cz-usa 2012 buyers guide
TRANSCRIPT
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SPECIAL COLLECTOR’S EDITION 2012
DAN WESSON ECOp.10
SCOTLAND’S MACNAB: GROUSE, RED STAG AND SALMON
BESTNEW
AFRICA ARGENTINA SCOTLAND
ON THREE CONTINENTS
AWESOMEHUNTS
550 912 WINGSHOOTER
EXHIBITION SHOOTER
TOM KNAPPNHL LEGEND
BOBBY HOLIK
CZ 75 P-07 DUTY ODp.2
2012’s
CZ CUSTOM’S 75 LONGSLIDE
SUPPRESSOR-READY P-07 DUTY
DAN WESSON .45 SPECIALIST
TESTED:
EXCLUSIVEINTERVIEWS
From the Publishers oF GuNs & Ammo
usA/CANADA
$8.99Display until 05/07/2012
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Load up with one of Hodgdon’s
27 smokeless powders. Match your gun, your game,
the weather – you’ve got it bagged.Phone 913-362-9455 • www.hodgdon.com
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handgun at home on a cop’s duty belt,
you wouldn't be wrong for thinking of a
compact carry gun instead. The hammer-
forged barrel is 3.8 inches long, and the
pistol weighs just 1.7 pounds.
The P-07 had a new glass-reinforced
polymer frame but retained a lot of
features that made its predecessor,
the CZ 75, popular the world
oer. The CZ 75 has a fol-
lowing in most other countries the way the
1911 is loed in this country, and with good
reason. It is extremely reliable, robust
and arguably has the best ergonomics
of any double-stack pistol on the planet.
The guts of the P-07 were a close copy
of the CZ 75, and it util izes the good, old
Browning tilt-barrel operating system, but
the slide sits inside the frame, giing it a
ery low center of graity.
CZ 75 P-07 DUTY
When this new polymer-framed pistol hit the shelves in 2009 you could havetipped me over with a feather. Most shooters would never think twice aboutpolymer since almost every new design incorporates substantial amountsof plastic, but this pistol was stamped “CZ-USA,” a company that over
the years ferociously clung to its walnut-and-steel roots. There have been one or two
polymer-frame models in the catalog over the years, but not many. I own a couple ofCZ ries, and they don’t have so much as a molecule of plastic anywhere, not eventhe magazine follower, and here is a CZ-branded pistol with a polymer frame. Was thisblasphemy a good move on the part of this legendary company?
The P-07 Duty was originally designed
to compete for European police and
military contracts. And it won. As soon
as the specs were released by Ceska
Zbrojoka (CZ) in the Czech Republic,
the rm’s American subsidiary CZ-USA
started clamoring for pistols. It was easy
to see that the P-07 had a lot going for it
and would appeal to the American public.
Although the name implies a full-size
TE CZ 75 P-07 DUTY AS SUCCESSFULLY PASSED ITSPERFRMACE REvIEW.
y J. GUTHRIE I Photos by SEAN UTLEY
Justifed
New fo 2012 s the
suppesso-eady
P-07 Duty. The½x28
theaded muzzle
accepts most supes-
sos made fo the U.S.
maket. The shts
on ths vaaton
ae hhe thannomal. They
wll clea one-
nch damete
supessos.
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Not everybody wants a switch-barrel rimfre, but Ihappen to like the idea. It seems like I’ve alwaysbeen intrigued with switch-barrel guns, and theCZ 455 holds a lot o appeal or me.
Qik Sht
Living in Illinois, I can’t hunt withhigh-powered centerfre ries (well,
except or coyotes). On the other
hand, I do a lot o hunting with
rimfres. A lot o guys I know own
separate ries or shooting .22 LR,
.17 HMR and .22 WMR. I actually
know a guy who owns 20 to 30
dierent .22s.
I’ve owned quite a ew rimfres
over the years including a really nice,
accurate .22 Magnum. Unortunately,
I sold it years ago, regrettably.
I do enjoy hunting with the .22
Magnum, and while I have never
owned a .17 HMR, I think it has
an application in the small-game
and varmint hunting felds as well.
Imagine my interest when I received aCZ 455 American in .22 LR along with
an extra barrel in .17 HMR this year.
The 455 is nicely endowed. The
particulars are shown in the ac-
companying specifcations list, so I
won’t go into detail here. Sufce it
to say, the 455 eels like a “real” rie,
not like a budget rimfre. Fit and fnish
is excellent, as is the trigger pull.
The trigger on my sample measured
3.8 pounds according to an RCBS
trigger-pull gauge. While there was
a bit o takeup, it breaks crisply and
consistently. As you can see rom
the accompanying accuracy results,
this 20-inch-barreled bolt gun is no
slouch in the accuracy department.
T ot moutd sft o t CZ 455 ocs t momt of t
f d dscocts t s fom t st w d.
CZ 455
c-uS.co 7www.z-sa.mwww.z-sa.m
c-uS.co6
BRII RO'S FAORIT RIMFIR CALIBRSTOTHR I O FI ACA.
By JOEL J. HUTCHCROFT I Photos by SEAN UTLEY
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c-uS.co 9www.z-sa.m
ndoubtedly, the nice trigger helps
contribute to its fne accuracy.
The advantages o a switch-barrel
mfre are essentially the same as
r a switch-barrel centerfre rie.
he biggest one, in my book, is
at you can shoot dierent car-
dges—in this case, three—in the
same action with the same trigger
system. Doing so allows you to
become extremely amiliar with that
one trigger, and that translates into
better shooting.
Switching barrels on the 455 is
very simple and straightorward.
All you have to do is remove the
magazine, the bolt and the two
stock screws, and pull o the
triggerguard, triggerguard plate and
HE BiggEST AdvANTAgE iS THAT YOU CAN SHOOT diFFERENT
CARTRidgES iN THE SAmE ACTiON wiTH THE SAmE TRiggER SYSTEm.
CZ 455 AmrCA
Type: Bolt-action Caliber: .17 HMR, .22 LR, .22 WMR
(interchangeable barrels) CapaCiTy: 5 barrel: 20.5 in., 1:16-in. twist
(.22 LR, .22 WMR), 1:9-in. twi st (.17 HMR)Overall lengTh: 38.2 in.
WeighT: 6.1 lb. STOCk: Checkered walnut with
sling swivel studs FiniSh: Blued steel, oil wood Trigger: Adjustable; 3.8-lb. pull (as tested) SighTS: one; dovetail base or scope mounts;
Lux .22 LR barrel includes an adjustable rear
and hooded ront sight
ACCurACy rsults
elocity Standard xtreme 50-ard Ammunition (ps) Deviation (ps) Spread (ps) Accuracy (in.)
.17 Hmr
Federal 17-gr. -Max 2,612 39 87 0.72
Hornady 17-gr. -Max 2,547 26 91 0.56
Winchester 17-gr. -Max 2,554 24 80 0.69
CCI 20-gr. FMJ 2,370 10 20 0.69
.22 long rife
CCI 32-gr. Stinger 1,635 14 27 0.64
CCI 40-gr. Select 1,212 9 18 0.95
Federal 40-gr. old Medal Target 1,230 6 14 0.55
Winchester 40-gr. ower-oint 1,282 23 54 0.88
.22 Wmr
Federal 30-gr. JH 2,108 32 63 1.00
Federal 30-gr. Sierra JH 1,906 34 74 0.91
CCI 40-gr. Maxi Mag 1,880 41 73 0.73
Winchester 40-gr. FMJ 1,812 15 29 2.00
Accuracy is the average o fve fve-shot groups fred rom a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average
o 15 rounds measured 12 eet r om the muzzle.
the stock. Then, loosen the maga-
zine housing screw at the rea r (one
or two turns is all that's needed)
and the two barrel-retaining screws.
Finally, pull the barrel o the ront
o the receiver. Insert the new
barrel, tighten the barrel screws,
tighten the magazine housing
screw, replace the triggerguard and
plate (minus the
spacer i you are
switching to either
o the magnum
chamberings),
place the barreled
action into the
stock, and tighten
down the stock
screws. That’s it.
It takes less than
10 minutes. (Don'tworry, detailed
instructions ship
with each rie.)
I frst received
the 455 set up
or .22 LR and .17
HMR. A ew days
later I received the
Lux .22 LR spare
barrel, which has
an adjustable rear
sight and a hooded
ront sight. In the
meantime, I contacted CZ-USA
and ordered a .22 WMR barrel to
complete my set. With the rie
and three extra barrels, I took it to
the range and proceeded to run it
through a rather lengthy shooting
session. I have to say that doing al l
that rimfre shooting (fve, fve-shot
groups with 12 dierent loads)
was very therapeutic. The act that
this little rie produces such tight
groups certainly helps to make the
project a un one. I you haven’t
fred your avorite rimfre in a while,
you really should get out and shoot
it. Better yet, pick up a CZ 455
American with an extra barrel or
two, and join the un.
GalleryofGuNs.comSee photos and specifcations o the gun men-
tioned in this article, and order rom an inven-
tory o 1,000s—all online through un Locator.
It’s easy and convenient. Shooting enthusiasts
can enjoy the Shooting Times Rese arch Center,
eaturing everything rom consumer promo-
tions, news and eatured articles to gun reviews,
shooter’s ed and the Shooter’s ateway.
MakeGalleryofGuns.com one o your avorites!
www.z-sa.m
gs ae cuetly avalable fom vaous aftemaket maufactues to gab the popetay CZ tegal dove-
l bases. The ubbe pad keeps the stock fom sldg the shoulde. The tgge s adjustable fo weght.
CnC lase checkeg offes a tactle gppg suface.
it's pefectly executed evey tme.
8 c-uS.co
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-. 11
When the venerable Lightweight
Commander came along, I snatched
it up, and life was goo d. Well,
semi-good. In order for it to be good
enough, that 1911 required a certain
amount of overhauling. In fact, it
required a lot of it.
I still have that pistol, but not
because it’s my primary carry gun.
I have many more choices these days,
and the choices from Dan Wesson
don’t need any work to be ready.
The latest offering lls the niche
that my old Commander did. Differ-
ent though, the Dan Wesson ECO
needs no extras. Out of the box, it’s
ready for the job—fully loaded with
what would have been unobtainable
extras back in those days.The ECO is the size of an Of-
cer’s Model 1911. It has a slightly
shorter frame (Enough to take one
round away from t he 1911’s usual
magazine capacity). However,
this absence also makes the ECO
easier and more comfortable to
carry. The shorter frame is less
likely to hang up on clothing or
print against the drape of a shirt
or jacket worn over a holstered
handgun. And, as a credit to Dan
Wesson pistolsmiths, the ECO fea-
tures the problematic corner on its
1911 frame rounded and smooth.
When you carry a handgun in an
Inside the Waist Band (IWB) hols ter,
your belt acts as a pivot point. The
muzzle of your carry gun contacts
your hip, the hip contact pushes the
muzzle outboard, and the pivot on
your belt pushes the back end of the
slide into you.
In extreme cases, the contact
between the grip safety and your
body can feel as if the gun is being
surgically introduced to your kidney.
But, if you loosen your belt, the hand-
gun can op around. This is perhaps
the only instance where being bigger
around the middle is a good thing,
as the less wasp-waist you have, theless pivot your pistol has.
Rather than packing on pounds,
you can simply choose to carry a
handgun like the ECO that features
a shorter barrel and shorter overall
length. The Ofcer’s Model size
1911’s typically have a three or three-
and-a-half inch barrel, to preclude the
pivot. Hence, the Dan Wesson ECO is
a carry gun. (Or for those still packing
the full-size 1911, a backup gun.)
On top, the ECO wears a set of
tritium-driven night sights, one
Some 25 years ago, I found myself with some backpains. It took a while to gure out the exact source,but the basic reason was simple: I worked in a gunshop. Said gun shop was adjacent to a big, danger-
ous city. We all carried, and my chosen piece was a full-
size, all-steel 1911. As if that wasn’t a contributor, my dailyroutine involved wearing extra magazines, backup guns,and even the occasional knife. I needed to ease up on themission load I was packing.
MEET THE BEST 1911 EVER BUILT FOR LIGHT-WEIGHT CARRY.
DW ECOEDan
Wesson
www.cz-usa.com www.cz-usa.com-.0
By PATRICK SWEENEY I Pts by SEAN UTLEY
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-. 13
sert in each of the front andar. Line them up as a gure eight,
nd your sights are easily aligned.
he sight design is inspired by the
einie Straight Eight dot concept,
ut the rear sight is shaped with a
dge, a front face that is square
the bore. Championed by many
spected tactical shooters, these
dge-style sights offer the user
n emergency cocking sur face.
se your belt, holster, doorframe,
hatever is handy, if you’re suddenly
stricted to one-handed use and
ave to manipulate the slide.
In-between the sights, in their
ovetails, is a serrated rib.
he rib is machined out
the top of the
slide, and the serrations on its top
are ultra-ne—fteen lines on top of
the slide that’s not much wider than
a quarter-inch. When you rst see
the MSRP of the DW ECO, consider
that such a rib and the sights would
set you back on the order of $500
and six month’s wait from a custom
gunsmith. (More money and longer
if the ‘smith is really good and has a
backlog to prove it.)
The slide perfectly matches
the three-inch barrel, with
the slide
lightening cuts done as abbreviated
ball-end cuts. The ball-end cuts
were a feature of the earliest 1911s, a
feature changed by Colt during World
War I to speed up production. It’s
just a cosmetic feature, but I like it.
Additionally, the slide and frame are
dehorned in such a way as to ensure
that neither cuts or rips.
The frame and mainspring hous-
ing have very clean, regular and
precise checkering. Twenty-ve lpi
is the Dan Wesson standard. The
frontstrap has been lifted, and com-
bined with the high-ride beavertail
grip safety and a slender thumb
safety that’s also serrated with a
shelf. The ECO is compact, an easy-
to-pack pistol. On the bottom of theframe there is no bolt-on or added
magazine well funnel. This is a
compact carry pistol, and that would
compromise too much in terms
of carrying concealed.
However, the magazine
well is gently tapered
to make reloads easier,
without adding bulk.
In the old days, for a
custom gunsmith to announce
that he had arrived, h e’d take a
standard 1911 and chop it down to
something of this
size. The problem
was not in the
chopping, but reli-
ability department
once it had been
reduced in size.
Many a would-be
“master” gunsmith
found that he had
taken a working
1911 and turned it
into a very expensive paperweight.
The typical result from a new
pistolsmith looking to move up wasmalfunctions galore. And the easiest
way to make those malfunctions
appear was to shoot the suspect
pistol weak-handed or limp-wristed.
So, I took the new ECO and I
abused it. No, I didn’t throw it in the
dirt, dunk it under water, or any-
thing of that nature. I simply shot it
weak-handed only. For all the ammo
I had with me, some three hundred
rounds straight.
Shooting with one’s off hand, or
support hand, is typically work.
Heavy triggers make it very easy to
work into a inch, or other problem.
On the other hand, the ECO had
a nice trigger—one that’s good
enough to perform as a competitiveBullseye gun.
The end result from this function
test was an hour of shooting, and
fteen minutes spent picking up
brass. Ten pound’s worth of lead and
copper downrange. The ECO refused
to co-operate with my plans of nd-
ing its weakness.
The recoil spring system, and the
lack of a barrel bushing, has a lot
to do with the reliability of such an
abbreviated 1911, but I think it has
as much to do with the fact that
the pistolsmiths at Dan Wesson
know how to make a pistol. Even a
compact pistol.
Not every pistol is perfect. My ECO
features a right-handed safety.
Were I to be packing this
(particularly as a backup)
I’d order an ambidextrous safety to
be installed.
The grips are nice and durable, butfor all that and the very useful grip-
ping ability, the slabs measure a bit
thick for my tastes. I’d have to shave
them down to thin them, but why
when the enormous 1911 aftermarket
caters to such things?
The sights are useful in two areas:
both for being night sights with
tritium inserts, and for the rear sight
being shaped such that you can use
it as a cocking lever. If you have the
triple-whammy of a locked slide,
only one hand available for work,
and an existing threat to deal with,
you can use the rear sight to quickly
rack the slide and get things going
your way again.
