A few weeks back I recounted Clan Cornelius’s Astoria raid, and I made mention of an aspect of the operation that remained classified. That’s because I wanted this particular piece of plunder in hand before I crowed about it. I didn’t expect it to take SIX WEEKS to get it done — but that’s Oregon for ya in the year of 2023.
Here’s the caper:
On our way to Portland to see Tom Russell back in April, the Clan stopped at the 5.11 Tactical and Cabela’s Trading Posts in Tualatin, which lies just south of the Dying City of the Weird (or is it the Weird City of the Dying?). I led Jarod to Cabela’s Gun Library, which is where they handle their consignment firearms. There’s always something cool in there. In this case, there were several Springfield Rifles of 1920s to early World War II vintage.
Something caught my eye.
Longtime readers know that I am greatly enamored of the work of the Czech Republic’s legendary firearms maker, Česká zbrojovka — Czech Armory — aka, CZ. My Frontier Partisan Biathlon Rifles are CZ rimfires; my side-by-side shotgun is a CZ. Early in 2022, CZ introduced a completely new 600 series of rifles and I decided I wanted me a CZ 600 Lux in .223 Remington.
Problem was, they were basically impossible to find. Nobody had one, and to order one meant going on an interminable backorder list. Then inflation and exchange rates flared up and the MSRP shot up to $999 — and I gave up on it. I almost put some music earnings into a Ruger American Ranch Rifle in .223/5.56, but the lack of iron sights held me back. A multipurpose general utility rifle — a “ranch rifle” — with no irons just don’t feel right to me. Dinosaur, I know…
But there in the Cabela’s Gun Library was an array of CZ 600 Lux in .223 — with a price tag that had to be a mistake. A BIG mistake. Turns out they were never-fired dealer display models with “cosmetic blemishes” that had to be sold as used guns at fire sale prices. I texted Lady Marilyn:
“Get to the Gun Library. We have a problem.”
No “problem,” actually. Not yet, anyway. An opportunity too good to pass up. Did the paperwork, and put down the plews. That’s where things started getting ridiculous. You see, Oregon narrowly passed Measure 114 in November, a gun control measure that was clearly designed to be impossible to implement. It would have made it virtually impossible to buy a gun in Oregon for at least a year as law enforcement agencies figured out how to stand up an unfunded mandate for a badly defined permitting process. The measure was almost immediately locked down by the courts, but the predictable thing happened: A massive run on guns. On any given day since the November 22 election, the queue for Oregon State Police background checks has been over 10,000 people.
I have a Concealed Carry License, which used to mean a background check took minutes. However, OSP has ceased prioritizing CCL holders in their background checks. I am reliably told that that mandate came down directly from our former Governor Kate Brown, who manifestly despises legal gun ownership and rather enjoyed the draconian exercise of state power when she got to flex her muscles through COVID. Anyway… that meant I was going to have to wait to pick up the rifle.
No problem. Figured we had three more days on the raid, and we’d pick it up on the way back through. Yeah, right. Bought the rifle on April 5, and cleared the background check on May 23. By which time, the federal Form 4473, which is valid for 30 days, had expired. Which meant that we had to roll back over the mountains and fill out another form and await yet another approval from OSP. I was told that could take up to 24 hours, but chances were if we got in early in the day, it would turn around fairly quickly.
So Lady Marilyn and I put wheels to pavement at Zero Dark 30 on Saturday, and arrived at Cabela’s at opening. Filled out the 4473 and got fingerprinted. Three hours later, I finally took possession of a nice little carbine that will be my new truck gun. I have decided to name it ‘Many Hoops’ in “honor” of this ludicrous bureaucratic circus.
Not really. I don’t name my rifles.
Anyhoo… off to the range today to get it zeroed. The sights are an interesting high-profile setup, with a fiber-optic insert on the rear and a fiber-optic on the front. They stack nicely and are very quick to acquire. Its drilled and tapped, but I doubt I’ll scope it, at least not right away. I do love shooting good iron sights, and that’s something CZ is known for.
The 20-inch barrel is threaded for a suppressor — but if you think I’m going to jump through those hoops you are wrong. It’s got that European humpback stock that you either love or hate. I love it. They call the checkering “fish scale,” but that’s obviously a misnomer. Them be DRAGON SCALES, people. Emiliano Zapata agrees.
Length of pull is a generous 14.6 inches, which is nice for a long-limbed galoot like myself.
Eats either 5.56 or .223. This is an arcane, but important, point, which sits atop CZ-USA’s FAQ page:
Q: “Can CZ rifles chambered in .223 fire 5.56 ammunition safely?”
