Hi All,
 
 
In another thread Sav17 and I were discussing the Brnos which are now known as the CZ-Brno. This is the older model 601 and was made in 1994 according to the proof mark :-
 

 

 

 

 
Out of the box it has the straight Sett trigger which I do not like the look of so I fitted the std curved one, the sett trigger works well but it looks awful to my thinking it also has some poly varnish type finish which  find slippery so a little while after I brought it this finish was stripped off and I used a Warthog Purdeys kit  9 no longer made it seems ) to re-finish the wood with this oil finish, it was not the aim to quite get the Best london finish, however it got close possibly too close as this real shiney finish is not my normal choice. However it seems to be hard wearing and although very smooth is not slippery so I left it as is. Also made up the barrel band to hold the front swivel as the std fitment in the fore end was right where my left hand wanted to be some day I must get around to filling the hole it left
 
The scope is a Deutche 6x42 which is not bad, it has Zeiss lenses but the whole thing is assembled in the Far East somewhere or some I am told, anyway it has served me well mounts are steel Hilvers and can be removed and yet return to zero when replaced. Hmm I cannot remember if I checked if the iron sights are on for the loads I am using must do that. Loads used in it consist of a Speer 165 grn flat based spitzer, but recently I am trying out lighter bullets and have tried a couple of combinations using the Hornady 130 Grn spire Points, one load did reasonable the other was dire so today I loaded up some more to try out using a 135 grn Sierra spitzer that I had laying about and we will see what they shoot like using H335 powder and Rem 9 1/2 primers in Winchester brass.
 
So there you go Richie, I will try to get some better photos of it some day soon. The tiger stripping does not show very well in these .

I noticed that the European style of stocks have the butt of the stock angled slightly downward while American style guns have a straighter stock style. Why is that? I really like the style on the new CZ Euros. They are slightly curved which looks nice.
   
 
 
   
   

Hi Kanibal,
 
The stock you are refering to is the one which we call the "Hogsback stock" it has it's roots in Bavaria I believe and it's not a favorite of mine nor is the square cheek piece that seems to go with it. Now as to the stock on mine, the comb drops I believe to allow the use of the Iron sights . Iron sight shooting is still done a fair bit in Central Europe as it Driven game shooting of Boar and Deer so it's likely that the rifel was designed/styled with this in mind. Also it maybe due to the different shooting style. Europeans and the British tend to shoot heads up and not crowding into to stock like is the norm in the US. If you like it's like our game shooting with shotguns, you don't move the head down you bring the gun up to the cheek:D unlike the trap shooter who again crowds the stock with his head leaning down into it.
 
Now just looking at several other British rifles and there stocks, I see a trend and a change;) the trend was that rifles designed and in the most part made up until the late 1960's had a stock shaped to allow the easy comfortable use of Iron sights. Rifles after this time have stocks designed mainly for scope use so have a higher comb with less drop to it. However even this is blurred as the BSA Majestic which was made in 1959 has an almost straight comb but as the rifle was offered with a P-H 6E reciever sporting aperture sight, the comb is low enough to use that comfortably. The worse design is also a BSA adopted in 1949 on the Model E which is a rifle made using rebuilt P-14 recievers, the comb on this stock is too thick at the front and actually is slightly higher at the front instead of being slightly lower or straight:rolleyes: this of course would make the felt recoil on the cheek more, mine chambered in 303 is comfortable to use with the scope but not so comfortable using the iron sights on the barrel nor the P-H 6EH peep sight which is probably why the Model D I picked up has had the comb and butt quite heavily altered.
 
BSA learned their lesson it seems quickly as after that their stock shapes are some of the best and most comfortable to use:D .
 
Until the mid to late 1960's it was considered by a lot of folk to be unsporting to use a scope for Stalking the Red Deer in Scotland:rolleyes: and no I am not joking! It seems that you were looked down upon if at this time you turned up for your stalk with a scope fitted, I can only go on the books written and the experieices of thse old enough to have stalked up there during this period. There were alway those well heeled who have Best Sporting rifles which came with a scope fitted, however it was normal for a Best Sporting rifle from the British makers to have Q/D scopes and I suppose elder sportsmen would have been given more grace on this to compensate for ageing/failing eyesight. Now of course the scope is the norm which I am not so sure is a good thing as it means very few, myself included really get to use the Iron sights properly. I actually learned to shoot with an Air Rifle which did have iron sights, but as soon as it was possible fitted a 4x20 scope as that was the fashion coming along which has stayed to this day. For myself I must really make the effort to re-learn th use of iron sights and actually do some stalking with them, the Roe Buck season which starts on April 1st may be just the oppertunity for this:D
 
Hmm I notice that i=on the CZ 550 American that you have shown, that the rear sight on the barrel looks like the Williams sliding ramp one. BSA used these sights on the CF2 model. However I do think that is a backward step on CZ's part, their own sight which is fitted to the 601 I have is far more robust as the dase that the steel blade is dovetailed into os actually part of the barrel. I can see why they have changed.......... cost:rolleyes:  machining that raised band and block out of the barrel blank must have taken a little time, the foresight is the band mounted type with cahngable fore sight blade which come in different heights so the rifle can be zeroed for elevation. The blade is retained by a sprung loaded plunger and slides out the front once the plunger is depressed. The one in the 601 is marked 13, the one from my /22 r/f Model 2 is marked 5

Gents,

Just as a point of clarification, the picture posted of the CZ 550 is the "Euro" style and not the CZ 550 American.  Here is a pic of the CZ 550 American.