I like the ECO—a lot. For a guy
who has a safe fu ll of 1911s, many of
those expensive cu stom 1911s, I’m
really tempted by this one. As the
one I obtained for testing was only
the second production sample fromDan Wesson, they’re going to want
this one back. How unfortunate.
Given the amazingly reasonable
price this one lists for (I mean, for a
lightweight Ofcer’s Model, dripping
with custom features) it won’t take
long to save up for an other.
Get yours, or get in line behind me.
o, I TooK ThE NEW ECo ANd I ABUSEd IT. No, I dIdN’T ThRoW IT IN ThE dIRT,
UNK IT UNdER WATER, oR ANYThINg of ThAT NATURE.
The no-glare, 25 lpi slide serrations
lead up to the night sight near the
muzzle. They’re perfectly
blended with the shape
of the slide.
Te ede-stye ea st
s a ow ted te
tactca commuty sce
t offes oe-aded sde
mapuato.
e fotstap of te ECO weas 25 p
ecke—te Da Wesso stadad. Accuracy and reliability are finally acheived in an Officer’s Model 1911.
The combination has been accomplished with a carefully fitted bushing-
less match barrel and slide fit along with a full length guide rod.
The trigger is f lawlessly executed.
www.cz-usa.com
Dan wesson eCo
TYPE: Single action, recoiloperated semiauto
CAlibEr: 9mm, .45 ACP (tested) CAPACiTY: 7+1 bArrEl: 3.5 in. (tested) or 4.25 in.,
DW Match OvErAll lEngTh: 7.25 in. (tested) or 8 in. WEighT: 1.6 lbs. griPS: G10 FiniSh: Duty black TriggEr: Aluminum, 4 lb. SighTS: 3-Dot, ledge-style,
tritium-lled
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-. 15
The three sporting gentlemen
put pen to paper and send
three estates a letter. In the
letter they notied the estate’s
owner of their intent to poach
either a stag or a salmon from
their property in the next 48
hours and deliver the said
salmon or stag to the door of
the main house.
If the estate owner accepted
the challenge and if they get
away undetected the estate
owner needs to make a 50
pound donation to charity. If
they are caught, the offenders
will have to make a 100 pound
donation to charity. To protect
their real identity they collec-
tively signed the letter with the
Nom de plume, John Macnab.
From this original tale the
Macnab challenge grew into an
organized sporting adventure.
Today, it is generally recog-
nized as shooting a stag, a brace
of grouse and catching an Atlantic
salmon all in one day…I can only
guess as to why they shortened time
frame and increased the bag limit,
but that’s just how it is.
I read about the Macnab off and
on in sporting titles over the years
and then last season while sitting in
an elk camp with Alice Poluchova
of CZ-USA, I suggested we try for
a Colorado Macnab—elk, grouse
and trout. She rebutted, “Why don’t
we just do the real thing?” Having
a shortage of red deer, red gro use
and Atlantic salmon in my neck of
the woods, I decided to start looking
for an outtter who could accommo-
date. We found the ideal kilt-wearing
candidate at the SCI show in Reno
The tale of the Macnab stems from the 1925 novel John Macnab written by John Buchan. In sum-mary, the book centers around three high rollingScots who have become bored with their daily
lives so they concoct a plan to add a little bit of zest to
stave off the mundane.
www.cz-usa.com www.cz-usa.com
Questacnab
A CZ RINNC AN CZ 550 T PUT T TH UTIMATTST IN TH HIHANS F SCTAN.
B Mike SchoBy
CZ 550
CZ RINNC
4 -.
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-. 17
evada—Michael McCrave, (Michael
cCrave Hunting imited, huntingva-
ationsscotland.com)
“I can organize it,” he said, “but
have to nd the perfect setting,
ne with a good population of both
ouse and stags and a quality river
close proximity. et me check into
and I’ll get back to you.”A couple of
eeks passed before Michael called,
“I found it! The estate borders Bal-
moral castle (for those unfamiliar with
Balmoral, it is the Queen of ngland’s
summer residence in Scotland...not
a bad zip code) and the fabled River
ee ows through it.”It sounded
ideal so we booked a week for later
that fall.
We quickly found out that booking
a hunt in the United ingdom is the
easy part, handling the details of
actually hunting there is something
entirely else. uckily, Michael made
it possible (without his help, bringing
a rearm into Scotland would be
akin to climbing Mount verest in
bare feet). After ying into ondon
then onto dinburgh, Scotland, we
were met at the airport and whisked
away to the hunting estate near the
town of Ballater. After briey meet-
ing with the gamekeeper Ab (game-
keepers, as the name implies, are
the guide in charge of the hunt for
a particular estate), we unpacked,
sighted in and readied ourselves for
the following morning.
awn broke clear and still, the sun
barely poking above the mountain
as we nished the last of our tradi-
tional Scottish breakfast. Contrary
to popular belief it was not whisky,
but bangers and eggs. It had been
decided that I would get all of day
one to try for my Macnab and Alice
would have all of the second day.
Climbing into and Rover efender
110s, we headed up the mountain
and quickly exchanged the heavily
forested bottomland for the open
heather-covered moors. We had
barely reached the top when wespotted a covey of red grouse
working their way through a thick
patch of heather. I jumped out and
uncased a 28-gauge CZ Ringneck.
Plunking two shells in the twin
chambers, I headed after them. The
covey ducked down to hide then as
I neared, they burst from the thick
cover as if shot from a cannon.
ven though I expected it, I was still
startled and before I knew it
the birds were quickly rocketing out
of range.
My rst barrel caught a bird square
and dropped him, the second just
pulled feathers and the bird set his
wings and sailed across a valley
My firSt Shot waS not far Behind hiM, and after a quick lead
recalculation, the Second charge Brought hiM down to earth.
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Due in large part to America’s
emerging CCW nation, the number of
compact and subcompact pistols—
most with polymer frames—has
exploded. New owners, however,
soon learn that ease of carry does
not necessarily translate into an
enjoyable experience at the range.
Small, light pistols are easy to
carry, but are hard to aim and shoot
accurately at any speed. And try
shooting a lot of rounds during
practice. Nobody takes a pocket gun
out to the range for a day of plinking.
After bouncing from one end of the
spectrum to the other, many of us
who carry are choosing a midsize
pistol to be more practical. It’s themiddle ground between shootability
and ease of carry. This is exactly
where the CZ 83 is at home.
The CZ 83 is an all-steel 12+1
.380 automatic with a 3.8-inch
barrel and a weight of 26 ½ ounces.
It’s also available in a blued nish,
or this satin nickel version seen
here. Besides the growing trend to
chamber carry guns in .380, this one
can also be had in a .32 ACP variety.
In .32, the CZ 83 comes with a 15-
round magazine. Although CZ refers
to this as a compact gun, it’s not a
pocket pistol. Rather, it’s a midsize
steel gun built durable enough to
withstand even the rigors of police
or military duty. The CZ 83 is nearly
identical to its predecessor, the 12-
shot 9x18 Makarov-chambered CZ
82. The CZ 82 could be found in the
holsters of European law enforce-
ment up until just a few years ago.
Not surprisingly, the CZ 83 has a
very European appearance (less the
Euro magazine release behind the
oorplate of the magazine). The slide
is reminiscent of a PPK, but the simi-
larity ends there. To be honest, the
rst time I saw a CZ 83 my expecta-
tions were low, but the more I shot itthe more I liked it. One of the reasons
for my growing favor toward it is
that the slide has such an unusual
prole and because it has a xed
barrel. Fixed barrels are good for two
reasons: They make the gun more
accurate, and they put the bore very
low in the hand. This reduces felt
recoil and muzzle rise. As opposed
to most American-designed pistols
where the serial number is marked
on the frame, the CZ 83 wears its
matching serial numbers on the
W
ith a massive surge in the number of statesallowing for concealed carry, the number ofpeople who are getting rsthand knowledge
of what it’s like to carry a rearm regularly hasgone up dramatically. For years, many of those peoplecould only “talk the talk.” Now that they can “walk thewalk” they are discovering that carrying a full-size pistolisn’t always an option.
RetroBy JAMES TARR I Pts by SEAN UTLEY
THE CZ 83 REDEFINES THE CASSIC APPROACH TOPRACTICA CARR.
The
-.0www.cz-usa.com www.cz-usa.com
CZ 83
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arrel hood and slide. As the barrel is
tached to the frame, technically the
arrel is the receiver.
ike its big brother—the CZ 75—
e 83 is a DA/SA automatic that
an be carried cocked-and-locked
Condition One. The ambidex-
ous safety is not a decocker. The
afety cannot be engaged when the
ammer is down, but the pistol does
ave an internal hammer rebound
afety. After decades of shooting
911s, I use a thumb-high hold with
verything, and the safety of the CZ
3 lends itself well to this. It clicks on
nd off in a very positive manner. The
umb safety is ambidextrous,
s is the magazine release.
wouldn’t want to carry the
stol Condition One until I had
acticed getting the safety offuring the drawstroke a number
times. The serrated safety
n’t small, but my spoiled
umb is used to the oversize
ombat ledges now found on
911 thumb safeties.
For this evaluation I tested a
atin nickel CZ 83. The frame
nd slide have a matte nickel
nish, but all the controls and
mall parts are matte blued
ncluding the triggerguard). I
efer the looks of an all-blued
gun personally, but I’ve also rusted
blued guns with sweat. That won’t
happen with nickel. The double-
action trigger pull on my CZ 83 is
stiff and noticeably heavier than
what I’ve experienced with used 82s
and 83s. That’s very common, and
the great thing about all-steel trigger
systems is that the more times the
trigger is pulled, the smoother and
lighter that pull gets. CZs are built
for a lifetime of hard use.
The frame of the pistol is big
enough for me to get my whole
hand around it, which is a denite
plus when it comes to managing
recoil. The front of the triggerguard
is checkered as well, since there are
some that like to place the support
hand’s index nger on it.
The attop slide is serrated, and
the CZ is equipped with black plastic
grips, the bulging palm sections
of which are checkered. The grips
feature a prominent ridge below
a nger groove, which made for a
comfortable grip but made it almost
impossible to access the magazine
release without turning the pistol in
my hand. The magazine baseplates
are removable for cleaning, and the
magazines have three unmarked
index holes at the rear to wit-
ness the fourth, eighth and 12th
rounds levels in the magazine.
The followers were constructed
of black polymer.The sights on the CZ 83 are
good for a gun this size. The
rear is a dovetailed notch, and
the front is a post slid in from
the front and secured with a roll
pin. On used CZ 82s and 83s,
I’ve seen plain black rear sights
combined with a vertical white-
line insert in the front sight that
works quite well. The sights on
this new gun wore three, bright
green dots. This turned out to
be luminous paint. When I hit
the sights briey with a ashlight,
they glowed as brightly as the nest
tritium insert sights available. After 10
minutes, they still glowed, but more
faintly. Whether or not they’ve been
exposed to light and glow, these dots
provide a very good sight picture.
The hammer is a spur type and
comes down far enough there might
be hammer-bite issues for people
with very large hands using a high
grip, but I didn’t experience such
issues. The safety body actually
forms a part of the beavertail on the
frame just under the hammer and
pivots on a pin. This design seems
robust, but results in an unexpected
gap between safety and frame at the
rear of the pistol when the safety is in
the Off position.
There are only a few ways todisassemble a pistol with a barrel
permanently attached to the frame.
To disassemble the CZ 83, rst
remove the magazine and make
certain that the pistol is unloaded.
ower the safety off. Pull down on
the trigger guard until it clicks and
stays open. Retract the slide all the
way back, then lift up on the rear of
the slide. It will pivot upward, and
once it is high enough to clear the
rear of the barrel, pull the slide as-
sembly off the front of the pistol.
Once apart,
the pistol reveals
a polished feed
ramp that per-
fectly blends with
the barrel. As the
barrel is xed to
the frame, that
feeding angle will
stay the same
no matter what.
This gets part
credit for the 100
percent reliabilityI’ve experienced
with the CZ 83.
The recoil spring ts around the
barrel and is a simple single-coil
design. After removing the grips by
way of the slot-head screws, you
can see that the mainspring ts
around the hammer strut. Further
disassembly for cleaning or mainte-
nance is not recommended.
If extensive ring has been done,
CZ recommends taking apart the
magazine and ring-pin mechanism.
Removing the ring-pin assembly
should not be difcult for anyone who
has ever done the same with a 1911—
as the procedure is identical. Push in
on the ring pin with a punch until it
clears the ring-pin stop, then slide
the stop downward while covering the
end of the slide with a nger so the
ring-pin assembly doesn’t y across
the room. CZ-USA has the instruction
manual posted on its Web site, as well
as a video showing how to eld strip
the pistol if you have any trouble.
In this age of defensive auto pistols
the size of cigarette lighters cham-bered for .380 and 9mm, the thought
of purchasing (much less carrying an
all-steel .380) might seem unneces-
sary to people. While there is no
arguing that 9mm, .40 S&W and
.45 ACP are all more powerful and
effective cartridges than the .380
ACP, the fact is that if private citizens
ever need to use their legally carried
rearms, the lion’s share of those
encounters will occur at conversa-
tional distances with no intervening
barriers apart from clothing. While
it’s roughly the same size as many
WhiLE iT’S RoUghLY ThE SAME SizE AS MANY PoPULAR NiNES,
hE Cz 83 iS MUCh MoRE CoNCEALABLE.
Like the CZ 75 and DW 1911, the CZ 83 features a
thumb safety that locks the hammer to the rear.
CZ 83
TYPE: DA/SA, semiauto
CaLibEr: .32 ACP, .380 ACP
(tested)
CaPaCiTY: 12 (.380), 15 (.32)
barrEL: 3.8 in.
OVEraLL LENGTH: 6.77 in.
WEiGHT: 26.5 oz
GriPS: Black plastic
FiNiSH: Satin nickel
TriGGEr: 12 lb. DA/5 lb. SA
SiGHTS: Three dot, green
luminescent, xed (front),
drift adj. notch (rear)
The trigger guard wears checkering for those
shooters who prefer to place the support hand’sindex finger in front of the guard during firing.
Finished in blue, the controls and grip contrast well on a satin nickel-finish
CZ 83. Controls are oriented in the same ergonomic locations as most classic
semiauto pistols.
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popular polymer nines,
the CZ 83 is much more
concealable. That extra
weight is certainly an
advantage over the light-
weights when it comes time
to pull the trigger.
Ammunition manufactur-
ers didn’t sit idly by while
gun companies introduced
more variations of carry pis-
tols using .380, so premium
hollow points in this caliber
are easy to nd. Moderndefensive ammunition is
far superior to what you could nd on
the shelves just 20 years ago, and the
.380 ACP JHPs of today are designed
to expand even when red out of the
ultra-short barrels of subcompacts.
Taking the CZ 83 out to the range
was fun. Not only does the xed
barrel provide great accuracy, recoil
isn’t a four-letter word. Range vol-
unteers couldn’t outrun the gun, and
we could keep all shots inside the A-zone of an IPSC target at 10 yards
as fast as we could pull the trigger.
At 15 yards the front sight would
rise up to the top of the silhouette
target under recoil, then go straight
back down to nestle in the rear sight.
Because the CZ is so at-shooting,
I was able to track the front sight
during the entire recoil impulse.
I know someone who recently
bought a CZ 83 for a female new
to shooting, and the choice makesperfect sense to me. Remember,
the ideal self-defense pistol
is not only one you have
with you, but one that you
don’t mind practicing with
and that hits hard enough
to get the job done. The
older I get, the more I real-
ize that bullet placement
is more important than
caliber. If the pistol you’re
shooting has so much
muzzle blast and recoil
that you hate to practice
with it or can’t nd yoursights after the rst shot,
it’s not serving you well. Personally,
I’d carry a .380 before I’d carry a
.357 Magnum. Even with premium
JHPs, the CZ 83 is tame. And while
a 90-grain JHP at 1,000 fps is no
magnum thunder hammer, thousands
of violent threats have been fended
off by less powerful cartridges. The
CZ 83 has good ergonomics, is very
controllable at any speed, holds 12
+1 rounds, and has an MSRP of only$444. What’s not to like?