FOR US BASED CUSTOMERS- All of our .223s will happily eat 5.56. Since our factory is in Europe, we build everything to CIP spec, which doesn’t differentiate between the two cartridges and just has the higher pressure as its standard. So the CZ .223s will shoot everything from the cheapest Russian steel to match .223 brass ammo.
I like that.
Easily adjustable trigger. Detachable 5-shot mag locks so you can load from the top if you want to. I’ll be picking up a spare mag or two.
As for the cosmetic blemishes — there’s a fairly evident scratch on the cheek rest, some scratches around the butt pad, and the polymer shroud on the back of the bolt is slightly marred. The rifle went to gun shows all over the country and went in and out of cases and on and off of shelves. No big deal, and certainly worth the hundreds of dollars knocked off the price tag. I reckon there’ll be more added in the woods…
Why .223? Well, I really just wanted a versatile truck gun with more punch than the ol’ .22, and I have a substantial stock of ammo for the AR-15 that this can share. I like to put a lot of rounds through my rifles, shotgun and pistols — that’s how you get good with ’em. I can still afford to shoot a good bit of .223/5.56 — bigger stuff is just getting too damn spendy. I once sold a very nice Winchester 70 in.338 because I was afraid I was developing a flinch — not from recoil, but from sending a cash register down range with every shot. Turned that rifle into a guitar, and it was the right call.
The way things are going, I’m pretty sure that the AR platform will get banned in Oregon, and this can be my “overt” rifle when the Black Rifle must be covert. I’ll definitely rotate it in for the FP Biathlon. So… I am content.
RANGE UPDATE: She’s a shooter. Irons regulated to a perfect pumpkin-on-a-post 6 o’clock hold at 50 yards — no adjustment required. 20 rounds from 25 (offhand) to 50 to 100 yards (rested) on clays — 19 hits.
Matthew says
Gun laws are incredibly stupid. I say that as a guy who isn’t that really into guns.
Here’s a podcast by a South African knife maker who talks about how paypal refused to work with him because there anti-gun stance (even though he makes knives not guns.)
https://wimsblog.com/2023/05/podcast-episode-124-gavin-coleman/
It also talks about the chaos in South Africa today where they only have limited time of electricity and a high level of crime.
JimC says
I am not opposed to reasonable, good-faith gun laws that actually work to keep the drunks away from the car keys. The problem in Oregon for the past several years has been that the advocates of new gun laws are bad-faith operatives who tried to legislatively make a felon out of me and my people overnight, and, failing that, pushed a ballot measure that was designed to throw a sabot in the works, creating a system designed to fail and make it administratively impossible to purchase a firearm. Al Swearingen had a word for such folk, and I have used it frequently. They have made a hard-liner out of me, and that is not my natural tendency.
Matthew says
As I said, I don’t actually care that much about guns, but it seems to me that gun control people go overboard. The Left doesn’t seem to have breaks to their agendas. Anything taken to the extreme is bad.
lane batot says
“Many Hoops” it is! You SHOULD name yer guns! Now you just need a good dog(or two, or three……), which you should also name.
Quixotic Mainer says
Congrats on your carbine! CZ’s are truly great rifles, and have that “other age”, feel about them while being thoroughly modern. Fred Russell could have had that 600 in his saddle boot and it wouldn’t look out of sorts.
I ran my 527 carbine with it’s irons for a year, before slapping a 2-7x lpvo on it. It disrupts aesthetics a bit , but really helps take advantage of the set trigger.
JimC says
I had exactly the same thought re: Burnham. I may well scope the 600 at some point. It’s guaranteed sub-MOA with match ammo, and one kinda wants to take advantage of that, as you say, especially to do some longer-range gong-banging. But that’ll be down the line a bit, if ever.
John says
Lots of people name their guns…
JimC says
I knew I could rely on you.
J.F. Bell says
I named the BAR Wicked Felina.
Does that count?
JimC says
Oh, that’s fantastic. Wish I’d thunk of it.
Cooter Brown says
In the period between now and the time your eyes require some sort of optical sight, you might think about a receiver aperture sight, if you can find one that’ll fit the rifle well. My over-sixty eyes have a tough time with standard opens, but I can still use a peep pretty darned effectively.
JimC says
An excellent option.
Thom Eley says
I recently went to me ophthalmologist. I told her that I needed glasses that would allow me to see my iron sights better. She laughed and said, “Give it up and buy a scope!”
