luv2safari,
Your advice to handle a gun before buying may apply to those of you who live in the lower 48, but for those of us who live in bush and semi-bush communities in Alaska, we often buy guns based on purported reliability and reputation, not having access to the large gun shops that you do. We do actually carry our guns as DG guns here out of necessity just about every time we hunt. The CZ 550 I received was so radically, abysmally dysfunctional and cheaply built I find it hard that anyone could possibly defend it. I actually wonder if any of the good ones are exceptions rather than the norm. Most of my bear hunting is done with a Mark X Mauser in 375 H&H. Hundreds less than I paid for the CZ, but an absolutely solid, reliable, well built rifle I can count on to perform. I would never approach one of our salmon streams or alder thickets with a CZ 550, nor would I allow anyone to carry one with whom I'm hunting here in our coastal brown bear country.