Time to go long on CRF rifles?

[rifletuner]

Just kind of thinking out loud here. I have been giving some though to the rifle market and some of the recent developments we have seen. With the vast majority of rifles now having push feed actions, the very small handful of control round feed actioned rifles that we have had access to now seems to be drying up. We have seen the CZ550 cease production, and consequently prices on the secondary market are starting to go up. And the production of Zastva M70 rifles and actions has either ceased or paused, depending on who you listen to. I believe the Winchester M70 is still an option, and hopefully that continues (though we dont seem to get much stock in Australia these days).

And as we move forward, I would say an increasingly small number of buyers know the difference, or care about CRF vs push feed. So my feeling is those that want CRF is a small niche that is getting smaller. If the trend continues on the same line, we will be left with a handful of premium options like the current Mauser 98, Heym, etc, bespoke makers such as Rigby and custom action makes like Granite Mountain that cater to the "classic" CRF rifle market.

Whilst I dont think its panic stations, it does make me think more about projects I have been considering. As a left hander, my main source of CRF actions has been Zastava, and since the early 2000s these have been pretty available in left hand. But I made some enquiries earlier this year, and left hand Zastavas are much more limited than they have been over the last 20 or so years.

Am I over thinking this, or are we facing a looming shortage? I felt the same way about ammo components in around 2019, and we all know how that has played out.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

You're definitely limited on CRF actions. There's a fair number of new production Winchesters here in the states but they don't do .375 all that often. Ultimately it comes down to the consumer and cost of manufacturing. The majority of current consumers don't know/care and they want cheaper in price.

This will continue to drive prices up on older production guns. Just look at what the CZ's and Brno's are currently bringing.

 

[mark-hunter]

Am I over thinking this, or are we facing a looming shortage?

Let me add to the panic. My search for CRF took me two years to find.

Things are even worse then what you have described. After all being said, now try to find CRF rifle on magnum length action. The last of this kind was CZ550, now extinct.

Keep an eye on your market, and when you find something of interest, buy.

That being said:
Quality push feeds are not bad at all, although in most cases they also lack magnum length action.
There are high end push feeds, and budget push feeds.

 

[CoElkHunter]

The Ruger M77 Hawkeye CRF actioned rifles are still available here. I know TWO of the many people I have hunted with here over the years that hunt with Ruger CRFs. The rest hunt with PF rifles and wouldn’t know a CRF action if it bit them in the arse. They wouldn’t care anyway because they continue to hunt and kill animals with the rifles they’ve used for decades. I too choose my Browning PF due to it’s lighter weight when hunting elk in the mountains. No DG where we hunt so no need for a heavier CRF rifle.

 

[rifletuner]

Let me add to the panic. My search for CRF took me two years to find.

Things are even worse then what you have described. After all being said, now try to find CRF rifle on magnum length action. The last of this kind was CZ550, now extinct.

Keep an eye on your market, and when you find something of interest, buy.

That being said:
Quality push feeds are not bad at all, although in most cases they also lack magnum length action.
There are high end push feeds, and budget push feeds.

Yes, it was a real shame to see the end of the CZ550. I have never seen a left hand one in Australia, although the right hand models were fairly popular.

Of course we have good options in push feed. One of my favourite rifles is my Sako AV in 375H&H and thats not something I will ever sell. But for a lot of builds, I like the classic look of a Mauser 98. Its a shame they are becoming a threatened species.

 

[rifletuner]

The Ruger M77 Hawkeye CRF actioned rifles are still available here. I know TWO of the many people I have hunted with here over the years that hunt with Ruger CRFs. The rest hunt with PF rifles and wouldn’t know a CRF action if it bit them in the arse. They wouldn’t care anyway because they continue to hunt and kill animals with the rifles they’ve used for decades. I too choose my Browning PF due to it’s lighter weight when hunting elk in the mountains. No DG where we hunt so no need for a heavier CRF rifle.

The Ruger is not something I have used, so dont really consider them. I have no real knowledge of their rifles, though they are fairly common over here.

There are definitely plenty of push feed options and I own a few different examples, but I would hate to see the CRF actions disappear off the landscape.

 

[WyoBull]

My Win Model 70 in 375 H&H is a push feed and I would hunt with it any time and anywhere. It has never given me any issues.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Is Montana Rifle Company still building CRF magnum rifles? I know they were having trouble staying afloat after the Big Green debacle. Any update on them?

