When it comes to teaching and building upon the fundamentals of shooting, nothing quite beats a youth rifle. The concepts of sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, and follow-through are exercised, but in a platform that is shortened and lightened for young and smaller-statured shooters. It also helps that rifles like these are normally chambered in lighter recoiling cartridges like .22 Long Rifle.

There are plenty of .22 caliber youth rifles and compact rifles more generally on the market. But many of them are surprisingly cheap and offer less capacity for the shooter to grow a bit with their rifle. The CZ 457 Scout is a higher market approach that is almost heirloom quality, but gives the end user the ability to add magazine capacity and even barrel changes to different calibers.

Features

CZ produces several models of .17 and .22 caliber rimfire rifles as part of the 452 and 455 lineup. The latest versions are the 457 series, of which the 457 Scout is the most compact and the least expensive. It features a smooth beechwood stock, an aluminum receiver, and nitrated milled steel furniture in lieu of stamped steel parts as used on the 455. It has a short 12-inch length of pull and a squatty 16-inch barrel that is threaded for 1/2×28 inch accessories.

Unlike others in the 457 lineup, the Scout features a set-screw adjustable rear sight and a hooded post front. It also lacks an adjustable set trigger, instead relying on a simple single-stage version. But it shares the same three-position safety, cock-on-open bolt action, and grooved receiver to accept 11mm (3/8 inch) scope mounts.

While the other models available come with detachable five-round magazines and are marketed as repeating rifles, the Scout comes from the factory as a single-shot rifle. It features a polymer ramp that plugs the magazine well, which allows the user to drop a single round into the action. But the block can be removed, and detachable magazines can be used.

Shooting Impressions

The CZ 457 Scout is compact enough for an easy reach for the bolt and trigger for short-statured shooters. But it works equally well for taller shooters who want something compact. For the new shooter, the compact dimensions, five-pound weight, and the inclusion of a single-shot feed ramp make for a platform that is easy to wield and simple to operate while concentrating on the needed fundamentals with one well-placed shot.

The single-shot adapter is also useful for feeding many different types of ammunition with ease. While you can stoke a bolt-action rifle with .22 Long, .22 Short, or CB Cap ammunition, you normally would have to feed it directly into the chamber. The adapter acts as a feed ramp. Simply drop the round onto the ramp and bolt forward and down to chamber the round. However, most of our shooting with the 457 Scout was done with CZ five-round magazines.

A Great Suppressor Host

An added bonus with newer-generation .22 rifles like the Scout is that it comes from the factory threaded for a suppressor. .22 suppressors are less expensive than centerfire counterparts and come close to movie quiet. That is handy, whether you are hunting and don’t want to give away your position or at the range and don’t want to deal with the frustration of working around earmuffs.

As a training aid, it removes the bark of .22 LR ammo from the shooting equation. As the 457 is bolt action, all gas is directed and silenced at the muzzle, and there is no blowback and particulate coming out of the action like in an autoloader. Paired with the excellent SilencerCo Switchback 22, the CZ 457 Scout is whisper quiet.

The CZ 457 Scout is not blessed with a set trigger like others in CZ’s lineup of rimfire rifles, but it breaks cleanly with no mush. On my Lyman Trigger scale, it pulls at just 3 3/4 lbs. The Scout’s iron sights are well-regulated and easy to see and understand instructionally.

However, most of our shooting was done with a Leopold VX-Freedom 1-4x riflescope. It is mounted on 3/8 inch aluminum mounts, which fit well on the 11mm dovetail. The dovetail itself is the same size as a 3/8 dovetail on other rifles, but the inner ground is slightly different.

Reliability and Accuracy

Accuracy and reliability with .22 rifles are dependent on the gun, ammo, and magazines. Thankfully, CZ guns and mags tend to be straight performers. That just leaves the ammo, and the 457 Scout eats it all. From CCI Quiet .22 LR 40 grain lead rounds to CCI Copper 21 grain solids to Winchester Super X dud-ammo specials, the Scout cycles and shoots them well. It is also one of the few rimfires we own that has yet to have an ammunition-related failure to fire.

Accuracy is excellent for a non-target rifle. At 100 yards, I can put five rounds of CCI Blazer 40-grain high velocity into the size of a quarter. That can be replicated with just about any other standard velocity or high velocity ammunition, although the groups will not always be in the same place.

