Thread: CZ 455 - barrel interchange

Hello Folks

Thanks to @Petre I have a CZ 455 "Varmint" in 17 HMR coming. I am curious to see if anyone has (or is thinking about getting) a second barrel for their 455 and your experiences with it. Kilwell has the barrels listed at $350 which is not a lot of dosh for a barrel these days even if it is only a "22".

Check if they have them in stock. I had the 22 barrel when I brought mine and he to hunt around for the 17HMR, worth it though. My 22 barrel is a thick heavy bugger, prefer the lightweight 17HMR one by far

I think you will find that the hassle of changing barrels and then sighting in again or dialling up the new zero outweighs the glamour of swapping barrels. I have a .17HMR, .22WMR and a .22LR, all as complete guns. Grab the one you want for the afternoon and go kill things rather than dicking around changing out the barrel.

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I think you will find that the hassle of changing barrels and then sighting in again or dialling up the new zero outweighs the glamour of swapping barrels. I have a .17HMR, .22WMR and a .22LR, all as complete guns. Grab the one you want for the afternoon and go kill things rather than dicking around changing out the barrel.

Did you mean to be intentionally rude? - unless you have something useful based on experience to add your opinion doesn't go very far in answering my question. I don't "dick around" doing anything but from your reply I'd have to assume you do it quite a bit because you seem to know what it involves.

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I think you will find that the hassle of changing barrels and then sighting in again or dialling up the new zero outweighs the glamour of swapping barrels. I have a .17HMR, .22WMR and a .22LR, all as complete guns. Grab the one you want for the afternoon and go kill things rather than dicking around changing out the barrel.

Horses for courses.... I use the 17HMR barrel when in north Canterbury and swap to the 22 when on the island so every 6months or so. 10mins and it's job done, yeah you need to adjust scope but do it often enough and you learn where it will be withen 2moa

22lr would need a different bolt as well as the 17 is based on the 22wrm case which has a larger rim, or have I read this wrong?

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

22lr would need a different bolt as well as the 17 is based on the 22wrm case which has a larger rim, or have I read this wrong?

Nope, same bolt, need to change the mag well.

Originally Posted by Tentman

Did you mean to be intentionally rude? - unless you have something useful based on experience to add your opinion doesn't go very far in answering my question. I don't "dick around" doing anything but from your reply I'd have to assume you do it quite a bit because you seem to know what it involves.

Sorry you took my posting as being rude. Wasn't intentional. My reference to 'dicking around' was process related not person related.

That said, every part of my "opinion" detailed in my posting is from personal experience. In my experience, changing out barrels is a lot of 'dicking around' [as defined by the urban dictionary - "To waste time on an unproductive activity"] when you take into account the time and cost required to get to the range and re-sight in your rifle each time, when that time could be better spent out in the field hunting. I personally found the whole process to be a 'dick around'. Due to the fact that my time is too precious to waste 'dicking around', I bought a complete new gun(s) and sold the spare barrel.

If you want to test my "opinion", when your new rifle arrives, sight it in as per normal. Then, have someone change the scope settings without you seeing the change values [to simulate the change of impact cause by the barrel change], strip your gun, take the barrel out, clean the action, refit the barrel, reassemble your gun, take it to the range and re-sight it in again. Then go home, and do the same process all over again. That is the real world requirement of changing from one caliber to another and then back again. Obviously if you have the ability to sight in on you own property etc then this process will be less time consuming. If not, the time and cost soon adds up.

So, take or leave my opinion for what it is, my opinion, based on real world experience. However, that's what you asked for in your original posting.
Hopefully this information is useful to you as you consider you options and make your final decision, and I haven't unproductively wasted my time sharing my experience, otherwise I've dicked around yet again.

Your initial comment HtBbls was spot-on and you weren't in any way rude in my opinion.

Swapping out barrels is a far more extreme version of running multiple loads in the same gun- plenty of things to go wrong, let alone the time-wasting. You'd need a range at home to make swapping barrels tolerable, and even then, you'd tire of it quickly.

Yup as HB said, I've been there done that with a 455 & wouldn't muck around with it again. Having multi barrels sounds like a good idea but in practice they'll just a farken pain in the arse, having to re-sight in etc ( different if you have something like a blaser with your scope attached to the barrel )

Anyone bothered recording the zero with these CZ switch barrels and seeing if they return when barrel is refitted or does zero change every time?

When I first got my blaser I only had one scope but could change barrel and use recorded zero.

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Fair enough about changing them as often as some of you (hopefully) change yer gruts to run multiple calibres . . . . but there might be other reasons why some people might want to be able to change out a barrel . . . as 223nut has pointed out for example. I have different objectives in mind.

Originally Posted by Tentman

Fair enough about changing them as often as some of you (hopefully) change yer gruts to run multiple calibres . . . . but there might be other reasons why some people might want to be able to change out a barrel . . . as 223nut has pointed out for example. I have different objectives in mind.

Well, I think you just killed your own thread right there ....... Please, share your objectives.

Sharing your objectives might encourage people to share their experiences on swapping out barrels, which might well support your thought process, or may well influence you to take another path.
After all, that is why we have forums - to brainstorm our ideas and to seek out the experience and wisdom of a collective that we wouldn't otherwise have access to, so we can make a more informed decision. Why ask for people to share their experiences in the first place if you are going to take a negative stance on what is offered up?

PS - I don't have to change my gruts. Never wear them. COMMANDO ALL THE WAY!

switch barrels are a good idea . . . but its not going to work for the guy wanting to shoot Rabbits during the day with the .17hmr and later to shoot Coons at night with the .22lr

now if you want say a good .22lr rifle with the option of trying something different like a .17 or .22mag later without the expense of buying a complete extra rifle/scope package its going to work for you.

i tried a .22mag barrel out, didnt like the caliber, onsold it on TM for $150 and later bought a sporter .22lr barrel on TM for the same price.

if you want to customise a rifle with an after market barrel like Lilja without getting a gunsmith envolved its going to work for you.

i have a .22lr heavy varmint/target barrel, a sporter barrel in .22lr and a sporter 17hmr, a selection of stocks from target to sporter in wood and plastic . . . that covers all my rimfire shooting, to have 3 different rifles and scopes would cost a lot more.
there is a down side . . . it takes 10 minutes to do a change over and a few rounds to get zeroed . . . i can live with that.

R.

I've had a couple of inter-changeable barrel rifles before, most notably a Valmet 412 (shotgun action based) that had a set of 222/12ga barrels, the 222 was wonderfully accurate. I've also got a switch barrel Omark, to utilise a very very good target stock for different calibres. So I know what is involved in changing barrels in a general sense, but have never tried the CZ "system".

The CZ is to be a very short integrally suppressed .22 shooting only subs for hunting - but the best price I could get on a CZ455 was in a 17 HMR - since it appealed to try a .17 its now in the safe, @Petre gave me a very good deal. I've a .22 barrel arranged with a cone breech and semi-match chamber for starters, but if that doesn't give me the accuracy and function I want - with an inter-changeable barrel I can move on.

The CZ varmint stock is also going to get a compulsory "diet", its my habit to carry my hunting rifle "in hand" and I like them slim through the balance point (which is one reason I didn't go down the 10/22 path, due to the wider mag it hard to get them as slim as I like). One thing that won't need done is the trigger, its easily the best .22 trigger I've had or used, including some "Annies".