Smoothing CZ bolt action??

[10gaugemag]

I went and picked up my new 550 American today and it is a very nice rifle. The grain was not as nice as I had hoped for until I got it out of the shop in the sunlight and then all of the fiddleback came out. I was not real impressed with the finish of the scope rings so a pair of Leupold, Talley, or Warne rings will be in order. I knew that a Mauser style action was not the smoothest of bolts because I have had several Rugers and an Enfield rifle. So my question is will just working the bolt several hundred times cure this or will I need to use some sort of compound to help this along? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

If CZ is like most gun makers they ship their guns dry. I would just oil it and work the bolt. It will smooth up.

 

[Kendal Black]

ba/uu/r

 

[Bullet Bob]

I like CZ's and have several of their products, but the hardest operating bolt I've ever felt was on a 550 .30-06 in a Gander Mountain. It kept me from buying that gun. They later sent it back to the factory for repair.

There are some CZ specific forums that might have some good advice, and it can't hurt to oil it and operate it a few times to see if it eases.

The one time I had a problem with a CZ rifle I ordered from an online retailer, CZ was very good about fixing the problem.

 

[I6turbo]

I have a couple of 550s and one was pretty smooth out of the box, and the other was noticeably less so. On both of them, during the initial thorough cleaning, I carefully checked all of the sliding/mating surfaces for burrs or any sharp edges that might be carrying too much load, hence generating too much friction. I took 600 grit paper and smoothed/removed any such spots that I found. Then after cleaning, I lubed all of the mating surfaces with Gun Slick. Both of the actions were very smooth at that point. After a couple hundred cycles, they were even better, which is to say, very smooth and a joy to cycle, like an old-school Mauser. You can probably get there with just the lube (or lapping compound) applied to the right places and a bunch of cycling, but you can speed it up a lot if you go over the action carefully.

 

[sirgilligan]

I just "broke in" a CZ 527. The first few rounds were difficult. I found placing the forward pressure close to the bolt and not at the end of the handle helped. A few times something happened and the firing pin / trigger didn't reset. By the time we had 200 rounds through it everything was working just fine. Now that is .223, I am not sure we would have shot a .30-06 200 times.

 

[jmr40]

Time and use will help, but it will never be as smooth as other brands, including many CRF rifles. CZ's tend to use better than average wood and externally they polish things and put a good blue on them. Internal, unseen parts have always been left pretty rough on every gun I've seen. They still function and shoot well though.

 

[10gaugemag]

I have done a little research and toothpaste as a lapping compound has been mentioned as has a very fine valve lapping compound. I may try a little polishing rouge on my buffing wheel that I polished brass for my frontstuffer and see what that does. Its not an issue of bolt closing or opening hard its just sticky when sliding bolt front to back. I figured it would be as slick as my Rugers but not so just yet. I will get it there though. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Captcurt]

Lap and Stone.

An Arkansas stone and some lapping compound works wonders. Iosso and Simichrome are two compounds that I have used. They made a Ruger 77 action as slick as a hot knife thru butter.

 

[Bullet Bob]

If you lap it, don't close the bolt handle; you don't want to engage the locking lugs and potentially change the headspace.

 

[10gaugemag]

I have some Iosso and a stone for the bottoms of lugs. I have figured out that most of the drag is the bolt body, it has little "ribs" from machining. Hoping some compound, 0000 steel wool, and wadding polish smooth it up and a light coat of Rem oil to finish it up. Definitely wont be shutting the bolt. Don't want to change headspace of have all that compound in the receiver.

 

[I6turbo]

Its not an issue of bolt closing or opening hard its just sticky when sliding bolt front to back. I figured it would be as slick as my Rugers but not so just yet. I will get it there though. Thanks for the replies.

FYI, after the procedure I described above, and with the magazines removed, the bolts on both of my 550s and the 527 will glide fore and aft when the gun is tilted about 30-40 degrees or so. IMO, that's plenty smooth.

 

[armoredman]

My 527M was pretty good from the get go, and after a few thousand rounds it's slicker than oil. Internal components were quite nicely finished and better than some bolt action rifles we've had before. Of course, the slickest bolt action I ever had was my Longbranch Enfield No4Mk1*, but it had a few DECADES of breaking in before I got it.
I'd take my little CZ carbine over most any others like it made today.

 

[Fatelvis]

If you lap it, don't close the bolt handle; you don't want to engage the locking lugs and potentially change the headspace.

This is very important.

 

[10gaugemag]

I ended up just sanding the bolt body with 1000 grit sandpaper and also hit the tops/bottoms of the lugs. A little oil mixed with graphite to work the bolt several times and I am pretty happy with the results. I may hit the bolt body on a wheel with jewelers rouge to polish it up and see what that does.