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CZ 557 6.5x55mm Carbine By the Guns and Shooting Online Staff  Ceska Zbrojovka (CZ), of the Czech Republic, has been making good hunting rifles for a long time. They are well regarded around the world, as well as here in the USA. In Africa, CZ rifles are probably the most common brand used by professional hunters to protect their clients. For 2015, CZ USA introduced a completely new push feed, bolt action rifle to complement their existing Model 550, a Mauser 98 pattern hunting rifle. The Model 557 is slightly less expensive than an equivalent Model 550 (a push feed action should be less expensive to manufacture), but it is not an economy rifle. For example, the Model 557 Carbine reviewed here carries a 2015 MSRP of $812, while the Model 550 FS carbine with a full length Mannlicher style stock is only $890. The longer walnut blank required for the latter's stock probably accounts for most of the price difference. The current 550 line seem to have been reduced to safari versions or specialty models, such as the aforementioned FS (full stock) carbine. Many shooters prefer a push feed action. They tend toward smother operation, there is no slot in the bolt for a receiver mounted ejector and cartridges can be single loaded directly into the chamber. (The chamber of an action with a full length, Mauser 98 type extractor should normally be loaded only from the magazine.) CZ apparently intends to make the Model 557 their standard hunting rifle line. It is available in standard (.30-06 length) and short (.308 length) actions. The Sporter and Carbine versions come with walnut stocks and blued barreled actions. There are also more expensive Manners carbon fiber composite stocked models ($1268) and cheaper synthetic stocked versions ($739). The initial calibers include 6.5x55mm, .270 Winchester and .30-06. Calibers .243 Winchester, 7x64mm, .308 Winchester and 8x57mm Mauser are listed in the Instruction Manual that came with our test rifle, but are not yet available at this time. The difference between the walnut stocked Carbine and Sporter versions seems to be that the Carbine models come with iron sights and the stock incorporates a cheekpiece. Otherwise, the specifications provided on the CZ USA website (www.cz-usa.com) are identical. This seems strange to us. One would think that the Sporter rifle should have a 22 or 24 inch barrel and a cheekpiece. We have come to appreciate the quality and performance of CZ rifles and therefore have been looking forward to this review of the new Model 557. We requested a Carbine in 6.5x55 SE, which is one of our favorite calibers. When our test rifle arrived, several staff members were present to inspect the new rifle. Our initial impressions were positive, the consensus being that CZ has probably produced another winner. It is a good looking rifle with traditional, pleasing lines. The blued metal finish is roughly comparable to a traditional Remington BDL or Ruger medium polished blue and more attractive than the dull (virtually unpolished) metal finishes so common today. The bolt body is left in the white and the trigger appears to be chrome plated; all other external metal surfaces are blued. The modern classic (American) style, Turkish walnut stock has a pleasing shape and a dark stain with a dull oil finish that does not quite fill all of the wood pores. We gave it a coat of Johnson's paste wax for appearance and to help resist moisture. This definitely enhanced the grain structure and gave the stock a more finished look. The four panel, laser cut checkering is well executed. Steel sling swivel studs are provided, along with a functional, black rubber recoil pad. There is no pistol grip cap, which is an oversight that should be corrected with a blued steel cap. This is a right hand stock with a cheekpiece and palm swell for a right handed shooter. We appreciate the cheek piece, but could live without the palm swell. It is too low on the pistol grip for our medium size hands and merely adds unnecessary girth to the pistol grip, which is already too thick. Everyone's hands are subtly different and to fit correctly a palm swell must be custom designed for the intended user. "One size fits all" palm swells are worse than useless. Actually, there is too much wood left in the stock everywhere, a common complaint about factory stocks. The forend should be thinner in both width and depth, there is too much wood left alongside the receiver and the pistol grip is too thick, particularly in the neck. If the entire stock were slenderized, the rifle would look better, handle faster and be a bit lighter to carry. The inletting of the barreled action into the stock is overly generous, with an excessive gap everywhere, except along the right side of the receiver. The barrel is free floating and the forend to barrel gap could be tighter. We have, however, seen worse. The receiver is machined from steel billet. The open top loading/ejection port makes it relatively easy to insert fresh cartridges or clear a jam, should one occur. There is a gas escape hole drilled into the right side at the front. This is a husky, high quality receiver. The tapered, sporter contour (about No. 2) barrel is