CZ USA 527 M1 American 223 Rem Bolt Action Rifle - Blue/Black, 22" Barrel, 4 Rounds, Synthetic, Black Stock

Excellet out-of-the-box accuracy with the factory provided rings. Had it sighted in faster than any rifle I have ever set on the bench. 1 MOA has not been difficult to achieve with quality hunting ammo. The factory trigger is very nearly custom grade, and I LOVE the detachable magazine. The polymer stock is of excellent quality with no noticeable flex when I have it up on a Harris tripod. A fine utility or varmint rifle. Highly recommended.

I was looking for a fairly light, nice handling, durable rifle for coyote & bobcat hunting to carry in our rough western terrain, bounce around in the farm truck or atv and that I wouldn't care about scratching the stock on. The CZ 527 M1 American in 223 Rem has fully met my expectations. When you first take it out of the packaging the entire gun and synthetic stock are covered with this slimy oil compound, it looks kind of like an alien baby but don't be shocked like I was, it cleans off very easily with a rag and gun solvent. This must keep it from rusting during overseas shipping, warehouse storage and it does it's job. You will fully disassemble the gun to clean all this oil off, it is everywhere. The barrel moves quite freely side to side in the forearm channel. When you disassemble the gun you will notice the recoil lug does not slip into a conventional recess, there's just a big void formed in the stock forearm that it floats around in allowing the side to side movement. I was not pleased with that manufacturing shortcut and will glass bed the recoil lug to secure it better in the stock. The quality of the metal machining work is on par with American-made guns costing twice as much and far exceeds the quality of other similarly priced budget guns. There are no stamped metal, cast pot metal or plastic pieces on this gun. It has a very nice brushed-finish blued receiver, barrel and trigger guard, but not too glossy or shiny. Initially the bolt worked very rough but like in other reviews I've read, I put some gun grease in the machined receiver slots, worked the bolt in and out vigorously 50-100 times and it smoothed out very quickly. Now it runs as smooth as my Kimber bolt actions. The single selective trigger was a heavy pull factory setting but it easily adjusted with the CZ supplied instructions which you can also get off their website. The set trigger functions as advertised and you can disable it as it's not necessary in hunting use. I found the CZ supplied scope rings to be too high and could not get a proper cheek weld on the stock. I bought a set of Warne medium height rings, they are perfect height for my face shape and the Leupold VX-III 2.5-8x36 scope. The 3-round magazine has a pretty stiff spring and getting the 3rd round in takes some two-handed manipulating. The gun balances at the magazine and carries nicely which I think a protruding 5-round magazine may feel odd in the hand. During barrel break-in I have been shooting Black Hills 50 gr V-Max factory ammo and consistently getting 0.3" 3-shot and 0.5" 5-shot groups at 100 yds. Extremely pleased with out of the box accuracy and apparently that unbedded recoil lug was not a problem after all.