I know someone who recently bought a cZ 83 for a female new
to shootIng, and the choIce makes perfect sense to me.
accuracy results
Bullet Weight Avg. Velocity StandardMake (gr.) (fps) Deviation Group (in.)
Black Hills FMJ 95 922 21 2.2
Cor-Bon Pow’R Ball 70 1,077 22 3.2
Hornady XTP JHP 90 981 13 1.8
Accuracy results are the averages o our fve-shot groups at 25 yards rom a sandbag rest. Velocities arethe averages o 10 shots measured with a Shooting Chrony F-1 Alpha chronograph 12 eet rom the muzzle.
While the all-steel CZ 83 is not
a pocket gun, it is a conceal-
able, light-recoiling pistol thatpoints naturally and can be had
in a choice of a blued finish or
satin nickel.
With its ejection port profile, slide serrations and exposed
extractor, the CZ 83 exhibits a relationship to the CZ75.
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„If futuntins sk uswt w fitin f[in Wl W Tw],w sll tll tmt st f Lii.“
Willim Fnklin Knx,Unit Stts Stf t N (1940 – 1944)
The L Id Ice MovIe coMeS To MovIe TheaTreS aLSo IN The USa!ThIS IS The STory oF The czech vILLage oF LIdIce, The STory oF ordINary peopLe, Who ThroUgh aN abSUrd coINcIdeNcecaMe INTo The Way oF hISTory. The ScreeNpLay by zdeNeK MahLer, oFFerS a vIeW oN The TragIc FaTe oF LIdIce IN The 2Nd
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More INFo aT
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www.-.m
W
hether yourgame is sporting
clays, trap, skeetor the uplandelds, there is no shortagef sexy stack-barreled offer-gs, so why enter anothereauty into the pageant?“Filling a niche is what we were
ter,” says Dave Miller of CZ-USA.
There are lots and lots of good
ver/unders out there today, a fact
e ll well with our Redhead, Sport-
g and Upland models, but we saw
need to have something with some
ylish good looks, Old World class
ut at a price that still allowed guys
use it in the eld.”
Noting the amazing scrollwork
nd hand-engraved sideplates, I
oke open the gun and inserted
brace of lthy-burning Argentine
loads that substituted for real
cartridges into the chrome-lined
bores. I spied a lone dove screamingacross the milo eld, headed in our
direction. Nodding as if I were still
paying attention to Dave, I shoul-
dered the gun and pulled feathers
with the bottom barrel. The dove
went into a tailspin, rapidly uttering
to stay aloft when the top barrel
caught him and brought him down
for keeps. “Well, it shoots as good
as it looks,” I responded.
I snapped open the gun; the hulls
ejected over my shoulder, leaving
twin contrails and that oh-so-good
smell of freshly burnt powder that
not even Chanel No. 9 can compete
with. I grabbed two more cartouches
and closed the breech. The boxlock
action was smooth but tight and
promised to wear in very well.
The Wingshooter balanced remark-
ably light and easy between the
hands, and the 28-inch barrelsprovided enough muzzle weight to
aid follow-through. But those were
just the mechanical specications;
the real delight was in the ner
details. For a production-grade
gun, the Turkish walnut stocks and
Schnabel fore-end were remarkable,
and well-executed 18-lines-per-inch
checkering provided purchase as
well as a classic look. While not
needed for doves, the three-inch
chambers and interchangeable
chokes make it a gun for all seasons,
all game. Tipping the scales at just
over six pounds, the Wingshooter is
a full-size gun without being unduly
heavy or cumbersome. It straddles
the line between being light enough
to carry but not kicking like a mule.
The doves were starting to y now,
and I brought down bird after bird with
surprising regularity. As anyone who
has stood next to me on a sporting
clays course will attest, I am no ne
specimen with a scattergun. My brain
has been too-long intoned with sight
alignment, breath control and trigger
squeeze to be any more than just
passable with a shotgun, but on that
sunny day in Cordoba, Argentina, I
felt like Tom Knapp…at least until Tom
Knapp, CZ-USA pro shooter, strolled
down the eld edge to see what all the
noise was about. Handing his CZ 912
autoloader to a eld technician (they
used to be called bird boys in a less
PC era), Tom turned to me and said
in his characteristic booming voice,
“Mind if I give that a try?”
Even though I knew he was going
to make my feeble attempts at wing
shooting look like I was an amateur,
I begrudgingly handed over the
gun. The rst dove dropped without
a twitch; the second unlucky pairdropped out of the sky in unison.
After that, the puffs of feathers
blended into each other, with Tom
and Dave (who is Master-class and
a good trick shot in his own right)
taking turns with the Wingshooter,
making the sky rain feathers. When
because even if I can’t ever shoot
like a master, at least I can look
good missing.
straight shooting
wasn’t a challenge
anymore, the duo
turned to off the
shoulder, then one-
handed, then over
the head and nally
from the hip. Their
miss percentagedidn’t leave the single
digits. I made a reso-
lution then and there
to either get better
with a shotgun or start shooting with
worse shots. No matter what I do, I’ll
likely bring the Wingshooter along
Meet FntinBy MIKE SCHOBY
A NEW CZ STACK ETS A DOUBE-SIZE WORKOUTN ARENTINA.
CZ WINSHOOTER
he Wingshooter is a full-size gun
ithout being unduly heavy or
umbersome. It straddles the line
etween being light enough to carryut not kicking like a mule.
cz wingshooter
TYPE: Over/under
GAUGE: 12, 3 in. CAPACITY: 2 BArrEl: 28 in.
OvErAll lEnGTh: 45.5 in. WEIGhT: 7.3 lb.
STOCk: Turkish walnut
FInISh: Blued TrIGGEr: Selectable SIGhTS: Brass bead
6 cz-usa.coM
style,
Triple River Gunsmithing are custom gun makers and professional gunsmiths
for over 20 years located in the heart of Ozarks in Warsaw, MO
619 Commercial St. Warsaw, MO 65355 • phone: 660. 438. 2004 • website: www.tripleriver.net • email: [email protected]
Triple River have offered their services as custom gun makers and
professional gunsmiths for 30 years. Located in the heart of the
Ozarks in Warsaw, MO, Triple River’s gunsmiths bring over 80 years
of collective experience to your gunsmithing project.
Whether you are looking to repair your grandfather’s gun or if
you want to have a custom gun built from scratch, we are here to
satisfy your needs and desires. We take pride in every firearm that we
have the privilege to work on.
Triple River offers general gun repair, rebluing, restocking,refinishing as well as sales for firearms of all makes and models. We
specialize in rebarreling, restocking and customizing CZ and Brno
rifles, general gun repair, rebluing, restocking, and refinishing
firearms of all makes and models. Triple River is the only CZ-USA
authorized warranty center for Safari Classics rifles.
Triple River is a federally licensed firearms manufacturer and
dealer. Rifles and shotguns can be shipped directly to our location for
services, and when complete, can be shipped directly back to you with
no additional paperwork required. Our shop is open 6 days a week,
Monday - Friday from 8am - 4pm Saturday from 8am - noon.
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-. 29
Nyati
Over the last 10 years I have
come to rely upon the CZ 550 Saari
Magnum rifes as my choice or
Cape bualo and other danger-
ous game. In that time I have
taken our bualo and a slew o
plains game with these rifes,
and my lie has oten de-
pended upon them. Rugged,
reliable and deadly accurate,
the CZ 550 Saari Magnum
is the choice o most Arican
proessional hunters, and I
have learned through hands-on
experience why this is the case.
WHAT MAKES A BUFFALO RIFLE?
First and oremost and without
exception, a bualo rife has to
re every time you pull the trigger.
Selecting a rife or dangerous gameis the same as selecting a handgun
or sel-deense. Reliability must be
your primary concern, and your nal
selection must be rendered dispas-
sionately and without compromise.
Second, a proper bualo rife must
eed, extract and eject without a hint
o sticking or jamming. Third, the rife
needs to be rugged enough to stand
up to the rough use it will receive.
Make no mistake—properly
hunting bualo is a very physical
activity. At rst light you’ll be riding
along the two-tracks, cutting the
blocks in search o resh sign. When
it is ound, the oot chase begins,
and you’ll be dragging your rife or
hours as you ollow the trackers
through dense thorn thickets and
jesse. You’ll belly-crawl across
sand-lled dongas, clamber up and
over termite mounds and in some
cases wade through waist-deep
estuaries and marshes. Count on
the act that your rife will take a
beating, to say nothing o yoursel.
Finally, which may surprise some,
the rife needs to be accurate, and
by that I mean capable o put-
ting one bullet atop the other at a
distance o 50 yards.
THE SAFARI MAGNUM
The CZ 550 Saari Magnum is otenreerred to as a Mauser 98 clone.
It’s true to some extent, but the real
story is that the CZ 550 action is an
improvement over the century-old
Mauser design.
Such new eatures include a
heavier ring pin with a unique
locking nut that retains the powerul
coil mainspring on the ring pin.
Also, the weight o the ring pin
combined with the coil spring deliv-
ers both ast lock time and reliable
ignition o even the hardest primers.
O all the animals I have hunted around the world, noneres my blood as does the Cape bualo. Were I able,I would ceaselessly hunt nyati until I grew sick othe pursuit. Then I would concern mysel with other
matters and interests, all the while realizing that eventually the
bualo madness would return and my lust or the chase wouldsend me back into the bush, ollowing their spoor.
B Kevin e. Steele
AFRICA’S ‘BAC DAT’ DMADS A RIFYO CA DD O.
CZ 550 SAFARI MAM
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Additionally, the CZ 550 has a more
bust bolt stop and xed ejector.
otable as well is the ejector groove,
hich is cut through the bottom o
e undercut bolt head rather than
rough the locking lug as on the
iginal Mauser. The 550 undercut
olt ace helps prevent double-
ading, as can happen with a ully re-
essed bolt ace on a Mauser. Finally,
e CZ uses a ore-end screw that
ates to a dovetail block inset into
e underside o the barrel. This cre-
es a third point o contact with the
ock in addition to the normal ore
nd at guard screws. All combine in
rife that‘s brutally tough.
I have ound as well that the CZ
ammer-orged barrels are consis-ntly accurate—whether it’s a rimre
a magnum. The single-set trigger
reliable and easily adjustable. In
e “un-set” mode, they break cleanly
around three to our pounds o
essure, which is perect or a
angerous-game rife. Setting the
gger at the range helps the shooter
etermine the utmost accuracy
otential that the rife is capable o.
o other manuacturer o produc-
on rifes oers such great range
calibers or dangerous game as
CZ. The Saari Magnums can be
had in .375 &, .404 Jeery, .416
Remington, .416 Rigby, .450 Rigby,
.458 Winchester, .458 ott, .500
Jeery and .505 ibbs.
HUNTING NYATI
aving settled the issue o which rife
to take on a bualo hunt, let’s take a
look at actually hunting Cape bualo.
First and oremost, remember
that the key to killing bualo is this:
ever shoot until you are absolutely
certain o where your bullet is going
to hit, and as Robert Ruark correctly
stated, use enough gun.
This may come as a shock, but
based on my personal experience
the .375 & cartridge does not
make an ideal bualo or elephant
rife. I have taken bualo with the
.375 and witnessed other hunters
take a hal dozen more in my pres-
ence. All the bualo died, but none
dropped to the rst shot. When I take
the shot, I want the bualo down and
unable to get back up. Finishers are
cheap insurance, but a ollow-up
on a wounded bull never gi ves you
better than 50/50 odds that things
may end in tragedy.
A much better choice or bu and
elephant begins with the .404 Jeery
and one o either the .416 Remington
or Rigby. My personal choice hasbecome the .458 ott, a round that
has proven itsel to amateur and
proessional hunters in the decade
ollowing its commercial introduc-
tion. In act, I was the rst to take a
bualo with the commercially loaded
ott in 2001, and it has not l et me
down since.
The rst step in putting down a
bu with one shot is to get close—
and then get closer. Fity yards is
ideal, and 25 is even better. Following
years o conversation with other
hunters and experienced s, it ap-
pears to me that most bualo horror
stories begin with the hunter either
botching his rst shot or not having a
thorough understanding o the Cape
bualo’s anatomy rom all angles.
Rest assured that a heart/lung shot
will indeed kill a bualo, but it takes
time to happen. Within that time, you
have given that bu the opportunity
to charge, should he desire to die in
that manner.
When the time comes to pull the
trigger on a bualo, I always adviseto orego the classic heart-lung shot
and aim or the high shoulder, the
result o which is broken shoulders or
a shattered spine, both o which will
anchor that bu to the ground.
With all that said and digested,
though, remember clearly
that despite all your experi-
ence, knowledge, skill and
best intentions, things can
still go righteningly wrong.
ot all dangerous encoun-
ters result rom a charge o
a wounded bualo. ere
are a ew tales rom the
dark side.
TALES TO BE TOLD
Our group had picked up
the trail o a good-size herd
that was moving quickly
toward an area o heavy
cover. They were lookingor an aternoon nap. Ater
awhile, our realized that
the bu would get to the
thick stu beore we were
able to catch up to them.
nowing that sorting a bull
out o the herd once they
reached sanctuary would be
impossible, he came up with
an alternative plan.
We halted in a spot with a
air degree o open grass-
land spotted about with
trees. The then sent a tracker
out to the fank and told him to run
upwind o the herd. It was his hope
that the scent o the tracker co ming
back to them on the breeze would
send the herd back our way in their
retreat. Ideally, we would be able
to watch them as they passed and
hopeully pick out a good bull on theedge o the herd.
Things don’t always go the way
you plan. The tracker did his job, and
as his scent wated to the bualo,
they abruptly turned and stampeded
back along their trail. The rumbling
hooves o the oncoming bualo lled
our ears and rose to a mighty cre-
scendo as they rapidly covered the
300 yards between us. A rising cloud
o dust appeared to our ront, and
we suddenly realized that instead o
passing to our fank, the herd was
headed in our direction.
Catching sight o the leading
element in the herd, our shouted
or my wie and the trackers to get
behind some trees to our rear, while
he and I aced down the stamped-
ing bualo.The then began shouting at the
oncoming bualo while he jumped
up and down, waving his hat above
his head. I immediately ollowed
his example, all the while doubting
his sanity, not to mention my own.
Incredibly, the leading bu-
alo stopped not 20 yards
in ront o us, as we jumped
around like lunatics. The
bualo to the rear o the
ront element rammed into
those ahead, nudging them
closer toward us.
As the bualo stopped
in a lurch, we snapped our
rifes to our shoulders and
covered those animals
closest to us, the muzzles o
our guns swaying back and
orth across the snorting
phalanx as we searched
their eyes, hoping see a clueas to their next i ntentions.
That’s what we watched—
their eyes.
The stando lasted only
seconds, but it seemed ar
longer. Abruptly, the herd
turned to our let and bolted
o, a mass o surging black
bodies amid swirling dust
as they gave us a berth o
mere yards. As the herd
thundered by, we never did
see a good bull.
Rugged, ReliaBle and deadly accuRate, the cZ 550 SafaRi MagnuMS
Re the choice of MoSt afRican pRofeSSional hunteRS.
nce fresh spoor is found, the hunters dismount, make
plan and begin the follow-up.
Trackers carry a hindquarter of buffalo after a successful
hunt, as the PH leads the queue and the hunters follow.
This bull fell to the author’s 550 Safari magnum in .458
Lott. The rifle is topped with an Aimpoint dot sight.
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Another dangerous situation that
ne can encounter when in pursuit
bualo is to run into an animal that
as been previously wounded either
y a poacher’s bullet or snare. While
have not personally run aoul o an
jured bualo, I did once ace down
young elephant bull in a sandy
onga whose trunk had been almost
ompletely severed by a snare.
uckily, despite the act that he
ppeared within 40 yards o us and
ould dimly see us, the wind was
our avor, allowing us the chance
move quickly up a slope and out
his path. I am pretty certa in that
the wind had identied our party
s human to the elephant, he would
ave charged those he believed to
e responsible or his serious injury.nortunately, the same cannot be
aid or a couple o riends o mine on
eir rst bualo hunt with me. T hey
ere ollowing the track o a group o
agga boys when at last they caught
ght o the bulls. The raised his
nos or a better look and noticed
at the largest bull had a bloody,
uppurating wound on his shoulder.
e was unaware that a wounded bull
as in the area, and as the bull was
so a good trophy, he instructed one
my riends to take him.
