Zastava 458 questions

wannabe

wannabe

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Wondering if current/former owners of 458 Zastava's could chime in with their experiences...I am wondering about feeding reliability, magazine OAL, true magazine capacity, stock cracking, and anything else that springs to mind...
Thanks
 
Hi wannabe,

I have one in both 375 H&H and 458WM. Both have accompanied me to Africa, both have taken big game. The M70 Standard offerings are built on the tried, tested and true Mauser action.

In my experience the Zastava is a workhorse. It's not pretty. The fit and finish is not a Weatherby or CZ. Its built to withstand harsh conditions and remain reliable. I've had zero issues with what youv've listed there. Case in point, both of my PH's in S. Africa rocked Zastava 375 H&H's.

If it's the lower price point that may have you wondering in comparison to CZ's, Weatherby's or Winchesters, remember that Zastava has been THE military arms manufacturer for the armed forces of Serbia, Yugoslavia before that etc. since 1853. These firearms, including their sporting offerings, have been mass produced for the European market for decades, and their popularity, reliability, no frills/nothing fancy builds and sales are very well what drives the price point lower.

Hope that helps put your mind at ease, there may be others who have encountered problems, but in my experience not even a single failure to feed/eject or misfire/failure to fire with my big bore Zastavas, including no stock damage/cracking.

Word of advice - the 458WM kicks like a mule compared to my 470 Nitro Express, which just pushes you back due to the low velocity. The M70 recoil pads are very basic, and if that's a factor for you, look into a limbsaver pad.
 
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I have a Zastavia 7mm Rem Mag.
No feed issues the stock is a laminate by Remington (Remington 798) so no issues there.
Accurate and reliable like it should be.
 
I had previously posted the following regarding the Zastava 458 I have. Since then, a guy on here is firing one, re-chambered to 460 Win Mag, in a factory Zastava stock, which apparently has not broke yet. My previous posting - edited slightly.

My observations of a Zastava 458 Win Mag - bought new in 2014. As received from factory, there was clearance between the recoil lug and the stock cross bolt. I glass bedded that with Devcon Steel. I was surprised that there was only the action recoil lug - no recoil lug on the barrel, which I expected to see. (See Phil Shoemaker's discussion on the campfire site regarding his building of his "ole Ugly" - and how he installed a barrel recoil lug because of his concern that the 458 "is known" to break stocks.)

The stock's bulkhead at the rear of the mag well was very thin - about 1/8" or less, with about 3/16" clearance between rear of mag box and the bulkhead. There was a cavernous excavation in the stock to accommodate their trigger assembly, and then some. There was no rear cross bolt. Not surprisingly, within a couple years of sitting in the gun cabinet, there was a crack through that bulkhead, so nothing holding the stock together from front of mag well to rear tang. I built up about .030" thickness of masking tape on rear of magazine box and filled the gap with Devcon to reinforce the bulkhead. I like the two stage mauser triggers, when set up for nice clean two step trigger pull, so carved a block in the shape of the space needed for a military trigger to function, attached it to the action, and filled the trigger cavity with Devcon - that took three separate pours and well over a fluid ounce to get it filled. Laid a U-shaped metal strap in there a-la-Weatherby internal cross "bolt".

I had mounted an old time Redfield flip up aperture sight to the rear of the rear scope base. Removed the rear sight from the barrel - 2 - M3x0.5 screws and some red "loctite" holding it on - never did find slotted filler screws, so installed some allen head set screws, until I make some slotted ones.

Attempted to change out front sight to a fiber optic bead. Through my own klutziness, I discovered that the front sight is mounted with a shallow dovetail cut into the barrel, a "top hat" style insert that the front sight screw attaches to, and more "loctite" holding the ramp to the barrel. To boot, it is not a standard 3/8" dovetail on the sight ramp.

I do like the blued finish. Next mod, for sure, will be a front sight that I can be sure will not go flying off into the bush when I really need it, probably a banded ramp that can be soldered in place.
 
The M1898 action ? Well, it has no peer and the Zastava is a M1898 action - just about perfect for the migthy .458 Winchester Magnum.

But there is a pretty big fly in the ointment, regarding the M1898 action and the true long Magnum H&H type cartridges.

