CZ 527 Carbine in 7.62 x 39

[mattmillerrx]

I read a review on this gun over a year ago and my first thought was why!!!  Seemed like it should be a semi-auto for this round.  Anyway, for some reason this gun keeps popping up...I have read a least 3 review on it in the last couple of months.  One of the articles really got me thinking and changed my mind on the idea, so I did some more reading on it and watch a couple of videos.


http://www.cz-usa.com/products/view/cz-527-carbine/



The piece that really got me thinking on this gun was the comments on how the guys wife was hunting with it because of the light weight and low recoil.  Well, those are features I like too...but have been looking for something the wife would not be too intimidated by and have some youngsters coming up and a gun like this would be nice there too.  I am already thinking about reloads with cast bullets and Trail Boss.


I keep thinking surplus ammo, hog hunting, truck gun, homestead defense gun (I really need a rifle anyone in the house can use), high power plinking, Trail gun...


The only negative I see in the gun is the 5 round mags. 


Have not read much negative about the gun anyway and am already a big CZ fan.  I would like to here your thoughts on this gun and if you have first hand experience with it even better.


Thanks,

[woodchukhntr]

I have one and find no fault with it except the fact that the magazine hangs down right where your hand goes when you carry it and you cannot feed it single rounds without putting them in the magazine.  I am considering having it converted to a short magazine.  As far as the 5 shot magazine goes, do you feel that 5 shots are not enough?  If not, pick up a couple of extra magazines.
Mine shoots Wolf ammo very well.
 

[quasne.inc]

I loved mine.  It was so flipping accurate.  And it was a joy to carry all day hunting without a sling, except that the mag sticks out right at its balance point.  Only reason I sold it was because I moved out west and wanted to hunt elk and pronghorn.  So I went with something with a little more distance and punch. 

[mannyrock]

 
   I love the way this carbine looks and handles.  I would have bought one a long time ago, except that on these rifles, the safety works backwards, i.e., the opposite of how they work on U.S. guns.
   Clicking forward puts the safety on, clicking it back lets the safety off.
   If you have other bolt actions with ordinary safety switches, and you are trying to train your wife and youngsters on them, this could be an accident waiting to happen.
  I grew up shooting Remington 700s and still do, and so I just couldn't get comfortable with the CZ safety.
  They are excellent rifes though.
Mannyrock
 
 
 
 

[mcwoodduck]

   I love the way this carbine looks and handles.  I would have bought one a long time ago, except that on these rifles, the safety works backwards, i.e., the opposite of how they work on U.S. guns.
   Clicking forward puts the safety on, clicking it back lets the safety off.
   If you have other bolt actions with ordinary safety switches, and you are trying to train your wife and youngsters on them, this could be an accident waiting to happen.
  I grew up shooting Remington 700s and still do, and so I just couldn't get comfortable with the CZ safety.
  They are excellent rifes though.
Mannyrock

I have a few CZ rifle and a few Rem 700 rifles.
I do not have a problem going from the different safety systems of the Win Wing, the mauser lever, Ruger wing or tang, the 700 lever, or the CZ Wing.
When out hunting I find the CZ easy to use as your thumb sits on the safety at port arms and as you pick the rifle up to your shoulder it comes off.
I have looked at the little CZ carbine and thought it would be a great truck gun for the farm.
I have a 223 American with a 3-9X 38 scope on it for Javilina hunting and it is a great rifle and I have the 3 round mags and a few 5 round.  A couple spare mags are an easy way to carry a few extra rounds.

[mattmillerrx]

I have one and find no fault with it except the fact that the magazine hangs down right where your hand goes when you carry it and you cannot feed it single rounds without putting them in the magazine.  I am considering having it converted to a short magazine.  As far as the 5 shot magazine goes, do you feel that 5 shots are not enough?  If not, pick up a couple of extra magazines.
Mine shoots Wolf ammo very well.