The rst shot was not a good one,
and upon impact, rather than r etreat-
ing, the enraged bull immediately
charged the three hunters. All three
commenced ring at the bualo, and
thankully, six rounds later, it col-
lapsed at their eet.
Then there are the tales o the “bu-
alo that won’t die.” This happened to
my riend ermann, who was on his
second bualo saari with me. e and
his had been tracking a small herd
that contained a ne old bull. They
closed within 50 yards o the animal,
and ermann red his .416 Reming-
ton, placing the bullet squarely in the
heart and lung kill zone. As the area in
which they had ound the bualo was
airly open, ermann was able to put
two more rounds into the bull, the lastbreaking his shoulders and knocking
him down.
Despite the bull absorbing 1,200
grains o lead, resulting in broken
shoulders along with other internal
injuries, he attempted to stand. er-
mann had quickly reloaded, and as
the bull tried to rise, he rapidly red
three more rounds into the struggling
animal. The bu attempted yet again
to regain its eet, and two additional
rounds rom the ’s .416 Rigby
nally settled the issue.
Add it up. That bull had absorbed
a total o 3,200 grains o medicine,
nearly a hal pound, beore dying.
Still and all, the absolute thrill
o bualo hunting comes rom the
ever-present possibility that things
can go wrong. The closer you are to
the bualo, the greater the danger,
and therein lies the adrenaline rush
so much sought ater by purists in
the pursuit o nyati.
I know many men who have killed
their bu at what I consider to be
long range—more than 50 yards.
To my mind, these olks have totally
missed the point o bualo hunting,
which is to get as close as possible
so that you can hear their bellies
rumble and inhale the musky cattle
scent through your nostrils. The thrillis incredible.
I the wind is right and you are
very quiet and unmoving, you will be
astounded at how close you can get
to a bualo—or how close a bualo
might get to you. Case in point:
The Zambezi Valley had suered
a drought, and the country was dry
and brittle. We had been ollow-
ing bualo spoor since rst light,
and on toward noontime we ound
ourselves headed up the slope o a
small rise. The ground was parched
and gravelly, with sparse tuts o
brown grass shooting up here and
there amid shattered mopani trees
whose tops had been lopped o by
eeding elephant. ot and thirsty,
my mind had begun to wander, and
I ound mysel dreamily gazing up
at the stunningly blue sky and its
merciless sun. I was suddenly torn
rom my reverie by my , who had
dropped to his knees and was pull-
ing me down toward him.
“Quiet! Don’t move!” he hissed.
ess than 25 yards in ront o us, asmall herd o bualo were shufing
down the slope, themselves seem-
ingly burdened by the oppressive
heat o the late-morning sun. They
were spread over a 50-yard ront,
but I realized with a start that a cow
and her cal were walking
directly toward us.
She continued straight
on. I could easily make out
the snot running rom her
broad nose and her wide
horns, the tips o which were
as sharp as the talons o an
eagle. I shuddered involun-
tarily as I realized that one
swipe o her headgear could
fay me rom belly to brisket.
With nothing to conceal us
but the thin veil o branches
extending rom the thorn
bush behind which we hid,
my hands tightened aroundmy CZ 550 as we could only
hold our breath and pray she
didn’t register our presence.
I can still vividly recall her
head swaying rom side to
side as she ambled past
not 12 eet rom our hiding
place, ollowed placidly by
her cal.
We waited or them to
move on a good distance
beore we stood. I readily
admit I was shaking a bit,
like you do when closely avoiding
a wreck. I suppose that’s a good
analogy because i she had seen or
heard us, or caught our scent, we
would have been in a wreck or sure.
That said, however, I would never
trade that experience or anything,
and it’s a perect example o why Iwould rather hunt bualo than any
other game.
I suppose that one reason bu-
alo hunting remains so intoxicating
or me is that when hunting these
animals, you never have an idea o
what to expect. The unknown is a
compelling reason to continue the
chase. Anything can happen when
hunting; simple mistakes, poor
marksmanship, a shit in the wind or
just bad luck will put you in harm’s
way. Indeed, it is the danger that
makes bualo hunting so addictive.
My best trophy to date resulted in
the hunt o a large foodplain along
the banks o the Zambezi. apyrus
reeds towered tall, their fuy tops
gently swaying in the early-morning
breeze. Between them lay grassyplots struggling to survive in the
deep, sandy soil. Jungle-like growths
o trees resided along still, stagnant
ponds and inlets o water, the a ter-
math o a heavy rainy season.
We spotted a good-size herd o
bualo oraging amid the
reeds and took up their
track. Testing the wind with
his ash bag, my got us
positioned atop an anthill so
we could watch the herd as
it ed just beyond us. nable
to pick out a good bull, we
descended and very slowly
and careully moved closer
to the herd.
Bualo bellows, grunts
and the bleating o calves
lled our ears as we crept
into position or a better
view. My blood was up as
we were doing what I love—getting right into the herd,
as close as possible. The
bualo were milling about
in ront o us, crossing rom
let to right and back again
in a never-ending stream.
The earthy odor o cattle
dung and the strong am-
monia smell o urine lled
our nostrils.
Doubled over, we crept
even closer. Suddenly, a
group o cows and young
My Blood waS up aS we weRe doing what i love —
getting Right into the heRd, aS cloSe aS poSSiBle.
ore than a dozen buffalo hunts have taught the author
at express sights or an optical dot are preferable to
variable scope when hunting nyati in the thick stuff.
Loading a bull buffalo into the Cruiser is no small task;
loading two is a Herculean effort!
The author’s biggest bull to date measured nearly
44-inches. A single 500-grain solid from the Lott put
him down for the count.
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ulls picked up their heads and
oked straight into our eyes. We
ere busted.
The bualo retreated and we
llowed. They crossed through a
ooded area with Daryl and me
n their heels. The earth ended at
bank below, which stretched a
oad and deep estuary lled with
apyrus. As we reached the edge,
e watched in amazement as the
ntire herd swam away rom us and
to the reeds, their bodies plowing
rough the black water like bovine
ggernauts. One o the last animals
reach a dry hummock amid the
eds was an old bull. e stopped
nd turned to look at us over hishoulder. is action seemed a dare.
Catch us i you can.”
Truth be told, we could not, as
ere was no manner o convey-
nce to see us across the water and
to the reeds. Wading or swimming
as out o the question, as monsto-
us crocodiles called this morass
ome. unch struck us as a better
ternative.
As we rested beneath the thatched
o o the outdoor dining room at
asau Camp, we received a radio
t’S a ShaMe, But adding the Big five to youR tRophy RooM
oday will coSt alMoSt aS Much aS the houSe itSelf.
call rom Buzz Charlton, who
was chaperoning a group o Spanish
hunters. e reported seeing a group
o three dagga boys not ar rom
camp. Two o the three appeared to
be quite good. My sent two o his
trackers out to the location to “put
them to bed,” and we intended to
pick them up later in the aternoon.
As I rested in my bed I could
hear the water o the Zambezi as
it gently lapped the shore outside
my chalet. The tranquil sound lulled
me to sleep, but not or long—there
was a knock at my door. I looked at
my watch and saw it was 3 o’clock.
athering up my gear, I walked the
short distance to where the andCruiser was parked, and climbing up
into the high seat, we took o.
The sun was still high as the truck
ground its way along the sandy
tracks to an area o tall grass and
stunted trees. We met the trackers
who had been sent out earlier to
locate the bualo, and they reported
that the animals were about a hal
mile away bedded beneath some
trees. My and I chambered
rounds into our rifes and quickly
ollowed the trackers’ lead.
ot long ater leaving the road,
we came across an old lion kill.
Four hooves detached rom their
legs were the last vestiges o what
was once a bualo cal. Continuing
on, we reached our destination
about a hundred yards rom the
bedded bualo. The called a
short conerence.
“evin, you come with me, and
we’ll get as close as we can without
spooking them. We’ll try to sort out
the best bull, and when they get up
rom their nap, you can take him,”
he said.
“Roger that,” I replied, as we
began our stalk toward the sleeping
beasts.We advanced one oot at a time. I
careully made certain to step exactly
where the had ooted, avoiding
the cloying thorns and careully side-
stepping dry twigs and branches.
The wind was perect, blowing in our
aces away rom the slumbering bu-
alo, and we nally stopped behind
a small bush no more than 25 yards
rom where the bualo lay.
eering intently through our binocu-
lars, we could only conrm that there
were three bualo under the tree, but
try as we might, we could not make
out any o their headgear. early an
hour ticked by as we waited or the
bualo to rise. At last, they did.
I was on the sticks, but I still could
not make out the horns beneath the
shadowed tangle o tree branches
obscuring my view. The wind shited,
bringing our scent to their nostrils,
and in a rush, they made o.
The sun got lower and lower in the
sky, and the shadows lengthened
as we ollowed behind the bualo.
Making our way rom cover to cover,we tracked them to a place where
several big trees gave them cover.
They knew we were on their back-
trail, and we hoped that as the light
waned the bualo would
grow less careul, as they
are known to do, and wished
or an opportunity or a shot
beore last light.
Moving closer to the trees
behind which the bualo had
taken sanctuary, we were
rewarded when one bull
stepped clear o the protec-
tion o the oliage and turned
to look right at us just 50
yards away.
The bull’s horns were long
and sweeping, then turn-
ing up to pointed tips. is
boss was ull and craggy. I
slapped the ore-end o my
CZ .458 ott into the orko the shooting sticks I had
been carrying and squinted
through the express sights,
settling the big ivory bead on
the bull’s shoulder.
I was just about to drop
the hammer when rom
the let came another o
the three bulls. This one
seemed to dwar the rst.
I shited my sights to this
bull, and holding just below
his sweep o horn I pressed
the trigger just as I heard the say,
“Take the one on the let.”
When the bullet reached the bull,
he dropped dead in his tracks.
“I was a bit ahead o you there,” I
said to the as I cranked another
round into the chamber. The other
two bulls quickly moved o, and asthey did the said, “Yeah, that rst
one was good, but when the other
one came out rom behind the tree, I
thought, Wow, he’s even better.”
“Well, looks like everything worked
out just ne,” I said.
“That was a great shot. e never
moved,” the replied.
ight was alling rapidly as it is
wont to do in Arica as we moved
orward to inspect my bualo. This
bull had it all: long, deeply curved
horns and a heavy boss. The tape
later put him at 43 ½ inches, making
him my biggest bull to date. The
shot had hit at point o aim, cleanly
breaking his neck. The CZ 550
Saari Magnum in .458 ott hadchalked up another one-shot stop.
I’ve come to believe that any bua-
lo, o either sex, hunted at close range
and taken airly, is an experience you
will never orget. Trophy qual-
ity is indeed secondary to the
experience or the dedicated
bualo hunter. I have ound
that my hunts or the smallest
and biggest were equally
thrilling and rewarding, as
is accompanying another
hunter on his stalks and kills.
With bualo, the hunt itsel
is where you will nd your
greatest satisaction. The kill
means your magical time in
the bush is over.
Many o us lucky enough
to go on Arican saari will be
unable to aord taking the
classic Big Five o elephant,
bualo, rhino, lion and leop-ard. It’s a shame, but adding
the Big Five to a trophy room
today will cost as much as
the house itsel. But bu-
alo are plentiul enough and
economical enough or the
great majority o hunters to
pursue, and they will remain
so or quite some time. It is
or this reason, that the Cape
bualo is the most hunted
and coveted dangerous
game in Arica.
he mighty Zambezi flows toward the Indian Ocean
ust east of the Mopata Gorge.
A small herd of buffalo, including a very good bull,
retreats across a lily-covered estuary of the Zambezi.
This old cow, taken for camp meat with a .375 H&H CZ -
550, sported horns with a forty-inch spread.
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The Speilist
The Specialist is your basic full-sized
1911 with a Picatinny rail for a dustcover—
except little is basic about it. First, the
slide, frame and barrel have a level of
tting that’s only seen pistols hand tted
by wise ‘smiths long in their years. Dan
Wesson gunsmiths are more than skilled
craftsmen, they’re obviously shooters.
During my inspection, I can see the hours
spent ling little-by-little before lapping
and checking t. These 1911s pass the
most critical scrutiny. Having spent many
years working as a gunsmith (and a lot of
that time spent on 1911s), when someone
hands me a pistol, the second thing I do
(after checking to make sure that it isn’t
loaded) is to check the t. Yes, the feel
of the slide on the frame, and the t of
the barrel as it locks up, sure. But there’s
more to it than just that. What does theslide sound like, moving on the frame?
Can you hear the toolmarks chattering
over each other? Or is it a smooth, almost
sinuous hiss as polished steel slides over
polished steel?
When the slide collects the barrel, links
up and closes, does it sound like a collec-
tion of parts brought together? Or is there
a click-click-click like purpose to each
movement? Solidly- tted parts ring when
they are closed with more than a gentle
nudge. Many snick, some even sing.
While the near-musical note of the clos-
ing differs from gun to gun, the similarity
between well-tted 1911s is this: they
almost all ring like a bell when you l et them
close. Not so close to full slide-lock, that’s
just abuse. But to let the slide close from
halfway, you can tell a lot about a tting by
the sound of the “snick” as it shuts.
The Dan Wesson Specialist I’ve just
evaluated has such a positive, assertive
closing sound that I actually stood there
The Dan Wesson line of 1911s, built under the ownership ofCZ-USA, have always been exceptional. As a ready-to-go,out of the box 1911, they have always surprised the marketas a great value delivering custom features, the highest
accuracy, and the best reliability. You could buy something with
a longer spec sheet or higher price, however, you couldn’t pos-sibly get as much in return. The Dan Wesson lineup has now beenchanged, and the results are impressive.
B Parick Sweeney I Pts b Sean ULey
N THE HOME OR ON THE STREET, THIS .45 IS POISED
TO PROTECT AND SERvE.
DW SPECIAIST
6 c-Sa.cwww.z-us.om www.z-us.om
Betwee te set of tctc ede t
sts us Ck-stye seted b
coss te top of te sde desed to
emte e.
37c-Sa.c
Dan Wesson specialist
TYPE: Single action, recoil operatedsemiauto
CaliBEr: .45 ACPCaPaCiTY: 8+1
BarrEl: 5 in.OvErall lEngTh: 8.5 in.
WEighT: 2.31 in.griPS: G10
FiniSh: Matte black DutyTriggEr: Aluminum, 4 lb.
SighTS: 3-Dot, ledge-style,tritium-lled
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8 c-Sa.cwww.z-us.om
r a few seconds and just opened
nd closed it to soak in the sound. It
as that interesting—and promising.
Once I was over that, I scanned
e features. The top of the slide has
ghts in transverse dovetails, with
e rear sight utilizing a tactical ledge
allow “belt-” or “boot-racking.”
his is a technique developed (as
est I can determine) by the os An-
eles Police Department. If you need
one-handed rack your slide, hook
e sight on your belt, holster, or sole
the boot and shove it out and awayom yourself. The usual ramped
ar sight does not allow this. Dan
esson took a large combat sight
nd carved the face to produce this
op-ridge. A belt or holster will catch
e rear sight, and you can rack the
de that way. Plus, the sights have
ght-sight tritium inserts, one dot
ver the other, in Heinie’s Straight
Eight pattern. ine the dots up, gure
“8”, and your sights are aligned in the
dark. It’s very intuitive.
The top of the slide is also ser-
rated, with lateral grooves down
the rib. I took one look at that, and
estimated it would take a stful of
hundred-dollar bills to duplicate it in
the hands of a custom 1911 pistol-
smith. Consider the savings a gift
from Dan Wesson.
