Review: CZ 600 American hunting rifle

The CZ 600 series took the renowned Czech brand in a new direction. The firearms world is full of enthusiasts of varying tastes. Some are after the most tactical and functional rifles they can find. Others prefer a classic aesthetic that harkens back to a time when the sportsman’s rifle was adorned with wood, steel, leather and wool. While the new 600 series has something for everyone, the American stands out as the pick for a modern traditionalist.

Excited by the idea of modern engineering and refinement, but want a rifle that looks like something Jack O’Connor would carry? This one’s worth a look.

See the CZ 600 American reviewed in this video

It’s available in eight factory chamberings but only six are imported by Winchester Australia so far, starting at .223 and going all the way up to .300 Win Mag, which covers pretty much everything anybody who buys this rifle would want to point it at. They all hover around the 3.5kg mark so they aren’t targeting the ultralight crowd by any means, but these rifles are solid and manageable; perfect for carrying around in most hunting situations. The one I received for testing was chambered in .243, which is a great choice for a stalking rifle in my territory.

The heart of this new CZ series is in the action, which in the American features a steel receiver that has Remington 700 style mounts on the top. It has a flat bottom that sits on a bedding plate under its front section which spreads the load evenly and has a nice recoil lug. A second recoil lug for the action is located behind the magazine where a cross-bolt goes through the stock, securing the action nicely and ensuring the potential for great accuracy is there.

CZ 600 American test — The American has a handsome walnut stock, in this case with a nice, dark finish

The bolt looks very different to CZs I’ve used in the past. It’s been beefed up and now has six locking lugs giving it a 60-degree throw, which might open a few more scope mounting options. CZ advertises this rifle as having controlled round feeding, but it’s not with the same claw extractor of past CZs, such as the 527. This one is more of a hybrid system, using a short extractor combined with a plunger ejector.

The bolt does pick up and control a cartridge relatively early in the feed cycle – typically earlier than traditional push feed actions, but not as early as true controlled feed. At the same time, you can single-feed rounds while at the range and it functions fine, which isn’t something a true controlled feed might allow. The extractor snaps over the rim as the bolt closes, and ejection is positive, responding well to how fast you pull the bolt back.

You can have the brass drop back into the receiver or send it flying, depending on how much force you use. It functioned flawlessly. If I was excessively gentle when chambering a round it had the odd tendency to hang up, but when cycled like I meant it, it was like butter.

The magazine is another part of this rifle that offers the best of both worlds – fully detachable yet allowing for top loading. It snaps into the bottom of the rifle securely and I found it did so most reliably when I inserted the back a little earlier than the front. It doesn’t sit perfectly flush with the stock but it doesn’t stick out far enough that it could be considered an intrusion.

It’s made from polymer, like many magazines these days, and functioned well. The magazine release button sits under the stock in front of the magazine and doubles as a lock – once you put the magazine in, slide it forward and it disables the button, eliminating the chance of accidentally bumping it and dropping the magazine in the field.

As with other rifles in the CZ 600 range, the barrel is connected to the receiver with three cross-bolts, but CZ stipulates that a gunsmith is required to swap barrels. It’s referred to as a light barrel, but it’s not what I’d call a pencil-thin ultralight barrel. It starts at 22mm at the receiver and tapers to just under 17mm at the muzzle, where a cap covers the threads.

Most chamberings in this series have 61cm (24”) barrels, whereas the .243 and .308 have 51cm (20”) barrels. Make sure you keep the length of this barrel in mind when you’re looking at my velocity figures in the chart, as I forgot the length myself when I started testing and was surprised to see the 90gn loads coming in under the magic 3000fps mark. One other barrel-length exception here is the 7.62x39mm being offered with a 46cm (18”) barrel, which is a chambering that had a cult following in the 527, so it’s nice to see CZ has included it in this model.

The barrel is fully free floated and finished in CZ’s BobOx chemical heat treatment, which looks fantastic but is more durable than traditional blueing. The accuracy claim with sporting rifles in the CZ 600 line-up is sub-MOA at 100m with three-shot groups, and this rifle lived up to that claim.

