Custom Barrel for CZ 455

[Lesloan]

I have a CZ 455 "Tacticool" that shoots very well for what it is, but I keep feeling this urge to make it better. The action was bedded to another rifle (I bought the stock used), so i believe it could benefit from a re-bed and I plan to do so. The next logical step would seem to be a better barrel. The Lilja looks good, especially since it has shims for headspace adjustment. So that's the only drop-in barrel I'd consider. But one alternative would be to buy a custom barrel blank and have it fitted by a good gunsmith. If I choose that route, then I'll need to pick a barrel maker. Lilja would still be on the list but there are other good ones, too. What's your opinion?

(Much as I like this rifle, I don't want to fall into what I call the "10/22 pit", where I keep spending more on another damb thing to make it shoot better. I've already done that with one 10/22 and, while it shoots pretty good, I could probably have bought an Anschutz 54 for what I've spent.)

 

[Near miss]

Haha the same problem but we are in different spots. I chose the Quad as I love the platform (mags, bolt, barrel change) and I have set no limits on its funds.

I wanted to see the accuracy of Sako barrel first and I feel like I have seen it.
I have had excellent groups out of it with few ammo lots but that is about it. I cannot say it was inaccurate, just not enough for me.
At the 55yd range I want precision, at the 110 and beyond range I want the group to stay somewhat together but measure them the same.

Pick your poison. For people like us, we might buy an Anschutz but we still might buy a Lilja for it! Does it make better spending? I don't know.
The Lilja should be better, but by how much?
Noone knows as it is somewhat case specific, we know only after it has been installed in place.

Myself? I am not a CZ rimfire person at least in my opinion the bolt on 452 & 455 is terrible to work with.. But I love their pistols.

My advice is:
Go try 457 and Tikka T1X, and see if you want to exchange first before starting to upgrade. Why not Anschutz 64MPR too while at it.
Cry at the shop, not at the range

 

[Lesloan]

Haha the same problem but we are in different spots. I chose the Quad as I love the platform (mags, bolt, barrel change) and I have set no limits on its funds.

I wanted to see the accuracy of Sako barrel first and I feel like I have seen it.
I have had excellent groups out of it with few ammo lots but that is about it. I cannot say it was inaccurate, just not enough for me.
At the 55yd range I want precision, at the 110 and beyond range I want the group to stay somewhat together but measure them the same.

Pick your poison. For people like us, we might buy an Anschutz but we still might buy a Lilja for it! Does it make better spending? I don't know.
The Lilja should be better, but by how much?
Noone knows as it is somewhat case specific, we know only after it has been installed in place.

Myself? I am not a CZ rimfire person at least in my opinion the bolt on 452 & 455 is terrible to work with.. But I love their pistols.

My advice is:
Go try 457 and Tikka T1X, and see if you want to exchange first before starting to upgrade. Why not Anschutz 64MPR too while at it.
Cry at the shop, not at the range

I appreciate your comments, but I really like the CZ and just want to improve its accuracy. I already have a custom Remington 40x, a Suhl 150-1 and an Anschutz Match 54 which are all highly accurate. But they're also all single shot rifles and I'd like a repeater for rimfire tactical matches. I'd really like to be able to compete on more-or-less even terms with Vudoos. (I know, the obvious solution would be to buy a Vudoo, but I'm both too cheap and would just take a delight in beating them once in a while.)

 

[Near miss]

You have all those single shot rifles yet just the stock CZ as repeater?
I give you my permission.

 

[Eoddave27]

How does your current barrel shoot? I ask because I have a CZ 457 that I had planned to rebarrel when I bought it. After taking it out and shooting it with an ammo it liked I don’t think I can expect much better accuracy out of a rimfire. The rifle seems to average right around .3 with anything made by Lapua when I shoot a 5x6 at 50 yards. I may be able to improve that a little but not enough to justify the cost of a new barrel. Honestly if I took my time shooting I think the rifle could shoot even better. This was with SK Standard plus and I actually rushed this. I’m positive the two groups with flyers was me and not the rifle. One was cold bore however. It seems to group the best at 100 with SK Pistol match. At 100 it averaged around .7.

 

[Lesloan]

You have all those single shot rifles yet just the stock CZ as repeater?
I give you my permission.

"Tactical Rimfire"

Well, no. Actually, I have 4 CZ's, a 452 Lux, a 452 FS, a 455 American and the 455 Tacticool, all of which have the YoDave trigger and other minor enhancements. I also have the aforementioned $10,000 10/22 (just kidding on the price - I'm afraid to add up what I really have in it). The reason I have 3 single shot rifles is that I shoot weekly benchrest matches, and all 3 of these are set up for that discipline. But now I'm also toying with the idea of adding the occasional Tactical RF match to the mix, and I think that the CZ's, while very accurate by most standards, ust lack the fine edge needed for this discipline.

 

[Near miss]

"Tactical Rimfire"

Well, no. Actually, I have 4 CZ's, a 452 Lux, a 452 FS, a 455 American and the 455 Tacticool, all of which have the YoDave trigger and other minor enhancements. I also have the aforementioned $10,000 10/22 (just kidding on the price - I'm afraid to add up what I really have in it). The reason I have 3 single shot rifles is that I shoot weekly benchrest matches, and all 3 of these are set up for that discipline. But now I'm also toying with the idea of adding the occasional Tactical RF match to the mix, and I think that the CZ's, while very accurate by most standards, ust lack the fine edge needed for this discipline.

You have more rifles than I have ever imagined buying.
I take my permission back, as I see Vudoo in your future anyways.
Because if you have that many already, buying the Vudoo is just a matter of time.

Do not look at @Eoddave27 groups, he must have traded his soul for that CZ.