On the frame, there is an integral
accessory rail machined into the
dustcover. The slide stop pin isrecessed, and its hole in the frame
beveled. Some take the beveling of
that hole too far, cutting an edge that
is too angled and deep. The Specialist
has the bevel cut at a shallow angle,
and just deep enough to make it so
that it’s easy to disassemble, but not
so much it removes a large part of
the barrel lug and frame integrity. The
ush-trimmed slide stop pin is now
out of the way of your trigger nger
when your nger is outside of the
trigger guard. You do not risk pushing
the slide stop out of the frame, and yet
it can still be disassembled.
The safety is ambidextrous. It clicks
up and down with the correct amount
of authority, and stays where set it.
The grip safety appears to be from
Ed Brown, and probably is. It’s easier
to simply purchase forged grip safe-
ties from Ed Brown than to try and
machine them oneself. In any case,
it’s the highest grip safety you can
get on a 1911, and it puts your hand
as high behind the gun as is possible.
Inside the frame is a scalloped com-
mander hammer, and combined withthe tted, match aluminum trigger,
the drawstroke of the trigger is clean,
crisp and purposeful.
The frame features a at main-
spring housing. ong ago, I gave up
trying to gure out which type shoots
better for me—at or arched. I sup-
pose were I vying with the top dogs
for the Single Stack Championship of
the universe, it would matter, but I’m
not. I can pass any qual course, and
beat most anyone I compete against.
So, at it is.
The mainspring housing is check-
ered, and at 25 lines to the inch,
matches the checkering on the front-
strap. The checkering is straight and
even, and the individual diamonds
are square and sharp.
The (very) tactile grips are G10, a
synthetic selected for its impervios-
ity—to everything. It’s immune to
things that would discourage or even
kill you; solvents, lubricants, radiation
and high-voltage electrical current.
These grips will never chip, fade,
discolor or break. The surface ismachined with an interesting pattern.
Rather than a traditional checkered
pattern, the surface of the grips are
machined (that’s the only way you
can form G10, without incurring
hideous expense).
The front of each grip panel
is machined with overlapping
circular depressions to lock
your ngertips in place until you
relieve pressure. The rear half
is machined with grooves that
slant down, front to back, and
resist the torquing forces of rota-
tion in recoil. Short of slathering
glue onto your hand or pistol, I’m
not sure there’s a way to ensure
a more secure hold.
Finally, there’s the magazine well. It
has a funnel around it, which bolts tothe mainspring housing by means of
an industrial-type Allen-head screw,
and recessed into the funnel at the
rear. The funnel is shaped to match
the contour of the grip panels, and
the funnel’s magwell bevels line up
with the frame as if they were cut
from the same piece of barstock. I
have always been leery of the bolt-onfunnels, and those of my 1911s that
have them, the bolt is locked in place
with a generous amount of octite.
Details are fun, and a well-tted
pistol is always appreciated. How-
ever, shooting is what matters.
om te te to te mme, eey coto wes setos. a scop cut
mde to te eft g10 p pe podes ese ccess to te mze eese.
DUring my inSPecion, i can See he hoUrS SPen fiLing LiLe-
By-LiLe Before LaPPing anD checking fi.
Te Specst fetues D Wessomtc be cmbeed .45 aCP.
Just ke ote D Wesso 1911s, ts
oe s cose-toece ft wt ts
be bus.
a twet Commde mme s
potected by te beet p sfety.
Te Specst so comes wt mb-
dextous tumb sfety.
c-Sa.c 39www.z-us.om
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www.cz-usa.com
I didn’t get to spend as much time
evaluating the Specialist as much
as I would have liked. Short time?
Absolutely, you see, the Specialist Ihad is the rst, and until a few days
after I had to return it, it was the
only nished specimen of the Dan
Wesson model extant.
The trigger is clean and crisp, and
encourages accurate shooting. The
grip safety puts the frame deep in
my hand, and recoil was eaten up
by the added weight in the dust-
cover rail. That small, extra weight
below the boreline and forward
of the hands aids recoil control,
while the aggressive grips keep the
Specialist locked into my hands.
The precisely-tted barrel delivers
the goods accurately downrange.
It has been a long time since
anyone realistically tested a brand-
new 1911, looking to discover just
how reliable or unreliable it might
be. A modern 1911 is reliable.
Customers expect it and Dan
Wesson delivers. I did not an-ticipate, nor did I experience,
any malfunctions while shooting the
Specialist. It fed everything, and
shot slightly to the right of point-of-
aim. If I were permitted to performa long term test, I’d have to slightly
adjust the sights to hit point of aim
for me. Groups? We’re talking about
a one-hole gun. It groups very well.
As a daily carry gun, you are in
for work with the
Specialist. There
is a reason Dan
Wesson also
offers Command-
er and Ofcer’s-
sized models.
They are still more
popular for carry.
As a duty gun for a law enforcement
ofcer allowed to carry a personal
purchase, all you need is to couple
the Specialist with a compact light,put it inside one of the many duty
holsters available for this type of 1911,
and you’re set for anything you’d ever
expect to cover during your shift—
and a few things you wouldn’t.
We’re talking about a one-hole gun.
it groups very Well.
The rough texture G10 slabs, 25 lpi
frontstrap and flat checkered main-
spring housing blend together for a
sure grip. The serrated Ledge sights
carry a vile of tritium in forming the
Straight 8, low-light sighting system.
The Specialist features a
deep funnel for the magazine
well, helping make reloads
quick and intuitive. The
Specialist frame offers an
integral Picatinny rail with
three notches to accept mostcurrent pistol accessories.
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Recently, I caught upwith Tom Knapp,CZ-USA exhibition
shooter, along the edge of agrain eld outside of Cor-
doba, Argentina. We werethere to work…if you cancall testing the new CZ 912autoloader and Wingshooterover/under shotguns “work.”Between urries of birds,bandaging ngers, chug-ging water and reloadingshotguns, I interviewedKnapp about shooting,guns, professional life andwhat he does for fun when
not shooting. Mike Schoby: What got you inter-
ested in shooting?
Tom Knapp: Like so many other
kids, I was brought into it through
my family, both in the form of hunting
and recreational shooting.
MS: What are your favorite rearms?
TK: That is a tough one to answer. I
mean, regardless if it is a rie, pistol
or shotgun, if it goes bang, I like it.
I am enjoying shooting the CZ 712
and 912 autoloaders, but since I
grew up shooting Winchester
Model 12s I still have a soft
spot for them today.
MS: How much do you
shoot in a given year?
TK: I shoot around
40,000 12-gauge
shotshells a year
and countless
rimre car-
tridges.
MS: How can someone get started
as an exhibition shooter?
TK: Making difcult shots is a small
part of exhibition shooting. If anyone
is going to succeed, he must have
public relations and communicationsskills rst and foremost. Knowing
how to market and promote goes
a long way, and there is always
the need for some showmanship. I
caution young shooters to be careful
what they wish for. If they succeed
to go the full gamut, they will need to
forfeit their personal desire for family
and friends. Most family lifestyles
will not support the exhibition style
of life.
MS: How much practice does it taketo become good?
TK: The amount of practice involved
with exhibition shooting is based
on muscle memory. If you can’t do
everything within your show script
in your sleep, you have not had
enough practice. If your live-show
schedule contains 100 live shows
for that year, that would be enough
practice in its own. My practice
contains more gun handling and
loading techniques, keeping
emphasis on safety and muzzle
direction than shooting.
MS: What is your favorite trick shot?
TK: My favorite shot is based on
consistency and the difculty level.
This would be my balloon routine,where I have four balloons on the
ground and launch two clays in the
air. I shoot one of the clays, then
come down and shoot each balloon
with an individual shot, then nd the
falling clay and shoot that before it
hits the ground.
MS: Lots of shooters and hunters
idolize you. Do you have any shoot-
ing idols?
TK: I saw Herb Parsons on a TV
show in 1959. I was nine years old.This special display of marksman-
ship stuck in my mind from then
on. I never got the chance to meet
or watch Herb live, but the idea
of making a living with a gun (the
correct way) stayed in the back of
my mind until it became reality. That
same lm has been preserved on
DVD, which you
can purchase at
showmanshooter.
com.
MS: Final question:
When you eat, sleep and
breathe shooting, what do
you do for fun?
TK: Fish. I’m from Minnesota.
Besides shooting and hunt-
ing, the next most important
thing to a Minnesotan is
spending time with family and
friends out on a lake, winter
or summer.
T Kpp
Tom Knapp
Interviewwith
B Mike SchoBy
BHID TH TICKS F A WLDCLASS HIBITI SHT.
-. 41www.cz-usa.com
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CZ-USA has been importing the 527for some time now. It’s a scaled-down
Mauser action that’s fed by a magazine
of ve rounds. In the case of the 527
Varmint, those rounds should be of a suit-
able varmint load in ei ther .17 Remington,
.22 Hornet, .222 Remington, .221 Fireball,
.204 Ruger or .223 Remington. (Not
interchangeably, of course.)
Once you’ve selected the chamber-
ing, you have a rie that’s a lightweight.
Depending on options, it will check in
between six and seven and a half pounds.
It’s an ultra-reliable varmint rie, and one
you can easily mount a scope on.
Until now, you had to pick from a
few attractive—but not exactly varmint
shooting—functional stock designs. The
originals are the European-style stocks,
such as are on the Lux and FS. European
hunting is usually either driven game,
offhand at moving critters, or from stands.
The idea of lying down on the ground,
and consuming a carton of ammunitionin a day’s time while shooting rats would
puzzle the average European hunter.
And so, the stocks are meant for offhand
shooting. No more.
At a recent industry gathering, Jason
Morton of CZ-USA revealed a new 527
Varmint set in a varmint stock. My rst
thought was that it was a pro ne stock—
not a stock intended for varmint shooting.
ENTER THE 527
The 527 Varmint features a stock with
a pistol grip turned sharply downward.
This gets the right hand in the properposition for shooting prone. The comb is
higher, straighter and the front end of it
comes much more forward than one on
an offhand stock. The high comb gets
your head correctly located behind the
scope, and its extended prole allows
the shooter to establish optimal eye
relief. I crawl up on a stock like no-one
else, so a long shelf at the front of the
comb is extremely important.
The forearm has two raised panels;
one on each side with a at bottom.
The raised portions provide a secure
hold if you are the type of shooter who
prefers a hand-held support position.
For those who shoot off a front rest,
resting the weight of the rie on the at
fore-end helps to keep the rie upright
and stable. If you prefer to shoot from a
bipod, the 527 Varmint has a pair of sling
swivel studs up front, one for a carr y
sling, and another that can be used with
a bipod adapter to give the rie a set oflegs to lean into.
The magazine is an all-steel, single-feed
box magazine.
The scope ring and mount system is
proprietary to CZ. Generally, I’m not given
to clamp-on ring-and-base systems.
Most are fragile, and fabricated just to
meet a price point. They just don’t provide
the assuredness that I usually get with a
robustly-engineered set. Not so with rings
from CZ-USA. The rings are machined
from steel, and the clamping surface is
engineered directly in the receiver rings of
To hose a ‘dog town, you need the right gear. The chieftool remains an accurate, reliable rie, one that willkeep working no matter how many rounds you sendthrough the barrel.
Anti-VerminBy PATRICK SWEENEY I Pts by SEAN UTLEY
THIS CZ 527 IS A TACDRIVER AND A STELLARRODENT-REDUCER.
CZ 527 VARMINT
-A.m 43www.cz-usa.cowww.cz-usa.co
-A.m2
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4 -A.mwww.cz-usa.co
e rie. Not bolted-on aluminum, but
achined steel. The scope will expire
ng before the rings give way.
Underneath, the 527 Varmint uses
e CZ single set trigger, an adjust-
ble mechanism. With a normal pull of
e trigger, it operates with a standard
mount of pressure. However, if you
ush the trigger forward rst (until you
el it click) it will set, requiring less
essure and a crisp, light trigger pull
re the rie—giving the shooter
e feel of a match rie’s trigger. Both
ulling or setting the trigger is an
djustable experience, and CZ-USA
cludes complete instructions on
ow to adjust these settings. For the
andard pull, weight, creep and over-
avel can be adjusted. For
e set trigger operation, only
eight can be adjusted.The safety on the 527 is
arge lever positioned to
e right side of the cocking
ece. When you press it up,
“Safe” it blocks the ring
n and locks the bolt in
ace. Bring it down to re.
The barrel measures 24
ches long, and has a heavy
ole. Inside, the chamber
a .223 (not a 5.56 NATO)
mension. Since 5.56 NATO
mmunition is not designed
for varmint vaporizing, it isn’t such
a big deal. The 1:9-inch twist rate
allows the option of using heavy bul-
lets. During testing I learned that the
1:9 twist is right on the edge for the
heavyweight 75 and 77 grain bullets.
Some ries shoot these weights just
ne, while others do not.
With bullet weights of 40 grains
up to the mid-60s, you should have
a plethora of choices in terms of
accuracy. For varminting, pick a
fragile, accurate bullet and push it
fast for less drop at longer range.
MY EVAL
In testing the 527 Varmint, I used
a Bushnell Elite 6500. It certainly
proved up to the task. Black Hills
Ammunition was chosen to send
60-grain Hornady V-Max bullets
downrange. I started out check-
ing zero and getting a feel for
the trigger. It didn’t take long to
determine that someone close to
me in shooting style had zeroed
the rie, for it was pretty close. It
only took a few groups to get on
at 100 yards where I then settled
down to shoot small groups.
Somehow I managed to shoot four
sequential groups of bragging
quality, and my heart pounded so
hard that I could see the reticle
move against the target.
This little rie not only wants to
shoot, it demands to shoot.
As a varmint-shooting
machine, it ranks high. Atan MSRP of $885, there
isn’t a better deal in a bolt
action rie chambered in
.223. It would be difcult to
just lay hands on a heavy-
barreled .223 at that price,
let alone one with a proper
prone-shooting stock. Then
add the extra sling swivel,
adjustable trigger, and
the demonstrated level of
accuracy, and it becomes a
hard deal to pass up.
The eef cut n the com ow fo esy
emov of the ot. The ot eese eve
s octed on the eft sde of the eceve.
The mgzne eese s postoned to the
sde just fowd of the tgge gud. The
ot thow s 90 degees, whch s equed
fo the two opposng ot ugs to engge
the mtng sufces n the eceve. The
gp of the tget stye stock s shpy
tuned down nd comfoty povdes
estng pce fo the fng hnd. The
sfety eve s octed just ehnd the ot
hnde nd s two-poston type.
CZ 527 VARMINT
TYPE: Bolt action
CalibEr: .17 Rem., .204 Ruger,.221 Fireball,
.22 Hornet, .222 Rem.,
.223 Rem.
CaPaCiTY: 5
barrEl: 24 in., 1:9-in. twist
OVErall lENGTH: 40.4 in.
WEiGHT: 6 lb., 4 oz.
STOCK: evlar
FiNiSH: Matte black
TriGGEr: Single or set
SiGHTS: None
Magazines will work in any 527 model with theame chamber.
The “mini” Mauser forged bolt features a long-claw extractorand controlled round feed.
www.cz-usa.co-A.m 45
hIS LITTLE RIfLE NoT oNLY WANTS To ShooT, IT dEmANdS To ShooT.
S A VARmINT-ShooTING mAChINE, IT RANKS hIGh.
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-. 47www.cz-usa.com
Variations of the 1911 automatic pistol are as nu-merous as the stars in the heavens, so it seems. After 100 years of experimenting and improvingupon John Browning’s famous creation, the law
of averages might dictate that there’s just no way to
improve on it any more. The Dan Wesson Valor is evi-dence that’s not the case.
By BART SKELTON
DA W BAV T WDD 1911 AkTWT A T TY.
DW VAlor
-.6www.cz-usa.com
edal of Valor
The uth pefes the Heiie Ledge Stight Eight setup, hich pesets
stcked-dt sight pictue, t the cmm thee-dt gemet.
As a fan of the 1911, ’m always
interested in shooting good ones, and
’ve recently had the chance to handle
a dandy. Dan Wesson began making
.45s a few years back, and it seemed
a little odd to me. ver the years,
always thought of Dan Wesson as
strictly a revolver company.
