My opinion is that the best bang for the money would be a CZ 453 American. Unfortunately, they have been discontinued for about 7 years now and are only available on the secondary market at about $550 or so if and when they surface. They have a fully adjustable Single Set Trigger, are dead-nuts accurate, and have beautiful Turkish Walnut stocks. They are made with all metal parts (including the trigger guard) and extremely high quality rifles.

The easier to find CZ 452 is basically the same exact rifle however it has only a standard adjustable trigger - no single set feature. Still, they are the same quality and shoot just as well - you will have to do without the single set trigger feature. Those are gettable for under $500 if you look hard enough.

IMHO for the price of the CZ's, I am unaware of any other Rifle currently manufactured to the CZ's 453 and 452 American for even close to the same price.

It is also my opinion that the newer currently made CZ (455 I believe) while a descent rifle is no way is comparable to either the 453 or 452 in quality. After shooting one of them and carefully examining it, you can see how CZ has saved money and cheapened the new "replacement" model. The new one does have an interchangeable barrel feature (which most of us could probably care less about) and while it is a descent shooter - personally I'd not buy one and opt for the original two models above.

Golly I guess that means I can't post my opinion about the subject. Silly me. Wait...

I'd give you an argument on that point. A better trigger almost always means more accuracy. There are common fixes for the 452 trigger but I've never shot one that compared to the 453 trigger. And I've shot several that were fixed.

The 452 is certainly a nice rifle. A great rifle really. And it's possible to buy an even better trigger for the 452 than the 453 has. But of course that means a good bit extra cost. Yes the 453 costs more but you get the CZ warranty with no problems with aftermarket parts being seen as a warranty breaker. I do not know that CZ does things that way but I know they will cover the 453 no matter what.

FWIW the 453 was a good bit more expensive than $550 for a while. I don't think it's common to see them for that price even now. But at one point they were bringing $800 in some places. I will keep mine. It's hard to find a better rifle for the money even though my Savage MkIIBTV is more accurate. I would certainly get rid of the Savage first if it came to that. It's finicky but very accurate. Keep a torque screwdriver handy if you want top accuracy from the Savage. My 453 shot great right out of the box. It did have a couple of issues that I knew it would work through and it did. The bolt used to stick something fierce. Now it's very smooth. No doubt there was a burr involved somewhere that got knocked off.

And so far no one has mentioned the king of accuracy....Anschutz
Just an observation.
Randy

The OP stated PRE 1980 American made. ASSUMING "reasonably" priced.

Another vote for tha CZ452 or if you can find one an Anschutz 54 Sporter. I had 2 of the 54’s and one of the CZs that I’d give my eye teeth to have any of them back.

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I have a CZ 455 combo rifle that has a 22LR barrel and a 17HMR barrel

Great picture....... I've got 4 FSs ...... 452s in .22lr and .22magnum and a 527 in .223.

My second 452FS in .22lr was found used still new "in the box/plastic bag" at a local gun shop.... for a mere $360.

My FSs are 'field guns" with small Leupold 1-4X20 scopes.......

A good CZ 452

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