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Bought a used CZ 457 in 22 long rifle

I've done a few 200 yard rimfire-only matches at Riverbend gun club, just for fun, and while my rifle was giving me groups the size of a Frisbee, the best shooters including some with CZ rifles were putting 10 rounds --or at least nine out of 10 rounds -- in a group the size of your fist. (Wind's a factor too!)
 
This morning I worked with the trigger using snap caps. I'm starting to learn how and when it breaks. At 1.5 lbs release pressure it's lighter than all my other guns. When I first sighted it in, it mostly went bang before I was ready.

This is my target today. The upper left is CCI Mini Mag Varmint HP, the upper right is Winchester Power Point HP, the lower left is Aguila Super Extra 38 grain copper coated HP, the lower right is Aguila Super Extra 40 grain copper coated round nose, and the center is the CCI Segmented HP Subsonic. I didn't clean the barrel between types of ammo, so the groups could have been a little better by cleaning, then fouling the rifling with the next type of round.

It still fired a couple of times before I expected. Will take a little more shooting to get used to it.

I adjusted the elevation up 2 clicks and shot some more CCI Segmented HP Subsonic as that's what I have been previously shooting in other rifles. It hit dead center after the adjustment. That round has been great on squirrels and rabbits. I'll use the Aguila Super Extra 38 grain CCHP as backup, or for longer shots on bigger critters like coons and possums and use Kentucky windage since that shoots a little to the right.

I'm really liking this rifle as I learn it's trigger and what it shoots Best.

Rod

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I hoped to find hollow point ammo that shoots well in this 457. I'm using it as a hunting gun, not a target gun. I have boxes of Eley yellow box Target, Eley black box Match, CCI Standard Velocity, CCI Green Tag, and Aguila Rifle Match ammo. As well as Aguila Super Extra copper coated round nose. It's been my experience that these round nose bullets only poke a hole through small game and they just run off. Then a day or two later I start to smell them off in the woods somewhere. OK, head shots work a little bit better in quickly dispatching them. With hollow point or segmented bullets, my experience has been much better. With body shots, they might run a little, but I always found them close by. There's a mess of HP ammo out there that I haven't tried yet. I was surprised at the results of a search for "The best 22 LR hollow point hunting ammo." Both CCI Stinger and Velocitor was returned as the best for hunting. Over time I'll pick up a box of different brands and types of HP ammo here and there, and give them a try.

Rod
Look into a HP die. It takes a little time but you don’t have to change ammo. The set I have didn’t change the group size but I made a huge difference on game. Some of the recovered HP expanded to over 3/8”
 
I had the Bore Buddy 22 rimfire pointing die set. It has 3 different punches to make hollow points. I was shooting both an Anschutz 1710 D KL and a Remington 541S at the time. When driving the punches in the lead bullets to make them into hollow points, it expanded the external diameter of the bullet just enough that the modified bullets wouldn't go in the extremely tight chambers of either the 1710 or 541S. They'd go in my Ruger 10/22, but not in the Anschutz or Remington. I sold that die set on here several years ago.

But I've found both subsonic and high speed hollow point ammo that shoots very well in my CZ 457. Will just stick to the factory stuff.

Rod
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Well, I decided to try some fast HP ammo in the CZ. I picked up boxes of CCI Velocitor and Stinger. Both of them shot pretty good.

The Velocitor shot inside the 2 inch target in the 2 o'clock position.
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The Stinger shot at the top of the target.

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Both shot well enough for small game and critters.

So I've shot 7 different types of HP ammo in this gun, ranging from subsonic segmented HP at 1,050 fps, all the way through Stinger HP at 1,640 fps. Although the points of impact moved around from the different rounds, the 5-shot groups were all dime-sized or smaller. Not too many guns out there with that type of performance at this price point.

Rod
 
I've done a few 200 yard rimfire-only matches at Riverbend gun club, just for fun, and while my rifle was giving me groups the size of a Frisbee, the best shooters including some with CZ rifles were putting 10 rounds --or at least nine out of 10 rounds -- in a group the size of your fist. (Wind's a factor too!)

Here’s my best 20 shot group at 200 in a match. It was out of a Tikka T1X with Eley Tenex ammo
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