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ZKK 600 7x64mm Zbrojovka Brno

25K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  Diabloman 
#1 · (Edited)
What was the favorite bolt-action rifle of American hunters in late 1950s till let´s say 1990s? I don´t know...

But I do know, what was and still is the Czech rifle of choice - ZKK 600.

ZKK 600 was made by Brno Arms Company (Zbrojovka Brno) and It´s Czechoslovakian improvement to timeless Mauser bolt design. Main change is the safety moved from back of the bolt to the right sight, where it doesn´t interfere with scope. Also there is very clever double set trigger designt - you push the trigger forward till you hear and feel "click". Then the small blade on the trigger, which looks like GLOCK safety, engages in to trigger mechanism and you have to push just this small piece to fire the gun. Trigger pull is very fine and light. You can also relase tension in double set trigger and put it in to heavier pull, by engaging safety and pressing the trigger.

I like guns made of wood and steel. And this is a superb piece of best czechoslovakian Poldi Kladno steel and fine piece of walnut wood. Stock is monte-carlo design. Little bit shorter, steep pistol grip, quite "fat" fore end and decent cheek support. I like my stock short, despite being 6ft 3in... Pistol grip and for end are finely checkered. Butplate is some kind of ugly plastic...

Magazine is internal, double stack, which can be emptied from the bottom.

This rifle (and countless of others ZKK 600, 601 and 602) is equiped with Carl Zeiss 4x32 (maybe 30) scope. This scope was made in former Easter Germany (DDR)... Well, communists made crap? In most cases yes, but Carl Zeiss is still Carl Zeiss and even back then they´ve been making some nice scopes. Picture is crystal clear and you can see fairly well even in darkness. Czechosovakian and later Czech hunters were using those scopes for over 50 years in all weather and light conditions. The bes thing is, that it´s made out of steel and it´s indestructible. Only drawback is, that you can do only height correction with one of the turn caps. For side correction you have to use the screws on scope mount. But when it´s set, it stays set... Scope mount can be easy removed with scope when you need the iron sights.

Iron sights are quite common, but there is one interesting thing - you can remove a front sight in a second. You just press small button infront of it and slide the sight away... For me the front sight is little bit to small. Rear sight is adjustable just for windage. In europe we are not using iron sights to much, anything above 50m is scope bussines.

7x64 mm - what a odd caliber right? Does not ring a bell? Well, it´s almost strictly matter of european and african hunters... It was invented by Wilhelm Brenneke in 1917. It was supposed to be a improvement of 7x57 Mauser, which was going strong in South America and Africa. It´s flat trajectory and performance put it into consideration as sniper cartridge for German Wehrmacht in 1930s, but for logistical reasons they went for 8x57. In europe it´s considered all-around cartridge and going very strong from 1920s till now... It´s not as powerfull as 30-06, but not that that much...

ZKK 600 (intermediate action) was made in 7x57, 8x57, 30-06, 7x64, 8x64, and even powerfull 9,3x62. But rifles in 30-06 are not very good, the barrels are bad... ZKK 601 (short action) was made in .222 REM (.223 REM maybe also), .243 WIN and .308 WIN. ZKK 602 was made in I don´t know a lot of powerful calibers .416 Rigby for example, I saw piece in .358 Norma Magnum any SAFARI cartridge you can imagine...

Ok guys, thats about it... If any questions ask ... :)
 

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#7 ·
Mine, in .270WCF, has a Diopter (spring loaded) concealed by the rear mount. The sight on the barrel is hinged to fold down. They are excellent rifles. I brought mine home from a tour of service in Germany. Its big brother is a ZKK 602 Safari in 8x68S.

Given the 7x64 (and 7x65R) one wonders why the .280/7mm Remington Express came into being?
 
#8 ·
WendyZXZ: A lot of people don´t like those and change them for curved triggers even that they lost the double set capability. But I kinda like the straight one, cause it allows me to put my trigger finger anywhere I want and put as much pressure as I want trough the "effect of the lever"....

Waidmann: I would lov to have diopter sight on mine, but I will keep it original, since it´s in great shape. Most of ZKK rifle died of rust in hands of czech hunters, who did not took care of them properly - it´s curious, cause those rifles where kinda expensive and to get a rifle before 1989 was almost life time process. ZKK 602 it´s little bit hard to find in Czech Republic, since it´s true safari rifle and we don´t have much of a heavy game. You can pretty much kill anything here with 8x57, 7x64 or .308 ... But 9,3x62 is experiencing very strong comeback for hunting wild boars - and even for smaller game like bucks and does, because it doesn´t destroys the meat as much as faster bullets.
 
#9 ·
Nice pictures, thanks!

Also, S.Hammer, your comments about the 9,3x62 are right on target! I have for a long time felt that in the US, the popularity of a lot of older, "slower" calibers in this age of a new hot magnum introduced every month is because the older, slower and reliable killers don't destroy all the meat. That's why I still prefer my 57-year-old Savage 99 in .300 Savage (on paper, slightly less powerful than a .308, but in about the same class): it's reliable, it doesn't tear up the meat, and in spite of being an "old" round in an "old" gun design (which I happen to love and know inside and out), it is a very reliable arm for deer or elk.

Bill
 
#11 ·
The diopter and barrel sight on my ZKK are factory original as are the scope mounts. The 8x68S was a fluke. They were running a special on .375 H&H models, ran out and offered me a super nice price on an alternative.

I agree with all on the 9.3x62 it is a super cartridge. I have a Husqvarna '96 project gun in that caliber I look forward to filing down my Brownell's front sight blank to the correct height. At present I plan to "stay iron" on this one.
 
#12 ·
According to my research, the Zkk 600 series rifles were made in the BRNO factory in the city of BRNO (which later became the states capital) EXCLUSIVELY until 1972 when they began making them in the CZ factory. In BRNO they had a specific manner of steel prep even before making the barrel.This is said to significantly add quality to the barrel. Not sure if that was carried on after mfg moved to Cz factory. This may not have been written specifically in the design. It may have just bee part of there learned process. There are specific markings that identify the rifles actually made in BRNO at the BRNO FACTORY. It is very confusing due to a marketing ploy of marking BRNO on all rifles exported during a certain time frame. This was due to the popularity and high quality of rifles designed and manufactured in BRNO Factory.
 
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