Zavasta M85
- Thread starter Hermid
- Start date
Love mine. Good shooter, pretty accurate (2&1/2" groups or smaller at 100m, depending on which ammo you use), lightweight and nimble. Fully adjustable trigger (you just have to be patient and make sure you get all of the screws in the adjustment working together).
This is my M85 with Stutzen stock. Not the same batch as CanAm is bringing in, but they come available now and then from TradeEx. Got mine from Corwin-Arms when they were importing them:
Comparing group sizes between my M85 and SKS with cheap Dominion ammo. The low flyer on the M85 target was entirely me jerking the shot. Still not a horrible group, just barely over 2&1/2 inches. I find the Dominion ammo gets about the same group sizes as surplus out of my SKS, so this is pretty much the worst groups I'm get out of the Zastava. With Hornady SST rounds group sizes are about 1&1/2" - which is dang fine for bulk commercial hunting ammo.
And here's a video I did a while back on doing the trigger adjustments:
Keep in mind, adjusting the trigger is fiddly, because all the adjustments are inter-related (take up, weight, over-travel, safety), so if you adjust one, you need to adjust them all. But the end result is worth it. Have mine set to a no-take up, extremely minimal over-travel, crisp like breaking glass 3lb break.
Cheers!
And yes, there are people who have had problems with the M85's. Some will probably chime in. All I can speak to is my own experience with it, which has been very positive.
This is my M85 with Stutzen stock. Not the same batch as CanAm is bringing in, but they come available now and then from TradeEx. Got mine from Corwin-Arms when they were importing them:
Comparing group sizes between my M85 and SKS with cheap Dominion ammo. The low flyer on the M85 target was entirely me jerking the shot. Still not a horrible group, just barely over 2&1/2 inches. I find the Dominion ammo gets about the same group sizes as surplus out of my SKS, so this is pretty much the worst groups I'm get out of the Zastava. With Hornady SST rounds group sizes are about 1&1/2" - which is dang fine for bulk commercial hunting ammo.
And here's a video I did a while back on doing the trigger adjustments:
Keep in mind, adjusting the trigger is fiddly, because all the adjustments are inter-related (take up, weight, over-travel, safety), so if you adjust one, you need to adjust them all. But the end result is worth it. Have mine set to a no-take up, extremely minimal over-travel, crisp like breaking glass 3lb break.
Cheers!
And yes, there are people who have had problems with the M85's. Some will probably chime in. All I can speak to is my own experience with it, which has been very positive.
madtrapper143
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Steep Rock Lake NWO
Worst rifle (carbine) I ever owned. The action would bind continually and finally it started denting cases when feeding. Traded it off on a CZ527, great gun but two bad magazines made that one go down the road too. Finally settled on a good SKS no binding, no jams and more than accurate enough for my needs.
Darryl
Darryl
Thanks. That's specifically what I bought it for, actually. Sadly, unlikely to get a chance to go this year because of my work schedule. Fortunately, I still have about 30lbs of Venison left from a very successful year last year
I've tweaked that SKS a fair bit (and more since that test shoot, actually). Biggest thing I've come across so far to improve SKS accuracy is to either shim or bed the receiver, specifally to push it forward to fit firmly against the front retention lug in the stock.
Bit of an on-again off-again project. I want to get it under 2MOA (consistently) with quality commercial ammo, which should be do-able.
Hey thanks grelmar, for the tip about shimming the receiver forward until it is tight to the front lug (the bolt going thru the stock?)
My accurate SKS' are tight and my inaccurate SKS' slide back and forth in the stock, one by as much as 3 sixteenths. Now I know
what to do.
My accurate SKS' are tight and my inaccurate SKS' slide back and forth in the stock, one by as much as 3 sixteenths. Now I know
what to do.
I have one and love shooting it. I would never recommend it to anyone though. The quality of it leaves much to be desired. The magazine is in reality a 4 round mag unless you want to replace the follower spring with a Remington 700 one. It takes some cutting to get it to fit properly. The bolt is indeed stiff and feels like it's binding when you close it with the handle. I've gotten used to pushing on the back of the bolt with my thumb to close the bolt then slinging the handle down.
Many of the milsurp ammo I have has had FTF's. The same ammo that runs perfectly in my SKS'. The etractor is not heavy duty enough in my opinion to reliably extract steel cases milsurp ammo. I've had many steel cases remain in the chamber when I pulled the bolt back. I now pack a cleaning rod every time I take my M85 to the range to poke the casings out after the extractor fails to pull them out.
I contacted canadaammo through their site twice about the issues but they didn't respond. Perhaps a phone call is in order to get a response from them.
They had to send me a replacement magazine because the first one had a stripped screw holding it together. I think they didn't respond because they think I'm a problem customer but I tell you, the rifle is the problem.
I would recommend you stay away from the Zastava M85. There are not many options for the 7.62X39 cartridge but I would think anything would be better than putting up with this rifle.
With that said, I really enjoy shooting it when it's working. I'll be keeping an eye out for a good deal on one of those CZ's.
Many of the milsurp ammo I have has had FTF's. The same ammo that runs perfectly in my SKS'. The etractor is not heavy duty enough in my opinion to reliably extract steel cases milsurp ammo. I've had many steel cases remain in the chamber when I pulled the bolt back. I now pack a cleaning rod every time I take my M85 to the range to poke the casings out after the extractor fails to pull them out.
I contacted canadaammo through their site twice about the issues but they didn't respond. Perhaps a phone call is in order to get a response from them.