When was a kid, my dad had sev-
eral Dan Wesson revolvers around.
They were cased and had quick-
change barrels in various lengths.
The concept was a popular one, and
the revolvers were of ne quality.
Daniel B. Wesson, the great-
grandson of D.B. Wesson, who
co-founded mith & Wesson, started
Wesson Firearms ompany in 1968.
t was Wesson’s intention to manu-
facture the world’s nest revolver,
and he accomplished that to some
extent in the ones he produced.
The company manufactured several
models in various calibers through
2000, when it was bought out.
The year 2000 was also when
Wesson started developing a 1911-
style automatic pistol. n developing its
1911, it was the company’s intention
to stay with the same idea it had in
making revolvers: make the best, most
accurate out-of-the-box pistol it could.
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8 -.www.cz-usa.com
-. 49www.cz-usa.com
n 2005, Dan Wesson Firearms
as sold again—this time to Z. Z
one of the world’s largest pro-
ucers of rearms. With the solid
acing of Z-UA, Dan Wesson is
ow climbing its way to the top in
e custom 1911 pistol maret.
rst red a Dan Wesson 1911
everal years bac at a media
vent, and was quite impressed
th the several models of pistols
shot. recently received a new
ainless steel Valor .45 automatic
om Dan Wesson, and my posi-
ve impressions are continuing to
scalate. The Valor is one of those
stols that feels almost perfect
mmediately upon handling it. t’s
full-size, all-stainless
efensive pistol withclean loo and great
andling attributes.
That clean loo
ention comes from the
ainless steel nish,
c of forward cocing
errations on the slide,
hecered stocs that are
ce and thin (just the way
e them), ne checer-
g up front and at the
ac, and overall many
steful appointments.
The pistol is tted with a high-
quality aluminum trigger made
by Greider Precision. The trigger
is solid and provides a smooth,
drag-free draw. Upon dry-ring
the Valor, was pleased right away
with the crisp, and relatively light
trigger pull. measured the trigger
pull with an B pull scale at 3½
pounds. Along with the nice trigger,
the Valor features a match-grade
hammer and sear.
The checering on the grips is
aggressive enough, and, combined
with the excellent 25-lpi checer-
ing on the front- and bacstrap,
the Valor is easy to get a good
hand-hold.
The pistol features an d
Brown ustom beavertail
grip safety and thumb
safety. ach are tted
perfectly into the
pistol’s frame and
wor smoothly—par-
ticularly the thumb
safety, which has a
nice, crisp feel when
activated to either n
or ff positions. oming
from d Brown, you nowthey’re high quality, too.
ne of the rst things that gener-
ally catches my eye when looing
over a new pistol are the sights. The
Valor is set up with einie edge
traight ight night sights, one
of the most effective pistol sight
systems currently available.
’ve never been a real fan of the
three-dot sight system, which
involves two dots on the rear and
one on the front. The traight ight
system features a large dot on the
front sight and one small dot on the
rear directly underneath the notch.
This conguration is one of the best
and allows the shooter quicer ac-
quisition in low-light situations than
the conventional three-dot setup.
Dan Wesson fashions the Valor’s
frame and slide from forged stain-
less steel, and the barrel
and bushing are DanWesson-manufactured
match-grade parts. The
slide’s ejection port is
ared, and the frame’s
magazine well is bev-
eled for quic magazine
insertion.
hec-ate provides
the magazines for Dan
Wesson, and the Valor
comes with a pair of
eight-rounders. lie the
hec-ates quite well,
as they’re durable, well-made and
have proven themselves to wor
lie a charm. hec-ate maga-
zines have a patented follower that
eliminates forward movement.
Upon examining the Valor
thoroughly, was pleased with the
overall t and nish. The pistol is
very tight, and it’s clear that Dan
Wesson’s craftsmen have done a
good deal of hand-tting and -ling,
which wasn’t expecting to this
degree. The slide-to-frame t is
outstanding, and there’s no side-to-
side play or rattle whatsoever.
The lines are very clean, and the
entire gun is well polished with no
sign of machine or tool mars. The
“Valor” logo is tastefully placed on
the left side of the slide just over the
slide stop, leaving the rest of the
side slab of the slide clean.
onsidering how nicely the Valor
feels right out of the box, was
anxious to get it out to a range.
carried it and several brands of am-
munition out to my desert hideaway
and burned some powder. started
out with Blac ills 230-grain hol-
lowpoints, loading a few magazines
and plining at various targets
between 10 and 20 yards.
The Valor handled very well and
felt great in my hands. The aggres-
sive checering ensured positive
control, which provided a roc-solidsight picture shot after shot. The
weight and balance of the ve-inch
gun made for quic recovery and
target acquisition, and the recoil
was pleasant.
After getting the feel of the
Valor, set up a 30-yard sand-
bag rest and started shooting
groups. esults are shown in
the accompanying table. ver-
all, the Valor performed very
well, providing good accuracy.
’d be interested in conducting
UpON ExAmiNiNg ThE VALOR ThOROUghLy, i wAS REALLy
LEASEd wiTh ThE OVERALL fiT ANd fiNiSh.
he Vl fetues hite utlie titium-iset ft sight mde by Ti-
c, hich mkes fidig the dt i l light much esie.
The 25-lpi checkeig the ft- d
bckstp mkes fim, secue gip
esy t get.
The Vl icptes high-ed pts such s Ed B’s
bevetil sfety d thumb sfety—ll fitted pefectly.
The tigge is f the highest qulity d fit. It’s mufc-
tued by Geide Pecisi d mesued 3 ½ puds.
Dan Wesson Valor
TYPE: ingle action, recoil-operated semiauto
CaLIBEr: .45 APCaPaCITY: 8+1
BarrEL: 5 in., DW atch oVEraLL LEnGTH: 8.8 in.
wEIGHT: 2.4 lb.GrIPS: VZ lim ine G10
FInISH: atte, stainless steel TrIGGEr: Greider solid aluminum; 3.5 lb. pull SIGHTS: eine edge traight ight
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www.cz-usa.com
further experiments with the pistolusing handloads, as those average
groups can likely be improved.
In all fairness, New Mexico winds
took a toll on my accuracy testing
and certainly played a role in the
reported groups from that day.
Regardless, any out-of-the-box
handgun that prints a two-inchgroup from my rest is outstanding
in my book, particularly at the 30-
yard mark.
Out of several hundred rounds
I red through the Valor, I experi-
enced only one malfunction, and
that was the very last shot using
Cor-Bon Powerball ammunition.
The case failed to eject, which I
attributed at the time to the posi-
tion I was holding the pistol on
the sandbag. I experienced no
other malfunctions with the pistol
whatsoever.
Dan Wesson advertises that the
Valor offers everything you need
in a 1911 pistol and nothing you
don’t. I agree with that statement
entirely. The Valor is a straight-
forward, nely built, accurate andreliable pistol that anyone would
be proud to own.
While the price tag might seem
high to some shooters, you’re really
getting your money’s worth in this
gun. In the case of the Dan Wesson
Valor, it truly lives up to its name.
The Valor handled Very well and felT greaT in my hands,
Thanks To The Thin VZ grips.
AccurAcy results
Bullet Muzzle Standard Avg.
.45 ACP Weight (gr.) Velocity (fps) Deviation Group (in.)
Black Hills JHP 230 852 13.4 2.00
Hornady TAP FPD 230 776 9.0 2.25
Cor-Bon +P JHP 165 1,156 3.7 2.75
Cor-Bon Power Ball 165 1,138 8.2 3.75
Accuracy results are averages of two ve-shot groups at 30 yards off a sandbag rest.
Velocities are averages of ve shots measured on a PACT chronograph set 10 feet from
the muzzle. Abbreviations: JHP, jacketed hollowpoint.
With its sharp checkering, excellent
sights and tight fit, the Valor is anexcellent choice. Best of all, it’s 100
percent American made.
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e is the reasonstereotypes exist.”I told mysel as my
fngers were crushed romour individual digits into an
unrecognizable pulpy mash.When the beast in ront ome released my hand romhis handshake, I noticed,in a detached way commonto car crash victims, that myhand now sort o resembleda oot.
Ah, stereotypes. Everyone hates them.
People claim that they don’t have ‘em and are
super sensitive about them in our all too PC
world. But when I was told I would be spend-
ing a weekend busting clays with Czech-born
NHL legend Bobby Holik to raise money or
Colorado Youth Outdoors, I couldn’t help
mysel. I instantly ormed a mental picture—a
stereotype i you will.
While stereotypes are oten inaccurate, in
this case my mental image was spot on. And
it is not just me. I doubt anyone is surprised
to learn ater meeting Bobby that he played
in 1,314 games in the NHL, scored 747 points
and won two Stanley Cups. He just looks like
a seasoned hockey player—large in stature
and well-muscled. The ultra large hands,
with fngers that seem to have too many
knuckles, or knuckles in the wrong places
are crisscrossed with scars. Yes, he looks
like a stereotypical hockey player, but where
stereotypes ail is they are oten only one
dimensional and based on looks alone.
What I didn’t expect, was to learn
that Bobby, as a person, was
anything but stereotypical. Ater I
spent some time with him, what
I discovered was a thoughtul,well-spoken and kind person.
A supportive ather and dedicated husband.
Not to mention a hell o a shot. Ater getting
trounced by him on the clays course or a
couple o days, I sat down to pick his brain on
shooting, hockey and lie.
Mike Schoby: Did you grow up with frearms and shooting?
Bobby Holik: No, I grew up in the Czech
Republic, behind the Iron Curtain. It wasn’t
exactly easy owning frearms. However, I
did get to shoot while in the military, and my
grandather was a hunter.
MS: What made you want to shoot?
BH: Probably that we couldn’t do it.
It was a orbidden ruit. That, and I loved
all things American rom an early age.
Next to cheeseburgers, ew things are more
American than frearms. That combined with
the early memories o my grandather and
the act that I really respect and admire the
Second Amendment.
MS: So how did you get to the USA?
BH: Well, I was playing hockey or the
Czech national team and I planned to
deect here and claim political asylum,
which was common or athletes to do
back then, but then, as luck would have
it, the [Berlin] Wall came down, Commu-
nism evaporated and I was ree to legally
emigrate to the United States.
MS: So what guns do you enjoy shooting
the most?
BH: I have always enjoyed handguns and
shoot a CZ 75 and VZ 58 regularly, but this
sporting clays game is something entirely
new or me and I can see the beauty in it. It is
really challenging. I like walking around the
course and seeing that every shot is dierent.
Yeah, I think a CZ sporting shotgun will be in
my sae soon.
MS: What do you enjoy most about shooting?
BH: The skill it takes, or sure. I mean, it is a
total hand/eye coordination thing and there is
a mental component as well. Then, o course,there is the competitive side. Obviously, I
am a very competitive person and through
shooting I can compete against riends or just
mysel. I can always improve upon what I did
the time beore.
MS: How did you get involved with CZ-USA?
BH: It was pure coincidence mixed with
heritage. I was in a gun store in the States
and I picked up a CZ handgun. O course,
I was amiliar with CZ rom my time in the
Czech Republic, but I didn’t know they were
imported here. Being proud o my heritage, I
contacted the USA division o CZ and asked
i I could help them with its marketing eorts.
Alice [Poluchova] agreed, and now I oc-
casionally get to attend charity shoots such
as this Colorado Youth Outdoors event.
MS: So where do you shoot?
BH: Well, believe it or not, even though I
played or East coast teams, I love the West.
So the wie and I bought a ranch in Wyoming.
Out there, I can pretty much shoot whenever
I want. In the winter, we have another ranch
in Florida so my daughter can ride her horses
year around—so I get in some shooting down
there as well.
MS: Ok, I have to ask…how many bones did
you break playing 18 years in the NHL?
BH: Mine or other peoples?
MS: That’s a wrap.
Interviewwith
B Mike SchoBy
ON SHOOTINg, HOCkEY ANdLIFE.
BOBBY HOLIK
Bobby Holik
-.O 51www.cz-usa.com
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-. 53
I had just broke ve for ve on a trap range right off the start
with my new CZ 712 Target model shotgun. After a quick testre,
we red the stations on Range 6 at the Peoria Skeet and TrapClub in Illinois. This was Payton’s range, one he visits for a few
rounds each Thursday, so beating him wasn’t in my agenda—
and shooting a new and unfamiliar shotgun, I certainly didn’t
expect much in terms of score.
THE SHOTGUN
The new 712 Target is an entry-level shotgun manufactured by
Huglu in Turkey and designed for trap. It offers good quality and
reliability without requiring a big investment.
Unlike the eld models, the stock on this 712 Target features a
pronounced, target-style down-turned grip. The grip is cut into the
slab of your average walnut. Though plain by wealthy standards,
the deep color and grain are actually quite nice and understated.
The nished product is a feature that CZ-USA feels saves the
consumer some extra money while offering real function.
The 712 Target is a specially congured design for trap shoot-
ing, and when handling it on a range, it immediately becomes ap-
parent that isn’t your typical shotgun you’d bring to the eld. The
30-inch barrel and long stock balances very well with each other.
Part credit goes to the gas and action return spring assembly’s
location within the forend. It’s a unique feature to the CZ 712 that
helps set it apart from all other semiauto shotguns. Most semiau-
tos place the action return spring assembly inside the buttstock,which shifts mo re of the shotgun’s weight to the rear.
Besides the Trap-length 30-inch barrel, the 712 provides fea-
tures that are unique to Trap shooting. This 712 utilizes a 14¾-inch
length of pull—¼-inch longer than a standard model. “Target guns
are typically a lit tle longer,” says Dave Miller, project manager at
CZ-USA, “so we made the 712 Target with a stock that’s a ¼-inch
longer than a eld gun.”
Additionally, the 712 Target uses a barrel that’s chrome
lined and polished. “Trap guns have either a 30,
32, or 34-inch barrels,” Miller adds. “We didn’t
want to design the 712 Target with a 32- or
34-inch barrel because the 712 receiver already
measures 8¾ inches. You’d need to nd a gun
BustedBy ERIC R. POOLE I Potos by SEAN UTLEY
TH ASIST AD MST ARDAB WAY TSTART SHTI TRAP.
-.www.cz-usa.com www.cz-usa.com
2
“There you go,” said Payton Miller, Guns & Ammo executive editor. “You’re on a roll now.”
CZ 712 TART
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When I’m carrying concealed, my rst choice is an Ofcer’s Model. Naturally,I became interested when I learned that Dan Wesson unveiled the DanWesson Concealed Carry Ofcer, or CCO. The CCO is a 1911 with a Com-mander-length barrel on an Ofcer’s Model frame. For those who like the
alance, control and sight radius of a long barrel but prefer the concealability of a smallame, then this is the piece for you.
While it may seem odd to tradi-
tionalists to have a 1911 with a long
barrel and short frame, handling
reveals its osition in the scheme ofthings rather quickly. The shooter
benets from a longer sight radius
and less overall weight. To a lesser
degree of imortance, noise and
muzzle blast occurs farther
away. Thanks to the weight
and shorter gri, the
CCO is an easier gun
to carry concealed.
I articularly like this
conguration because
when I’m carrying, the
shorter gri and the beveled
mainsring housing doesn’t rub
so abrasively against my body or
hinder my movement.
To reduce weight, both the frame
and mainsring housing are made
from anodized aluminum. To aid the
shooter with gri control while under
recoil, both the front and rear of the
gri frame feature a new chain link
attern. Additionally, the frame is
undercut beneath the trigger guard,
which hels to comensate for what
a shorter gri does in terms of reduc-
ing real estate to gri.
Dan Wesson uses the rorietary
black ceramic Duty coat from its
arent comany, CZ-USA. This
coating has the benets of a matte
atina without the debris-catching
bead-blast nish so common today
on custom 1911s.
The CCO is evenly olished, ese-
cially around the trigger guard and
the to of the slide. Slide serrations
were cut sharly without any burrs,
and all the sides on the gun were
ancake at without any dishing from
the nal nishing station.
