Česká Zbrojovka's CZ 550 FS Part II Czech-ing out the 9.3x62mm

Could have been worse. I could have described the gun’s Czech-ering, or when the Czech was in the mail, or needing to Czech the gun’s safety…or write about the company’s Czech-ered past. Sometimes I just crack myself up. Snort. Anyway…

I’ve used up my lifetime allocation of adjectives, adverbs and descriptive terms years ago, so I am not certain how to convey the shooting personality of this little rifle in a manner that won’t sound cliché. The gun is better than that. It’s an honest rifle. One that would belong to a person who needed a reliable hunting piece, but worked hard for a paycheck and could afford to carry a rifle that is a little special. Special to the point of being begrudgingly admired by his shooting buddies or one that would become his young grandson’s favorite. A rifle his wife might occasionally suggest was “pretty” when she wanted to tease him. Not so special that it belonged indoors or would appealed to people who only have an appreciation for the pretentious. Over the years I’ve accumulated some pretty nice guns. Most of them rarely see the light of day, not for fear of damage or theft, but because they are boring. Hollywood, vacuous beauties every one. The CZ 550 FS looks as though it is made for hunting red stag or boar in a Western Bohemia forest along the German border.

The gun can hit heavy. I know, what does that mean? Well those big .366″ holes are easy to see on a distant target and stout handloads with jacketed soft point bullets blow out chunks of railroad tie backstop not unlike a 375 H&H. On the other hand, less hyper Prvi 286 grain factory ammo is easy on the shoulder, not much more than a shove, but they would be perfectly fine for moose hunting in Maine. Even with the short 20 ½” barrel, the latter factory ammo clocked and average of 2163 fps over the chronograph and produced just under 3,000 ft/lbs of kinetic energy.

In the handload section that follows, you’ll see some 2,500+ fps loads, accompanied by an increase of 600 ft/lbs in energy levels. Recoil for these loads are greater than moderate, but still less than harsh, the spread is between 30 ft/lbs and 39 ft/lbs. Shooting from the standing position, the recoil isn’t significant as the geometry of the stock deflects and absorbs much of the force. While the gun’s muzzle doesn’t climb dramatically, it does tend to rise slightly. Shooting from the bench, while sitting on a stool that was too high, put the toe of the recoil pad too low on my chest and gave literal meaning to the term “It left quite an impression on me”. The recoil pad isn’t bad, but one made of more resilient Sorbothane would be appreciated. All of the gun’s controls worked cleanly; safety, floor plate, magazine follower when loading, single set trigger, sight adjustment. The action cycling had none of the roughness or drag I experienced initially with my CZ 550 Safari. The trigger pull was smooth and consistent in both set and unset modes. I don’t usually like overly light triggers, but this one improved my shooting. Any concerns relating to full length stocks and accuracy problems were dispelled within the first handful of shots. Part I has further detail on stock bedding and forearm support that makes this possible.

Simmons Master Series ProHunter
 

I haven’t been excited with some of the new products from Leupold and Burris; ever more expensive without not much new in the way of performance. I’d been left with the choice of paying as much for a scope as a rifle, or getting a downgraded model with substandard performance and the honor of displaying the scope company’s logo as a form of free advertising. These days, there are many other options as the market is loaded with reasonably priced optics. Optics that have closed the performance gap with the high priced products to the point a gap is virtually non-existent.

When Meade Instruments first acquired Simmons Optics in 2002, based on experienced with some of Meade’s refractor and larger reflector telescopes, I thought this might bring some much improved technology to rifle scopes. Very early on, it seemed there were some teething problems with a new erector tube mounting design, but those were quickly addressed. By eliminating many fragile and spring loaded parts used on other scopes, settings stay put, parallax is almost non-existence and the scope is virtually recoil proof. Field of view, with the erector tube diameter increased to a size larger than other comparable magnification products on the market, is increased by over 17% and eye relief is uniform at 3.75″ all the way across the magnification range. No more head position shifting with changes to scope magnification. A large ocular lens contributes to a big bright image. The outside finish is clean and really matte, the internal baffling must be a carry over from their telescope business as contrast is excellent under all light conditions and there is no trace of flare or glare. The Master series scopes have a lifetime warranty with a 48 hour repair guarantee. $90. You’ve to be kidding me. Killer scope.

I went with a set of Warne 1″ Permanent-Attachable Ring Mounts that are specifically made for the CZ 550 / BRNO 602 and readily available through online retailers. It is a 19mm Dovetail mount, keyed to a cut out in the receiver to prevent fore and aft shift. Most CZ 550 rifles require a high mount even with a 40mm objective lens and 46.5mm objective bell. The problem is at the other end where a 36.75mm eyepiece needs the height to clear an open bolt handle. The scope position felt natural when shooting and the scope stayed put. I might switch these off with a set of quick detachable Warne mounts I use on my CZ 550 Safari to take better advantage of this gun’s open sights.