They had to send me a replacement magazine because the first one had a stripped screw holding it together. I think they didn't respond because they think I'm a problem customer but I tell you, the rifle is the problem.
I would recommend you stay away from the Zastava M85. There are not many options for the 7.62X39 cartridge but I would think anything would be better than putting up with this rifle.
With that said, I really enjoy shooting it when it's working. I'll be keeping an eye out for a good deal on one of those CZ's.
I need to get my hands on one of the CanAm imports...
The rumour around the water-cooler is that there are essentially two different versions of the bolt assembly - ones that were built for the European Market with a beefier extractor (which solves the gremlin experienced by you and others) and ones built for the American market with a bolt assembly more suited to brass cased ammo.
Both versions, supposedly, ended up in Canada, depending on who imported them.
I've never had the extraction issues that some are reporting, and I'd be interested in comparing the bolt against one of the CanAm imports.
Anyone in Calgary want to meet up at the Sheppard range one day and compare bolts?
I never knew it means flag in Serbian/Slovenian/etc. In Russian and Ukrainian it means "outpost", which always made sense to me, e.g. "Red" outpost. Crvena is the same as Chervona in Ukrainian, which means Red. It has the same meaning in Russian, but it has been replaced with "Krasna" over the time (more common usage). Zastava is outpost in both Russian and Ukrainian.
PS. Going trough the ancient roots, here is the analysis: "za" means in Slavic language "behind", "stava" means "protection wall". So, outpost makes sense. Other uses that came to mind is "stavok" is a little lake that results by building a dumb, e.g. beaver dumb.
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I've got mine from Canam, no problems with extraction (surplus or commercial) and bolt is pretty smooth. Had 1 FTF after firing 250+ rounds. Only real Cons is retardedly design bolt knob (similar to Rem700 only smaller/shorter) On a plus side accurate for a given round, very light and ergonomic for a deer rifle and almost twice cheaper when CZ.
Overall metal work is good, very nice, deep bluing. Wood fitting and finnish something they should work on. Not really an issue for me as I got it in a first place with intention to glassbad and re-finnish the stock.
Overall metal work is good, very nice, deep bluing. Wood fitting and finnish something they should work on. Not really an issue for me as I got it in a first place with intention to glassbad and re-finnish the stock.
OoooooOOOoooh boys. She's rough.
Great finish, wood and ergonomics but holy-sh!t is it a hard action to operate. Magazine only holds 4, the bolt is very hard to open and close and there's a piece on the bolt that can slide forward under recoil and jam the bolt lugs. It's also pretty much impossible to adjust the windage. On the bright side I had no problems with extraction at all. I'll put together a video and some detail pictures in the next couple days and post it.
Long story short: It's not a bad rifle but you will have to put in additional time or money into it to make it a good rifle. I wouldn't recommend it for the faint of heart, the poor or the unhandy.
Link to video below:
Great finish, wood and ergonomics but holy-sh!t is it a hard action to operate. Magazine only holds 4, the bolt is very hard to open and close and there's a piece on the bolt that can slide forward under recoil and jam the bolt lugs. It's also pretty much impossible to adjust the windage. On the bright side I had no problems with extraction at all. I'll put together a video and some detail pictures in the next couple days and post it.
Long story short: It's not a bad rifle but you will have to put in additional time or money into it to make it a good rifle. I wouldn't recommend it for the faint of heart, the poor or the unhandy.
Link to video below:
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That's a very realistic review. If your into basement gunsmithing the M85 can be a nice rifle. My action has loosened up over the first 300 rounds. My hand does get tired over the course of a day though. Some rounds simply won't go all the way in and getting the handle down can hurt with those ones. I haven't checked to see if that's a headspace issue or a locking mechanism interference.
I can easily get 5 rounds in mine now that I've replaced the follower spring. I also trimmed the magazine screw down a bit so the mag door doesn't contact it right before the lock snaps over the mag floor plate. It just clicks nicely into place now with no resistence.
I also made some trigger adjustments as per the YouTube video that's out there. It's a much nicer gun to shoot now.
I have the sporter version without irons. I just got some new stainless 5-40 socket head cap screws for the picatinny rail mount because the tiny screws CanAm includes with the mount are useless. They kept coming loose despite red locktite. In the end I stripped one of them out of frustration. Hopefully the added length and red locktite will hold it on this time.
I'm in the process right now of glass bedding it. There is already metal pillars in the stock so a little epoxy in the right areas should take up the little bit of play my rifle had. I'm not sure if I'll see any accuracy gains but its all fun for me so why not?
It's not an easy rifle to get parts for so even for the basement gunsmith it may not be a good choice.
I can easily get 5 rounds in mine now that I've replaced the follower spring. I also trimmed the magazine screw down a bit so the mag door doesn't contact it right before the lock snaps over the mag floor plate. It just clicks nicely into place now with no resistence.
I also made some trigger adjustments as per the YouTube video that's out there. It's a much nicer gun to shoot now.
I have the sporter version without irons. I just got some new stainless 5-40 socket head cap screws for the picatinny rail mount because the tiny screws CanAm includes with the mount are useless. They kept coming loose despite red locktite. In the end I stripped one of them out of frustration. Hopefully the added length and red locktite will hold it on this time.
I'm in the process right now of glass bedding it. There is already metal pillars in the stock so a little epoxy in the right areas should take up the little bit of play my rifle had. I'm not sure if I'll see any accuracy gains but its all fun for me so why not?
It's not an easy rifle to get parts for so even for the basement gunsmith it may not be a good choice.
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