"Opening up the magazine and altering the loading enough for such longer Magnum cartridges as the .300 H&H Magnum is not recommended since this greatly weakens the receiver where it supports the lower locking lug."
- Bolt Action Rifles, DBI Books 1995, Frank De Haas, page 106 (M98 Action Gunsmithing).

Coming from Frank De Haas himself, I think it is worth taking note. Can it be done ? Sure and it has probably been done tens of thousands of times, at least. Would I buy such a modified rifle/action ? No, but to each his own.
 
^^you can load 91.5mm OAL in the receiver without touching the feed ramp/ lower lug support. They come in 375h&h from factory. Id trust zastava over a gun smith who uses opinion

Just go back .050" on bolt stop and move the back of the mag, back .150" ( the receiver is already opened up for it in the back side (just ahead of the trigger))

I took .070" from the feed ramp. So i can use a flat nose bullet to help it feed on my 460 weatherby build

Hes probably speaking of intermediate length mauser actions. Also these new manufacture receivers arnt mild steel with a case hardening
They are build with real proper receiver steel now. Any more metal then there is on the bolt lug is just extra as the lug will shear first.

Here is what a 95mm COAL round looks like standing in the mag opening as it came from factory
31779822507_0323b4e3ec_z.jpg
 
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I have an interarms mark x in 458wm. From what i gather its a yugoslavian copy of the zastava. Its great. Mine rides in a custom stock full thats full length bedded.
The 458wm is a great cartridge
 
Evanguy said:
^^you can load 91.5mm OAL in the receiver without touching the feed ramp/ lower lug support. They come in 375h&h from factory. Id trust zastava over a gun smith who uses opinion

Just go back .050" on bolt stop and move the back of the mag, back .150" ( the receiver is already opened up for it in the back side (just ahead of the trigger))

I took .070" from the feed ramp. So i can use a flat nose bullet to help it feed on my 460 weatherby build

Hes probably speaking of intermediate length mauser actions. Also these new manufacture receivers arnt mild steel with a case hardening
They are build with real proper receiver steel now. Any more metal then there is on the bolt lug is just extra as the lug will shear first.

Here is what a 95mm COAL round looks like standing in the mag opening as it came from factory
Click to expand...

I owned 2 Zastava's in .375 H&H in the past. On both of them they made no modifications to the bolt stop or back of the mag. To open up the actions for the H&H length, all they did was cut off the front of the mag box and spot weld on a sheet metal "U". The lower locking lugs on the receivers were hogged out by hand to get the extra length. On one of them the lower lug was ground way further than it needed to be. Neither was pretty.

Obviously both past the proof test and obviously they have been building .375 H&H on their actions for decades now with no reported failures I could find but it was just too crudely done for my liking and I sold both of them to buy a real magnum length CZ 550.

Sorry to the OP, this is way off topic from the .458 but thought it might be of interest to some.
 
Hmm...
Mine fed Barnes flat nose solids out of the mag no problem.
But I have extraction problems,
it seems that the just a bit narrow mag box pushes the top round out from the feed rail witch causes the extracted case to get loose of the extractor and just lay there
on top of the mag sometimes.
 
brybenn said:
I have an interarms mark x in 458wm. From what i gather its a yugoslavian copy of the zastava. Its great. Mine rides in a custom stock full thats full length bedded.
The 458wm is a great cartridge
Click to expand...

it was a zastava with nicer bluing and better stock but still a zastava nothing wrong it anyway.
 
I have a Interarms Mark X in 308 and a Remington 798 in 7mm Mag. Both are Zastavias'.
The only differences between the two are the safety and the stocks, and caliber of course.
 
I have 2, one is 375hh opened to 375 weatherby. Work like a charm.
Another in 458 wm opened to 458 lott. Still a charm. Not fancy but they shoot well!
 
Snowy Owl said:
The M1898 action ? Well, it has no peer and the Zastava is a M1898 action - just about perfect for the migthy .458 Winchester Magnum.

But there is a pretty big fly in the ointment, regarding the M1898 action and the true long Magnum H&H type cartridges.

"Opening up the magazine and altering the loading enough for such longer Magnum cartridges as the .300 H&H Magnum is not recommended since this greatly weakens the receiver where it supports the lower locking lug."
- Bolt Action Rifles, DBI Books 1995, Frank De Haas, page 106 (M98 Action Gunsmithing).

