Face lift for the lowly CZ 513 Basic
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:33 pm
My little 513 Basic (Farmer in some countries) is the bottom of the CZ totem pole in price and finish. It uses the 452 action to a certain extent except the bottom has different machining to accept a completely different trigger group. It has a non adjustable trigger that over on "the other forum" they said it was impossible to lighten the trigger. I took mine from nearly seven lbs. down to 1 3/4 lb. with no creep. I figured a trigger is made up of parts that can more than likely be modified to a certain extent and still be safe. The bolt and magazine are the same as a 452 and they have very accurate barrels from the examples I have fired. Mine will shoot with any CZ rifle I own except maybe my 452 FS 22's. It is the most accurate with the cold bore shots and that makes for a really fine hunting rifle. The stock always looked like a board that went through a planer with a dull cutter being that it had a waffled look to it and felt kind of crude handling it. So early this morning I decided to fix it with out doing a total stripping of the wood. The wood was in very good shape as far as dents and gouges because even though it is a cheap rifle I still am careful with how I treat it. I took the stock off (1 action screw instead of 2) and sanded it smooth with 600 grit wet or dry paper. Then I rubbed it down with an Armor-all wipe and put on a coat of wipe on polyurethane by Min-Wax. It dries super fast using the Armor-all and I was able to do several coats in a few hours and then late this afternoon I used a 3000 3 M sanding disk and rubbed it down with it and I have a low sheen stock smooth as a baby's bottom now instead a rough as a cob one like before. Maybe spent not much over three hours total work and back together ready to shoot. I am really satisfied by the low sheen and ultra smooth finish.
I don't believe I have another CZ that is as smooth a finish as this one.