 

[Lesloan]

How does your current barrel shoot? I ask because I have a CZ 457 that I had planned to rebarrel when I bought it. After taking it out and shooting it with an ammo it liked I don’t think I can expect much better accuracy out of a rimfire. The rifle seems to average right around .3 with anything made by Lapua when I shoot a 5x6 at 50 yards. I may be able to improve that a little but not enough to justify the cost of a new barrel. Honestly if I took my time shooting I think the rifle could shoot even better. This was with SK Standard plus and I actually rushed this. I’m positive the two groups with flyers was me and not the rifle. One was cold bore however. It seems to group the best at 100 with SK Pistol match. At 100 it averaged around .7.
View attachment 7204194

My CZ's won't do that consistently at 50 yds. I haven't tried shooting groups recently so can't post any pics or measurements, but they 're definitely not that good. And I use Lapua Center-X. None of my guns liked Pistol Match when I tried it, though a couple of shooting buddies have done very well with it, and I can't use SK due to a high frequency of flyers. If my 455 would shoot as good as your groups show, consistently, I sure wouldn't be considering another barrel. The operating word is "consistently".

 

[Lesloan]

You have more rifles than I have ever imagined buying.
I take my permission back, as I see Vudoo in your future anyways.
Because if you have that many already, buying the Vudoo is just a matter of time.

Do not look at @Eoddave27 groups, he must have traded his soul for that CZ.

I'm probably a lot older than you and have just been accumulating guns for a lot longer. I'm doing my damndest to not buy a Vudoo -- they are really spendy!

 

[Eoddave27]

Near miss, when I bought my CZ me and two friends bought them at the same time. Me and one friend bought the 16 1/2” Pro Varmint models and another friend got a 20” PVT. All three rifles seem to shoot about the same. I’m not much of a group shooter and usually only do it while testing ammo but pretty much all the Lapua made ammo shot about the same. The center x shot a little tighter but there wasn’t enough of a difference to justify the additional cost over the SK standard plus. The center x did shoot quite a bit better at 100 yards but it was about the same as the pistol match. Now when I put Eley ammo in the CZ it shoots like crap. Still under 1/2” at 50 but not that impressive at all.

 

[padom]

Near miss, when I bought my CZ me and two friends bought them at the same time. Me and one friend bought the 16 1/2” Pro Varmint models and another friend got a 20” PVT. All three rifles seem to shoot about the same. I’m not much of a group shooter and usually only do it while testing ammo but pretty much all the Lapua made ammo shot about the same. The center x shot a little tighter but there wasn’t enough of a difference to justify the additional cost over the SK standard plus. The center x did shoot quite a bit better at 100 yards but it was about the same as the pistol match. Now when I put Eley ammo in the CZ it shoots like crap. Still under 1/2” at 50 but not that impressive at all.

I've done 2 custom barrels ( 455/457 group buy I ran) and a custom Bartlein. The biggest difference I've found with the customs is how.consistently accurate they are across various types of ammo and they are much more consistently accurate from 100yd -400yd.

My factory CZ 455 Tacticool barrel.shot really good at 50yd, decent at 100yd and started falling apart after that no matter the ammo.

My custom barrels shoot stupidly accurate even at 400yds with quality ammo like Ultramatch.

Bartlein 20" 0.900" Straight chambered with my custom 22lr match reamer spec by Don


8" plate @ 300yds in a 15mph left to right wind







6" Plate @ 400yds in a 15mph left to right wind.. Missed the first shot just off the right edge, held an additional 0,5mil left and shot these next 4 shots.

 

[Eoddave27]

Padom, I noticed that with my Tikka and a friends CZ 455 with a lilja barrel. Inside 100 yards my rifle would outshoot his. When we went out to 200-300 yards his shot a lot more consistent than mine using the same ammo. My tikka was pretty consistent across all ammo though. I wonder what the science is behind that. It would seem like tighter groups just mean more accurat at any distance but apparently that isn’t the case. My Tikka is at the gunsmith right now having a new barrel heavy barrel fitted so we will see what kind of difference the new barrel makes at distance.

 

[padom]

Padom, I noticed that with my Tikka and a friends CZ 455 with a lilja barrel. Inside 100 yards my rifle would outshoot his. When we went out to 200-300 yards his shot a lot more consistent than mine using the same ammo. My tikka was pretty consistent across all ammo though. I wonder what the science is behind that. It would seem like tighter groups just mean more accurat at any distance but apparently that isn’t the case. My Tikka is at the gunsmith right now having a new barrel heavy barrel fitted so we will see what kind of difference the new barrel makes at distance.

Chamber and quality barrel..

 

[Eoddave27]

It just doesn’t make sense to me how my rifle is more accurate than his inside 100 yards but outside 100 his is more accurate. It would seem like the short range accuracy should translate to long range accuracy as well. I have shot some big centerfire rifles that will not group at 100 yards but are awesome beyond 200. It was a 50 cal I shot in the military. I guess this is similar.

 

[Bradu]

I've done 2 custom barrels ( 455/457 group buy I ran) and a custom Bartlein. The biggest difference I've found with the customs is how.consistently accurate they are across various types of ammo and they are much more consistently accurate from 100yd -400yd.

My factory CZ 455 Tacticool barrel.shot really good at 50yd, decent at 100yd and started falling apart after that no matter the ammo.

My custom barrels shoot stupidly accurate even at 400yds with quality ammo like Ultramatch.

Bartlein 20" 0.900" Straight chambered with my custom 22lr match reamer spec by Don


8" plate @ 300yds in a 15mph left to right wind







6" Plate @ 400yds in a 15mph left to right wind.. Missed the first shot just off the right edge, held an additional 0,5mil left and shot these next 4 shots.

Really makes me want to send mine off instead of buying a prefit.