CZ-457 Pro Varmint

Time for the number 1 contender, the CZ 457 Pro Varmint. I was very excited to test this rifle. I call this rifle the number one contender for a reason. The CZ 457 has earned the title of an accurate reliable rifle for a good reason. When shooting at long range 22 match you can’t go without bumping into 10 CZ rifles, with all the hype I needed to test one.

Accuracy testing this rifle was awesome, it didn’t matter what ammo I put in this rifle it did a great job. The best was Lapua center X this ammo was shooting .25 of an inch with no problems. I do believe you could get this rifle down to an unmeasurable group size. Even the cheaper ammo did very well grouping around .3 to .4 five shot groups at 50 yards. I did have trouble shooting Norma match ammo, although I went back and retested and got .4 to .5 inch groups. Norma was the worst shooting ammo of the test. You can put any ammo in this gun and it will out preform all other rifles in its price point. Also an important accuracy note, this rifle has the smallest first round shift on a cold rifle I have seen so far in this review process. The owner of the rifle did tell me that he spent some time playing with the torque specs on the action screws. This little trick did help the rifle shoot better. This rifle shot so well with SK standard there is no reason to use anything else.

When it comes to price, this gun sells for around 550 dollars, but don’t think the money stops there. The rifle comes with no scope mount, no flush cups for a sling and no MLOK slots for easy mounting of an ARCA rail or any other gizmos the shooter might want. Yes you can and the owner did inlay some nuts to mount an AREA 419 ARCA rail. If a shooter mounts a 20 MOA rail and buys a ten round mag(this rifle only comes with a 5 rounder) you will spend at least another 150 bucks. When testing this gun I also needed a cheek peace lucky for me I had a Bradly cheek rest laying around, that saved me another 100 bucks. It is easy to see how all the missing features added up quick.

Time to test this rifle in real world shooting positions. This is now number 5 to go through this PRS test. We are almost done testing the 6 different rifles we wanted to review, you will only have to suffer through one more. Stage 1 the simple stage. This stage consisted of one three-inch target at one hundred yards, and two different positions on the tank trap barricade. On the sound of the buzzer, I moved to the tank trap, fired five shots at the target, then proceeded to the second position and fire five more shots. I completed this stage clean in 52 seconds. The next stage I ran was a little harder. On this one, I shot five different targets from five different positions, moving every two shots. On the buzzer I moved to position one and shot at target one, two times then moved to the new position. I cleaned this course in 81 seconds. The targets consisted of a two-inch steel circle at seventy-five and eighty yards, a two-and-a-half-inch target at eighty-five and ninety-five yards and a three-inch target at onehundred yards. All positions were fired from a barricade with the help of my Whiskey Hotel stock-aid bag. All movement was on the clock. My times are well with in the 90 second window you will find at some PRS/NRL matches. Five positions with five targets tend to be on the harder side of stages, having to hold or dial for five different targets and moving into five different positions can eat up the shooters time. This gun is a dream to shoot when resting on a barricade, in a prone position or any position. It is the most accurate .22 I have shot with a retail price under 600 dollars.

The CZ 457 Pro Varmint is all you need when it comes to a rifle capable of winning in this game. Yes there are better rifles with more features but they all will cost more. I’m not saying these guns are not worth it. I’m just saying this one is well inside the capabilities of the champion. Would it be worth it to go to the next tier rifle? I think that is for each individual shooter to decide.

This rifle is a perfect PRS training rifle, competing rifle or sniper trainer. I love the accuracy of this rifle, I hate the little added cost that kept showing up. Using a little ingenuity and some do it yourself work you can save money. ( cheek piece and rail mounts )This is hands down the most accurate .22 rifle I have shot that is under the 600 dollar range. The CZ rifle is consistent on any barricade you will be challenged with to shoot from at a match. I would recommend this rifle to everyone, just remember you will need a 20 MOA base and a 10 round mag.