I bought this stunning CZ457 LRP (Long Range Precision) 22LR rifle a while ago. It is without a doubt the best 22LR rifle I ever had. It shoots like a laser.
But I’ve got an itch… It should either go into a chassis (like an MDT ACC), or I should try and make it better looking and even nicer rifle to shoot. Who knows, it can even be more accurate.
Paint job
These LRP’s were originally released in a soft touch Grey painted beechwood stock. Light Grey might not have been the best colour for a rifle that gets dragged over all sorts of barricades like tank traps, ladders, roof-tops, old car tires and the likes. After a while, the Grey becomes yellow in places where it is in contact with your hands, and a few battle scars on the underside. CZ stopped producing the Grey version of these rifles, and now you only get them in black.
Balance
The balance of the rifle is not perfect. It needs additional weight in the front section to make the rifle easier to handle when shooting over obstacles and barricades. I found a few occasions where I pushed the rifle too hard into the shooting bag, putting too much pressure on the magazine that caused feeding issues. I need to figure out how to balance it and install a barricade stop.
Bag rider
There is a rear mounted picatinny rail that is ideal for a bag rider or monopod. The reality is that as is, it is too short for my liking. And when attaching a bag rider to that picatinny rail, it sticks out like a sore finger and gets caught up on many things when you need it least (I did one competition where we had to crawl under a camo net — everything got tangled).
Bipod
Lastly, the rifle can take bipod on the front, but in its standard form, the bipod will stay where it is mounted, and it is not always where I want it to be. I need the flexibility to move the bipod closer to me if the obstacle I am shooting over requires it. It is easy to fit a long picatinny rail, but then you lose the flat surface at the bottom of the stock, thus making it wobbly when you shoot over a barricade without a shooting bag.
Here is what I am going to do as part of this project:
First I will do the prep work which includes doing the CAD design, 3D Printing of the new solid bag rider. At the same time research and order the respective add-on components.
Then, while waiting for the parts to arrive, take the big step. Strip the rifle down, take a leap of faith in my Garage-gun-smithing abilities and make the changes to the stock. (hint — it will include Carbon Fiber work)
Assemble all the pieces. Hopefully, they will be assembleable!
Take the new and improved CZ 457 LRP to the range, and see if it shoots straight…
If it all fails — revert to plan B and go and buy a MDT ACC Chassis.
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