man o man o man, I have researched the ever lovin’ poop out of this topic. For years.
I own 4 CZ 527 rifles.
I would stay far, far away from DIP rails on centerfires. All that is holding them on are tiny grub screws. I had one on a .204 that I firmly tightened (enough so that I left marks on the receiver) and it still slipped.
Rail/scope went forward, obviously, and thankfully the 527’s dovetail cuts end before the edge of the receiver. So all I lost was the rail, which being made of thin aluminum, bent when it hit the dovetail termination.
I have literally looked at
every single rail out there. The only bolt-on one that is any good is the
steel Contessa rail, which is made in different MOA mounts (20 MOA linked). It has a recoil lug, which is key as there isn’t anywhere to screw the rail down into the receiver.
YEAH, I know Optics Planet sux balls, but when I talked to Contessa USA (
[email protected] 480-221-9907) that’s who they pointed me to as OP had them in stock.
At the time, only Euro dealers carried them and I couldn’t get anyone to ship to the USA. If you want other MOA cants then you’ll have to special order through Contessa USA. The cants are listed on their Italian site.
If you want a gunsmith drill-tap rail, the
Ken Farrell steel base looks awesome. Better know a good gunsmith! Receivers can be hard to drill into, I hear.
Any rail, bolt-on or drill-tap, will stick up a long ways, unfortunately. I don’t know why? But that’s why I don’t use my nice Contessa rail on my 527’s. Looks are somewhat important. Perhaps if I had some ULTRA low rings it would fit my body and my aesthetics.
Instead I use the CZ rings on my Lux or the
highest Sportsmatch rings on the American-pattern stocks as I like a heads up position. I couldn’t find anyone in the US that carried the SM high rings so I’ve ordered from some places in the UK.
I have used
Tier One rings with success too (they have an EU site too). They make the Zeiss rings as well. They don’t have a CZ recoil lug but with a 204 it didn’t seem to matter.
They are listed fitting 17mm or 16mm dovetails, but don’t worry. I’ve found manufacturers measure dovetails in their own ways, and it can vary per country. 15mm, 15.5mm, 16mm, 17mm, etc. depends on where they place the calipers lol.
A decent gunsmith could add a recoil lug to the bottom of the Tier One rings, as it comes with a removable pin. The hole is just in the wrong place for a 527. T1 makes 34mm, 35mm, & 36mm dovetail rings in addition to 30mm. Sportsmatch makes only 1“ & 30mm.
A pain with T1 is if you have to return stuff. It goes back to Britain.
Optics-trade.eu lists a number of rings and rails by Rusan that I haven’t tried.
The EGW rail is ok and has a square recoil lug. Your receiver might have a rounded lug recess, so you’d have to file the EGW to fit. Me, I prefer steel as steel is real lol. But the EGW looks ok.
Edit: as mentioned elsewhere above, those low Ken Farrell rings look pretty good on a CZ rail. I’m a ARC M10/Mbrace whore, however haha.