Old thread I know...but interesting and thought I would see if there were updates. I posted this info elsewhere previously but thought it worth reposting here.
I have a CZ 527 American that was re-barreled with a Lilja 1:7 twist SS barrel...LOVE IT!!! This has become one of my all-time favorite sub 200-yard cotton, jack, gopher, & prairie dog CF rifles. It performs with amazing accuracy (I mainly keep it to 200 yds or less) with absolute explosive devastation & destruction...way more than most think. They do NOT crawl away!
Without being too graphic, neck shots on PD's & jacks result in 10' arial decapitation. Gophers?...well...if you hit them, no follow-up's are necessary.
Part of this performance is the bullet itself very destructive, it performs very well on critters. A friend & I believe that a huge part of it is the 1:7 twist that helps extracts the true performance this round is capable of from a rifle. I.e. 2-2.5x the rotation of Armscor's rifles with the same velocity equals absolute & humane elimination. Accuracy is completely maintained & bullets stay intact...until impact & then do their job. Keep in mind...we are not talking 300-500 yard ranges from this pistol round.
That all being said, I'm unsure on serious penetration as it works very well for my applications thus far. I have not tried them on anything bigger than PD's or Jacks yet. (Like most here, I have several others for that application.) That said, should the opportunity present itself, I wouldn't hesitate to use it on badgers, foxes, groundhogs, or even coyotes...under the noted 200 yds.
I believe that most Armscor rifles, like my older 22 Hornets shipped with 1:16 twist barrels. Among other things and besides the light strike issues of using a modified rimfire rifle...IF Armscor had made it with a fast twist barrel on their M22 TCM BA (like they provably should have in the first place), this rifle would have performed much more impressively like it was intended. In the end, I just didn't think it was a worthy platform to upgrade although the repeater would have been nice over the CZ which is effectively now a single shot.
Yes, twist makes that big of a difference! The bullets they use are essentially the ones originally intended for the 22 Hornets...way back when. (maybe closer to 22 WMR?) If you were to spin them any faster back then, I have heard that they'd come apart...hence the slow 1:16 & 1:20 twist barrels etc for the original 22 Hornets & what perpetuates today. But...bullets are made better now when this is essentially a non-issue & do not come apart at these velocities or ranges. I believe that if Armscor's had a 1:7 twist or at least faster than 1:16, I would have kept one in spite of the other shortcomings of their rifle design. I really do very much like the high capacity & interchangeable magazines though.
A few other really great things about using this rifle & round combo for my walk-about rifle. It is so nice to walk around with a large pocket full of ammo...similar to a pocket full of 22 WMR's. Unlike the pistol, the report is minimal compared to many other small calibers, nearly zero kick & the barrel seems to never get hot even on rapid successive shots. (As rapid as I can load it anyway.) About the only thing I'd wish for is cheaper factory ammo...don't we always. The reality is it isn't bad If you think of it as small-caliber rifle ammo. YMMA, JMHO etc.
Cheers,
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TOU
