About 20+ years ago I was looking for a SUPER accurate, very well made and beautiful high end 22 LR bolt action rifle. I looked at a Kimber Super America, Anschutz, Winchester, Remington etc. A few were OK but they were either stupid expensive or just not up to the standard I was looking for.

A good friend and shooting buddy turned me onto CZ - At the time I was unaware they even made long guns - silly me. I went to a LGS that had a CZ453 American in stock and it was love at first sight! The rifle has a gorgeous Walnut stock, beautiful deep bluing, no plastic on it at all, a buttery smooth bolt action and best of all a single set trigger. The single set trigger can be set for any weight you like as the regular trigger can be as well. No creep, no take up, no over travel and the best trigger I own on any firearm - handgun or long gun.

I installed a Leupold rimfire scope on it (3-9) which by the way also has a fantastic parallax adjustment on it. That is so so important on a 22 caliber rifle than is typically used between 10 yards and 150 yards. Most fixed parallax scopes are useless and totally blurry and inaccurate at 10 yards! The Leupold is mounted to the rifle with Burris Signature scope rings for perfect alignment before I even use the scope adjustments for windage and elevation. The rifle will consistently shoot 1/8" - 1/4" groups out to 50 yards and 1/4" - 3/8" groups at 100 yards. I am SURE the rifle can do better, but that's as good as I can shoot it. I am 70 now - lol. The target below was after fine adjusting it at 25 yards to do some squirrel hunting up at my friends hunting cabin a few years ago. CCI Mini-Mags are the rifle's ammo of choice but works almost as well with Federal's blue box #510.

After a bunch of my shooting bud's shot it, they went out and bought their own 453 American's. Th LGS sold 9 of them just to my friends - not kidding here! The only sad part of this is that soon after we all bought one of these fantastic rifles, they were discontinued by CZ because they said it cost them too much to produce. I also suspect the did not want the liability for the single set trigger as it can be set super scary light! They came out with several similar models afterwards (no single set trigger) and even though the newer models were descent, none held a candle to the very high quality of the 453 American - not even close! The barrels were thinner, the triggers not nearly as good, the trigger guards were made of plastic and over-all just not the same quality. Still good, but the 453 American was just a gem! In shooting contests I have always beaten guys shooting Anschutz, Kimber's, etc. Yes - it also depends on one's shooting ability, but the contests were mostly from a bench position so the rifles themselves make a huge difference.

At the time I believe I paid around $575 for the rifle and about $425 for the scope and signature rings. IMHO, I would take this rifle to any competition for accuracy, quality and overall perfection. Anyone looking for an incredible 22 LR rifle and who stumbles across one, I would say - BUY IT! Caution..... they did also make this rifle in .17 H&R Magnum as well (which I would not recommend because of the round itself), so be careful if looking for & buying one. The .17 is not something I am personally fond of - noisy, expensive and hard to get ammo. Plus, you just can't see the tiny holes in a target at 100 yards - even with a pair of good binoculars.

I have not really looked for one of these rifles lately and they are rarely available (used market) as most of my shooting friend's already have one. If you can find one used in good condition, it is a hell of a rifle and IMHO, about the best 22LR rifle you can readily and affordably buy now days. I will go so far as to say one of the best rifles for the money ever offered over the last 75 years.

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