I won’t be selling my CZ 452 22lr!

[Ridgewalker]

Met some buddies at the range today. We had a 22lr day using the 50 yard range. My buds had Remington 40x, a Tikka target model in a chassis, a Kimber military 52, and a Remington 37. They all had 20x scopes. A bit intimidating!
I had a generic CZ 452 with a 3-9x Burris rimfire scope. Of course I did add a lighter spring to the trigger.
My buds were doing well with clustering 3 shot groups. But only 1 had a tighter group than mine!
Here is one of my targets I tried 4 different brands of quality ammo on. 5-10 mph variable breeze.

I don’t think I will be selling this CZ 452 for a while yet! I may even try to find a good 20x scope and see if I can improve on it.

 

[meigsbucks]

You better not sell it!!! It will be tough to improve on this.
My nephew shoots .22 competitions with a CZ452 and has several victories.

 

[BWH]

That’s awesome! I own a CZ512 22 Mag in Semi-Automatic. It’s a tack driver out to 100 yards. Never tried further,simply for not interested in shooting anything past that point due to ballistics.

 

[VonJager]

I outshoot my buddies with a cz 452 lefthand with iron sights off shooting sticks, and they were shooting 243's with 12x scopes from a rest. cz 452's are the best!

 

[Still alive]

Taught my son how to shoot with that rifle! Bought the extra barrel for 22 mag as well.

 

[double rifle newbie]

i ibought a cz as an inexpensive way to practice shooting off sticks. i dropped a timney frigger and leupold scope just like my bolt actions that travel with me. im much more comfortable shooting off sticks now. and it is a tack driver!!!

 

[Ragman]

This reminds me of a story from back in the 80s when I was 15. My area of the province had an annual regional winter games and this particular winter my home town was the host. I entered the target shooting and when I got there the kids from the bigger towns were waiting on me. They all had fancy target .22s with high falootin sights and gun club jackets. I’m just a farm kid with my little Cooey gopher gun. I was pretty embarrassed when they were laughing at me, but my chest was sticking out a long way when I left with the gold medal!!!

 

[ZG47]

@Ridgewalker I presume that you were simply too considerate to really rub it in with 5 or 10 shot groups!

 

[mark-hunter]

@Ridgewalker
With my 452, I won so far two matches at 100 meters, shooting from rest, with scope. Each time there was also few anschutzes at match. (I am not saying 452 is better or more accurate then anschutz, but if you get a good moment, with less wind, and know what you are doing, 452 will hold its grounds. Its not to be discarded)
So, dont sell it!

What ammo did you use?

 

[bowjijohn]

Another thumbs up for the humble 452 .22LR

Using semi auto Gecco ammo my best group at 100m is 0.75 inch (more typically 1.5") and 2.5" at 150m and 3.5" at 200m

It is more precise than my R8 in .22LR

I've ordered a Vudoo but wonder if it will do any better

 

[Ridgewalker]

I presume that you were simply too considerate to really rub it in with 5 or 10 shot groups!

They were only shooting 3 shot groups, so I only fired 3 shot groups. Maybe I should have pushed the envelope to 5?

What ammo did you use?

RWS Target, Federal Gold Medal, Norma TAC-22, and Eley Tenex. All expensive ammo they furnished me except the Norma TAC-22 which I found 2 boxes at my local Murdochs.

I have a Burris 4.5-14x sitting around which I might put on in place of the 3-9x just to see if I can improve on it.

 

[mdwest]

I need to invest in a "nice" .22 of some sort..

I have no intention of doing any real target shooting, competition shooting, etc. but I would like something fun to go punch nice tight groups through paper at 50 yards at the range occasionally..

Right now the only .22's we have in the safe are my little ruger 10/22 with a cheap red dot optic on it that is for squirrels, raccoons, etc... and my wifes marlin .22 (not sure of the model.. its a mid 1970's build thats been around since she was a child with a tubular magazine).. and a very cool old winchester 1890 gallery gun in .22 Long (not LR) that I restored a few years back... All of them are fun little guns to shoot and play with.. but none of them are going to cloverleaf at 50 yards, even with match grade ammo..

 

[mark-hunter]

@Ridgewalker
All good choices of ammo.