Is the short mag conversion a DIY project or is a gunsmith doing it?  I have no real issue with the 5 rounders, but think 10 would be nice for plinking and a flush fit would be nice for hunting.  I have heard most like the Wolf...which is good.


If it is a DIY project, do you have a link to the website.

[bcraig]

I have one in 223 and really like the looks and how it shoots ,scoped with a 2.5 Heavy duplex Leupold ,1 inch sling and swivels,and Loaded a tad less than 7 pounds.Shoots federal premium 60 grain Partition.into less than an inch and a half at 150 yards.
practically non existant recoil,and accurate and light and I am thinking the partition will really do a number on deer.
I really like the set trigger ,Safety does take a little getting used to but then so does going from a mauser safety to a remington safety to a Ruger safety to a Remington Pump rifle safety.

Craig

[Victor3]

 I looked at the 7.62x39 carbine and could have done the 3 round conversion myself, or paid a smith to do it for ~$125. It's hard to beat the 527 American MI out of the box though. Comes with 3 and 5 round mags and scope rings.
 
 As far as "handy" goes, it's not as short as the carbine but is close in weight and dimensions to my 452 American in .22lr, which is plenty handy enough. My Wife and 13 year old Son can shoot both with no problem.
 

[mattmillerrx]

I got one on order today.  This one was to hard to pass up.  I was checking on reloading supplies for it and it is going to be hard to reload this round cheaper than you can buy it.  I still plan on reloading it, as that is half the fun in it for me...but man it is nice to know I am not blowing money if I just grab a box of factory.


Plus with reloading I can make the load I want for hunting, there is limited hunting bullets load rounds on the market and they are high enough to justify reloading.


Hoping to get some good wood.  I have seen some reading peoples reviews that is great wood.


Plan to get a range report up after a get some rounds through it.

[Rock Home Isle]

I want one....yup, I surely do want one. 

[mattmillerrx]

I got the gun in earlier this week.  The first think that really struck home about the gun is the lightness and handiness of the gun.  It mounts to the shoulder quickly.  On the downside, the next think I noticed was the stiffness of shutting the bolt (this has smoothed up with quickly with some shooting).  The trigger out of the box was nice and the set trigger is a real plus.  I did ok on wood, nothing fancy but it has a nice color and some character.


I have not taken the gun to the range yet, so will have to do some more formal accuracy work later.  I did however take it with me this weekend near where I hunt (getting some stuff set up for a pig hunt.  I guess you could include the CZ in that.).  I started with the irons and could see the accuracy potential of the gun right away.  In many ways, I want to add a peep/receiver site to the gun rather than scope it.  After scoping the bolt manipulation is not as fast due to interference of the bolt handle and the scope (nothing hits, it is just in the way) and you have the added weight to the gun and doing so loses some of the handiness.


To my surprise when I got the gun, it had rings supplied.  I am told CZ does not do this but the distributer the gun was ordered through does (sorry, I did not see which distributer it was purchased through).  I have a little Simmons 4 x 32 laying around and added it on to see a little better what the accuracy potential is, however, the winds have been extremely high today.  I did get a couple of groups in last night the wind was high but not near as high as today and was getting 3 to 3.5 inch 100 yard groups from field positions using wolf FMJ 122.  I am currently exploring options for sights, optics, or red dots for this guns and am leaning heavily to a Leopold ultralight 2.5 x 20.  Last night I found a VX-II 2-7 X33 with a "long range reticle. I think the extra marks may help get this round our to 200 or 250 yards...and even 300 on steel.


I just finished taking it apart and adjusting the trigger.  I left the over-travel as is and it was not noticeable for me.  I did take the pre-travel down some, as there was to much creep for me.  The gun has the set trigger option, so I left some creep in because this will be a field gun as much as a target/plinker for me.  When I had it set where I liked it for target shooting the sear engagement was just to small and would not pass a bump test.  I also lighted the trigger.  I do not have my scale with me, so will have to see how accurate my guess is.  I believe the gun was around 4 lbs to start with and I believe it is about 2.75 lbs now.  For this light of a rifle, that lighter trigger pull should help the accuracy. 


