Once upon a time, in a gun forum far far away, I noticed a cult-like devotion revolving around what appeared to be a well-built, nicely finished .22 rimfire rifle. Not only were they fine looking, but the followers claimed extraordinary accuracy! A couple of trips to the local lay-a-way and a sample was mine.
Rifle finally in hand, I was not disappointed. The fit and finish were superb, and with a little lapping compound, the bolt ran like butter. Not that it was bad, but afterward. . . Some Tru-Oil on the stock to fill in the pores and it was getting warm enough to go shooting. Wait, need sights. . .
(NOTE: firing a few thousand rounds will have the same effect as the lapping compound if you have the patience; I do not.)
Enter my scope choice, the Leupold VX-II 3-9x33 EFR. Some may criticize the choice, saying it's "not enough scope for target work", "you're just buying the name", and on and on. It's a nice scope. The finish is flawless, the optics clear, the reticle crisp, the objective adjustable, and it was on sale.
Mounted on the rifle, it has performed exceedingly well. The adjustments have tracked well over the last two years and remain distinct and audible. I wish the scope came with finger adjustable turrets, but such is life. If I wanted to pony up the cash, the Leupold Custom Shop said they would be more than happy to send a set my way.
The reticle is Leupold's Fine Duplex and suits my purposes just fine. The fine portion of the crosshair is just less than the width of a super fine tip Sharpie mark at twenty-five yards on 9x. It is fine enough for shooting out to one hundred yards (the farthest I have shot it) and remains in good contrast to the target.
The adjustable objective focuses to twenty-five and less out to infinity with distinct accurate markings, provided you properly focus the eyepiece first.
The lines of the scope work with the rifle, and I am pleased with my purchase.
Let's go shooting!
Target: The Bane of All Root Beer: Faygo.
Weapon: Aformentioned.
Ammo: CCI Segmented HP, Old Federal Hyper-velocity, and CCI Standard Velocity HP.
The CCI Segmented HP exceeded expectations! This sample is representative of the results obtained throughout the test. (twelve-pack)
The segmented HP obliterated every can we shot, sometimes leaving the endcaps completely separated! This round does not perform well in the accuracy department, however.
Left to right; CCI SHP, Federal HV, and CCI SV HP results.
After some time with my new love, I discovered her affinity for Fiocchi Biathlon SM340. Shot some very nice groups with it. She also liked Federal AutoMatch and CCI SSHP but did not care for RWS Subsonic or Wolf ME. Keep that in mind for later.
The rifle performed well at our first Appleseed, making my brother and I Riflemen! While the bolt-operated rifles are not the best choice for this type of event, the accuracy of the platform (and cheating with a scope) made up for the deficiency in spades.
About this time I started thinking about suppression. Everybody said a .22LR suppressed was about as good as it got, and so I began a series of PMs to INGO's own Corey Schaffer. (SSNFA) I placed my order and waited. And waited. And got bored. There was a manufacturing holdup at Thompson Machine and with no way to speed up their process, I sped up mine.
I installed a YoDave trigger kit to get the pull down to about two pounds with zero creep, and modified the trigger guard lines to better suit my tastes. A write up of this process is here: CZ 452 Trigger Guard - RimfireCentral.com Forums
Now waiting on the ATF, I dropped my beauty off at Saltzman Gun Works for a cut 'n crown.
Now trimmed to a compact seventeen inches and threaded for my suppressor, I waited. And waited. And did another Appleseed. And one fine Monday, Corey called with the good news; my stamp was IN!
The Thompson Machine Zephyr XL is a .22 rimfire can with a tube constructed of 4130 steel and baffles of 6061 T6 aluminum. It weighs 7.0oz., is 6.5" in length, and 1.125 in diameter. It is a user-serviceable mono baffle design that is full-auto rated. Finish is Parkerized with anodized end caps. THE THREADS ARE NOT COUNTER BORED the usual fifty thousandths. Make sure your gunsmith knows this. Mine works twenty minutes away and did the process for free in fifteen minutes. Others may not be so lucky.
A disassembly tool is included with the Zephyr XL, a nice touch considering the price some other suppressor manufacturers charge for this necessary part.
Package complete, I headed to the range.
Remember what my rifle used to like? Not so much any more. Definitely still shooting well, but not like it did before with this ammo.
Have to start running through different ammo again.
Note the impact shift between suppressed and unsuppressed fire. This shift was absolutely repeatable every time the suppressor was mounted/dismounted.
The Zephyr XL is QUIET! Click picture for video, shots are immediately following bolt working sounds. (three shots)
All in all, I am happy with my system. A bipod and metal coating are in the works, but I wouldn't complain if they wait a while. This is what I want in a .22 for now.
There are always some dislikes about anything man-made, and I have a few.
The CZ trigger guard is kinda chintzy looking from the factory. Fixed that right up with 25 cents worth of JB Weld.
The Leupold would be nicer with finger adjustments. You can buy them if you want, I'll live.
The suppressor endcap closest to the muzzle needs to be reverse threaded. When you use a natural grip to unscrew the can, the tube unscrews from the cap more often than the cap from the rifle. I managed to remove some anodizing from the end cap with a towel and some channel-locks trying to remove the cap from the rifle the first time this happened. Some blue Loc-Tite and no more problems yet.
