CZ527 .17 hornet Issues.....solved

[John Ryan]

I just purchased a CZ527 varmint in .17 Hornet
Beautiful little rifle but haven't had the chance to shoot it as yet, just enough time to clean the gunk from the bore and get familiar.

I did a lot of research ( other brands etc ) before I bought it and mine seems to have the same problems as many other CZ's
inconsistent feeding from the magazine and unable to load single rounds ( must have been built on a Friday arvo)
For a $1100-1600 rifle the magazine could be better ( to be honest reminds me of the older Rolex clasps )
I luckily ordered a spare magazine so will compare when it arrives.

Has anyone on here suffered the same problems and how did you rectify them?

[Bills Shed]

I just purchased a CZ527 varmint in .17 Hornet
Beautiful little rifle but haven't had the chance to shoot it as yet, just enough time to clean the gunk from the bore and get familiar.

I did a lot of research before I bought it and mine seems to have the same problems as many others,
inconsistent feeding from the magazine and unable to load single rounds.
For a $1100-1600 rifle the magazine could be better ( to be honest reminds me of the older Rolex clasps )
I luckily ordered a spare magazine so will compare when it arrives.

Has anyone on here suffered the same problems and how did you rectify them?

Hi John Ryan,
I shoot the 17 Hornet in a standard "classic" I have fired many hundreds of rounds out of it and there are some issues but usually related to the operator and not the rifle.
My biggest operator fault is loading the magazine properly. I only had one mag and if in a heavy patch of ferals it is more a reloading exercise than a cull. With the rimmed case there is always the possibility of hooking the top round behind the round underneath it causing failure to feed. To fix you have to dismantle the mag. When doing this at night with limited light and cold fingers it is not much fun. Second issue that I have encountered is stiff feeding from the mag. When new the rifle did take a bit to "work in" . You can not be half hearted. With a bit of work it is smooth as silk. You can stone a few sharp edges off if you want to improve this. I have also found that the projectile can get a bit knocked around if it does not feed the round first time. I have come across several projectiles that have been pushed back into the case. I was also only half neck sizing at the time but now size the whole neck and that has helped as well. I have picked up another two mags now and a CZ527 in 22 hornet and so have four mags, (17and 22 hornet mags are interchangeable) I only reload two or three times a night now and stop and take my time. Ref the single round loading. It was not designed that way so I do not class it as a fault. You can guide a round into the chamber with your fingers but can be tricky. I believe that Sinclare sell a mag follower that allows single round loading but have not done the homework. I believe it is a perfect tool for "work". It is no show pony, but solid and practical. With an easy sub MOA and cheap to run it is my "go to" calibre for my centrefire work. Hope you find the same. Have fun.
Bill

[John Ryan]

Thank you Bill I was hoping to hear from you about your experience this far.

It is a beautiful little rifle and I'm sure it's going to be in my possession for many years to come.

So first problem sorted.
I have polished the feed lips of the magazine and now cartridges slide freely, you could see some quite deep scratches left on the sides of the cartridges before that little fix.
I will pay close attention on loading the magazine in future so the rims are staggered and don't hang up on each other.

It clearly states in the manual that it may also be used as a single shot with placing one in the chamber, further reading online showed that many extractors have not been fully chamfered on the leading edge so it couldn't ride over the rim when chambered.

Mine had a big burr on the leading edge so I'll have a closer look hopefully over the weekend when I do barrel break-in and initial sight in.

I only have full length size dies so will have to look at neck dies when I start reloading.

Thanks again I really appreciate it
John

[MR. WINCHESTER]

I did a lot of research before I bought it and mine seems to have the same problems as many others,
inconsistent feeding from the magazine and unable to load single rounds.

Huh ...

You did your preliminaries / due diligence / appropriate "research" ...

Discovered 'issues'.

And, went ahead and made a purchase ?

Now wondering what to do ?

I'm wandering toward STUPID ....

[Bills Shed]

To Mr Winchester,
You must be a politician. Making noise with little worth. If you have some real advice for the OP please feel free to contribute.

To John Ryan, Glad you have sorted out the minor feeding issue. When I said that they were not designed for single round loading I meant sitting a round on the empty mag and then pushing the bolt forward to feed the round. Yes you can single feed by inserting a round directly into the chamber but it is fiddly. I have done it often and have had no dramas with the extractor riding over the rim.
Let me know how it shoots
Bill

[John Ryan]

Thank you Mr Winchester.

I also considered a Ruger 77 in the same caliber but the old world charm of the CZ had me in the end.

Unfortunately I can only shoot at SSAA for time being so single shot is required but no issue as have got a single shot follower on its way, magazine will be relegated to hunting when opportunity arises.

The "issues" are well documented and relatively minor and honestly fixed within 10-20 minutes depending on your hand skills.

[MR. WINCHESTER]

To Mr Winchester,
You must be a politician. Making noise with little worth. If you have some real advice for the OP please feel free to contribute.
l

You pompous p**ck !

Is this forum a place for technical chaff and nothing else ?