The front sight blade features
a white target ring surrounding a
tritium vial, and the rear sight has
two white tritium dots for fast target
acquisition in low light. The rear sight
is low role, melted somewhat into
the slide and is drift-adjustable for
windage. The rear notch is well-
dened and when lined u with the
front sight, allows just enough light
RefnedDW CCO
The CCO uses a medium length
trigger that’s hand-fitted to the alloy
frame. An undercut behind the t rig-
ger guard offers more grip.
The cocobolo Shadow grips have a distinctive laser-etched pattern and the
frontstrap features a chain-link pattern for enhanced control.
By STAN TRZONIEC I Photos by SEAN UTLEY
DAN WSSON pFCTS T CONCAD CAOFFIC’S MOD.
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He nodded, leveled the .505, andpulled the trigger (this would have
made good flm). In concert with the
concussive blast, the muzzle went
vertical. The man staggered and
lost his ooting, landing hard. Like
a baton, the 11-pound rie soared
through the air, end-over-end.
I retrieved the rie while the ellow
picked himsel up. “Golly,” he grinned
sheepishly. No harm to anything but
his pride, I decided. Certainly none to
the CZ 550.
IN THE FIELD
My frst hunt with a 550 dates years
ago. The rie, a 9.3x62, downed
a mountain goat and a moose in
British Columbia with Norma ammo
loaded with 250-grain Swit A-
Frames. Equipped with a 4X Ca-
bela’s Alaskan Guide scope, it shot
the Swits atter than traditional
286-grain sotpoints. The goat wasscrambling away at 220 yards when
the frst bullet struck. The second
landed as the billy halted at 250.
The moose appeared, as moose
oten do, between the chalk arcs
o its antlers ar away. We sneaked
through a maze o alder, willow and
spruce. The bull rose when we got
inside 40 steps, then dropped dead
to my shot through its shoulders.
Still with me, this CZ 550 has one
crossbolt behind the magazine, a
ore-end with reverse-angle tip that
on current ries has been upgradedto round. For hunting in a remote
place, where durability and reliability
matter, it remains a go-to rie.
Later I carried a 550 in .30-’06
with Federal ammo to hunt deer
on the prairie. It endeared itsel to
me, a solid rie with the checkered
walnut and long extractor I covet
and the het to make slinged-up
prone as steady as sandbags on a
concrete bench.
THE ACTION
The CZ 550 is essentially a modifed
Mauser, so its action has a muscular
double-square-bridge profle. It
looks, and is, as rugged as an ar-
mored personnel carri er. You asten
a scope with mounts that clamp on
to integral 19mm dovetails ront and
rear. The big, at ootprint o the
receiver makes or plenty o bedding
area and epoxy bedding ensuresull contact at recoil lug aces on the
most powerul 550s. Magnums have
a second, barrel-mounted lug that
bears against a steel stock insert to
distribute thrust. The ore-end screw
and double crossbolts on these ries
are absent on CZ 550s chambered to
less potent rounds.
The traditional two-lug bolt on the
550 eatures a ull-length Mauser
extractor and controlled-round
eed. A fxed ejector emerges rom
a slot below the let locking lug
He loaded up as i the rie were a .30-’06, thumbing thecigar-size .505 Gibbs rounds onto the follower as if he’ddone it every day. In act, he had never fred a rie thispowerul. I suggested he stand, rather than bench it.
CZ 550Brwn
By WAYNE VAN ZWOLL
THE BANK-VAULT BOLT-ACTION OF THE CZ 550 ISTHE STANDARD.
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s the bolt reaches the end o its
row. A Winchester Model 70-style
olt stop arrests the let lug. The
wo-position thumb saety locks
riker and bolt. The adjustable
trigger is CZ’s own, a single-set
mechanism you can ignore or
push orward to set the trigger
or a lighter pull. All-steel bottom
metal includes a one-piece guard
bow and magazine housing, and
a hinged oorplate secured by a
button in ront o the guard.
Most CZ 550s are stocked in
plain American walnut, either in
the Czech Republic with importedwood or stateside ater the bar-
reled action arrives at the Kansas
City headquarters o CZ-USA.
Laminated wood is an option; so is
Kevlar-reinorced fberglass (with
aluminum bedding block).
SAFARI-STYLE
The brawny profle and construction
o the 550 complement accurate
barrels. Even the bigbores, I’ve
ound, print small groups. The Saari
Classic is as ancy as the 550 gets
and is chambered or traditional
Arica-inspired rounds—the .404
Jeery, .450 Rigby, .500 Jeery
and .505 Gibbs—as well as or the
.300 H&H and .338 Winchester, .338
Lapua, .375 H&H and .416 Reming-
ton. A mercury recoil reducer in the
buttstock is standard on ries in
.500 Jeery, .505 Gibbs and .338
Lapua. Saari Classics, which startat around $3,000, eature trued
and lapped actions glass-bedded
into fgured walnut. Iron sights and
barrelband ront are standard. You
can add options including a muz-
zlebrake, rust blue, ebony ore-end
tip and special chamberings.
The CZ Saari Magnums cham-
bered in .375 H&H, .458 Win-
chester, .458 Lott and .416 Rigby
list or hal as much as the Saari
Classics. Besides a more limited
choice o chamberings, Saari Mag-
nums eature ore-end-mounted
swivel studs and plain walnut.
(Laminated and Kevlar-fberglass
stocks are available, too.) You can
buy a .375 Field Grade or just
$1,180. I’ve used Federal’s Trophy
Bonded .375s on animals as big as
bualo. A proessional hunter who
culled elephants with a .375 told me
he preerred it to a .458 because
“hurling 500-grain solids makes
my head hurt. Also, I get as much
penetration with the .375—some-
times more.” A CZ 550 in .375 holds
a capacity advantage over mosto its competitors: The magazine
takes fve belted magnums. I also
like the 25-inch barrel. It enhances
the cosmetics and balance, and
puts muzzle blast a comortable
distance rom your ace. Barrel
contours on bigbore CZ ries are
just right, though the stocks are
a tad generous. These ries point
quickly, but hang well on target.
They’re stout, but not ponderous.
On most CZ Saari ries, a bar-
relband ront sight complements a
trio o rear leaves, two olding. Their
shallow V notches eature white
center lines or ast aim. And the
company oers 15 heights and sizes
o ront sights, so you can tailor the
irons or any load you want.
At 9½ pounds, the CZ 550 in .375
is no mountain rie. But that het
makes it more civil at the bench and
helps with ohand aim when you’re
out o breath shadowing a Zambian
tracker who’d qualiy or the BostonMarathon running backward.
Weight also contributes to ac-
curacy. My handloads—300-grain
Herter sotpoints launched at 2,420
ps by 81 grains o H4831—printed
inside 1¼ inches. My riends Sam
Shaw and Rich McClure got similar
results. In act, the CZ shot the
smallest groups o our .375s on
the line that aternoon. Thank
the hammer-orged barrel and,
o course, that single-set trigger,
which broke at 2¾ pounds as-is
and one pound when set. I’ve
cradled and shot just about every
CZ rie, rom the 452 rimfre to the
UHR (Ultimate Hunting Rie). The
UHR is an eight-pound 550 with a
24-inch barrel in .300 Winchester
Magnum. Designed or accuracy
at extreme range, it comes with a
one-MOA guarantee at 600 yards. I
hung a bullseye at 500, hiked backto the line and snugged up the
sling. Despite a cold wind, my fve-
shot volley centered in the black
with a respectable group.
The .375 Saari Magnum had
years earlier instilled dreams o long
grass and crinkled ootprints the
size o manhole covers. Still, I had
yet to get cozy with a bigbore Saari
Classic. Jason Morton o CZ-USA
took care o that with a beautiully
stocked rie in .404 Jeery.
But that’s another story…
hE BrAWNY prOfiLE ANd cONsTrucTiON Of ThE 550 cOmpLEmENT
AccurATE BArrELs. EVEN ThE BigBOrEs, i’VE fOuNd, priNT smALL grOups.
The 527 M1 American handled
bullets as heavy as the Remington
62-grain match—and put them into
a ⁄ -inch group.
For riflemen who practice their
skill on coyotes, the 527 M1 excels.
It’s nimble and deadly accurate.
CZ’s 550 American Safari Magnum
(top) costs considerably less than the
Safari Magnum Express (above).
Even with ancient handloads, this CZ
.375 prints one-MOA groups. Thank
the hammer-forged barrel.
CZ’s Ultimate Hunting Rifle, a 550 in
.300 Win. Mag., drilled this group at
500 yards.
While best known for
its big iron, CZ-USA
offers a lovely light-
weight bolt action for small
cartridges. The 527 I pur-
chased a few years back is
chambered in .221 Fireball,
one of my favorite car-
tridges. The newest of 527s,
the M1 American, features
the straight-combed stock
shooters in the U.S. pre-
fer, a 22-inch barrel and a
detachable three-shot
box magazine. Choose
a walnut stock, black
synthetic or, on the Ul-
tralight Predator, camo-
nished synthetic.Weight is just under
six pounds.
I snared a 527 M1
for testing a few
weeks ago. It wears
attractive straight-
grained walnut,
nicely checkered.
The comb height
is just right for
a Weaver K6
mounted low.
Alas, CZ-sup-
Push the trigger forward to set it
for a 14-ounce pull. The safety
is off when thumbed back.
SVELTE SMALLBORE
plied rings hike my 4.5-14X Weaver
Grand Slam well above the barrel and
pull my cheek from the stock.
You can also get rings for CZ
ries from Talley, where Gary Turner
offers quick-detachable versions
so that you can easily remove a
scope for travel or iron-sight use.
And you can replace it with no loss
of zero. I snugged the screws and
scrounged ammo.
A February storm left the range
frozen under drifted snow, so after
checking trigger pull (2¾ pounds,
crisp, with a set weight of 12 ounc-
es), I impatientlywaited for a thaw.
Prepared to run
a few magazines
through this rie
and write with
manufactured
enthusiasm about
another .223 in
a world awash
in .223s, I was
instead truly smit-
ten. The 527 M1
American handled
as if I’d been born cradling it. The
trigger broke with such crisp consis-
tency that I didn’t bother to set it.
The perfect match of action size
to cartridge dimensions impressed
me. No extra steel here, but nei-
ther did the rie seem awkwardly
spare. It had the appeal of those
early .22 rimres no one born after
Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency can
quite remember. It was, in a word,
enchanting.
And that was before I red it.
Two of my rst groups measured3 ⁄ 8 inch. And the 1:12 twist de-
livered half-MOA accuracy with
bullets as heavy as Remington’s
62-grain match.
CZ 527 M1 AMERICAN
TYPE: Bolt action CAlIbER: .223 Remington CAPACITY: 3+1 (detachable box) bARREl: 22 in. OvERAll lEngTH: 40.5 in. WEIgHT: 5 lb., 14 oz. STOCk: Walnut FInISH: Blued TRIggER: Single set, adjustable SIgHTS: None (drilled and tapped or
scope mounts)
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By MIKE SCHOBY I Photos by SEAN UTLEY
THE CZ 912 uTolodEr is puT To THE ulTiTEfiEld TEsT: 2,000 rounds on rgEnTin dovEs.
Endrne RnCZ 912
T
he mak a ht cme
may m: t, ee, tye, ace, weht,a baace ae jt a ew the memtat e. Bt whe t cme t
emat ht, eabty tm them a.T t t athe way, matte hw a t, baace k, t a t ba, y e ba ce bee jamm , t ’twth mch. Wth a extee eabty e tet m, i heae w t Cba, etat tet t the ewet ata e mCZ-us—the 912.
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t rst glace, the 912 ts all
my requremets r style ad
ct. The hgh glss walut
rture s shed cely ad
as a better-tha-average gure.
he recever s crated rm ally,
hch reduces verall weght as
ell as shtg the pt balace
ghtly rward t mprve swg
d llw thrugh. t 7.4 puds,
e gu s eatherweght, but
bese bruser ether. i act, t’s
early deal r a day hutg r
prtg clays.
o the rst mrg, the dves
ew well. it had bee a cuple
ears sce my last trp t rge-
a, s i was t ly trgger happy,
but rusty—a pr cmbat
r the tral a gu. But ver the
curse several hurs, i maaged
t ru 750 shells thru gh the 912
dg my best t lk lke i kew
hw t brg dw wldwl. i w’t
bre yu (r embarrass mysel) wth
the ht percetage, but let’s just say
the gu ucted e—msses
( whch there were may) shuld
be blamed the shter (me) ad
t the gu. i the three cases
shells, i ly had a hadul al-
ures t eed, e whch culd
be attrbuted t the gu. i all cases
the alure culd easly be blamed
the hrrble shells acqured
rgeta. Bulged plastc hulls,
the rst, except i sht better. i was
gettg accustmed t ths shtgu
ad the agles cmg targets.
Whe we brke r luch i had put
ather 750 ruds thrugh the
912, makg r a cmplete eld
test 2,000 shells.
The gu passed wth yg
clrs. it sht well ad cycled
e. o curse, durg the last
200 shells i bserved the pera-
t beg t slw ts retur t
battery. The gas system was
begg t succumb t reletless
ulg rm the lthy ammut
ad lack l. i these last ew
bxes, there was a ccasal
alure t eed, but much ths has
t be blamed the shells. Eve
the es that were’t physcally
damaged were drty, leavg mre
guk per shell the gu tha a
etre bx athul federals rWchesters. Tw-thusad shells
red a day ad a hal. y gu
laded wth ths amm s gg t
chke, s i was mpressed.
ll--all, the CZ 912 s a hell
a autlader. it has stylsh mder
lks ad s jed wth hgh-tech
eatures such as a eectve recl-
absrbg pad. Best all, the 912
meets a real wrld prce less
tha $500 ad has the e eature
i chersh the mst: it ges “bag”
every tme.
WHEN WE BrOKE fOr LUNCH I HAd PUT ANOTHEr 750 rOUNdS THrOUgH
HE 912, MAKINg fOr A COMPLETE fIELd TEST Of 2,000 SHELLS.
More doves were shot at
than actually hit, but the
CZ 912 assuredly fired
every shell true.
CZ 912
TYPE: ga eate, emat
GAUGE: 12, 3 .
CAPACiTY: 4+1
BArrEl: 28 ., e cew- chke
OvErAll lEnGTh: 50 .
WEiGhT: 7.3 b.
FUrniTUrE: Tkh wat
Finish: atte back, ha chme
TriGGEr: se, 8 b. (tete)
siGhTs: gee be tc (t)
ad severed brass cases shuld
t be cluded the alure t eed
categry as they wuld’t have
ed a break pe sgle sht, let
ale a autlader.
That ater, i gt my eye
ad gt used t the swg (made
a tad heavy, but smth wth a
“rgeta-style” exteded maga-
ze) ad red ather 500 ruds,
r a ttal 1,250 shells expeded.
nrmally, i clea gus every ght
as a matter prevetve ma-
teace, but r ths evaluat,
i decded t rg the ert
cleag t see hw the 912 wuld
perrm uder such cdts.
The llwg mrg was just lke
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FREE OF WORK
This was my rst trip to Africa, but
the fourth ticket I had bought in as
many years. Work obligations had
snatched the dream from me for
three consecutive summers. This
year, I was not to be denied.
When my feet hit ground of the
Dark Continent, I was on the soil of
South Africa, ready to head eight
hours northwest to the Kalahari, as
the guests of Harry Claassens’ Mata
Mata hunting lodge. Mata Mata
literally translates “If you give, you
will receive.”
Four years of planning and three
disappointing cancellations later, it
was surreal to actually be in-country.
Just four weeks earlier, I hadchosen the CZ 550 chambered in
.30-’06 for this trip of a lifetime.
Kevin Steele, publisher of Petersen’s
Hunting, assured me with his
personal experience that it was
the perfect rie for my plains game
adventure. I liked the idea of using a
rie ruggedly proven on every con-
ceivable animal roaming the land.