One of the reasons I found this rifle so shootable was the trigger, which is the best I’ve ever felt in a CZ, and better than I’ve felt in many other rifles. It’s a single-stager and breaks crisply. You can adjust it externally so you don’t need to take the rifle apart, and an Allen key will allow you to select between four different settings, ranging from 600g to 1.3kg. I tested each setting on my Lyman trigger gauge over a dozen times and I’m pleased to say the advertised numbers are spot on.

I hunted with it on the second lightest setting, and alternated between the heaviest and lightest settings when shooting groups for accuracy testing to ensure I got a good feel for it. The trigger guard is the same material as the magazine which will save you a bit of weight, but the finish on it looks the part.

The safety on the CZ 600 is tang-mounted, and goes vertically through the grip on the stock. While the rifle is cocked, a button behind the trigger guard, underneath the grip, presses up to turn the safety on. This can easily be done with the index finger of your trigger hand. To get the rifle back to fire, the button behind the bolt-shroud is pressed down with the thumb. The bolt remains locked when the safety is on but there is a small button in front of the bolt handle on the right side of the receiver that can be pressed while lifting the bolt at the same time to open the action while leaving the rifle on safe. The safety was nice and quiet and I found it positioned well for functional use while hunting.

The stock is made from Turkish walnut that has subtle figuring in the grain. It’s nice and dark which I tend to like and is finished with an oiled satin sheen that helps to show off some of the grain, but will also wear better than high gloss. The straight comb flows into a modest pistol grip that most shooters should find comfortable, and a length of pull of around 355mm should fit most shooters.

Both the grip and fore-end feature fleur-de-lis accents that are cut sharply enough to give a good grasp, but are smooth enough that it didn’t want to grab my clothing. It looks great too, don’t you think? The recoil pad is nice and soft and would take the sting out of some of the larger cartridges, but for a .243 weighing 3.5kg bare, I found this rifle a dream to shoot.

When testing the accuracy of this rifle at the range I used a Meopta Optika5 4-20x50mm that was supplied by Winchester Australia. As usual, my ammo was purchased with some help from my friends at Calibre Country in Tamworth. PPU 90gn and Federal 80gn averaged less than 1.5 MOA. The PPU was a bit less consistent in that there was more variation in the sizes of all groups, but it produced my smallest group with this rifle of just .2 MOA.

Norma 76gn came in comfortably at around ¾ MOA average, and the Sako 90gn was the standout, averaging ½ MOA. In the case of this Sako ammunition, I need to clarify that this wasn’t just one good day at the range either. I have plenty of this ammunition as it’s what we use in my wife’s .243; it is my top choice for deer hunting. Group after group of little .5 and .6 MOA clusters were punched through paper with surprising ease, both with the big Meopta as well as with my personal Swarovski Z3 3-10x42mm that I had on the rifle when I was hunting with it.

Testing this rifle lined up perfectly for my fallow rut, so it saw plenty of use by both me and my wife. It took multiple deer, with shots ranging between 70 and 150 metres, from both sitting and supported positions off improvised structure in the field. That excellent trigger really made me feel like my further shots were placed with utmost confidence, and for some of the closer shots in tighter country, the 51cm barrel proved handy.

The American weighs about the same as my wife’s rifle so she was happy to carry it around with her, and every time we sat down to glass some animals, she would look at the CZ and comment on just how pretty it is.

The .243 is right in the ballpark for a Northern NSW cartridge, but in .223 it would make a great walkaround fox outfit. On the other hand, a .30-06 or .300 Win Mag would be a great sambar rifle for a traditionalist, and the BobOx treatment of the hardware would give you a little less cause for concern if it were to get a bit wet.

The 600 American strikes the right balance between heritage and innovation. It looks and feels like a rifle with a rich history, but it shoots and functions like something from the modern age. I commend CZ for sticking its neck out and committing to the improvements and new features that it has. The engineers clearly knew what they were doing, and the final product speaks for itself.

This is without a doubt one of the most accurate rifles I’ve ever shot, so it’s more than just pretty wood and fancy features. The fact that it all comes in a package for $2095 is perhaps the most impressive part yet, and I’m not sure you’d be able to find a rifle of similar aesthetics, similar modern features and the same performance for less money.

Many thanks to Calibre Countryin Tamworth for assistance with transfers and other logistics of this test.

SPECIFICATIONS