CZ 457 Carbon

It’s great to see a real gunmaker watch its product mature over decades and then, when the time is right, strike out with an entirely new model that encapsulates everything reliable in the old, alongside new shooting trends, materials and manufacturing procedures, without the overwhelming desire just to make things cheaper.

Having used the various 457 variants (Synthetic Sporter, Walnut Royal Sporter, MTR and Long Range LRP), the foundation action is entirely familiar but to really make a special collector’s unit, it has now been combined with a limited edition, ultra-lightweight carbon barrel to complement the camouflage dipped stock.

Attractive looks

Although shrouded in a dipped, digitaltype of camouflage finish that’s seemingly slightly reptilian and very attractive to my eyes, the underlying stock is essentially the same standard, black synthetic underneath, just with a broadened barrel channel.

It features a slightly soft-touch finish, a tall comb height and a beneficial 14” length of pull (LOP). Although lightweight, this makes the gun feel adult-sized when shot. Coupled to a handfilling grip with ambidextrous palm swell and similarly grownup reach to trigger blade, the Synthetic stock in both 457 and 557 formats has been very appealing to me in a modern world of relatively weak synthetics. This one remains stiff with plentiful internal reinforcements and the forend remains freefloating in all conditions,so won’t affect barrel harmonics. Up front, on the underside are twin studs for a bipod and sling, plus there’s one at the rear.

There are grippy moulded panels on the forend and grip and although hand-filling, the open radius of the grip seemingly remains comfortable for smaller hands as well as relatively generous to those with large hands. Subtle shapes, very cleverly designed factors.

Carbon sells

So, with that out of the way, what’s the main event? Well, this gun is distinctly more expensive than any of its 457 family peers and the barrel is the reason why. It’s a 20” stainless steel unit, machined down with shoulders at the muzzle and breech for addition to the action and external threading for moderator in 1/2 UNF specification, which is common to most rimfires.

What really draws the eye is the carbon fibre. It’s wrapped around that stainless steel barrel and then machined to give the 21.3mm parallel cylindrical profile. The external finish shows small areas of porosity where the overlapping fibres, once tightly wrapped and cured, contained minute voids, but this offers up a unique overall pattern of scales rather than the simple warp and weft of pre-woven carbon sheet.

I often look a little disdainfully at carbon barrels as a marketing ploy on centrefires. There is a huge difference between true cutting edge technology that considers cooling and just ‘carbon fibre’ enclosing a steel tube as an assumed benefit. The latter causing extensive shifting POI problems.

Here, on a .22 LR, I can agree with its use as rimfire rifles don’t get that hot. What it does offer is beneficial stiffness, without excess weight when compared to steel. Carbon fibre composites are essentially insulators radially, from the core hot barrel to the cooling airflow outside.

Multi calibre?

All 457s share barrel change capability with both short .22LR and longer .17HMR compatibility. ‘Mini sets’ containing barrels and magazines, along with the magazine well spacer and chamber headspace/bullet feed ramp are available and will fit on this rifle if desired. However, part of the exclusivity is that it really ought to remain in original format for true collector value.

The rifle comes with a match specification chamber and this info is engraved on the barrel. The headspace is noticeably firm with some ammunition brands, a not uncommon issue in looser headspaced rimfires with brands like CCI, who seem to show a generally thicker rim. It’s just slightly more noticeable here due to match tolerances. As always, it’s well worth experimenting with any rimfire.

Inlet details

The action fastens into the inlet without bedding stresses, with twin T25 Torx screws spanning the floorplate and polymer trigger guard. A 5-round, single-column magazine is supplied and can be released via a sprung catch at the front of the well. All CZ 452/453/455/512 magazines are compatible, so you can buy a 10-rounder or even a 25-round banana unit if desired. However, to me, the rifle strikes a tune as a super lightweight stalker/hunter.

The bolt stroke is 42.7mm, with a 55mm handle extension capped by an 18mm steel ball end, all blued to match the other steelwork. A visual and tactile cocked action indicator is shown in red at the rear of the shroud and the side-mounted, 2-position safety catch operates quietly and easily.

The bolt handle is now mid-length along the shaft, with a single rear locking lug for a 60° lift at the base of the handle. An extended guiding rail external to the polymer shroud assists a streamlined, modern look mechanically and visually. The bolt extraction button is located rear/left of the action and allows the removal of the bright steel shaft with twin extractor claws and a manual ejector.

The striker is assured to be new and lightweight for a faster lock time. There’s certainly a little less inertial feel when the rifle is dry fired to assess the claim. Interestingly, the tip of the striker/firing pin shows both a sharp chisel tip for assured initiation of rim borne primer and a larger flat upper surface that in a dry fire situation, meets the external breech face rather than the more delicate chamber rim. This looks like an incredibly neat way of ensuring dry firing won’t damage the firing pin tip itself, although to be fair, the older 452 I have has been dry fired for decades and has never let me down and that is a distinctly older, BRNO derived design.

An underside ejector claw exposes as the bolt is drawn back and flicks the empty case up and right from the open-topped action, which incidentally, features an 11mm dovetail for scope mounting. There is masses of space for ring positioning, making acquiring correct eye relief that much easier.

Trigger time

CZ’s single-stage trigger, along with that firing pin, reinforces my opinion of intelligent gun makers, not just clever marketing. It breaks crisply at 1200-grams as delivered and offers adjustability, without blobs of threadlock hampering you. The grub screws offer both initial feel and weight variation. They also cater towards the long life of the rifle as steel wears and in critical items like triggers, this shows how the Czechs have future-proofed a gun for generations of effective maintenance and use, just like the Brnos and 452s have proven already. Anti-corrosion treatments are applied and the workmanship in these hidden areas is an engineering delight, with solid billet machining, not just endless stamped, rolled or folded components.

Does carbon really help?

In a way, the familiar modularity of the 457 mechanics polarises opinion on this rifle, as I can’t help but compare it to the standard synthetic, which is almost £1200 less. On the test bench, with the same ammunition in similar circumstances, the precision and accuracy difference is negligible. Both guns are capable of sub 12mm groups at 50m and 30- 45mm groups at 100m when the wind is kind and ammunition flyers are addressed realistically. However, every time I lifted my gun slip out of the truck, it felt like the slip was open and the gun was sliding out, but it wasn’t, it’s just like a feather at 2.4kg/5.3lbs. There was a childish smirk every time, partly because I realised I wasn’t dropping a precious rifle and because it’s just such an obvious factor.

Carrying the carbon rifle out rabbiting, it was noticeably lighter, yet still well balanced. A realistic scope and moderator are now effectively free mass because that’s the saving over a similar length steel barrel. I fitted a bipod just because I always do and even then, the CZ was light and pointable, plus it was delightful to shoot from sticks with an appreciably quiet stock that doesn’t resonate if bumped.

Conclusion

I think the 457 will be a future classic in any format and although very expensive, this gun looks great and is exclusive with no detriment to performance, so will hold its value. The silly smile factor brought on by the lack of weight is priceless and since there wasn’t really much CZ could do to further hone the 457, like shotguns, visual bling is the final step.