I started buying 457s not long after they were announced, first getting an American sporter, then finally finding a Varmint MTR after missing getting one ordered when they were in stock several times. Then - because I'm a fan of the Manners PRS1T stocks that I have on several of my Vudoo & a single Rim-X rifles - I bought a Varmint Precision Trainer with the 24" threaded bbl. The American shot poorly to begin with, using SK & Lapua ammo that shot great in the custom barrels on two Jelrod-converted CMP 40X actions, but the best the American ever managed at 50yds was around 1-1/2" groups, even after I'd pulled the bbl and cut a precision 11* crown to replace the ragged factory crown. Finally replaced that factory bbl with a Shilen select match ratchet that I chambered with my EPS reamer, and now have a rifle that shoots really well. The Varmint MTR was a huge improvement over the American's factory bbl, but still wasn't as consistently accurate as any of the rifles I had with custom barrels. The VPT came - new, out of the box - with some spattered but fairly heavy lead fouling about 1-1/2" forward of the chamber that I found while trying to wipe the bore before zeroing the scope I'd mounted. Just kept getting dirty patches out of the bbl with Ed's Red, so finally dry-patched it and put the Hawkeye borescope in to see what the problem was, and could easily see that leading - in a brand new bbl that I hadn't shot yet. A fresh bronze bore brush removed all the leading fairly quickly, and the bbl never lead fouled in that area again, and shot OK from the beginning, though not as good as the MTR. After I'd put 500 or more rounds through it at 50yds, I felt the groups had improved a bit, so backed off to shoot it at 100 & 200yds. But it really kinda fell on its face, producing 3"+ groups at 100, and failing to keep 10rds on an 8" gong at 200. So that rifle got the same Shilen bbl treatment as the American, and is now one of my favorite 22RF rifles.
Since I now had two very accurate & consistent 457s that both shot better than the Varmint MTR, I put it up for sale and kept the other two. I probably wouldn't have put the time, effort, and money into those two if I hadn't been so happy with the 457 actions, and have no regrets after doing so. From all the positive reviews I've read on 457 accuracy here & over on RFC, I must conclude that I was just unlucky with those two sub-par factory bbls, but it does point out that accuracy with standard CZ bbls is more-or-less a crap shoot (no pun intended).
