CZ-USA's 457 .22LR Chassis Rifle: Ultimate Chassis Rimfire?

Interested in trying out long-range rimfire competitions? CZ's 457 Chassis .22LR rifle is feature-packed and ready to compete out of the box.

September 04, 2024 By Ben LaLonde

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases.

For just more than 75 years, CZ has been manufacturing high-quality rimfire rifles. The rifles have advanced over time, from the original Model 1, to the 452, 455, and most recently, the 457 series. From the tried-and-true blue steel and walnut carbines to the heavy barreled actions in composite and aluminum stocks, they have something for everyone. After a six month search, I was able to get my hands on one of the newest models, the CZ-USA 457 Chassis, and test their reputation for myself.

An Eye for Detail

cz-457-chassis-rifle-02 — The barrel is cold-hammer forged for premium accuracy.

The 457 Chassis is eye-catching. CZ partnered up with Modular Driven Technologies (MDT) to produce this purpose-built, competition-ready rimfire rifle. The 457 series from CZ features several small details that make it an ideal platform for both rimfire competition or a full-size trainer for centerfire practice. The slab-sided receiver features a durable satin nitride finish, which not only looks good, but also provides excellent durability and corrosion resistance. Atop the 457’s receiver is a full-length, 11mm dovetail for mounting scope rings or bases. The two-position, push-to-fire safety mirrors that of the most common centerfire bolt-action platforms and allows the bolt to be operated while in the safe position. An external bolt release allows for easy removal without needing to find hidden buttons or pull the trigger first. The 60-degree bolt throw makes cycling smooth and fast, all while offering clearance for an optic. The bolt knob is small and unobtrusive. A bright red striker indicator on the back of the bolt is raised when the striker is cocked, and disappears when fired, providing a visual and tactile reference to the striker’s status.

The trigger itself is adjustable from about two to 3.5 pounds). Mine came from the factory at exactly three pounds. Adjustment of the trigger was easy thanks to clear instructions in the manual. Pre-travel and over-travel are also easily adjusted. After a bit of fiddling, I got the weight down and removed virtually all pre- and over-travel. As a general rule, one should never dry-fire a rimfire firearm, but thanks to CZ’s updates to the 457 striker design, it can withstand extensive dry-fire training. The 24-inch barrel features CZ’s MATCH chambering, pushing tolerances to be as tight as possible, while remaining just inside the CIP spec. CIP is the international standard for chamber dimensions and load pressures. Chambering to the tighter end of this spec is what creates a highly accurate and consistent rifle. The barrel itself is a heavy profile, cold-hammer-forged design with a 1:16-inch twist. The cold-hammer forging process produces crisp, sharp rifling and further strengthens the steel to create a longer-lasting, more-heat-resistant barrel. The nose end is threaded ½-28, making it ideal for whatever rimfire-friendly muzzle device you should choose to mount on it.

cz-457-chassis-rifle-03 — The bolt throw is 60 degrees, providing plenty of clearance for an optic.

The barreled action finds itself at home in MDT’s ACC Premier Chassis. This competition-ready chassis is as modular as it is adjustable. The chassis is machined from 6061 series aluminum, which has been hard-coat anodized, then finished with black Cerakote. The 17-inch forend features M-LOK slots down the full length and all three sides. This much real estate allows for virtually any shooting accessory you can think of. The forend integrates a full-length ARCA dovetail rail on the bottom, allowing for the mounting of bipods, tripods or bags. A retainer screw at the front of the rail keeps accessories from accidentally coming off. A cap on the front of the forend can be removed, allowing the user to install any number of MDT’s internal weights into the chassis without needing to remove the barreled action. Just behind the forend is an aggressive barricade stop integrated into the magazine well. The magwell is cut to accept any of CZ’s .22LR magazines. The mag release is also integrated into the magwell. CZ ships the 457 Chassis with a single five-round magazine. I found this to be my only gripe with the rifle. Typical precision competition stages require10 rounds to be fired (sometimes more), and shipping a rifle costing just under twenty Benjamins with insufficient magazine capacity for one stage seems like a missed opportunity.

cz-457-chassis-rifle-04 — This vertical grip from MDT is highly popular for competition rifles.

