Been checking out dealers and such but everyone seems to be sold out or just flat out dosent stock them anymore. Shot one awhile back in 7.62x39 and had some honest fun with it, so now on the hunt! Any help is appreciated. Also no not looking for a CZ 527...yet haha.
Any one know where to find a zastava m85?
- Thread starter jepree
- Start date
dgradinaru
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- British Columbia
You missed the boat when these rifles were abundant and being sold new. Best bet would be keeping an eye open on the equipment exchange.
Pretty weird statement. The Zastava rifles are produced in Serbia which has nothing to do with the special military operation going on in Ukraine.
I assume that they have a very high demand market in that part of the world right now because of it and high material and shipping costs (which both covid and the ukraine situation have contributed to) to send stuff half way around the world to us
I really didnt realize that they were that scarse at the moment due to covid, war ect... but i did end up finding a CZ527 and went that route. Thanks for the heads up and insight. Now to try and find a spare mag for that haha. Its really crazy that the rifles seemed abundant at one point then when i want one its all gone. But then again i have the worst timing haha.
If someone had at least half a million dollars to drop on a shipment then Zastava would probably make a batch for them. Until then we're not going to get any. Civilian sales aren't that important to Zastava. Also they're kind of what we would call a crown corporation here, so they can be pretty hard to deal with. They don't always listen to reason (money)
Not weird; they tool up for military contracts; when these slow down the produce sporting arms to keep their staff. Shortly after I bought my M70, there were others that missed the boat. This was the explanation. Another good value priced rifle was the Sabattis from Italy; they are now about twice as expensive as they were; word has it that such will also be the case with Zastava when they arrive. Rather than $700 they will be closer to $1400.
I bought my Zastava M85 in 2016. At that time there were plenty M85s in Canada. I don't quite buy that argument with military contracts. Serbia is not involved in any way with supplying arms to Ukraine.
Regarding a Sabatti, I bought a Sabatti Rover 600 in 2019 from Marstar. They were on sale for a very good price. Nowadays, the Sabattis are completely gone from the Canadian market. Similarly to the Zastavas. There are some other reasons for this happening.
This way or the other, since I don't hunt anymore, I donated both the M85 and Rover 600 to my son-in-law. He is now a hunter for the entire family.
Sabatti has totally changed their designs and introduced multiple new lines of rifles. Marstar has their switch barrel Saphire, they look pretty slick. The gun currently badged as the rover is a three lug pf not the old two lug action
CZ 527 is a much nicer gun than the m85 imo having owned both
CZ 527 is a much nicer gun than the m85 imo having owned both
The Ukraine is not the only country buying arms. BTW, this was the same reason given for most Nork stuff drying up... Situation may be changing, as some new Chinese SKSs are starting to come in again, as are the Scorpios and their .22 pistol. Keep in mind that every country in the world has had industry negatively impacted from Covid, and some other than Canada, Western Europe, and the US have been negatively impacted not only by supply chain issues, but by the current plague of spoiled, suck-ish entitlement resulting in a depleted unskilled, and often untrained work force.
If I have contractual obligations, they would take precedence over "discretionalry" orders for sporting/recreational equipment.
This is why I accept the explanations given by the importers. It would be in their best interest to import products that there are a demand for.
I would take a CZ over either the Zastava and the Sabatti. BTW, there was nothing wrong the previous Sabatti or the new ones for that matter; switch barrels are of little value here. They were not popular with the CZ rimfires here either.
Like I mentioned earlier (#13) I bought my Sabatti Rover 600 in 7.62x39 for about 55% of the price of the CZ 527. Yes, I wanted at some point in time to buy the CZ 527. The problem for me was that for quite a substantial amount of money, the CZ 527 didn't have an adjustable rear sight which was available on the Sabatti (and on the Zastava M85). The Sabatti equipped with a Vortex scope, was grouping 1.5-2MOA with Barnaul, all day long. With good quality hunting ammo 1-1.5MOA was guaranteed. I agree with Meroh that switch barrel is of no value for me and many other people.
Having said that, the CZ 527 is a very fine rifle, no doubt. Unfortunately, these days it is overpriced, like so many other things. Life is brutal.
The M85's were okay for $400 when canam has them, still pretty rough and ####ty action, but for $400 they were ok.
CZ is a $1000 piece, for what it is and how well they are made it's not a deal for sure, but it's worth it.
At least the mags sit in solid, no accidentally dropping them, the 3 rounders are not flush but don't stick out much. Very nice little actions.
CZ is a $1000 piece, for what it is and how well they are made it's not a deal for sure, but it's worth it.
At least the mags sit in solid, no accidentally dropping them, the 3 rounders are not flush but don't stick out much. Very nice little actions.
