CZ is known worldwide for decades of quality rifles and handguns, as well as excellent rimfire (.22) rifles. Everybody around these parts who grew up with a rimfire, or who had at least fired one on a farm, probably did so with a CZ (or its predecessor, the BRNO.)

The CZ 457 is arguably the finest rimfire CZ has ever manufactured, since they introduced the CZ 455 back in 2010. CZ has learned and refined the excellent CZ 455 and the improvements made on the 455 lead directly to the 457. This included shortening the action, cutting flats in the receiver sides, a new and improved safety mechanism, an adjustable trigger and a 60-degree bolt throw. The last two factors being the most important, in my opinion.

One of the major challenges shooters had on the CZ455 was scope height, the improved lower 60-degree bolt throw allows for lower rings, giving the bolt handle plenty of clearance when cycling the action, preventing it getting in the way of the rear ocular lens.

The CZ455 never had an adjustable trigger, you normally would have swapped out the trigger for a lighter aftermarket trigger. The 457 trigger is adjustable for pull-weight, sear engagement and overtravel. It ships with trigger weight of three pounds, online forums state it can go low as one pound. At the top of the 457 range sits the MTR model, or “Match Target Rifle.” The CZ 457 MTR is a different beast on its own compared to the rest of the 457 line up. In the case of the MTR, CZ used the absolute minimum CIP-allowable dimensions for the rifle’s chamber. (“CIP” is the European equivalent of SAAMI.) The headspace is considerably shorter than the rest of the CZ 457 models, so bullets are engraved with rifling by touching the lands when the action closes. Most experienced shooters know (especially from the sport shooting world) that when a bullet touches the lands, retaining its orientation as it moves through the bore when fired holds an advantage for extreme precision.

The additional benefit of having the bullet engrave when the bolt closes is the measure of consistency that lengthier chambers don’t allow.

The model I reviewed from A. Rosenthal - Windhoek was the 20.5 (1:16) cold hammer forged version with “match” marking on the barrel. It comes standard with a highly precise walnut stock and five-shot magazine.

There are limited numbers in stock currently. Speak to Johan Wessels (A. Rosenthal) for more information.