The CZ 600 series is a new centerfire, bolt action from CZ. It uses a 3 lug bolt for smaller cartridges and a 6 lug bolt for larger ones, giving it a quick, 60 degree bolt throw and is guaranteed sub-MOA.
CZ600 Versions Compared
The Alpha is the cheapest version at just under $1000 (as of 2023), coming with a polymer stock, short-ish barrels and machined in picatinny bases. It’s best suited as a hunting rifle and comes in a wide array of cartridges.
The Lux is a nicer version with a full length, nicer stock, iron sights, and doesn’t have machined-in scope bases. This is a nicer hunting rifle for fancy pants hunters.
The Range is a laminate stock, precision rifle with a more precise, 3/4 MOA, 5 shot guarantee. Heavy barrel, 10lb rifles. Available only in 308 and 6mm Creedmoor for now.
The Trail uses a collapsing stock and chassis to get really compact. It comes in 223 and 7.62×39, uses short barrels, uses an AR style safety, and is lightweight at 6.1lbs. The 223 version uses AR mags while the 7.62×39 version uses Bren 2 mags.
The Ergo uses a light profile barrel, nicer thumbhole stock, machined-in scope bases, and just a few calibers for now. They’re around $1500 retail.
CZ600 Alpha Specifications:
- Available in 223, 224 Valkyrie, 7.63×39, .308, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, 30-06, and 300 Win Mag.
- Muzzle threaded and ready for a suppressor or brake
- 6.6-7.9lbs depending on cartridge and barrel length
- 3-5 round magazine capacity (3 for 6.5 PRC or 300 win mag, 5 for everything else)
- Adjustable, single stage trigger
- Weird vertical safety
- Locking magazine button?
Using the CZ600
There are some really nice things about this rifle. The machined in bases are super practical and make mounting a scope 1 step easier. The trigger is adjustable and fantastic: this one was 1 lb, 10oz with no creep at all.
The magazine is a pretty standard, mostly plastic, double feed style that can hold 5 standard rounds or 3 bigger magnum rounds. It’s nice in a world when many manufacturers are going for 3-4 round, single feed mags.
The safety is pretty weird, but easy to use. Press it down for fire, press it up from the bottom for safe. There’s a cocking indicator right next to it showing whether the action is cocked or not.
Speaking of weird: the magazine button can be pushed forward towards the muzzle to lock it in place and disable the button. It’s really recessed so I can’t imagine this would be an issue to solve in the first place but whatever.
The bolt runs nice and smooth. Not as glassy as some high end rifles but nice enough.
CZ 600 Alpha Build Quality
Alright now that the good stuff is out of the way, they had to save money somewhere and they did it by using a lot of plastic on this rifle.
The stock side panel inserts in particular don’t fit that great. I’m not really sure what they were going for with those and would have rather they just molded some checkering into the stock instead.
The bolt knob is plasticky.
Ejection Issues
I had some ejection issues with this CZ600 that turned out to be user error. The plunger ejector only works for the last 1/4″ of travel so you need that bit of the bolt cycle to be vigorous to work. Kind of acts like a fixed ejector.
Accuracy
Fantastic, easy to hit that 1 MOA guarantee.
Conclusion: a new entrant in premium but practical hunting rifles
For a cheap hunting rifle, I like Savage Axis but what if you want something a bit nicer? In the past, my go-to recommendation was the Tikka T3X Lite: it’s got a smoother bolt and better build quality than the Axis. The CZ600 is a solid competitor for the Tikka T3X: the CZ has more features and I’d argue the bolt lift gives way more room for the scope but the T3X will be lighter.