Handloading the 9.3x62mm cartridge

I don’t like to restate the history of a cartridge as all I can do it mimic someone else’s original work. I will limit my comments to stating the cartridge was introduced in 1905 by a German gunsmith as a low cost, hard hitting cartridge for African hunters and settlers who were prohibited from using inexpensive surplus military firearms. The 9.3x62mm was made as a civilian conversion cartridge for the model 1898 Mauser. For further information you may want to check out Wikipedia which, in this case, provides accurate information. You may also want to visit Part I of this article for further details on this cartridge and selected handload components.

CIP spec for the 9.3x62mm is a low 56,526 PSI. Accepting I didn’t have to allow for a military Mauser action in dubious condition, I pushed some loads to a calculated 60,000 PSI or 308 Winchester levels. I never had a flat primer, excessive increase in case head diameter or a tight bolt.

I did go a bit heavier than published during handload workup, but this is not a hyper velocity cartridge, so the gains versus increase in stress on firearm and components deemed this pursuit not worthwhile. The 9.3×62 will outshoot the much larger 9.3x74R and, unlike the slightly more powerful 9.3×64 Brenneke, there is something other than imaginary brass.

 

I ran through my typical thorough preparation of the gun’s bore before recording any group sizes; I ran a patch through to check for squirrels, ran a patch with a drop of Break Free through, then began shooting. The first three shot group shot through the gun was a 1 1/4″ Barnes, followed by a 3/4″ Hornady, followed by a 1 1/2″ Prvi factory load, followed by a slightly more than 1″ Woodleigh. Reshooting the same essentially repeated the results. In short, if I did my part, based on accuracy of ammo, nothing would have walked away from any of the bullets selected. In terms of trajectory, the 9.3×62 isn’t a varmint rifle, but then there are few heavy calibers that are. I would describe trajectory as on part with the 338 Winchester magnum with same weight bullets, or approximately a 200 yard point blank range.

Short Barrel Gun Performance

The table contains representative 20 1/2″ barrel length loads. I don’t think there is even 75 fps to be gained by extended barrel length to 22″ and maybe another 25 fps at 24″. No, I am not suggesting barrel extensions are an option, I’m just saying a longer barrel gun will not yield significant gains in velocity. The case is underbore and powder burn is relatively complete within the 20 1/2″ barrel. I can’t think of game too large for the gun in North America and I would feel comfortable within 250 yards, 300 maybe on a good day, but I never take shots that long in any event. I figure, if I shoot an animal that far away, I am the one who has to drag it all the way back. If I needed to get out further, I don’t think a 338 Winchester Magnum would give me much more, if I could still find one, and a 375 H&H that would top this performance would come in the form of a 24″ barrel gun, carrying 3 lbs more weight and generating significantly more recoil. I just took a quick peek at the data I published for the 325 WSM and 23″ barrel. Taking into consideration bullet weights, they are very similar in performance.

I did nothing special when assembling handloads; new brass through full length sizer, trimmed, chamfered and cleaned the cases. The CZ 550 had more than enough room in action length and chamber lead to seat all of the bullet selected out to 3.291″ COL. Cannelure alignment was of no  consequence as I did not employ a roll crimp. They are from left to right – Barnes, Hornady, Woodleigh, and Prvi factory. Both the Hornady and Woodleigh are protected point or recoil protected types.

I picked up a $39 full length RCBS set, the press was the Lee Breech Loader Challenger I use as my portable set up. The shell holder, standard 30-06 size. Cases were primed with a hand held RCBS APS unit.

The change in case dimensions, factory unfired to fired and handload sized brass to fired, was not atypical, but provide some additional feed back on pressure. Staying under 0.0003″ case head expansion is only of consequence beyond the first firing of a case, but the fact the handload dimension changed no more than the low pressure factory case is a good sign.

Conclusion

Do me a favor, put down the coffee cup for a minute, stop reading the box scores in another window and give this last thought a couple of minutes of consideration. This is a rifle made of quality steel and walnut. There are fewer rifles of this type made each year that don’t come out of a custom shop, and the custom shop products sell for three times the price. It is beautifully finished, streamline in form and it looks as though it came straight out of the pages of the 1958 Stoegers Shooter’s Bible. In a few more years, American produced rifles will have gone completely the way of plastic or laminate stocks, stainless steel and aluminum stampings and stamped steel or cast lock work. The days of imported rifles like the CZ 550 are numbered because surely all manufacturers follow the path to lower cost production. In short, outside of expensive custom rifles and the factory custom shop, you can look forward to buying junk. At $680, the CZ 550 FS is an excellent value, and all of that steel might eventually serve as the basis for a future custom rifle. Not bad for $680. if you haven’t acquired a taste for the full stock look, there are guns for the…uncultured also, the CZ 550 American with a more traditional cut stock and no metallic sights is available, and for a few bucks less.

Česká Zbrojovka’s CZ 550 FS Part I
Česká Zbrojovka’s CZ 550 FS Part II
9.3x62mm Handload data

Thanks,
Joe