Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Those CZ 457s

I'd heard about the accuracy of the CZ (BRNO) 22LR rifles for quite some time. About twenty years ago the CZs 22LR rifles were already selling for premium of about $450 here in Canada.

When the 457s came out I finally jumped as all the features I was wanting from trigger to safety and backwards compatibles were all there in the upgraded 457 model. At the moment I own three CZ 457s in 22LR: a Varmint MTR, a second Varmint 20" (non match barrel) in a LRP stock and a 24" LUX. As said these rifles all shoot very well.

Playing around today at the range with an almost out of the box Varmint MTR with 20" barrel but for a Yo-Dave trigger spring, topped witha Vortex Diamondback 6-24 and Vortex Pro rings I made a 5 shot group with brown package ELEY high velocity 38 gr HP that will cause me to chase my tail around in circles for a time - a sub .250 group!

Don't want to chase the expensive Eley TENEX or Lapua Center X to try and duplicate that kind of group but it's good to know what these CZ 457s are truly capable of even in the hands of this old rifleman.

And then I congratulated myself with solid swig of coffee and my shooting went to ...

They are great rifles. I'm more impressed with the smooth feeding, and great trigger. Yes, they can be very accurate/precise. I've shot some .3" 10 shot groups with my American, but it did take some work. One thing I've noticed is a lot of guys replace the factory barrel with something like a Lilja, to get the best out of the platform. YMMV.. Honestly, my 10/22 is more consistently accurate/precise than my American, but that is the nature of the beast.

In Canada we are able to source made to order drop-in or prefit IBI barrels. Barrels described by the manufacturer as "based in Olympic level technology":

https://internationalbarrels.com/product-category/rimfire-barrels/

Some serious money can be spent on optics and barrels in the pursuit of accuracy!

The game for me is like shooting during a solar eclipse. All the stars have to align for a few moments in time. At 64 years of age, work related damage has caused issues with my hands as I suffering with bursitis at the shoulder, tendonitis at the elbow, carpal tunnel at the wrist, white finger syndrome and locking joints giving me "trigger finger" not to mention three heart medications messing with my body's natural rhythms - with all that nerve damage in my arms all the stars really do need to align for me to shoot groups reasonable well.

And it's memorable when it happens!

So between the rifleman, the ammo and the modern 22LR firearm (not to mention wind or temperature) the rifle has the most variables one can reduce so that it may perform consistently in the chain of fire.

Accuracy and precise shooting is a worthy pursuit.

I shoot against an MTR and 4-5 Varmint in various stock configurations and they are always hard to deal with.


I wish Tikka would make a T1x with a Varmint/MTR heavy barrel profile 20-22".

Damn, sounds like you’re a mess. I feel very fortunate, blessed actually, to only be dealing with a couple of bum knees at 72 and counting.

Hang in there and keep plugging away.

Pappy,

my younger self was still trekking in the foothills of Nepal at nigh forty years of age in the name of the LORD. Knees? I'm not going to start with my knee issues (trying to rebuild lost cartilage while hobbling about with a cane) but thanks for the vote of confidence and the encouragement!

If Tikka would make a tiny CTR in a 22lr, I'd be all over that!! 22" heavy barrel, would be cool. I know your T1x shoots damn well, but one that looks like a CTR would be cool.

Good post. I've heard good things about those IBI barrels. Watched some videos on Youtube, but have never seen one in the wild. I don't know what they cost, but to pay $700 for a Lilja is something I'll never do. I'd rather shoot my $199.99 Savage MK1, and yes, it shoots well enough..

So, your comment about "a lot of money can be spent in the pursuit of accuracy", just the opposite can also be said too. Some of you guys thinking you need to spend a ton of money, to have an excellent shooting rifle, need to get out a little more. That also goes for optics on a 22lr. You don't have to spend thousands on a good scope. It's all in how you approach it.

I would buy one immediately. My little T1x is a great shooter but a mini CTR would force me to go that route.



The 457's I shoot against improve quite a bit from pillar bedding.

Oldgrouser: Darn, sorry to hear of your maladies - I have been down the artificial knee "journey" once already myself and learned persistent pain is abhorrent.
Back to the CZ 457's.
My CZ 457 is the heavy barrel version and is in caliber 22 Magnum.
I have shot a LOT of CZ rimfires over the years that belonged to Colony Varminting buddies of mine.
They all were very accurate - BUT.... I refused to get on board the CZ wagon until they corrected the bassackwards safety situation!
My "corrected" CZ 457 has a Leupold 6x18 variable scope on it with fine Du-Plex. I love this gun!
It prefers (I have now settled on) the Hornady 30 grain V-Max bullets for my Ground Squirrel shooting.
I have NOT shot this CZ at the range much but I have shot a couple of, just at and just under 1.00", - 5 shot groups at 100 yards.
As many here forget to relay the yardages they shot their posted groups at - let may I ask YOU, at what range distance did you shoot that .250" group?
Enjoy your CZ - I am looking for a heavy barrel CZ 457 in 17 HMR myself.
Long live CZ!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG,

recently I rejoined my old gun club and have been shooting at 50 yard range. The 100 and 200 yard ranges are waiting. Need to try CCI SV and a few other other 22 LR brands still. Purchased a couple of bricks of SK Long Range and have them stashed until I get to the point where I'm getting the consistency I'm hoping to see then we'll start shooting the pricey stuff.

Just slowly getting back into it a little more seriously.

I took a peek at the CZ store last night and saw that they had some 24” American .22 LR barrels in stock, so grabbed one for my homemade Premium. The irons on the barrel I have are of no use to me and interfere with a lot of scope objectives, so I’m gonna swap and hope the new one’s a good shooter too.

