CZ 750 S1M1

The CZ 750 S1M1 was the sniper version of the CZ 550 and a replacement for the CZ 700. The design of these rifles was straight from the design methodologies of the late 1990s. This includes a bulky synthetic stock that was adjustable and has a thumbhole grip and a very heavy 24″ barrel chambered in .308 Win. The 550 action is also robust and patterned after the classic Mauser Model 98. All together this made for a big and robust rifle that shot well enough for a military style sniper rifle.

The CZ 750 rifles do have a few cool little features to make them somewhat unique. One was the stock with the way the cheekpiece adjusted, but some of the others were things like a rubber sleeve for the magazine that keeps it from rattling when moving. Another odd feature on a sniper rifle was that they were available with a barrel band from the factory. For those of you that do not know what a barrel band is, it is a flat piece of durable cloth, lots of times a canvas style material, that attaches to the action and stretches up to the muzzle. It is designed to keep the mirage created from the hot barrel from distorting the sight picture when looking through the scope. They really are not practical in the field, but work well for benchrest or other types of competitive shooting. In the pictures below you can see the little screw on the muzzlebrake that is used to attach the band. Unfortunately our rifle here did not come with the band.

The muzzlebrake itself is not really very effective at reducing recoil, but it does keep the muzzle flip down and the design of it is unique. Overall these rifles have a very robust eastern European feel to them, and they are heavy, which also helps reduce recoil. The one we have here in the SCC was acquired from an individual party and it had hardly any rounds put through it when we got it.

Because these rifles came from the Czech Republic, we thought it would be appropriate to mate it up with a scope that also came from Eastern Europe. So we used a Valdada IOR 10x56mm scope with an Illuminated MP8 reticle. Not only are these scopes from Romania, but this particular model with a fixed 10x magnification made it a perfect fit for what might be found on a sniper rifle from this era. One could easily see this rifle and scope combination being used not only in Eastern Europe but in other places as well.

Together, this SWS (Sniper Weapon System) has been a very nice package and one that cries out with a lot of nostalgia. The rifle shoots around 1 MOA with match ammo, sometimes better with the rifle load, and you can read about the performance of these rifles in our full CZ 750 S1M1 review. But this rifle is not just about pure accuracy, but rather its about a robust, easy to maintain sniper rifle built for rugged use in the field. When viewed as a 1990’s SWS, this package makes a very deserving addition to the Sniper Central Collection and we are proud to have it.

Estimated Value: $3800 (With Scope)