 

[Tex .416]

Is Montana Rifle Company still building CRF magnum rifles? I know they were having trouble staying afloat after the Big Green debacle. Any update on them?

The old MRC went out of business a few years ago. They made some receivers for the biggest of the big cartridges .338 Lapua, .416 Rigby, .460 Wby, .505 Gibbs. The numbers sold were low, but they surface now and then.

A new manufacturer bought the name and some equipment and is slowly releasing new rifles, 6.5 CM and .308 Win so far. .300 Win Mag is on the foreseeable horizon, other mag cartridges are farther off in the future.

 

[Mauser3000]

I’m in the same boat as you rifletuner. Us southpaws have to really look around for true left hand actions. I was just bidding on a left hand model 70 Winchester in 375 H&H, at nearly 2800.00 I was out. But that’s the market these days. Any Zastava mausers are tough to find, CZ only made the 550 in 375 H&H in left hand and the price was nearly 40 percent higher than the right hand models. Sako made the AV in 375 H&H in left hand but I’m not sure if they were true magnum length or not, but they are controlled round feed.

 

[steve white]

I’m in the same boat as you rifletuner. Us southpaws have to really look around for true left hand actions. I was just bidding on a left hand model 70 Winchester in 375 H&H, at nearly 2800.00 I was out. But that’s the market these days. Any Zastava mausers are tough to find, CZ only made the 550 in 375 H&H in left hand and the price was nearly 40 percent higher than the right hand models. Sako made the AV in 375 H&H in left hand but I’m not sure if they were true magnum length or not, but they are controlled round feed.

I thought that about my AV Sako, but someone on AH stated it was not a true CRF?....

 

[steve white]

Didn't Remington once sell a rebranded Zastava rifle (can't remember the model) in both 375 and 458 Win.? And were they CRF? I probably should have picked one up in 458 WM, new, and discounted from $1000 down to $795 before they stopped selling them. It was at the same time and in the same store where I got blue box CCI LR primers for $15 a box, so apparently I was not firing on all cylinders at the time....

 

[Tex .416]

Didn't Remington once sell a rebranded Zastava rifle (can't remember the model) in both 375 and 458 Win.? And were they CRF?

Yes, it is the Remington Model 798. They were a nice product.

 

[B0MBOY]

Lefty bolt actions are already less common. Magnum length even more so.

I think the CRF is getting hit by price. Even the nice bolt action rifles like tikkas and bergaras aren’t crf anymore

 

[Inline6]

To each their own.

Have an AIAX that is a push feed that has over 15k rounds on it, no issues. It is a short action. Had the same configuration in 338LM it had 2k rounds on it when I sold it. Again no issues.

Have several R8s more PF, have them in 7PRC, 375h&h, and 458Lott. The 458Lott will accompany me to Africa to hunt DG. I'm leaving my CRF Model 70 416REM at home.

Manufacturers (the good ones) make good quality actions. The kind you can trust your life with. Just my .02

 

[rookhawk]

Just kind of thinking out loud here. I have been giving some though to the rifle market and some of the recent developments we have seen. With the vast majority of rifles now having push feed actions, the very small handful of control round feed actioned rifles that we have had access to now seems to be drying up. We have seen the CZ550 cease production, and consequently prices on the secondary market are starting to go up. And the production of Zastva M70 rifles and actions has either ceased or paused, depending on who you listen to. I believe the Winchester M70 is still an option, and hopefully that continues (though we dont seem to get much stock in Australia these days).

And as we move forward, I would say an increasingly small number of buyers know the difference, or care about CRF vs push feed. So my feeling is those that want CRF is a small niche that is getting smaller. If the trend continues on the same line, we will be left with a handful of premium options like the current Mauser 98, Heym, etc, bespoke makers such as Rigby and custom action makes like Granite Mountain that cater to the "classic" CRF rifle market.

Whilst I dont think its panic stations, it does make me think more about projects I have been considering. As a left hander, my main source of CRF actions has been Zastava, and since the early 2000s these have been pretty available in left hand. But I made some enquiries earlier this year, and left hand Zastavas are much more limited than they have been over the last 20 or so years.

Am I over thinking this, or are we facing a looming shortage? I felt the same way about ammo components in around 2019, and we all know how that has played out.

I don’t think so, but I could amend your question to give you a different answer.