The 550 was adorned with a classic
4X Weaver steel tube. I don’t consi der
myself a rieman—not by any s tretch
of the imagination. I’m much more
comfortable with a recurve bow and
sharp sticks. And while I had brought
my pet Hoyt and Dalaa recurve bows
along for the trip, I didn’t want to be
cooped up in blind for a week over-
looking a waterhole on my rst trip to
Africa. I wanted my boots in the sand
of the Kalahari. I wanted to see, hear,
and smell as much of this experience
as I could take in.
RANGE CHECK
Sighting in and using Hornady
180-grain SST, my rst group off the
bench was astonishing. I have the
privilege of working with some of
the nest rie shots in our industry:
Scott Rupp, editor of Rie Shootermagazine; Joseph VonBenedikt,
editor of Shooting Times; Mike
Schoby and Craig Boddington
of Petersen’s Hunting; Eric Poole
editor of InterMedia Special Inter-
est Publications; David Fortier of
Shotgun News, and many others.
All accomplished rieman in every
sense of the description and all
eager to lend advice, instruction and
encouragement as I prepared for the
trip. Peering through the spotting
scope at the target some 100 yards
Afrian DreaA .30-’06 DEIVERS ANTHER MEMRABE qESTT THE DARK CNTINENT.
By MIKE CARNEY I Photo by JOHN HAFNER
s the mass of gemsbok thundered out into the openthrough a cloud of dust, afras, my PH, barkedsharp instructions: “Mike! Third in from the right.Shoot!”
I asked, “Third in from the right? “Which group?”“The far right,” he hissed. “Shoot now!”
I was more than a little hesitant. All I could see of the animalthird from the right was hind. To be more specic, only partof the hind, in what looked like a sea of gemsbok—and theyall looked like shooters.
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CZ 550
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stant, their unselsh investment in
y shooting instruction was starting
appear. My rst group measured
st over an honest inch, something
eretofore I was incapable of
oducing with any rie.
Was it an aberration? Groups two,
ree, four and ve demonstrated
herwise, consistently hovering an
ch. The 550 was denitely proving
self to be a shooter. Furthermore,
delivered these results without the
se of this model’s set trigger. The
Z single set trigger is designed
reduce trigger pull to ounces.nd the break is as crisp as glass
eaking. Continuing with a variety of
ornady and Federal .30-’06 loads
165- and 180-grain weights, I was
oducing groups at the bench that
ould make my instructors proud. It
as hard to come up with a load that
e 550 favored over others, but at
e end I selected the heavier 180-
ain Hornady SST to take on my hit
t: kudu, gemsbok and eland.
REAKING THE SHOT
s I felt afras’ growing frustra-
on with my unwillingness to let
ad y back on the savannah, I
membered what Steele had told
e weeks earlier: “Be prepared to
hoot at only parts of an animal.
pportunities at specic trophies
the bush are fast and eeting,
nd you will have an accomplished
acker on hand if you need allow up shot.” Still, for a boy from
e Midwest who grew up on the
ouble-lung mantra, ass shooting
n animal just doesn’t come natural.
hen in Rome…
Even through the sound of
e moving herd, I knew I hit the
emsbok exactly where I aimed.
afras and the tracker were gleeful,
Nice shot Mike, get in the truck.” It
as as if they were waiting all day
show off their collective recovery
kills. Ten minutes later, laughing to
myself as they methodically shufed
through a veritable ocean of tracks
in the sand with no discernable
clues, the tracker pointed West.
“There he is Mike. Shoot him
again,” afras instructed.
Standing broadside, the gems-
bok was alone 100 yards from my
position. I couldn’t see the right ham
where I previously aimed the 550
and placed a Hornady SST. “Are
you sure that’s him?” I questioned.
Evidently, that’s not the thing to say
to a PH and his tracker who just
solved the Rubix Cube of tracks toearn you a follow up shot.
I don’t speak Afrikaans, but I was
pretty certain that their response
was an enthusiastic “yes” peppered
with colorful adjectives and col-
loquialisms reserved for just such
client occasions.
The next shoulder shot laid the
gemsbok prone, and afras and
his tracker approached the animal
very seriously. They applied a well
rehearsed foot maneuver to trap his
long, pointy horns to the ground.
Apparently the gemsbok has a
deserved reputation for exacting nal
vengeance on his foes. The “Desert
Warrior” is not one to be tried with
during recovery.
afras offered me hearty
congratulations while his tracker
wagged his nger to simulate pull-
ing a trigger while whistling some
not-so-sweet nothings. My rst
African trophy. I thought I wouldwake from a dream and discover I
was not actually here.
In camp that evening, Harry and
his wife Jolane, a former stewardess
for South African Airlines, greeted us
with smiles and stories as we looked
at all the day’s trophies already hang-
ing by the cleaning station. It was agreat end to the rst day on safari.
OTHER TROPHIES
During our ve-day trip, Brian
isankie from Aimpoint took a beauti-
ful zebra, blesbok, impala and gems-
bok; Michael Kinn of Federal took
the same quartet; Jason Hornady
bagged a magnicent gemsbok;
Tom “ne-Shot” Taylor of Mossberg
checked in a gorgeous red harte-
beest, a gemsbok, blue wildebeest
and a kudu; And Rick Bednar took
a magnicent eland, warthog and
a kudu at 35 yards wi th a 10-Point
crossbow. ater in the safari, my 550
downed a massive kudu, an impala
and nally I grassed a fat warthog
with my recurve bow.
Jason Morton, CZ-SA marketing
director, was on point during safari
with Kevin Steele lming an episode
of “Petersen’s Hunting AdventuresTV.” The pair managed to collect
a great show featuring eland, red
hartebeest and kudu trophies.
The accommodations and profes-
sionalism of the Mata Mata staff,
from the skilled PH’s and trackers to
the game butchers and cleaners, is
rst class. I look forward to the next
African safari as well as the day I can
bring my wife and daughter. Without
question, it’ll be at Claassens’ Mata
Mata and when that time comes, we’ll
be joined by my faithful CZ 550.
THERE HE Is MIKE. sHOOT HIM AgAIN,” LAFRAs INsTRuCTEd. sTANdINg
BROAdsIdE, THE gEMsBOK wAs ALONE 100 YARds FROM MY POsITION.
c-sA.cm 71www.z-ua.o
0 c-sA.cmwww.z-ua.o
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-. 73
Longslide
Angus Hobdell has been shooting
IPSC and USPSA for decades. He’s
won more U.S. and international
titles than anyone can easily recall.
In addition to the fact that he’s still
actively competing as a sponsored
CZ shooter, he operates CZ Custom
(czcustom.com) in Phoenix, Arizona.
CZ Custom does all of the custom
pistolwork for CZ-USA and any CZ
owner who wants specic work
done. In addition to custom gun-
smithing, Angus and his crew work
very closely with CZ-UB of the Czech
Republic and CZ-USA in Kansas
City, Missouri. Each year the custom
shop produces a number of one-off
or limited-run guns, and sometimes
those models make it into the
CZ-USA catalog of new offerings.
This year, one of the new models
from the custom shop is the CZ 75Longslide (LS). The LS was created
by combining the CZ 75 frame wear-
ing a short dustcover to the long CZ
Tactical Sports (CTS) slide. There are
two models: the “B,” which is single-
action only, and the CZ 75 LS-P,
which is a DA/SA pistol. While they
are being produced in-house at CZ
Custom, they will be available soon
through any CZ dealer. I acquired an
LS-P for testing and was reminded
again why this all-steel gun is still so
successful in competition.
By JAMES TARR I Pts by SEAN UTLEY
BORING RELIABILITY AND EXCELLENT ACCURACY INANY PACKAGE FROM THE CZ CUSTOM SHOP.
www.cz-usa.com2 -.
The CZ 75 LS-P is chambered
in 9mm and starts with a standard
steel CZ 75 frame. If you’ve never
picked up a CZ 75, you don’t know
what you’re missing. The late Guns
& Ammo contributor Col. Jeff
Cooper loved the 75. With its dis-
tinctive humpback grip, he liked the
feel of this CZ in his hand so much
so that he styled the legendary
Bren Ten 10mm auto after it. This
frame is slightly undercut under the
triggerguard and utilizes a high-rise
beavertail, but there’s no 1911-style
grip safety.
The CZ 75 has been in existence
since 1975—long enough that there
are numerous aftermarket grips
available to t every style and hand
size. The preproduction LS-P I
received wears traditional check-
ered and contoured black plasticgrips, but Angus informed me that
the standard grips would be black
rubber. The custom shop also offers
a number of aluminum grips of vary-
ing thickness that also look and feel
great in the hand.
The front of the triggerguard is
serrated, but the front and back of
the frame are smooth. In a small or
stiff-recoiling gun, a smooth frame
might be an issue, but the weight of
the LS-P matched with its low bore
dimensions provides a soft shooting
There are not many custom shops, large or small,that can say they’re run by an active world-classpistol competitor. That is the case, however, with
Angus Hobdell and CZ Custom. The result is aseemingly endless supply of interesting variations on
legendary CZ products.
CZ 75 CTS LS-P
www.cz-usa.com
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4 -.www.cz-usa.com
-.www.cz-usa.com
ombination. It didn’t feel like the gun
ould ever work loose in my hand.
his is not a small gun, and it has a
ng reach for the rst double action
hot, so if you do have small hands
d recommend trying one rst.
Designed for competition and
rget shooting, the LS-P has an
xtended magazine release and ex-
nded, ambidextrous thumb safety.
he thumb safety is not too
rge, but it does protrude.
sticks out far enough that
opping the pistol on its sideon’t pop out the magazine,
s it’s larger than the maga-
ne release button. I’ve seen
is happen more times than
can count in competition,
specially when the pistol in
uestion has a light maga-
ne-release spring. On the
ongslide, the mag-release
pring is full power.
It wouldn’t be a CZ Custom
hop product if the pistol
dn’t have a trigger job.
The LS-P I received had a smooth
7.7-pound double-action and a 3.8-
pound single-action pull. Advertised
trigger pulls are seven to 7.5 pounds
for DA and 3.1 to 3.4 pounds for SA.
This great trigger can be partially
credited to the fact that all internals
have been polished smooth.
The LS-P can be carried like a
1911—Condition One, cocked and
locked. Personally, I don’t nd the
thumb safety to be as user-friendly
for that purpose as the ones found
on modern 1911s so you should prac-
tice with this pistol before making
a complete transition. CZ Custom
has replaced the standard recoil and
hammer springs with reduced-power
springs, which greatly soften the trig-
ger pull and cut down on muzzle dip
during rapid re, but combine
with the extended ring pin
installed in the pistol, it does
not affect reliability. Thepistol sports an attractive
skeletonized hammer that
is a bit small for easy cock-
ing by hand. As there is no
decocker, the only way the
hammer can be lowered on a
live round for a DA rst shot
is by hand, and this small
hammer spur makes that a
delicate proposition.
The trigger is smooth
and wide. There was a lot
of takeup in my gun on the
single-action pull, but the reset was
short and audible. There was almost
no overtravel. I could see that both
the hammer and the underside
of the slide had been ground and
polished to provide a smooth
working gun. Several CZ 75 models
have ring-pin safeties, but those
extra parts always affect the weight
and quality of the trigger pull. As the
LS-P is designed for competition, it
does not feature an internal ring-
pin safety, but the hammer does
have a half-cock notch.The standard CZ 75 has a 4.7-inch
barrel, while the longslide sports a
5.4-inch barrel.
As a result, the long slides come
into the U.S. oversize and have to
be precision machined and then
hand-t to the frame. The CZ 75,
with its inside-the-frame slide
design, is designed to be completely
interchangeable, but the CTS was
designed for a different gun, so these
are the only CZ pistols that you’ll nd
with a hand-tted slide. While not as
tight as a custom-built Dan Wesson
1911, the slide-to-frame t on the LS
is excellent. There’s almost zero play.
The preproduction example I
received had a stainless steel recoil-
spring guide rod, but production
models will have a polymer guide rod
“to reduce cost on a gun that’s al-
ready expensive due to hand-tting,”
Hobdell explained.
The undercut post front sight has
a red ber optic insert, and the rear
sight is the CZ version of the justi-
ably renowned Bo-Mar adjustableChampion. I would have preferred a
larger notch, as there was not a lot of
daylight around the front sight, but
that’s just my personal preference.
Longslide guns are all the rage in
modern action-pistol competition,
as the increased sight radius helps
competitors hit those difcult targets
more quickly. The top of the slide
has been attened and serrated.
This is ostensibly done to reduce
glare, but if you’ve got a proper sight
picture, you can’t see the top of the
slide. Some competitors go for any
advantage they can get, perceived
or real.
Not too long ago, I had an op-
portunity to spend a couple of days
visiting the CZ Custom Shop in
Phoenix. Angus Hobdell is a trans-
planted Brit who relocated after his
native government outlawed all the
“dangerous” guns he made a living
shooting and working on. He loved
the Phoenix area and set up shop.
Hobdell employs ve people, includ-
ing a machinist from South Africa. Heand Hobdell began good-naturedly
insulting each other in Afrikaans
while I was standing by. Everyone
who works in the shop shoots,
including Rob, who’s a USPSA
GrandMaster. Between the Afri-
kaans, Hobdell’s attempt to teach me
Cockney rhyming slang and Rob’s
Jersey accent, I felt like I needed a
Universal Translator.
“The problem is I’m speaking
in English, but you’re listening in
American,” Hobdell explains.
T woULdN’T BE A CZ CUSToM ShoP PRodUCT If ThE PISToL
dIdN’T hAvE A TRIggER JoB.
CZ 75 CTS LS-P
TYPE: DA/SA semiauto CalibEr: 9mm Luger
CaPaCiTY: 19
barrEl: 5.4 in.
OvEralllEngTh: 8.7 in.
WEighT: 41 oz.
griPs: Rubber
Finish: Blued
TriggEr: Double action: 7 lb., 12
oz.; single action: 3 lb.,
13 oz. (tested)
sighTs: Red fiber optic (front),
Kensight adjustable
(rear)
75
otoeeyowpofedeeedtoeduce.
efetypotudemoettemzeeee.
Tepopoductomodeemodeduewt
tctececke.
likea1911,theCZ75CTsls-Pcanbecarried
“cockedandocked”andoperatedwitheitherhand.
Tep-poweedextctofoowtecotouoftefm
ejectopoteefcutotCZ75.
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As opposed to
most of the automat-
ics Americans are
familiar with, the
frame of the CZ 75
rides inside the frame
rails as opposed
to the outside like
other semiautos.
This makes for a
very narrow slide.
Combined with the
low bore, this design
reduces the amount
of slide available togrip, so I was pleased
to see that the slide
on the CTS LS-P
was serrated both front and back for
positive manipulation.
The LS-P arrives with two extended
19-round magazines—a denite plus.
Standard CZ 75 magazines hold 17
rounds of 9mm and t ush with the
frame. Like other CZ 75 magazines,
these drop free from the gun and have
black plastic followers to consistently
guide the stored rounds. The pistols
are function-red at the CZ Custom
Shop and are supplied with a test
target. My sample came with a target
illustrating a ve-shot, 1.2-inch group
red at 25 yards.
At the range there were no sur-
prises—boring reliability and excellent
accuracy. It was interesting to note
how many shooters
asked me, “Hey,
what’s that?”
The ber optic
front sight works well
indoors and glows as
brightly as a battery-
powered red dot sight
in direct sunlight.
As CZ Custom is
a true custom shop,
the shop can build
you a model cham-
bered in .40 S&W or
one that’s tricked outfor fastest practical
shooting event. They
can add aluminum
grips, a magwell—almost anything
you can desire.
Hobdell’s plans are to get the CZ
75 CTS LS-P approved for use in the
IPSC Production Division, which is
ironically dominated by the CZ 75
SP-01. Whether you compete or not,
this is a longslide that looks great and
shoots even better.
My saMple caMe with a target illustrating a five-shot,
1.2-inch group fired at 25 yards.
accuracy results
Bullet Weight Avg. Velocity StandardMake (gr ) (fps) Deviation Group (in )
CZ-USA is making efforts to get
the CZ 75 CTS LS-P approved
for use in the IPSC Production
Division.
The CZ 75 CTS LS-P features a light-gathering fiber optic front sight.
The top of the slide is serrated to reduce glare.