CZ 455 .17 HMR Varmint: I think I'm in love and need some recommendations.

[chickama]

I got one of these the other day. I've put a 3-9 x 40 Nikon Prostaff on it. Right out of the box and without much effort I put 1 inch groups on paper at 100 yards before I was half way through a 50 rd box of Hornady V-Max. I wasn't really working on it since I spent most of my time at the range trying to get my son's .270 sighted in (a used Remington 700 and Nikon scope I found).

I'm really looking forward to spending time shooting this beautiful rifle.

l'm looking for your suggestions about:

I probably will get both the .22 lr and the .22 mag barrels at some point in the near future but not at the same time. Which do you recommend I get first, lr or mag? Should I stick with the varmint barrels? I have a 10/22 takedown and a Henry .22 mag, both of which I like very much. I use the 10/22 for squirrel hunting. I just play with the Henry; it busts up squirrels more than I like. I'll probably do some varmint shooting with the .17, but most of the shooting is at the range.

Assuming I get multiple barrels, any suggestion for a bag or case that will hold the rifle and barrels?

Thanks in advance for your insight.

[Lomx138]

As to a bag that will hold rifle and barrels, not aware of a specific one, but you could get a two rifle bag and put rifle in one side and barrels in other. Not sure I'd want to be changing barrels day to day or intraday. As to 22mag vs 22LR, there are a lot of personal variables only you can answer. An obvious factor for me is 22LR is a lot more available and cheaper. I'm still a newbie on this site, but got a lot of info by spending several evenings going back through previous posts seeing what others had already posted; same at rimfirecentral, which has ammo specific subforums.

[larryflew]

My 17 isn't a CZ (Volguartsen) but would chime in that I love the cartridge and none of my 22 rifles have been out of the safe for 3 years. 

[mgmer]

I have my 455 in a Plano gun guard case that has an external zippered compartments on the outside of each side that are large enough for your extra barrels & magazines.  I bought it at Academy Sports, but you can find them online.
This is a soft case & not hard. Works great.

[jjbktm300]

I have a large cabellas case that I modified the foam to fit the 22barrel which is a long barrel with sights off a trainer same as lux. I don't think the 22 barrel is ever going to see light of day after fitting the 17hmr I too am in love all over again I thought the 22 was accurate but the 17 is same hole shooter I cannot believe it groups so tight. I fitted a bushnell
Elite 3200 3/9/50 and it's good enough but more magnification is now in order for long range bunnies. It's wabbit season


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KnightSchneider]

Between the two, I would get a .22LR before a .22WMR.  The LR offers the ability to run subsonic ammo suppressed (depending on your suppressor situation), which is why I wanted it.  The .22 WMR does pretty similar things to .17 HMR as far as energy, but I found the trajectory and accuracy to be far superior with the .17HMR.  The best groups I ever got with my WMR were in the 1.1" to 1.2" range; the .17's smoke that.

That said, the .22LR barrel I kept hasn't been mounted to a gun in over a year, and the .22WMR barrel got sold about 8 months ago. 

The .17's perform incredibly well for me, so I have no reason to ever sideline them.  In my neck of the woods, WMR is way harder to find than HMR, also.

[BinhThuyUSN]

chickama, I've got a 455 17hmr varmint heavy barrel in my safe and just recently purchased a 22lr varmint heavy barrel set from CZ-USA. As to the other posters the 17hmr shoots great groups. I swapped out the 17 barrel with the 22 barrel and have shot great groups with the 22lr barrel in a rimfire bench rest match over the summer. What I like about the 455 platform is the ability to swap barrels and enjoy shooting both the 17 and 22lr calibers.

[chickama]

Thank for the comments.

I got this bag from Bass Pro:

http://t.basspro.com/RedHead-SXB-Rifle-Case/product/10212777/

I finally bought both the LR and the WMR and put each in a gun sock, and everything fits. It's a bit heavy lugging everything at once, but it works.

This is a really nice target rifle.