Are you so boring, as to quash the 'flavour / colour' in life ?

If my 'advice' was unworthy ... then PLEASE ignore it !

( Fellas / fellow forum members, am I so off the mark ? )

[GLS_1956]

I just want you all to know that infighting only gives those persons who are opposed to gun ownership more ammo/leverage to use against you. The anits here in America try it constantly. Disagreeing is one thing, name calling, on a public forum, is another..

[bigfellascott]

Lol

[brett1868]

I can picture Blackend opening his safe to get the banning stick out if the name calling continues.

I have the Ruger 17 Hornet, sweet little shooter but seems to rely on a round in the mag to eject. Has a 6 shot rotary style mag and ejects the first 5 perfectly but the last one extracts but doesn't eject. Good you got yours sorted, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[John Ryan]

I can picture Blackend opening his safe to get the banning stick out if the name calling continues.

I have the Ruger 12 Hornet, sweet little shooter but seems to rely on a round in the mag to eject. Has a 6 shot rotary style mag and ejects the first 5 perfectly but the last one extracts but doesn't eject. Good you got yours sorted, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Up bright an early tomorrow for my first shots with the CZ, will post the results.

[brett1868]

Here's a pic of the first 6 shots from the Ruger @50m, the first group is to the lower left (Scroll down) after bore sighting, then the next 3 after adjusting the scope. All shot using the Hornady factory ammo so not sure if I'll ever bother to reload when factory is this good. It's a proper little tack driver but I did notice the groups open up substantially after a dozen or so shots so it may be fussy about barrel temp or needs a clean every 10 shots or so. Keen to hear about your initial shots tomorrow

IMG_2269.JPG (118.79 KiB) Viewed 12981 times

[Oldbloke]

Here's a pic of the first 6 shots from the Ruger @50m, the first group is to the lower left (Scroll down) after bore sighting, then the next 3 after adjusting the scope. All shot using the Hornady factory ammo so not sure if I'll ever bother to reload when factory is this good. It's a proper little tack driver but I did notice the groups open up substantially after a dozen or so shots so it may be fussy about barrel temp or needs a clean every 10 shots or so. Keen to hear about your initial shots tomorrow

IMG_2269.JPG

WOW But that rifle would be of no use to me. I cant shoot that good.

[John Ryan]

So Sunday was my first day out with the little .17 Hornet, arrived at Belmont nice and early.

I won't bother anyone with the particular barrel break in method I used as each to their own

Was a beautiful day for shooting with the wind picking up closer to midday causing some fliers but overall some really good groups once my hands had thawed ( RO said it was 4 degrees )

After break in and some initial sighting in I only had fifteen cartridges left to see how she would shoot at 100m, the wind really blows the tiny .17 pills around and picking the wind was tricky.

My best group of the day at 100m left me wishing I had another three boxes!

edit; Not sure why pictures are not right way up! Sorry

[brett1868]

Great group John, brain shot on bunnies for sure. Told you they were a sweet little shooter, what ammo we're you using? I was using the 20gr Hornady VMAX Superformance and I've got some 25gr projectiles to load once I get some time. Love the low noise and lack of recoil on this round, perfect for dispatching small game.

[Bills Shed]

Groups look good. I have not fired any factory ammo out of my rifle and chose to reload from day dot. 10.1 gr of 2205, federal SR primer. Approx 3600fps. Easy sub .75"@100m. Am just finishing off the last of 1 k VMax projectiles. My dies for making .172 projectiles have arrived and with a little work I will start making the jackets in the next month or so. I can then compare my home swaged projectiles to factory pills. My jackets are " recycled" .22 LR cases so probably will not be as consistent as the new factory jackets but it will be fun to compare. Hoping I can keep it under an inch.
Please keep us informed as to how the accuracy goes over the long term. I have not noticed any loss of accuracy yet.
Bill

[John Ryan]

Initially sighted in with a box of 15.5gr NTX but the 20gn VMAX really tightened up the groups!
I've got both 20 and 25gn ready to reload, noticed today Hornady have just released a 25 gr HP @ 3375fps imagine it would be pretty effective on bunnies and foxes out to 200m?

I noticed on the majority of my cartridges after firing an unusual ring towards the case head, any ideas?
I was hoping to use the spent cases for my first foray into hand loading.

[Oldbloke]

JR,
You should be very happy with that. Gotta say it again. No good to me, I cant shoot that straight.

In the end a good choice, be happy. May you instantly kill many pests with it. Amen

I may be corrected but the ring is where the web inside the case thins out and the case just expands to fit the chamber. Fairly normal. Unless pressures are mild.

[Gamerancher]

Oldbloke is spot on about the ring . Nothing to worry about so long as it is not excessive. That is the point where you get case-head separations when things go wrong. Just shows that your chamber is a bit bigger than the cases were sized. Don't go to town with full length resizing to get rid of it though. That will lead to premature case failure at that point.

