Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I was going to add this to the other Zastava post but it appears to about run it's course so I decided to just make a new one instead.
I saw M-70's on sale a few days ago and figured I'd give it a go and purchased one online in 6.5x57 with a Mannlicher stock. It arrived yesterday and since it was cold, snowy and otherwise miserable out it was a good opportunity to give it a really good going over on the workbench.
It really wasn't boxed as good as most other rifles I've gotten. The rifle was basically floating around in there unsecured and would slide from end to end a couple of inches when you tip the box. The bolt was floating around loose inside of the box too and the stock has two very small bumps on the pistol grip. This may or may not have been from the bolt, hard to say but they should iron out. The wood is actually pretty good, it's not what you'd call finely figured but it isn't bad either. The finish is a bit rough though and I'll probably strip it and re-sand, fill the grains and oil when I have some time. The checkering is quite cheap looking in my opinion and a bit of a disappointment but what do you expect for the price. Interestingly enough, the pistol grip has a wooden cap on it that very slightly contrasts the color of the stock, it's so subtle that I didn't notice it at first glance but it's a nice touch. What I find really weird about the stock is the length of pull, it measures 14.25 inches which is almost an inch longer than most of my other rifles. Long arms those Serbian guys I guess.... I may shorten it once I shoot it a bit just to make it match closer to my other rifle. The recoil pad is basically a hockey puck, fortunately this caliber shouldn't kick much so probably no big deal. The stock has a cross bolt behind the recoil lug but there's no bedding compound anywhere, that will probably be a project in my near future.
The barrel and receiver look pretty good, there's some machine marks on the receiver that are hidden under the stock but that's to be expected. The bluing is pretty good, not what you'd expect to see on a MkV Deluxe but we're talking about vastly different price range here. The action's a bit rough but it will smoothen out over time. When I de-greased the trigger I noticed that one of the two screws that hold the safety on was loose so I pulled them both, cleaned them up and re-tightened them with a spot of blue locktite. (got to be careful not to lose the tiny ball bearing) The trigger is otherwise pretty good, it's fully adjustable and I tweeked it from 5 lbs with a bunch of creep down to 3.5 lbs with very little creep. This rifle has iron sights and the front sight has some machine marks on it so it could have been finished a bit better. That probably wouldn't have mattered though because it looks as if it was thrown into a box with a bunch of other front sights after it was made because there's lots of little dings and the bluing is damaged slightly on it. The damaged bluing is an easy fix with some cold blue so no big deal.
I dug through my scope ring and mounts box and the only Mauser bases I had was an old Beuhler one piece mount with rings and I put those on it along with an old K4 to see what it looks like. I don't care much for the Buehler mount so I think I'll pull it off and go get a Leupold two piece base set for it as I have a spare set of rings laying round. The K4 will be taken off once I get my old VxII 3x9 back from repairs.
My only real disappointment is that the advertisement where I purchased the rifle showed that it would have a set trigger and that's what I expected to get but the rifle I received only has a single trigger. That's not the end of the world but the vendor should really point out that what they're selling isn't exactly what they have pictured.
Still, without having seen how this rifle shoots yet, all in all I'd say it's a pretty good buy, especially when you find them on sale like I did. I'm looking forward to playing with the 6.5x57!
I saw M-70's on sale a few days ago and figured I'd give it a go and purchased one online in 6.5x57 with a Mannlicher stock. It arrived yesterday and since it was cold, snowy and otherwise miserable out it was a good opportunity to give it a really good going over on the workbench.
It really wasn't boxed as good as most other rifles I've gotten. The rifle was basically floating around in there unsecured and would slide from end to end a couple of inches when you tip the box. The bolt was floating around loose inside of the box too and the stock has two very small bumps on the pistol grip. This may or may not have been from the bolt, hard to say but they should iron out. The wood is actually pretty good, it's not what you'd call finely figured but it isn't bad either. The finish is a bit rough though and I'll probably strip it and re-sand, fill the grains and oil when I have some time. The checkering is quite cheap looking in my opinion and a bit of a disappointment but what do you expect for the price. Interestingly enough, the pistol grip has a wooden cap on it that very slightly contrasts the color of the stock, it's so subtle that I didn't notice it at first glance but it's a nice touch. What I find really weird about the stock is the length of pull, it measures 14.25 inches which is almost an inch longer than most of my other rifles. Long arms those Serbian guys I guess.... I may shorten it once I shoot it a bit just to make it match closer to my other rifle. The recoil pad is basically a hockey puck, fortunately this caliber shouldn't kick much so probably no big deal. The stock has a cross bolt behind the recoil lug but there's no bedding compound anywhere, that will probably be a project in my near future.
The barrel and receiver look pretty good, there's some machine marks on the receiver that are hidden under the stock but that's to be expected. The bluing is pretty good, not what you'd expect to see on a MkV Deluxe but we're talking about vastly different price range here. The action's a bit rough but it will smoothen out over time. When I de-greased the trigger I noticed that one of the two screws that hold the safety on was loose so I pulled them both, cleaned them up and re-tightened them with a spot of blue locktite. (got to be careful not to lose the tiny ball bearing) The trigger is otherwise pretty good, it's fully adjustable and I tweeked it from 5 lbs with a bunch of creep down to 3.5 lbs with very little creep. This rifle has iron sights and the front sight has some machine marks on it so it could have been finished a bit better. That probably wouldn't have mattered though because it looks as if it was thrown into a box with a bunch of other front sights after it was made because there's lots of little dings and the bluing is damaged slightly on it. The damaged bluing is an easy fix with some cold blue so no big deal.
I dug through my scope ring and mounts box and the only Mauser bases I had was an old Beuhler one piece mount with rings and I put those on it along with an old K4 to see what it looks like. I don't care much for the Buehler mount so I think I'll pull it off and go get a Leupold two piece base set for it as I have a spare set of rings laying round. The K4 will be taken off once I get my old VxII 3x9 back from repairs.
My only real disappointment is that the advertisement where I purchased the rifle showed that it would have a set trigger and that's what I expected to get but the rifle I received only has a single trigger. That's not the end of the world but the vendor should really point out that what they're selling isn't exactly what they have pictured.
Still, without having seen how this rifle shoots yet, all in all I'd say it's a pretty good buy, especially when you find them on sale like I did. I'm looking forward to playing with the 6.5x57!
