Right out of the box....this is a nice looking rifle! And it feels great too.
It is lightweight but solid with no rattles or loose parts about it. At a quick glance with its flush magazine well and over-sized fore end, it reminds me of a tactical shot gun.
Inspecting it from front to rear.....
The front of the barrel is threaded in the standard 1/2x28 pitch with a protector. The one-piece hand guard on the fore end is aluminum and has a robust feel. It is grippy without any agressive edges. There are several points to add rails...three on the top and three on the bottom. Only one rail comes with it and is attached along the entire top of the rifle from the front of the hand guard all the way past the receiver to the stock assembly. It appears to be the primary design factor behind the rigid form of this rifle. The barrel is also anchored towards the front of the handguard via a hex bolt on a plastic post inside the hand guard. There is a plastic collar that bridges the hand guard with the receiver (aluminum alloy upper; fiber-glass reinforced polymer lower).
The magazine well and release is similar to that on the CZ 455 and uses the same magazines. The reciprocating charging handle is easy to grasp and to operate the bolt. The bolt does not lock back on an empty magazine. There is a manual bolt hold-open device located inside the front area of the trigger guard. The safety must be in the off position to pull the bolt completely to the rear to lock it. The cross bolt safety is located on the upper rear of the trigger guard. The pistol grip has a very nice angle and comfortable grip.
The polymer stock looks to be well fitted and is easily and smoothly adjusted through the 6-positions available. The cheek rest is height adjustable through a rudimentary system of small screws on both sides. There is an attachment point (left and right side) on the stock for a QD sling swivel (not included). However, there is not a corresponding one on the fore end unless you add a rail for it.
Handling - lightweight, solid, easily shouldered, good point-ability. The cross bolt safety is easily manipulated off....maybe a little too easily for right-handed shooters. With one's trigger finger extended high on the receiver outside of the trigger area, when you move the trigger finger down towards the trigger, the base of the extended trigger finger can easily bump off the safety. It can be avoided by lifting your trigger finger off the receiver before putting inside the trigger guard an on the trigger. However, one is likely to slide the extended finger down and alongside the receiver onto the trigger area and that's where the cross bolt safety can easily pop into the fire mode. Just something to watch out for and be aware of the operating status of the rifle, especially when training less experienced shooters.
Dis-assembly:
The owner's manual has only basic instructions for disassembly of the regular CZ 512. A YouTube video by longtrangm1a provides a more detailed set of instructions. It is not complicated but time consuming due mostly to the fore end's attachment. There are 8 hex screws of three different lengths with three on the bottom and five on top that solidly locks the fore end to the rifle. A pin connecting the barrel and receiver group needs punching out to separate the two. The large bolt rides on top of the polymer receiver (no metal inserts).
Re-assembly
A special, u-shaped tool is provided to help guide the dual recoil springs back into the bolt. Aligning the last screw on the bottom of the hand guard (where the post to anchor the front end of the barrel is located) requires some jiggering to get it done.
First conclusions - this is a really nice rifle! ATI (Advanced Technology International) did a super job in putting together this quality build, "tactical" design for the CZ 512. It has that "tacti-intimidating-cool" form factor.
Next stop...range time.
PS. I'm not 100% sure that I got all the build materials correctly stated so feel free to chime in with corrections.
