Hello Wayne,

Thanks for the post. Here in Maine the snow is melting fast and the temps are rising. Already only 5 months and a week to the first goose season! Yesterday, my dad and I were in a large outfitter's here and they had two 550s - a 375 and a 458. Interestingly, the 375 said "CZ 550 Safari classics" and was missing the barrel band for the sling swivel unlike the online catalog for CZ here in the states, www.CZ-USA.com

At any rate, even though I am LH the rifle mounted to shoulder beautifully! I liked how the rear island sight was intergral to the barrel. I actually liked the 25" tube. It wasn't cumbersome in the least and the balance was great. I did, however, think the stock was awful; ugly and quuite blocky in my hands. But who cares as we already have ready stock blanks waiting.

Interestingly, the guys we were chatting with told us they much preferred the 375 to the 338 WM (which was our original choice) in terms of shooter friendliness. They also thought based upon their experiences in alaska and Kenya that the larger bullet offered a noticeable difference especially on the larger fellows they tackled with it. It was again reported that barrel accuracy was top quality. so, we'll be buying one soon to send to the gunsmith and then waiting on CZ's intro of LH later in 2007 (as told to me by Alice Puluchova, Prez of CZ-USA, last week). Thaks for the input.

So, what is the terrain like where you live? Many different species to chase? If you like doubles you may also appreciate the last guy we spoke to last night:

He offered us a gun he owned. It was a 500 BPE made 1883 or 93 ( I forget as I was a little bit enthralled!) by Joseph Lang and Sons of London and was a Best quality gun. Pretty neat to hold such an item. It was a real beauty and he reported it as a good hunting weapon. Currently on sale for $4750.00 USD.

Jeff