New Rifle

[Sask Boy]

Hi, Well a real good guy I met on another forum passed away about a month ago and it is so sad. Bob was a 204 nut and he talked me into trading off my Savage Model 12 and I picked up a CZ American 527. I do not know if anything will beat the accuracy of my model 12 but the CZ is alot nicer to look at and a lot lighter.
I have lots of bullets and I was wondering if anyone has some starting points for new loads.
I loaded the model 12 with 39gr. BLKs and used 26.5 grs of H4895 powder cci bench primers.
I know that the CZ's barrell is 4 inches shorter.
I also have some 35gr bergers and some 34gr winchesters any help would be appreciated.
I hope that I can get this to be a tack driver, I may have to do it slower as it does not have a heavy barrel.

Look forward to hearing from you guys.

[Jim White]

Mine needed a bedding and free-floating job and then it just shot knot-holes with Sierra 39 SBK. Mine are only so-so with the Hornady 40 grain. I'm trying some 35 Bergers (hopefully) tomorrow.

Jim

[Silverfox]

Sask Boy--The load you listed of 26.5 gr. of H4895 with the 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing bullets is what Sierra lists as the maximum load with that powder/bullet combination. I know many shooters have loaded a bit more H4895 with that bullet, but each gun is different, so you may want to start your load work with something in the neighborhood of 25.5 gr. and work your way up to that 26.5 gr. load at .2 of a grain at a time. Hodgdon lists 27.7 gr. of H4895 as the max load with their 40 gr. V-Max and I went just a tad higher than that with the 39 gr. Sierras and still get no pressure signs in my Savage 12VLP. REMEMBER: Work you loads up slowly and also REMEMBER that loads that are safe in my rifle may be totally overboard for your rifle.

For the 35 gr. FBHP Bergers I have a load that is waaaay hot and I won't list it here. However, I did test the 35 gr. Bergers with 28.0 gr. of H4895 and shot some very nice small groups with that load. That is .2 of a grain below the max listed by Hodgden for that bullet 35 gr. bullet. Here again, you should probably start your loads for the Bergers somewhere around 27.0 to 27.2 gr. and work up in .2 grain increments.

I have no reloading experience with the 34 gr. Winchester bullets, but I did buy a box of the 34 gr. Winchester factory ammo and was not real happy with it. I was getting groups that were well over 1" at 100 yards. I still haven't finished shooting the rest of the shells in that box. I'll have to do that so I can get that brass into my reloading rotation. I'm sure you can work up a handload and get better accuracy than I got out of the factory loads though. The 39 gr. Sierra is a very good all-around bullet IMHO. I used the 35 gr. Bergers on coyotes for several years, but began using the 39 gr. Sierras and havent' had any fur damage to speak of and no lost coyotes. Of course, that was pretty much the story with the 35 gr. Bergers, but they deflect a lot more in the wind and the drop is a bit more than with the 39 gr. Sierras. I like the flatter shooting Sierras with their lower wind deflection.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing on finding a load for that CZ American 527.

[cattrapper]

i have been testing loads in my cz and finally settled for the 39sbk and 27g of H4895 and i also found the 32 vmax with 26.5g of H4895 with either of these 2 loads i can get 5 shot groups in the .3 range if i do my part.i did find that my cz likes a load with a seating depth of 2.306 on iether bullet. i also floated the barrel and bedded the action and adjusted the creep and over travel out of the trigger hope this helps. FYI THESE LOADS WERE WOKED UP IN MY RIFLE THEY ARE SAFE IN IT SO WORK UP I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT THEY ARE SAAFE IN ANYONE GUN BUT MY OWN.

[greystone]

I went out this morning at sunrise expecting a little warmer weather but it was only 35 degrees and breezy. My plan was to shoot groups with 3 different powders but my hands got cold fast-froze them too many times when I was younger doing construction in Minnesota. So I only shot 2 groups. This was my first 5 shot group with 25.2 grains of H322 with 34 grain Midway Dogtowns. The second group opened up a little. I'm trying to tweak some loads and I need it to be a little more comfortable. I found myself rushing shots. I'll wait for another day. Anyhow these little CZ's can be very good shooters. BTW I shoot a 527 American. Dave

[cattrapper]

not a bad group . just wandering whar your seating depth is ?

[greystone]

not a bad group . just wandering whar your seating depth is ?

Thanks
My OAL was 2.285. There was no special reason for that. My seater die was set for 35 Bergers and thats just where the Dogtowns came out at. Dave