I've been around long enough to remember the original Steyr Zephyr. My best friend's dad had one and it was the first rifle I ever shot with double set triggers and a full length Mannlicher stock. Compared to my dad's old Marlin, the Zephyr looked like it was from another planet which, Austria kinda is when you really think about it? Lederhosen. Yodeling. Ein pils, bitte!
Original Steyr Zephyr
I just remember that hitting Coke cans at 50+ yards wasn't that difficult to do with iron sights-only. When Steyr finally quit building the Zephyr in 1971 due to increasing cost and diminishing sales, not many tears were shed over its demise in spite of being one of the 20th Century's best bolt action .22 rifles. Steyr killed it when it went from being ridiculously priced to there's-no-way-in-hell-I'm-paying-that-much-for-a-22 priced.
The Zephyr II is a very good looking rifle and IMO every bit a worthy successor to the original. Between the pretty walnut stock and spirally 19.7" semi-bull barrel, it's very stout but only weighs-in at 5.8 lbs. I'm very impressed with how Steyr managed to do that.
Leupold VX3i (30mm) 4.5-14x40 wind plex, side focus, Talley rings
Whenever I get a 55 degree day in January with no wind and no rain/snow I'm heading to the range, even at the risk of pissing-off the wife who wanted to go antiquing and junk hunting this afternoon.
Today was the first chance I had to really put the Zephyr II thru its paces and here's how it did at 50 yards shooting off sandbags.
Wolf Match Extra, first shots, first target (lower right) on a cold barrel. I made one minor elevation and windage adjustment and put five shots on each target, going from bottom to top.
SK Rifle Match, the Zephyr II seems to really like it. That's about as good of a 10 shot group (lower right) as I'm capable of shooting...with anything.
Eley Team, again, started with 10 shots on the lower right target and five in each of the rest. Eley Team shoots only marginally better in the Zephyr II than it does in my Ruger. Unless I can a great deal on it, I probably won't buy any more of it.
Eley Club, it was nice to see this load perform well in the Zephyr II and in the Ruger LRT. Those consistent flyers at 6 o'clock? Well, that's a fine example of me pulling the trigger instead of squeezing it.
Total: 100 rounds.
Steyr USA guarantees this rifle's accuracy to be sub-MOA or they'll buy it back and now I see why they do. Even a mediocre shooter, like me, can shoot decent groups at 50 yards with a Zephyr II and a good optic mounted on it. Steyr may not be the biggest or the best known name in the business but, one thing they definitely still know how to do is make an accurate, good-looking rifle barrel. I'm thrilled, so far, with how it looks and how it performs.