Still no LW .22 mags or .17s……

I have someone import them from Lilja for my CZ 455.Tried one and it shot better than the original and better then another couple of top brands I had a smith rebarrel-CZ 452.I now have two Liljas on order for the 455.There 21 inch.I have Bushnell red dot sight on that rifle-very pleasant to shoot and accurate for offhand practice.

While the factory pillars are nothing to write home about, the rifle can be made much better after a little bedding in the right spot. After that, there is no one here that can "crush' a factory pillar:


I would snap the head of the action screw off, before the pillar would crush. It's all simple mechanics. Since it has the recoil lug mounted in the rear of the action, this is a pretty good approach. Others can do things their way, but then there are guys always scratching their nuts, wondering why they get first shot fliers, or even random fliers..



That's just how I roll though. Again, they are great rifles. Not my best shooter, but it does alright after a little modification. Got to head out to the shop right now, and install a pillar in my 10/22 stock. Did some swapping around with the 2 I have.

Oldgrouser: Thanks for the comeback.
That is great shooting at 50 yards!
Again hope your health concerns clear up.
I do all my 22 L.R. Rifle/ammo testing at 50 yards - then when I decide on the ammunition I adjust and test for point of aim/impact at 100 yards.
Some people just refuse to make clear the distances they shoot their groups at so it leaves the readers of their posts uninformed.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Realized I owe you all images of said groups before someone says it didn't happen.

The first Eley bug hole and second group with a flyer after resetting the scope and before the caffeine took effect leaving me shooting all shook up.








Now to duplicate those results, then play with ten shot groups and further on down the road extend my range...

Yeah, I'm not sure what was up with their rifles. They were all shot as is and shot ok. They were bedded and didn't really shoot any better so the factory pillars were drilled out and replaced with aluminum and they were bedded again with accuracy much improved.


A new one has shown up and simply as is he is knocking on 230 on the usbr while the other 3 I mentioned were low 220's consistently before being repillared. Now those 3 are 230-235 consistently.

Hey H, here are some good videos on some CZ 457's that have been upgraded. You might get a kick out of these ones:



And another one:


And another:


Just for chidts and giggles:


A guy named Brotuned on youtube just shot it, an hour ago too, but did not do very well. The CZ457 is damn popular. Are they the best shooting rifles? Probably not so much..

This is just a "fun" shoot, but it seems to be challenging for some.

Looks like some guys print out their targets larger than others??? 🤔

Pointless. You're only cheating yourself.

Completely agree, just an observation.

I have a 457 MTR and it shoots very well with SK Standard +.

The target is supposed to be printed out as Elijah has it in his first video. Afterall, he is the one that makes the rules. He sent emails to all the guys participating in the shoot explaining that he had screwed up.

As per always, I play by the rules, even in fun shoots like this one. The guys that don't print the target as per the rules, are the ones "cheating themselves".


Moral of the story: Get out and shoot, step away from the bullseye x-ring targets. Hitting what you are aiming at is the challenge here, and I've posted HOW 4 or 5 different modified CZ457's shoot, with matchgrade ammo. As per always, there are always guys saying their rifles always shoot .2-.3's, but not many can prove it. This is a fun challenge, you might as well shoot it, if you are at the range anyway..

Regards..

Thanks for the clarification. Kudos for stepping away from shooting benched .22 rifles at bullseye pistol targets. 👍

My only 457 is chambered in 22 Magnum. The accuracy hasn’t lived up to the hype but 22 Mag isn’t known for being a tack driver. It’s a nice old world manufacturing style rifle that I like but accuracy is average for the chambering.

Back in the day I had issues with a very handsome Browning A-Bolt 22 WMR with an over bored barrel that measured .227 (that rifle went right back to Browning for full store credit) and a Marlin 25 MN in 22 WMR that was equally inconsistent in regards to accuracy.

These rifles caused me to reduce my expectations for the chambering even though it really preformed well on varmints. Thus, I only own 22 LR nowadays.

What is a reasonable expectations for a CZ 22 WMR as far as accuracy is concerned??

Shooting is shooting man. One of these days you will get it.


Funny how, what I shoot at, erks you so much. It would be easy to get into your head at a competition.. ha ha..

A lot of guys would probably say to get a T bolt in 22wmr. Or even a Mossberg. Those old Chucksters shot exceptionally well.

Not Old World or Old School at all, but my Bear Creek side-charger .22 Mag upper ($206 on sale) shots MOA or darn close out to 100 with both Hornady 30gr VMax and 50gr Federal, with drastically different POIs at that range of course. Much more accurate than either the 455 or the 9422M I had, though admittedly with ammo not available then. Downside is it requires a MIL-Spec trigger for reliable function and ignition, though I suppose one of those could be tweaked a bit.

At 50 yards, everything I tried lands pretty much in the same place.

BTW, those 30gr were cracking about 1700 out of a 6.5” Single Six yesterday, much to my surprise!

The Ruger American 22 mag. I have shoots real well at 100yds, especially with Hornady 30gr.
Don't know if it makes a difference but mine is a 22" barrel.

The word you were struggling to utilize is irks.😂

My CZ457 .22 mag is a half incher at 50 yards ( 5 shots). It is not free floated. So a fair amount of shooting in short order will get it to vertically string.
Slow down and its consistently good. Wood stock, action screws at 20 in lbs.

HOWEVER the only ammo I've tried is older Winchester 40gr JHP, exposed lead front.

This was five at 50 yards.... plus a couple Contender Super 14 .35 rems LOL

I adjusted the trigger a little lighter, and set the 3-9X VX1 Leupold at 6X.
My only real complaint w the CZ457 is the 24" bbl. Would like it better at 22"

Thx Hookeye,

Everybody talks about their 22 LR but few comment on the CZ 22WMR rifles.

Half inch groups with hunting ammunition is very acceptable in my humble opinion.

Again thanks!