JimC says
Keepin’ it real.
Thom Eley says
Beautiful rifle Jim. They didn’t have any .275s?
JimC says
Hah! Out of range at a 75 % discount!
Greg Marshall says
Check NECG. I have one of their aperture sights on a CZ 22. They may have one for this rifle.
Paul McNamee says
Congratulations on a well-executed mission.
SQUIRE RUSTICUS says
I’m glad you got the rifle in the end. That you were able to get something that you wanted.
I am sad to see (politically) what has happened to Washington and Oregon since I lived, worked in the area in like 2010 or 2011.
The friends I had in Pendleton use to say, that Salem and Portland controlled the State of Oregon’s politics, but did not represent the character, ethics, standards, and values of the people.
My own home State is no better it seems. I went to a local festival at a very liberal college town, over the holiday weekend, and it was rainbow flags and stickers everywhere, signs supporting transgender rights, homeless drug addicts bothering people for money. They even had a homeless man attack a couple that were strangers giving them head injuries in the town recently.
Once my State was known for being very traditional and conservative. It was as if, my State could always be depended on, or was the butt of the nations private joke for being Agriculturalist and the standard of conservative life. Now a few counties decide the fate of all. Each year going further and further into madness, pushing mandates for the good of the extreme few, whilst taking the rights of the majority (we get to pay or have our right curtailed).
If I only had a time machine !
Am I the problem that I see progressive actions as repressive to my standard of life ?
Ugly Hombre says
“Am I the problem that I see progressive actions as repressive to my standard of life ?”
No- not no but hell no.
Nothing “Progressive” about it, that’s a new speak New Democrat bull chit story – its regressive and oppressive if anything
ymmv
Jean Nave says
When my husband and I moved to Deschutes county in 1989, it was a red voting block. Now it’s blue. Things are only going to get more challenging in Oregon for gunowners as time passes. Good luck to all.
Ugly Hombre says
Nice Rifle! Congratulations! You will have a lot of fun with that! I don’t much mind a scratch on a gun. I shoot them and don’t put them in the safe greased up in the original box- for Julio to get after I go south. I try not to mar them but they are tools. And I don’t holler about a scratch (usually) lol. You are young enough to put lots of miles on that CZ and honest wear in 20 years you will have a treasure.
CZ is a great company they just bought Colt and I think they got Dan Wesson as well. Czech Republic makes some of the finest weapons in the world, Brews the best beer, and has some of the cutest girls.
There is a long legged one at the local Java hut, lovely creature with a sense of humor and friendly even to those long in the tooth and stove in. Joked around told her we should write a letter have her type it in Czech and send it to it to CZ HQ.
Sir; You are sitting on a gold mine! A gold mine! Train people and build more Model P Colts! Make more! sell more! reduce the price! Call Jim Martin! We never did- lol
The Colt/CZ produced SAA is a nice thumb buster for sure.
I am G.D. tired of hearing New Democrat Bolos hollering about “common sense gun laws” Ole Brandon keeps yowling about it, maybe he should look in the mirror and clean up his own back yard. There are to many gun laws they don’t enforce them- fix Chicago and maybe have a talk with Humper.. I do not kin firearms folks who vote Demo. Makes no damn sense at all.
No one gives a damn either- about “alternate life styles” or who or what you do don’t tell me about it no one cares, keep it to your self and don’t scare the horses people might fall off.
Good job tracking down that rifle enjoy it!
My 45 Auto bird head New Vaq. is named “thumper”. lol
Su Amigo
U/H
JimC says
You are on the money re: cute girls. Czech women tend to be very fine indeed.
lane batot says
Gun laws. Complicated issue, certainly. Where I live(North Carolina), I doubt there will be anything draconian limiting fire sticks for some time. I recently had to attend, sadly, a “mass shooter” seminar at my workplace, preparing all of us for the possibility of such a scenario, in a public place like where I work. It was delivered by a very interesting local policeman. And it was at this lecture I learned that my county(Randolph) has more legal gun owners than anywhere else in this gun populous state. And we are–get this–EIGHTH in the nation for gun owners! Yet, so far(fingers crossed) no mass shootings of any kind. Could that be BECAUSE of all the gun-toting citizens? I mean, it’s certainly debatable…….
Joe says
Nice carbine in a solid caliber. Is it fair to say that style of checkering is pretty functional as far as adding texture goes? It looks gorgeous and unique enough to stand out.
JimC says
I does have a good tactile feel. Really put it through its pace yesterday and stretched the range a bit. Glad to have it.