Accuracy with subsonic ammunition is somewhat less at distances beyond fifty yards because wind affects these slow pills the most. Inside that distance, only the least consistent ammunition will not produce a one-hole group. All in all, more than enough to give assurance to a new shooter anxious to see holes in paper or meat in the pot.

The CZ 457 Scout: A Different Take on the Youth Rifle

Youth rifles tend to be barebones and made to a low price point. That is not the fault of manufacturers so much, but the economics that drives the demand for youth rifles. When someone starts shooting, there isn’t always much money to spend.

Once a new shooter goes through the ringer, learns the fundamentals, and moves on to other platforms, that single-shot youth .22 is left collecting dust as it gets too small and too inflexible as time goes on. CZ took a different approach with the 457 Scout by going upmarket and incorporating just enough features for shooters to grow with their first rifle.

Japanese-Italian might sound like a surprising fusion restaurant, but today’s exploration of Japanese-Italian relations focuses on a rifle: the Type I rifle, which was used by the Japanese military. It’s not just a rare, somewhat odd rifle, but it’s probably the only Carcano variant that commands a high price. Let’s delve into the Type I rifle and discuss its origins, purpose, and what became of it.

It was the late 1930s, and Nazi Germany was on the rise. The world had become a bit less stable, and the thunder of war could be heard in the distance. Japan and Italy had joined Hitler’s Germany to form the Axis powers. This alliance created interesting relations between three very different cultures.

In 1937, Japan invaded China. Like most countries that invade other countries, they were taken by surprise! Not China, but Japan, because even though they launched the invasion, they didn’t have enough rifles to support it. It’s odd how this seems to be a constant theme of invasions.

Anyway, the Japanese couldn’t produce enough rifles, so they began purchasing foreign guns. This included Vz. 24s and Kar 98Ks. This reliance on foreign rifles created logistical issues, and a desire to maintain a single caliber and rifle design led the Japanese to contract the Italians to produce rifles for the Japanese military.

The Italians produced the Type I rifle using a Carcano action but incorporated design cues from the Japanese Type 38 rifles. The Type I used a Carcano action but featured a Type 38-style stock, sights, and magazine. They chambered the 6.5x50mmSR Arisaka cartridge and used the staggered Arisaka/Mauser-type magazine rather than the single-stack Carcano magazines.

Japan named it the Type I, because “I” stood for Italian, which was fitting. The rifles featured 31.4-inch barrels and weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces. They could be easily mistaken for a Type 38 unless you paid close attention to the bolt design, which is as Italian as lasagna (and as surprisingly good as Ricotta cheese in it).

The Type I in Service

Roughly 120,000 Type I rifles were produced for the Japanese military. The rifles were manufactured by a mix of Beretta, Fabbrica Nazionale d’Armi (FNA), and the state armory in Gardone Val Trompia.

The Type I wasn’t primarily intended for the mainland Japanese Army but rather to supplement forces less likely to see frontline combat. They were frequently used by the Japanese Navy, which freed up Type 38 rifles for the Army conducting the invasion. The Type I rifles were also issued to Japan’s allies in China.

“Allies” in this context meant puppet regimes, including the Mengjiang National Army and the Collaborationist Chinese Army.

There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that there was anything inherently wrong with these rifles or that they failed in one way or another. As much as we poke fun at the Carcano, its action is not weak. Most Carcano complaints focus on the ammunition and the en-bloc clip system. The Type I, however, used the Japanese cartridge and magazine design.

It might arguably be the best Carcano design, though I’m certainly no Carcano expert.

Modern Collectors

The Type I doesn’t have the same widespread adoration as other military rifles, but they are quite rare, and their price is increasing rapidly. It doesn’t seem like anyone bought and imported a huge quantity of Type I rifles en masse. Rather, Type I rifles were primarily “bring-backs” from servicemen, which contributes to their greater rarity compared to other Japanese rifles.

I only learned of the Type I when I acquired one. Sort of. Mine was a “bubba hack job” that had been sporterized and even converted to .223 Remington. I’d much prefer an unmolested Type I. Type I rifles are still being sold and traded for less than a thousand dollars, and I believe they are destined to become some of the rarest firearms to come out of World War II.

As such, if you’re a collector, snatch them up now. They will likely increase rapidly in value. I’m keeping my eyes open for one of these fascinating rifles.