threaded into the receiver in the conventional manner. The rifling is cold hammer forged and the bore is factory-lapped. The muzzle is conventionally crowned. The steel bolt body is machined from billet, the machined steel bolt handle is pinned in place and the round bolt knob threaded to the end of the bolt handle. The bolt sleeve is also machined steel, not sheet metal or aluminum. A plunger ejector is pinned in the bolt head, which has a recessed bolt face. The extractor is a narrow, Sako type, spring loaded claw pinned to the bolt head. This gives a much smaller bite on the case rim than the Model 550's large Mauser type extractor, but we consider it stronger and more positive than a Savage type sliding extractor in a bolt lug or a Remington type clip in the bolt face. The bolt travel is smooth and there is very little wobble with the bolt fully rearward. The end of the striker, marked by a red band, protrudes from the bolt sleeve when the bolt is cocked. This serves as a cocking indicator. Bolt removal is made more difficult than it needs to be by the narrow, flush, not easily depressed (a thumbnail seems to work best) bolt release, which is located on the inside of the left rear receiver wall, next to the bolt channel. At least you are not going to drop the bolt from the receiver by accident. The Model 550 normally comes with a single set trigger. (Europeans do seem to love set triggers.) These are okay, but heavy if fired without setting and, once set, the trigger pull is extremely light; so light that it can be hard to control during the excitement of a hunt. The Model 557 has a new single stage trigger that is fully adjustable for take-up, weight of pull and over-travel. Bravo! Our test rifle's trigger was adjusted for a clean, 2.5 pound pull out of the box, so we left it alone. This is an excellent trigger pull for any production rifle and as good or better than most custom built rifles. Should you wish to adjust the trigger, tiny screws are provided. To adjust, remove the barreled action from the stock and follow the directions in the Instruction Manual. The one-piece trigger guard / bottom metal is aluminum, but the hinged magazine floor plate is steel, as is the floor plate latch, which is located in front of the trigger guard. The latter takes a generous bite and is secure. There is a separate, steel magazine box. Two torx machine screws secure the bottom metal, magazine and stock to the barreled action. We wanted to check the action bedding, recoil lug, etc. but found the two torx screws holding everything together were torqued so hard that we could not turn them with our Pachmayr gunsmith screwdriver or a right-angle, ratcheting driver. We suspect they were secured with Loctite Red, or something similar. Since nothing was broken and we didn't really need to remove the stock from our test rifle, we let it go. The magazine is an internal box with a stainless steel follower and a hinged floor plate. This is our favorite type of magazine for a bolt action hunting rifle. There is nothing to drop or lose, the magazine cannot become separated from the rifle and the cartridges can be dumped from the magazine by the push of a button. Of course, this type of internal magazine is more expensive to mass produce than the plastic or sheet metal detachable boxes increasingly common today. The safety lever is located at the right rear of the receiver, just behind the root of the bolt handle. It blocks the trigger to prevent the rifle from firing. It is comfortable and easy to operate, producing a soft click when released. Forward is FIRE and rearward is SAFE. The bolt can be operated with the safety on, to allow unloading the chamber. The supplied iron sights provide a good sight picture. In sunlight, the front fiber optic sight glows red-orange. There are small screws in the front of the front sight ramp that allow adjusting the height of the front sight for elevation. The protective front sight hood is cut away on the top and sides to admit light. The rear sight blade is screw adjustable for windage. The receiver is dovetailed to accept CZ scope mounting rings, thus eliminating the need for a separate scope mounting base. Remember to buy the rings when you purchase your rifle, as we did. Specifications
Despite its short barrel, the 557 Carbine is not a flyweight rifle. Ours scaled 8 pounds 10.5 ounces (empty) with a Leupold VX-2 2-7x33mm scope mounted in the CZ rings we requested with the rifle. Like most Leupold scopes, the VX-2 weighs less than most scopes its size and magnification. Leupold makes a conscious effort to keep the mass down, which allows the scope to better withstand recoil and minimizes the scope's effect on the rifle's handling. Leupold scopes are continuously upgraded as the state of the art advances and the price of the latest technology comes down. The current VX-2 line incorporates most of the advantages found in the VX-3 line just a few years ago. These include a one inch, 6061-T6 aluminum main tube, index-matched, fully multi-coated optics with DiamondCoat exterior lens surfaces; blackened lens edges; accurate and repeatable 1/4 MOA fingertip click adjustments; tactile power ring; a purged, argon/krypton gas filled and O-ring sealed