Hi ya'll,
I figured out a cheap and easy way to put a front globe sight on my wife's CZ, and decided to try to write this DEFINITIVE GUIDE for amatuers like myself to follow.
This took much online searching and several phone calls to CZ-USA, Lyman, and 3 gunsmiths, as nobody was exactly sure what combination of parts I should order. An old post on here about a 452 super match was most helpful, but still a little ambiguous about exact steps.
A caveat: we are amateurs. We didn't use a gunsmith, because once we had the parts, it seemed pretty simple, really, so we put it together ourselves. It sighted in perfectly, and with these sights, the CZ is even easier to shoot. And it shoots very well indeed.
For those researching rimfire rifles for their kids: This is a great way to go. You can also put these on a scout. My daughter recently got into target shooting after trying it at a boy scout camp and so the whole family took an NRA basic riflery class, where we used peep-and-globe style sights. It was much easier than shooting my grandpa's ruger 10-22 with its traditional post and notch sights. (like the CZ comes with) The accuracy and beauty of the CZ seemed like an improvment over the plastic-stock Savage MVTs we shot there, and of course MUCH cheaper than an Anschutz.
We chose to go this way because with a 455 (still available new on the secondary market at $333 right now) or 457 ($404) Trainer and these parts (less than $75 including tools), you can get close to Anschutz accuracy & quality for 1/3rd the price.
Note: For this to work, your barrel must use a single set screw tapped and threaded to secure the factory front sight. Ours does, but I don't know if that's true of all CZ models. Someone with more experience/knowledge about the CZ lineup could maybe answer that.
We have a 455 Trainer, which came with the hooded front sight. That's attached via a single set screw and some glue. I presume all the hooded front sight models are the same way, like the new 457 models, but I don't really know. Call CZ to ask.
Assuming you DO have that single screw hole on your CZ, you'll need to order 4 products.
THE PARTS
1) From CZ-usa, "Front sight ramp for peep sight" (Product 19013)
https://shop.cz-usa.com/productdetail/19013_452-front-sight-ramp-for-peep-sight The product description on this says it only works with the 452 Scout/513 Basic, and when I called CZ-USA the rep wasn't sure it would fit our 455 Trainer, but I'm here to tell you it fits perfectly. I know Williams makes a front ramp that is shorter, which would be more ideal, but I'm not sure if it has the right radius and slant to fit the tapered barrels of the CZs. Again, maybe someone with more experience would know, but we went with this and it fit very nicely with the set screw plus a couple dabs of loctite.
2) Lyman 17AHB "404 front sight globe, part # 3171076
https://www.lymanproducts.com/series-17a-target-front-sights Be sure to order this particular 17a, the shortest one, otherwise the combo of the ramp + front globe will be too high. The Lyman 90MJT doesn't work- it's too tall, and it's larger diameter (20mm rather than 17) raises the center point still farther, much farther than the Rear Williams peep sight will go. We did set both in place to compare, and though the 20mm lets in more light, we're shooting targets rather than hunting, so there's plenty of light through the 17A, even for my tired old eyes. Also, the sight picture with the 17 is a better match for the rear peep and the competition 50 foot distance- it just lines up with perfect concentric circles and the same spacing between the rings.
3) From CZ-usa, the Williams rear peep sight. (Product 19012)
https://shop.cz-usa.com/productdetail/19012_452455-adj-peep-sight-w-target-knobs There were some old posts and comments about the Williams rear peep sight not fitting the 455 receiver without having to file away a order of the sight or cut a notch in the stock, but CZ or Williams seems to have addressed this, at least for the version we ordered direct from CZ. It has a semi-oval notch cut out so it fits nicely, even on the lowest setting, without any modification. Of course you'll be raising it up pretty high anyway, to line up with the barrel and the front globe.
4. Black Max Loctite gun glue ($6.95 at Brownells, insanely higher on Amazon for some reason)
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/general-gunsmith-tools/thread-locking-liquids/black-max-adhesive-prod6139.aspx We actually used the regular old blue loctite thread lock I had in my garage and it seems to be holding up well, but there seems to be a consensus on the forums that it's better to use this "black max" 380 loctite. If the blue breaks in future I figure it'll only take 30 minutes to remove and re-mount the globe and ramp with the proper glue, though we'll have to sight in the gun again which would be a slight hassle. So use the black max.
After getting all the parts, we were able to install these sights ourselves even though we're complete amateurs. If you're not handy and careful defintely see a gunsmith. Maybe see a gunsmith anyway. We just couldn't find one that was willing and/or able to figure out what front globe would go on a cz so we had to figure it out ourselves.
INSTALL STEPS
First we removed the factory front sight. The hood slides off forward but you have to kinda pry it open at the base and tap it out. Remove the screw from the ramp, then break the seal on the glue by gripping the barrel and pushing the ramp sideways. If you're good at opening peanut butter jars this should be enough. Otherwise a light tapping should do it. We cleaned off the glue residue with some 91% rubbing alcohol and it didn't damage the bluing.
The Lyman globe is about .5mm wider than the CZ front ramp, and has a slightly different angle, but with a little (very careful!) filing with a small triangular file, we got to the point where the dovetail slipped in with some gentle taps (right to left) and set firmly. We ordered these files. Shave off a little tiny bit at a time and test-fit repeatedly. When you can't see any daylight between the ramp and the globe, and it goes about 10%-20% into place by hand, inline, you're ready to tap it the rest of the way.
We used my carpentry bench clamp, some towels, a couple small blocks of hardwood, and some very carefuly clamping to clamp the ramp in place (clamp the ramp, not the barrel! but be sure to secure the rifle as well so there's no stress on the barrel) while tapping it in with this $30 Wheeler hammer & punch set.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SY07HU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1It went in nice and smoothly, but firmly, it's not going anywhere. The blue loctite seems to be holding up as well, after a long shooting session. We do use care putting the gun into it's case. We should have used the proper product, which is "Black Max" but didn't have any handy and figured what the heck. It if breaks loose we'll use the black max.
Real gunsmiths may cringe at this redneck do-it-yourself approach, but it worked for us. We took the gun to the range, sighted it in, and WOW. What a great setup. Three of us who share this gun all noticed about a 5% improvement over the standard post-and-notch sights on the 455.
With my old eyes the front globe helps me focus on the target, and I shot some of my best scores. In fact my daughter also shot a personal best.
Don't get me wrong- the stock sights are AWESOME for shooting a different ranges down to 25 yards with that adjustable rear notch, but we're shooting at the competition distance of 50 feet (17 yards) so we had to aim low, which resulted in some uncertainty. With the new globe-and-peep combo sighted in, we can form a perfect sight picture. It's awesome.
Hope this helps someone.