At the time I was not able to find better ammo - although being willing to pay for it.
So, my best at the time was RWS - rifle match, and RWS club. Plinking done with anything cheap, S&B mostly.

In windy conditions I had good results with RWS high velocity, which means good enough to score a medal, (while others on the match were strugling with wind compensation with slower match ammo, more accurate with zero wind). HV is not best for accuracy, but is handy when wind is present. So HV I always keep in range bag, for the match in case wind gets stronger.

Some of my friends had excellent results with RWS R100 and RWS R50 with CZ rifle. (very expensive ammo)
This is expensive ammo, made for international matches
.
Only resently I managed to get, and find supplier for Eley tenex. And I am happy to test it shortly.
I have both - cz 452, and anschutz 1903. Will test with both.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I need to invest in a "nice" .22 of some sort..

Well, obviously I will recommend the CZ 452 if you can find one. I believe CZ has replaced it with the 455. Last I looked, they were still selling the 452 in the cheaper “Scout” model though. I suspect it will shoot just as well since the barrels are all made the same.

 

[Ridgewalker]

In windy conditions I had good results with RWS high velocity

Excellent info! I wouldn’t have thought of that, but it makes perfect sense!

 

[Bullthrower338]

This is the Grand Finale CZ 452 that I bought as a gift for our AH friend Clayton when he got to sick to shoot anything more than a 22. The day before he died he was more worried about me getting this damned gun back than anything else. I’d trade the other 999 of these made for one more conversation over breakfast at the Cracker Barrel with Clayton.
To the point of the OP, the 452 are extremely accurate rifles with their undersized barrels. My son shoots one in 4H competition. They will hold their own on the range.

 

[mark-hunter]

I need to invest in a "nice" .22 of some sort..

All of them are fun little guns to shoot and play with.. but none of them are going to cloverleaf at 50 yards, even with match grade ammo..

To achieve cloverleaf target prints with 22rifle, (I mean true cloverleaf where hits are touching at 50) is very hard with 22lr. The choices are few.

I am also under impression that quality of CZ is not what it once was, but their rimfire line is still impresive, and I cannot compare it with any other brand.

Having said that, I may suggest following choices:

- 2nd hand, older models Brno 2 , or even better Brno 4 (this one is rare, make google search). Historically proven models

- New models: some of their newer models, line CZ457. There is several very atractive configurations. For their match models, they give accuracy guarantee to be 15 mm, at 50 meters (this equals 1 MOA, like 30 mm at 100 meters, or 1 inch at 100 yards). I havent tested one so far from 457 line, but this is what they are saying.

- Finally, you may conisder Anshutz, which is olimpic brand. With Anschutz you may choose a model depending of your needs, a hunting type model of rimfire like A 1761, or match/sport models like A 1903, or A 1907 - which will be heavy, heavy barrel, and exclusively for the range.

So depeneding of the budget, it is down to 2 choices only, either CZ or Anschutz. I mean not to offend american gun makers, but in final choice of accurate rimfire rifle, I think these two europan brands still make the best products. I go on some traditional annual matches (22lr rifle with scope at 50 and 100 meters) in my country around the year, and what I have seen, from time to time, a non europan brand shows up on the match, and very quickly is changed by the owner for next season with either CZ or Anschutz.

 

[Nyati]

I had one and foolishly sold it, a great gun.

I also had a Sako Finnscout in the 80´s, another incredibly accurate .22, which I also foolishly sold.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I had one and foolishly sold it, a great gun.

I also had a Sako Finnscout in the 80´s, another incredibly accurate .22, which I also foolishly sold.

Don’t you hate it when that happens! I know I will regret selling some of my guns, but some have sat for years unused. I need to focus on the ones I actually use and this CZ 452 is one of them.

 

[Ridgewalker]

View attachment 411321This is the Grand Finale CZ 452 that I bought as a gift for our AH friend Clayton when he got to sick to shoot anything more than a 22. The day before he died he was more worried about me getting this damned gun back than anything else. I’d trade the other 999 of these made for one more conversation over breakfast at the Cracker Barrel with Clayton.
To the point of the OP, the 452 are extremely accurate rifles with their undersized barrels. My son shoots one in 4H competition. They will hold their own on the range.

Sad situation indeed. That’s a beautiful piece of wood on it!