Comments and questions are welcome, I will update the review as necessary.
Rifle finally in hand, I was not disappointed. The fit and finish were superb, and with a little lapping compound, the bolt ran like butter. Not that it was bad, but afterward. . . Some Tru-Oil on the stock to fill in the pores and it was getting warm enough to go shooting. Wait, need sights. . .
(NOTE: firing a few thousand rounds will have the same effect as the lapping compound if you have the patience; I do not.)
Enter my scope choice, the Leupold VX-II 3-9x33 EFR. Some may criticize the choice, saying it's "not enough scope for target work", "you're just buying the name", and on and on. It's a nice scope. The finish is flawless, the optics clear, the reticle crisp, the objective adjustable, and it was on sale.
Mounted on the rifle, it has performed exceedingly well. The adjustments have tracked well over the last two years and remain distinct and audible. I wish the scope came with finger adjustable turrets, but such is life. If I wanted to pony up the cash, the Leupold Custom Shop said they would be more than happy to send a set my way.
The reticle is Leupold's Fine Duplex and suits my purposes just fine. The fine portion of the crosshair is just less than the width of a super fine tip Sharpie mark at twenty-five yards on 9x. It is fine enough for shooting out to one hundred yards (the farthest I have shot it) and remains in good contrast to the target.
The adjustable objective focuses to twenty-five and less out to infinity with distinct accurate markings, provided you properly focus the eyepiece first.
The lines of the scope work with the rifle, and I am pleased with my purchase.
Let's go shooting!
Target: The Bane of All Root Beer: Faygo.
Weapon: Aformentioned.
Ammo: CCI Segmented HP, Old Federal Hyper-velocity, and CCI Standard Velocity HP.
The CCI Segmented HP exceeded expectations! This sample is representative of the results obtained throughout the test. (twelve-pack)
The segmented HP obliterated every can we shot, sometimes leaving the endcaps completely separated! This round does not perform well in the accuracy department, however.
Left to right; CCI SHP, Federal HV, and CCI SV HP results.
After some time with my new love, I discovered her affinity for Fiocchi Biathlon SM340. Shot some very nice groups with it. She also liked Federal AutoMatch and CCI SSHP but did not care for RWS Subsonic or Wolf ME. Keep that in mind for later.
The rifle performed well at our first Appleseed, making my brother and I Riflemen! While the bolt-operated rifles are not the best choice for this type of event, the accuracy of the platform (and cheating with a scope) made up for the deficiency in spades.
About this time I started thinking about suppression. Everybody said a .22LR suppressed was about as good as it got, and so I began a series of PMs to INGO's own Corey Schaffer. (SSNFA) I placed my order and waited. And waited. And got bored. There was a manufacturing holdup at Thompson Machine and with no way to speed up their process, I sped up mine.
I installed a YoDave trigger kit to get the pull down to about two pounds with zero creep, and modified the trigger guard lines to better suit my tastes. A write up of this process is here: CZ 452 Trigger Guard - RimfireCentral.com Forums
Now waiting on the ATF, I dropped my beauty off at Saltzman Gun Works for a cut 'n crown.
Now trimmed to a compact seventeen inches and threaded for my suppressor, I waited. And waited. And did another Appleseed. And one fine Monday, Corey called with the good news; my stamp was IN!
The Thompson Machine Zephyr XL is a .22 rimfire can with a tube constructed of 4130 steel and baffles of 6061 T6 aluminum. It weighs 7.0oz., is 6.5" in length, and 1.125 in diameter. It is a user-serviceable mono baffle design that is full-auto rated. Finish is Parkerized with anodized end caps. THE THREADS ARE NOT COUNTER BORED the usual fifty thousandths. Make sure your gunsmith knows this. Mine works twenty minutes away and did the process for free in fifteen minutes. Others may not be so lucky.
A disassembly tool is included with the Zephyr XL, a nice touch considering the price some other suppressor manufacturers charge for this necessary part.
Package complete, I headed to the range.
Remember what my rifle used to like? Not so much any more. Definitely still shooting well, but not like it did before with this ammo.
Have to start running through different ammo again.
Note the impact shift between suppressed and unsuppressed fire. This shift was absolutely repeatable every time the suppressor was mounted/dismounted.
The Zephyr XL is QUIET! Click picture for video, shots are immediately following bolt working sounds. (three shots)
All in all, I am happy with my system. A bipod and metal coating are in the works, but I wouldn't complain if they wait a while. This is what I want in a .22 for now.
There are always some dislikes about anything man-made, and I have a few.
The CZ trigger guard is kinda chintzy looking from the factory. Fixed that right up with 25 cents worth of JB Weld.
The Leupold would be nicer with finger adjustments. You can buy them if you want, I'll live.
The suppressor endcap closest to the muzzle needs to be reverse threaded. When you use a natural grip to unscrew the can, the tube unscrews from the cap more often than the cap from the rifle. I managed to remove some anodizing from the end cap with a towel and some channel-locks trying to remove the cap from the rifle the first time this happened. Some blue Loc-Tite and no more problems yet.
Comments and questions are welcome, I will update the review as necessary.
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Original thread here: https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ew_cz_452_and_thompson_machine_zephyr_xl.html
Original thread here: https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...ew_cz_452_and_thompson_machine_zephyr_xl.html
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