Coming from Frank De Haas himself, I think it is worth taking note. Can it be done ? Sure and it has probably been done tens of thousands of times, at least. Would I buy such a modified rifle/action ? No, but to each his own.
Click to expand...

De Haas is right but he’s referencing M98s, case hardened, essentially wrought iron actions. The Zastava is modern steel and not truly an M98, they are an extremely close dimension modern evolution of it. The steel a Zastava M70 is made is of isn’t malleable like the original 98s, and it’s totally safe and strong as a full length .375 H&H. You’re comparing metallurgy specifications that are a century apart as apples to apples, show me the passage that refers to Zastava M70s. ;)

As for Zastava .458s, I’ve used one, owned one. The one I borrowed was an African PHs, it was crude. The one I owned I returned as it too was incredibly crude, think milsurp. I think they have their place but I can afford a little more to get myself into a Model 70 or CZ and wouldn’t hesitate to spend the smidge of extra money. Hell the ammunition for these is so expensive trying to save on the rifle is sort of questionable. The one M70 I want is a stainless one as nobody else makes a Stainless Mauser pattern.
 
The .375 H+H is factory loaded to fairly mild pressures . The rifle De-has had the failure with was an improved .300 weatherby is I remember correctly. Jack Lott has a Mauser 98 locking lug crack with an opened up .375 , that had been shot a lot.

I have a custom .375 built on a Sako/FN mauser 98. It was a 300 H+H in it's original Sako form. My rifle is approaching 3000 rds. with no problems. I have never shot any 300 gr loads over 2550 fps. Mauser 98's have been opened up to .416 Rigby by the British custom gun trade. The .416 is factory loaded to mild pressures as well.

Ardent is correct about model 98 metallurgy. I am not sure about the metallurgy of post ww2 FN Mausers. I would not have any worries about a Zastava 98 , I would like to find a full stock model in .458 win mag.
 
Snowy Owl said:
The M1898 action ? Well, it has no peer and the Zastava is a M1898 action - just about perfect for the migthy .458 Winchester Magnum.

But there is a pretty big fly in the ointment, regarding the M1898 action and the true long Magnum H&H type cartridges.

"Opening up the magazine and altering the loading enough for such longer Magnum cartridges as the .300 H&H Magnum is not recommended since this greatly weakens the receiver where it supports the lower locking lug."
- Bolt Action Rifles, DBI Books 1995, Frank De Haas, page 106 (M98 Action Gunsmithing).

Coming from Frank De Haas himself, I think it is worth taking note. Can it be done ? Sure and it has probably been done tens of thousands of times, at least. Would I buy such a modified rifle/action ? No, but to each his own.
Click to expand...

Ardent said:
De Haas is right but he’s referencing M98s, case hardened, essentially wrought iron actions. The Zastava is modern steel and not truly an M98, they are an extremely close dimension modern evolution of it. The steel a Zastava M70 is made is of isn’t malleable like the original 98s, and it’s totally safe and strong as a full length .375 H&H. You’re comparing metallurgy specifications that are a century apart as apples to apples, show me the passage that refers to Zastava M70s. ;)

As for Zastava .458s, I’ve used one, owned one. The one I borrowed was an African PHs, it was crude. The one I owned I returned as it too was incredibly crude, think milsurp. I think they have their place but I can afford a little more to get myself into a Model 70 or CZ and wouldn’t hesitate to spend the smidge of extra money. Hell the ammunition for these is so expensive trying to save on the rifle is sort of questionable. The one M70 I want is a stainless one as nobody else makes a Stainless Mauser pattern.
Click to expand...

the zastava m70 is a mauser commercial action. i do not know today the situation of toolings but in the 60s it was the toolings from FN that was tranferred to Zastava.

for those that can afford there is certainly many good choice but for the leftys and the ones that want to spend less Zastava is a very good option blued and wood.
 
medvedqc said:
the zastava m70 is a mauser commercial action. i do not know today the situation of toolings but in the 60s it was the toolings from FN that was tranferred to Zastava.
Click to expand...

The FN Bolt Actions were also Mauser 98 commercial actions.

But there is more to the story. Again, according to Mr Frank De Haas : - