceeding factory velocity in the 6.5 Grendel. Only exception where I have exceeded factory velocity has been using Leverevolution for Propellant under 123 to 129 grain cup and core bullets. Lightly compressed load of the LVR is where accuracy and velocity came together for me. This has been with a CSS chambered Lothar Walther after market barrel prior to the factory bolt action 6.5 G offering.

          Need to work this load up again in a factory 6.5 Grendel to confirm similar results OR not. Your results may very start low and work up. CCI 450 is my preferred primer under LVR under a 125 grain partition or a 129 grain Hornady Flat base spire point.

          Velocity achieved here W LVR shocked me. As always with reloading; Proceed cautiously at your own risk.
          Last edited by SDguy; 10-13-2017, 08:45 AM.

          Comment

          • usmcm16a2
            Warrior
            • Aug 2015
            • 538

            #20
            Folks,


            At 400 yards, the Cavity Back 118gr MKZ at 2500fps is still packing 800lbs of impact energy. I doubt I will ever shoot a deer beyond 4oo yards. A2

            Comment

            • stilesg57
              Unwashed
              • Sep 2017
              • 24

              #21
              So I got back to the range on Friday and put another 63 rounds down the CZ's pipe. 143 total round count on the rifle now, 35 rounds of Hornady 123g and 108 rounds of Wolf 100g.

              Lots of varying wind, an unstable rest (didn't have my bipod with me) and low blood sugar (definitely should've had lunch first) didn't lead to a banner day on my part, however I still got a couple good groups. Bests of the day were a single ragged hole of 5 Wolf rounds at 50yds and two sub one-inchers of both Wolf and Hornady at 100yds. The set trigger is definitely your friend at the bench! All in all I'd say I was averaging 2 MOA groups though, which is great considering the conditions/circumstances and the stock that BADLY needs bedding. I want it shooting better though. For comparison, I also shot my Winchester XPR 7mm mag in a non-bedded Boyds stock on Friday and that puppy is still MOA all day long no matter what's going on. Stock fit definitely matters for accuracy; the weight probably doesn't hurt either.

              Heat affected the CZ but not much: at one point I put 10 down the tube about as fast as I could to warm it up and then with my next 5 rounds I shot a 2.5" group of Wolf at 100yds. Not bad at all for a barrel that was too hot to touch. Definitely less wander than my pencil barrel ARs do after a mag dump.

              Looks like it's a shooter if nothing else, and certainly will be after a bed job. I think I'm going to order a replacement stock for $200 from CZ and see if it's any better. If it's gorgeous and fits well I'll keep it and properly bed it and just chalk up the cost to my own perfectionism, but if it's also kinda crummy like this one I'll just send it back and be fussy about the whole situation.

              Had one weird moment with a ruptured Wolf case that split almost all the way from the shoulder to the base. Never seen steel ammo split before. Weird. Was very difficult to extract on the bolt lift. I hope I don't see another issue like this because I won't keep buying it if that's the case and I was really hoping to have access to quarter-a-round plinking ammo with this rifle.


              Originally posted by Striper View Post
              This thread makes me glad i got the howa for $350 at whittakers
              Seriously?!?! You got a Howa for just $350?!?! I'm not sure we can be friends


              Originally posted by GreatWhiteNorth. View Post
              I must have gotten lucky then. My 527 (american, 6.5grendel, leupold vx3 3.5-10 with Leupold rings) arrived just over a week ago and It is beautiful, the quality of the wood is amazing and the grain is gorgeous. front barrel channel has lots of clearance 20 dollar bill fits in no problem at all just tried it when it was warm and no worries...
              Seriously?!?! You got a 527 with "amazing" and "gorgeous" wood that floats from the factory?!?! I'm not sure we can be friends


              Originally posted by usmcm16a2 View Post
              Did a few things to my CZ after I got home tonight from work. I relieved the front barrel channel, before I took the dremel sander to it, I could see where the barrel was impacting the forend. I replaced those crappy CZ scope rings with some Burris units. I watched a tutorial on how to adjust the trigger, cleaned things up a bit. Breaks at 3lbs, no over travel. It would be nice if CZ would put a stock on this capable little rifle that was a bit more properly engineered for barrel clearance. A2
              That trigger is SICK with a little adjustment, right? Glad to hear you got it adjusted nicely and the barrel floating consistently. I hear you on the frustration that you have to that kind of work to a gun straight from the factory though, especially one that isn't expensive but certainly isn't cheap. Let me know how you like the Burris rings, I think I'll upgrade the rings as well when I throw the Leupy on there but I can't say I had any issues with the CZs.


              Originally posted by usmcm16a2 View Post
              I wanted something Mauser style, walnut, and metal.
              Bingo. Me too. An heirloom, classic bolt gun that I can pass down one day.


              Originally posted by usmcm16a2 View Post
              At 400 yards, the Cavity Back 118gr MKZ at 2500fps is still packing 800lbs of impact energy. I doubt I will ever shoot a deer beyond 4oo yards. A2
              Yep, when I finally get the Leupold scope on this thing I'll have the lowest hash on the LR reticle correspond with 400yds. Anything further than that and I'll be punching paper or ringing steel with the Grendel, not shooting animals. I've got a sub-MOA .308 and a 7mm mag and for 400yd+ hunting, not that I do that often anyway.

              Comment

              • GreatWhiteNorth.
                Unwashed
                • Feb 2017
                • 8

                #22
                Too lazy to take better photos haha, the wood on my CZ is dark and knotty wth deep grain from front to back. Free floating barrel channel I can slide a piece of blue shop towel in without any effort when Im cleaning it. Where I am in Canada, the howa is $750 and the CZ is $950 and the quality difference is very much worth the 200 bucks. Ill start my own thread when I get some time on the bench.

                Comment

                • jkingrph
                  Warrior
                  • Aug 2014
                  • 131

                  #23
                  You lucked out on that one with the wood. I got mine via an internet dealer here in the lower 48 for $635, don't know how that converts to Canadian. My wood is nice but not that good.

                  My pride and joy in the wood area is a 550 Safari American in .375 H&H I grabbed off the rack at Gander Mountain a few years back. Wood has some nice flame grain in the buttstock and faint tiger stripe on forward.
                  Member before 2010, account deleted per 2011 spam attack

                  Comment

                  • jason miller
                    Warrior
                    • Dec 2016
                    • 182

                    #24
                    There used to be a Sportsmans Warehouse here about a decade ago. They had a little 527 Varmint in .204 with one of the smoothest actions I've ever cycled and nice fiddleback walnut to boot. I remember that rifle being $479. Never had any use for that configuration or cartridge, but I contemplated buying that slick little rifle several times anyway.

                    Comment

                    • SDguy
                      Warrior
                      • Oct 2015
                      • 367

                      #25
                      To be honest I had no intentions of utilizing the factory stock when I ordered my CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendel. If I recall correctly I ordered the At One stock from Boyds after I ordered the CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendel. I just may describe my feelings as a feeling of relief to see the light colored ultra plain stock this rifle came with. Simply had no problems setting the new stock aside and droping the CZ into the Boyds Stock. No regrets.

                      Whomever was put in charge of the 6.5 Grendel release had seemingly little love for the chambering or displayed i certian lack of pride not typical for CZ based on my past experience. All said & done they still managed to put together a pretty fine rifle if you are willing to do a little finish tweaking. I could see where this could turn some away. Grr

                      Comment

                      • jkingrph
                        Warrior
                        • Aug 2014
                        • 131

                        #26
                        Originally posted by SDguy View Post
                        To be honest I had no intentions of utilizing the factory stock when I ordered my CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendel. If I recall correctly I ordered the At One stock from Boyds after I ordered the CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendel. I just may describe my feelings as a feeling of relief to see the light colored ultra plain stock this rifle came with. Simply had no problems setting the new stock aside and droping the CZ into the Boyds Stock. No regrets.

                        Whomever was put in charge of the 6.5 Grendel release had seemingly little love for the chambering or displayed i certian lack of pride not typical for CZ based on my past experience. All said & done they still managed to put together a pretty fine rifle if you are willing to do a little finish tweaking. I could see where this could turn some away. Grr
                        I think this comment pretty well summarizes the CZ Grendel release. My stock has nice grain and coloring, but was almost devoid of finish, which was fine with me as I like to finish to my taste. The action was a bit rough but some careful examining, a little work with a fine stone non critical areas and breaking sharp corners on bold surfaces have made it very slick. The trigger could be better as there is a tiny bit of creep, not bad, but there. I probably could adjust it out, but my wife has just had back surgery so taking care of her I don't feel right trying to take the time to concentrate on a trigger.
                        Member before 2010, account deleted per 2011 spam attack

                        Comment

                        • SDguy
                          Warrior
                          • Oct 2015
                          • 367

                          #27
                          Keep in mind I had no intention of using this original stock on this CZ 527 in Grendel from the get go. The thought has been considered that the plain jane low gloss finish would truly make a fine finish for a true hunting rifle. Looking over this take off stock. Now that I am thinking of it, If I were looking for a simple low gloss finish for a hunting stock this may be just the ticket.

                          Have just been accustomed to a more modern finish on CZ stocks over the years.

                          Comment

                          • TxAg
                            Unwashed
                            • Nov 2017
                            • 4

                            #28

                            Comment

                            • SDguy
                              Warrior
                              • Oct 2015
                              • 367

                              #29
                              Congratulations on hitting the wood lottery. Sorry no help here in terms of uploading photos not sure if I ever tried successfully. Keep us posted on the range report. I will be surprised if she dosent treat you well w the bedding job & all.

                              What caliber is your 557?

                              Comment

                              • TxAg
                                Unwashed
                                • Nov 2017
                                • 4

                                #30

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