Is there going to be a shortage on CRF dangerous game MAGNUM actions? Yes. I’d go long. You’re quoting some very common, semi-mass produced options above. If I was collecting or accumulating investments in that category, I would buy up every CZ550 magnum in 375HH, 416R, and 458 Lott I could find new in box. If I’m right, the $1400-$1800 guns will be worth $3000+ in the next couple years. If I’m wrong, the actions will still be worth $1400-$1800 each in the next couple of years and the stocks will be worth another $350+. I don’t see a downside.

Disclaimer: mass produced guns are not my wheelhouse, but Krish is an expert on CZ550 factory rifles and their customized variants. He seems to have done very well selling off his spares.

 

[rifletuner]

I don’t think so, but I could amend your question to give you a different answer.

Is there going to be a shortage on CRF dangerous game MAGNUM actions? Yes. I’d go long. You’re quoting some very common, semi-mass produced options above. If I was collecting or accumulating investments in that category, I would buy up every CZ550 magnum in 375HH, 416R, and 458 Lott I could find new in box. If I’m right, the $1400-$1800 guns will be worth $3000+ in the next couple years. If I’m wrong, the actions will still be worth $1400-$1800 each in the next couple of years and the stocks will be worth another $350+. I don’t see a downside.

Disclaimer: mass produced guns are not my wheelhouse, but Krish is an expert on CZ550 factory rifles and their customized variants. He seems to have done very well selling off his spares.

Yeah mass production rifles are not really mine either, although I do have a couple of Sakos. But I still need a source of donor actions as a base for my builds. As a left handed shooter in Australia, Zastava actions have been my go to for the last 20 or so years. So the rifles I am talking about look like these once I take a factory action and work to where I want to get to:

 

[Hunter-Habib]

You're 100% correct. Options for control round feed rifles (esp. in big bore "Safari" calibers) are only reducing as the years go by. The only two currently manufactured "Off The Shelf" Control round feed rifles (in large calibers) which I can think of, are:
Ruger Model 77 Hawkeye (only in proprietary Ruger calibers like the .375 & .416)
Winchester Model 70 Safari Express (offered officially in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, .416 Remington Magnum & .458 Winchester Magnum but Winchester hasn't made a new run of them in quite a while).

Even the source of control round feed Mauser actions is suffering. Granite Mountain Arms is basically a small two man operation now. Mayfair Engineering (who used to supply Mauser Model 98 style actions to James Purdey & Sons, Westley Richards and Charles Lancaster) has apparently closed down business.


There still appears to be one last option on the market- The Voere Model 2165.

VOERE 2165

M98 DELUXE BOLT ACTION RIFLE WEIGHT : approx. 3.3 kg (standard configuration) OVERALL LENGTH : approx. 114 cm - 119 cm BARREL LENGTH : 60 cm (ST / ME) / 65 cm (MG) SCOPE OF DELIVERY: VOERE 2165, Top tang safety, Org. Two-stage trigger (F), Alu drop box magazine kit, detachable sling swivels...

www.voere-shop.com

But the largest caliber which this one is offered in, appears to be the 9.3x64mm Brenneke. Still, I wonder if one could not purchase one of these and re-barrel to a big bore caliber which might fit a standard length action (like .458 Winchester Magnum) ?

Fortunately for me, I already managed to get my hands on a Safari rifle when the going was still good.

A Remington Model 700 Custom in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum. Nothing fancy, but five mixed bag Safaris in... and it's yet to give me a reason to complain. I don't trust the flimsy Remington factory extractor, so I recently had an American gunsmithing service fit an M16 extractor to it for me.

 

[KJE81]

We are having the same problem here in Sweden, unless you want to go the second hand route there are none or at least very few offerings of factory built CRF-rifles to buy. I decided to go the custom rifle route and ended up orderring one from a german gunsmith. If I opted for factory made the only option I found was the Winchester Safari and that was hard enough to find.

 

[VertigoBE]

Even the source of control round feed Mauser actions is suffering. Granite Mountain Arms is basically a small two man operation now. Mayfair Engineering (who used to supply Mauser Model 98 style actions to James Purdey & Sons, Westley Richards and Charles Lancaster) has apparently closed down business.

This is news to me, that Mayfair also closed down. I wonder where all the EU small gun shops are buying their magnum actions from, to build custom Mausers…

And at 5000$ a piece or more in the white, hardly pennies, why is no one stepping up to build more magnum actions?