[Bills Shed]

+1 for the above.
A couple of my previous Hornets did the same. No biggy. Normal. I did not FL size either. Just neck. Again as mentioned just keep an eye on case seperation.
Enjoy the ride.
Bill

[John Ryan]

+1 for the above.
A couple of my previous Hornets did the same. No biggy. Normal. I did not FL size either. Just neck. Again as mentioned just keep an eye on case seperation.
Enjoy the ride.
Bill

I only have the full length size dies unfortunately.
After sorting through the spent cases exactly 25 don't have the ring which I'm assuming is the first box of ammo I put through the rifle ( 15.5gr NTX )

Initial problems of feeding have disappeared with smoothing out the feed lips of the magazine.

[Gamerancher]

You can re-size with the full length dies, just back the die up until it only resizes maybe 50% of the neck. Then it won't be resizing the body near the end of the web of the case. You only need to re-size enough to get a grip on the bullet and have cases that feed into the chamber.

[Heckler303]

That looks like the perfect long-range wallaby medicine now you've gotten it sighted in.


You going to to use it on wallabies or just bunnies?

[John Ryan]

[quote="Heckler303"]That looks like the perfect long-range wallaby medicine now you've gotten it sighted in.


You going to to use it on wallabies or just bunnies?[/quote

I remember growing up in Tassie we would take wallably with a .22 no problem,with good placement the .17 should have a bit more reach.

When the opportunity arises to go hunting on some property here I think I'll be well equipped

[Heckler303]

I remember growing up in Tassie we would take wallably with a .22 no problem,with good placement the .17 should have a bit more reach.

When the opportunity arises to go hunting on some property here I think I'll be well equipped

Yeah, I use Eley subsonics on them all the time, they just pop right over with headshots, very quiet and very effective out to 50m.

[John Ryan]

So today I had a case head separation at the range


Three boxes of Hornady Superformance 20gn
two boxes of the same batch number have brass colored primers and one box had silver colored primers with a different batch number.

My mate has a savage chambered for the 17 Hornet so we organized a little competition between us

Every round with the brass colored primers had the ring around the case head after firing as I have posted above however halfway through a box and bang...face full of hot gas!!


Same rounds fired in the Savage exactly same result visible ring around the head, compared to rounds with silver color primer no visible deformity either after being fired in both rifles.

The batch number of the affected rounds is 3151646
I took my spent cartridges and the remaining rounds left back to my LGS I purchased them from they are going to notify the distributer but didn't seem at all concerned .

[jovialjosie2002]

I have a CZ527 in 7.62*39.....
The gun shoots really great....NOW!!!!
HOWEVER, it has been back to the gun Shop 3 times and then sent back to Winchester.
Firstly, the magazine just fell out, I was cleaning it after my first outing and it just fell out and wouldn't go back in.
After my gun Shop fixed that issue, an even bigger one arose. It wouldn't feed any rounds from the magazine. So off to Winchester it went.
The gunsmiths at Winchester must have done something amazing to this gun. The gun Shop also agreed with me that the bolt was very different and the rounds fed wonderfully after Winchester looked at it. They also rebedded the rifle and( from the scratches on the scope mountings) fitted a scope and tested it.
It now shoots great, when I first got it, I was spraying the target at 50 metres. I thought it was the cheap Russian ammo, however, Winchester must have done something to it cause it shoots much better now, even with Russian cheapo ammo.
The range officer at Ipswich told me a similar story about a cz527 he had. The magazine never worked and he ended using it as a single shot before he "got rid of it".
In short, I would never buy another one of these guns again. QC should not have let a gun like this pass. I paid $1400 AUD for this gun, I shouldn't have had to take it back to the shop after paying this much. I am so glad I bought it Brand New under warranty, who knows how much the gunsmithing bill to fix this gun would have cost.
My wife was looking for a 9mm pistol and I suggested a cz75 cause I had seen so many great reviews about them.....she just gave me a filthy look and reminded me of all the troubles I have had with cz already. If these guns were half the price, I could live with the odd recall and QC problems. BUT, the price of these guns is way too much for what you get. Talk to your local gun Shop and get something cheaper and more reliable, in my opinion you can.

[John Ryan]

Glad you got it sorted mate,

I just purchased another 527 varmint in .223
It was an ex demo that was literally half price so i couldn't resist.

Shot her last weekend and no problems.
Magazine feeds smoothly all five shots, after barrel break in the groups tightened up considerably and everything smoothed up a bit more.

Considering the recoil is more than the 17 Hornet that i'm used to shooting a few flyers were definitely my fault and i found i need a better rear bag.

[Nigel]

Unfortunately I can only shoot at SSAA for time being so single shot is required but no issue as have got a single shot follower on its way, magazine will be relegated to hunting when opportunity arises.

If possible, can you share the details of your single shot follower. What did you get and where did get it from?

I have just bought a CZ 527 in 22 Hornet and, for various reasons, would like to get a single shot follower. I am aware of the Calhoon and Bob Sled models available from the US but am trying to find something available locally before going down that path. Extensive googling has not turned up much.