As noted above the tightness in closing the bolt is now gone.  Between the dry-firing and the shooting the bolt is now smooth all the way through closing.


This is going to be a piece mill range report/review and will post more later.  I need to pick up some other ammo types before hitting the range.


Needless to say, I like the rifle and am looking forward to finishing this report.

[mattmillerrx]

Adding a couple of pictures to go with the review.  Sorry, don't have fancy camera or photo skills.

[muznut 54]

I bought one about 8 or 9 years ago only because I had about 2000 rounds of wolf ammo after selling a couple of AKs. The mag does not bother me nor the safety I just think of it like a lever gun pulling back a hammer. When I bought mine I ordered it and the gun dealer charged me for the factory rings. I wonder if he screwed me? But I think its a nice little rifle.

[foto]

Know its a little old but just wanted to add another opinion on my newly aquired cz carbine. Great rifle, light, and extremely accurate with the right ammo. Got it setup with a 1-4x nikon monarch scope. 3 inch gun with wolf, 2-3 inch with tula and american eagle, and finally with Federal Power shoks(bluebox),  holes all touching(3 shot groups). This is straight out of the box with a good cleaning only. Surprised the hell out out of me,especially with only a 4 power scope. Didn't even think I was capable of it and I am very happy as that is now the designated hunting round for this thing. Also as a warning, with certain ammo, Remington corelokts and some winchester?(not sure)fmj load I only had like 10 rounds of  there was a headspace?? problem in that the gun will only light strike the primers. Like one of every 4 rounds would not fire and they then were fired without problem in a sks. So don't buy a bunch of domestic made russian ammo until you have verified that it shoots in the gun. No problem whatsoever with federal,american eagle or any foreign stuff. Hope its info that is useful. Again very happy with it. Take care

[Cemo]

Love mine, beautiful gun, handy & lightweight, low recoil, cheap to shoot, ideal for short range woods hunting, very very accurate. Good rifle beginners or someone who just likes handy rifles.

[LunaticFringeInc]

I would like to here your thoughts on this gun and if you have first hand experience with it even better.

I dont have first hand experience with it yet, but like you I have read a lot about it especially reviews from folks who have one.  The only down side I am hearing is of the 5 round magazine instead of a flush fit one.  Its my understanding that a gun smith out of Oregon is modifying mags to just 3 rounds but for a price.  Been a while since I have read this on another forum so I dont know if he is still in this business.


What are my thoughts on this gun?  If your looking for a light and handy carbine, in a moderate powered cartridge, with low recoil, cheap to feed in a compact package I am not sure you could do much better than the CZ-527 in 7.62x39.  Since I own a couple of AK's and a couple of SKS's, and as such have a gang of ammo for them, this gun makes even more sense.  Here shortly there will be one joining my collection in the gun safe!!!

[wareagleguy]

I had one and really wanted to like it.  Fine looking and good CZ quality build.  Handled great.  The reason I just could not keep it was accuracy.  It shot like crap.  I burned pounds of powder trying to find a load but never got anything better than about a 2 inch group at 100 yards.  I took a beating on it and traded it for a 7mm-08 Marlin.  I never looked back as I have the marlin shooting about 1/2-3/4 in groups @ 100 yards!!!  Wish I would have found that little marlin sooner.  I have an extra mag for the little CZ is someone wants one.

[Cemo]

Mine shoots under 1" groups with 123 gr Winchester factory ammo. I was supprised.

[mattmillerrx]

I am still very please with mine.  I have only fired the cheap russian stuff in it so far, but am happy with the accuracy.  I have not found it to be MOA, but around 1.5 MOA.  This meets my needs fine with the cheap ammo.


I have found the 5 round mags to be just fine.  No need to convert to a flush mount.  The barrel heats rather quickly, so no need for a larger mag either.  The 5 rounders allow you to grip the gun both when carrying and when shooting in certain positions.


Hoping to get to the range with it this week end.