The ACC chassis features the MDT Vertical grip. This grip is adjustable forward and backward and can also be slightly angled, allowing the user to tune it to his or her hand. Just above the grip on both sides is a machined thumbshelf. Moving back from the grip is their SRS-X Premier Buttstock. This skeletonized stock is adjustable for length of pull, comb height and pad height all without the need for tools. And with a small Allen key, the comb and pad can be further adjusted to really fine-tune the fitment. Since the rifle only has an 11mm dovetail, I went to Warne Scope Mounts for their Mountain Tech 15 MOA CZ 457 Picatinny Rail Adapter. This precision-machined aluminum rail was a breeze to install and offers a generous section of Picatinny rail forward of the action. The additional cant of 15 MOA in the rail provides a much needed elevation boost, since the 40 grain projectiles will need a lot of vertical input to reach my intended distances.

cz-457-chassis-rifle-05 — The chassis buttstock is fully adjustable for comb height and length of pull.

For scope mount I chose Warne’s Skyline Precision Mount. This one piece 7075 aluminum scope mount is ultra rugged and very customizable. Their Precision Mount Level, Data Card Holder and other accessories can be added to this Skyline mount, maximizing your rifle’s setup. The mount itself features two integrated recoil lugs, and one large picatinny clamp locked into place with four sturdy crossbolts. The scope I mounted for this test was the Vortex Venom 5-25x56mm. Sporting a first focal plane glass-etched EBR-7C reticle, the Venom brings a ton of value in an affordable package. While it doesn’t feature the higher end HD glass, I found it to be more than sufficient for spotting .22LR impacts out to 454 yards, which was the farthest range I had available to me. With a larger caliber, I have no doubt I could spot bullet splash out much farther. Mounting and zeroing the Venom to the 457 was a fairly quick process. Once zeroed, I installed the included RevStop ring, which gave me 16.5 Mils of elevation adjustment with a guaranteed return to zero. It was time to head to the range.

Rimfire Compeititon

cz-457-chassis-rifle-06 — The CZ 457 Chassis only comes with one 5-round magazine. If you plan on competing in rimfire competitions, you'll want to purchase a few CZ 10-round rimfire magazines.

I attached my Warne Skyline Lite bipod to the ARCA rail forend of the rifle and set to work zeroing and accuracy testing. My zero distance was 50 yards, the closest I could get to the rimfire standard accuracy testing distance of 50 meters. Initial testing with multiple five-shot groups yielded impressive results. Using four different premium loads, all produced groups well under .25 inches. Accuracy testing complete, I chronographed all four loads and moved on to the longer range. I spent the better part of the afternoon ringing steel at distances from 127 yards to 450 yards. As long as I did my part behind the trigger, the rifle responded in fashion, chipping paint off of target after target.

cz-457-chassis-rifle-07 — Accuracy at 50 yards was outstanding across the board with each load tested.

A couple days later, I caught wind of a NRL22 match just an hour from my house happening the following weekend. I’d never shot a precision rimfire match, and I was admittedly nervous to compete. I went back to the range the next day and shot more than 250 rounds to prepare myself for what I hoped wouldn’t be a complete embarrassment. I didn’t realize until the night before that the National Rifle League publishes their courses of fire for each month. I showed up to the match early and checked my data on the Lapua Super Long Range ammo I would be using for the day. The match director let me borrow one of his personal ten-round CZ magazines for the day. Everything from factory Ruger 10/22s to fully custom $5,000+ Vudoo Gun Works builds were there. I began to wonder how I would fare with the factory stock CZ.

The very first stage was discouraging. I got in my own way trying to implement too many techniques, lost track of the correct course of fire, and when the timer ran out, I had made two total impacts on the correct targets. My wife encouraged me to get out of my own head and quit overthinking it. The next few stages it was just me, my rifle and my bags. I focused on better breathing and trigger work and began to add points back on each stage. There were a lot of tiny targets within 100 yards, and a number of larger targets at 200, 285, and one big one at 440. The rifle delivered shot after shot where it was intended to go. If I missed, I knew it was on me and not my equipment. By the time the match was over, I’d scored 420 points, which put me in sixth place overall out of the whole group. While it was not a podium finish by any means, for my first precision rimfire match, it was much better than I could’ve hoped. The CZ 457 Chassis rifle and myself proved we could hold our own within the pack.