interior to prevent internal fogging; an externally threaded fast focus eyepiece, super hard anodized external finish and Leupold's Gold Ring Full Lifetime Guarantee. The VX-2 2-7x33mm riflescope is available with Leupold's BDC or standard Duplex reticle. We ordered the standard Duplex, which was invented by Leupold (since copied by everyone) and remains, in our opinion, the best hunting reticle ever devised. As expected, our VX-2 provided sharp, clear, contrasty views of the target across the field of view and made hitting easier than lower quality scopes. The total light transmission is stated to be 94%. The eye relief and the eyebox are generous, allowing fast target acquisition. Flare, distortion and other aberrations are well controlled. The 2015 MSRP for this superior riflescope is $374.99. A full review can be found on the Scopes and Sport Optics - Reviews index page. Many thanks to Pat Mundy at Leupold for providing the scope for this review! As soon as the Leupold scope was mounted and bore-sighted, we were ready for the rifle range. Guns and Shooting Online staff members Chuck Hawks, Rocky Hays and Jim Fleck were present for the shooting chores at the Izaak Walton gun range south of Eugene, Oregon on a hot, windy, summer day. The temperature was about 90-degrees F and a gusty wind up to about 15 MPH kept us on our toes. We did our shooting from a sturdy bench rest using a Caldwell Lead Sled DFT or, at the shooter's option, a Caldwell sand bag front rest. Chuck and Rocky used the Lead Sled, while Jim used the bag. Our 100 yard shooting was done at Hoppe's 100 Yard Crosshair sighting targets. As usual, we fired three shot groups, which under the circumstances created plenty of barrel heat. We requested test gun ammo from the fine folks at Hornady and Nosler, who generously complied with our request in a most timely manner. Without their assistance, this review would not have been possible, so we owe them our heartfelt thanks. For this review we used Hornady Superformance factory loads using a 140 grain SST bullet at a MV of 2735 fps, Nosler Trophy Grade factory loads using a 140 grain AccuBond bullet at a MV of 2650 fps and a proven handload from Chuck using a 140 grain Sierra GameKing bullet with Reloader-22 powder for a MV of 2720 fps. All of these velocities were taken in 24 inch barrels, so the actual velocity from the CZ Carbine's 20.5 inch barrel is presumably around 70 fps slower. We don't think our local Columbian blacktail deer will notice the difference. Since the rifle had been bore sighted with a Bushnell optical collimator, we started shooting at 25 yards. The first shot was some 4.5 inches high and about an inch right. The Leupold VX-2's accurate adjustments meant that the second shot was in the 10 ring. So much for 25 yards. Moving back to 100 yards, two more shots and appropriate scope adjustments put the third bullet in the center of the bullseye. We were ready to shoot for record. This is what a good scope can do for you. The money you save in ammo just sighting-in may pay for the upgrade to a Leupold. Shooting Results
We found the CZ 557 to be an accurate carbine, assisted by highly accurate ammunition. Our test rifle performed very well with all three of our test loads, showing little preference. This time out, Chuck managed the smallest groups with all three loads. Way to go! The CZ 557 is very easy to single load at the range. Just drop a cartridge in the action and close the bolt. No need to use the magazine, the bolt feeds a loose cartridge into the chamber perfectly. When we did use the magazine, we found it relatively easy to load the first three cartridges, but the fourth required considerable force to compress the magazine follower spring enough to get the last cartridge loaded. Normally, in the field, we would probably just load three cartridges and leave it at that. (If you can't do it in three, you probably can't do it at all.) Once you get the cartridges loaded, they feed reliably into the chamber as the bolt is cycled. We experienced no malfunctions of any kind. Everyone had high praise for the CZ's excellent trigger pull. A clean, 2.5 pound trigger is a great asset for accurate shooting and this is one of the best triggers we have ever encountered in a factory made rifle. We also credited the rifle's relatively short, stiff barrel for good accuracy, especially on a hot day when even three shots heated the barrel to the point it was uncomfortable to touch and the high ambient air temperature meant the barrel never properly cooled down. All of our recorded groups were fired with a hot barrel. We have no doubt the group sizes would shrink even more if fired from a cool barrel, as would be normal when hunting. The Carbine's substantial weight contributed to a steady hold. It also kept the recoil moderate, making shooting fun. The 6.5x55 SE is a great cartridge and its moderate recoil is one of the reasons. Beyond commenting that there is too much wood in the stock, nobody had a bad word to say about the CZ 557. We agreed that it is a well made, good looking rifle with a good action and will make a fine hunting rifle. It shoots as good as it looks. RIFLE REVIEW SUMMARY
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