Few things bring the excitement and anticipation to a gun person as a new gun. So, when I learned of the new CZ 600+, I was like a kid waiting for Christmas for its arrival. I had high hopes for the new rifle as I had been a fan of CZ rifles for many years.
CZ 600+ American – Elegant Performance
The 600+ series rifles are CZ’s newest line of firearms, designed to cover nearly every style of shooting from the range and competitive shooting to the woods pursuing big game. When it came time to nail down the choice to test, I went with the American model in .270 Winchester.
The 600+ American sports a Turkish Walnut stock. It is very reminiscent of the classic rifles of yesteryear, like the Model 70 Winchester Super Grade, unlike the smallish pistol grips and forearms of many of today’s bolt gun offerings by so many European-inspired rifles. The forearm and pistol grip fill my hands and feel as though I have control of the rifle. It weighs in at just an ounce or two over 8 lbs.
24″ Barrel
The 24-inch barrel in the long-action receiver balances like a rifle should, near the front action screw. The pistol grip features a palm swell, which I can take or leave, but the checkering panels on the pistol grip and forearm provide a good grip without digging into my hands. The stock also has a crossbolt screw to reinforce the stock. The barrel channel is generously inletted to ensure the barrel is free floated.
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The action is contoured to accept Remington 700 bases, but in a departure from many of today’s rifles, the action is not round but squared off. This helps to fuel the age-old question about flat-bottom receivers being more accurate than round receivers. The very crisp adjustable trigger broke at 2lbs 11 ozs. with no creep.
60 Degree Throw
The 60-degree bolt throw ensures fast cycling without the chance of the bolt hitting the scope. I did find the bolt handle a bit smallish, more on the lines of a 22 rimfire bolt. The CZ website mentions a wood bolt handle, but this rifle did not have one.
The trigger guard appears to be made of aluminum, and the magazine is made of polymer, which I am not a big fan of, but today it is difficult to find a production rifle that does not incorporate polymer into its design.}
The rifle fed and extracted everything I fed it, thanks to CZ’s patented controlled feeding system of the 600+. The short ejector is in the bolt face but actuated inside the receiver. This is a nice feature as the shooter can control the ejection pattern instead of the fired brass flying across the bench as the bolt clears the bolt port, like on a Remington 700. Instead, the brass is left in a neat pile beside the rifle.
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The Hunt
In the heat of the hunt, a normal bolt throw will eject the brass clear from the rifle, allowing a fresh shell to be loaded effortlessly.
The user-friendly interchangeable barrel system allows the shooter to change barrels by removing the barreled action from the stock and removing two screws. At the time of this writing, barrels are not yet listed on the CZ website.
The 24” light profile barrel is suppressor-ready and is machined with 9/16- 24 threads to fit many common suppressors. The barrel is fit with a cap to protect the threads.
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At the Range
A couple of times while shooting on the range, the magazine was not fully seated, and the rifle did not load the shell. I’m confident in saying this was operator error, no fault of the rifle. A quick tap on the bottom of the magazine fixed the problem. I was able to circumvent this issue quickly by utilizing the locking magazine feature, which keeps the magazine in place and allows for top-loading the rifle rather than removing the magazine each time. One of my biggest fears with a detachable magazine rifle is losing the magazine by accidentally hitting the magazine release button.
The CZ 600+ comes with a sub-MOA guarantee. The fine print says this is achieved with match ammo, and to be blunt, match ammo is expensive, and I do not hunt with match ammo. I chose several boxes of ammunition common to local gun shops and the big box stores to see how they fared. To no surprise, my go-to ammo, Winchester 130 gr Power Points, shone, printing a .95 inch group, thanks to the 1:10 rate of twist barrel. A few other ammo choices I tried didn’t fare quite as well, but several came in just over the 1” mark, which is more than suitable for big game hunting at what I consider a reasonable distance.
What I Liked
I am a wood stock and blued steel guy, so this rifle checked a bunch of boxes for me. CZ calls their metal treatment Bob Ox, but it looks and acts like bluing.
The length of pull was 14”, fit me well, and the stock was finished off with a thick recoil pad, which soaked up the recoil even after a lengthy bench session.
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The Jury is Still Out
The S.E.A. safety is a unique setup located at the tang of the rifle. It will take a bit of getting used to, but I didn’t have to remove my shooting hand from the rifle to manipulate the safety, and as advertised, it was quiet when switched to safe.
CZ 600+ American
If you are more of a classic rifle type rather than painted metal and carbon fiber stocks, this is the rifle for you.
For more information, visit CZ.
SPECIFICATIONS: CZ 600+ American (As tested)
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| Barrel: | 24 inches |
| OA Length: | 44.88 inches |
| Weight: | 8.16 (empty) |
| Stock: | Turkish Walnut |
| Sights: | None |
| Action: | Bolt |
| Caliber: | .270 Winchester |
| Finish: | Matte black (BobOx on steel) |
| Capacity: | 5+1 |
| MSRP: | from $ 999.00 |
PERFORMANCE: CZ 600+American Rifle
| LOAD | VELOCITY | ACCURACY |
| Winchester 130gr Power Points | 3,037 | .950 |
| Remington CoreLokt 130gr | 2,875 | 1.310 |
| Hornady Superformance 130grCX | 3,163 | 1.400 |
Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second (fps) by chronograph, and accuracy in inches for the best three-shot groups at 100 yards.
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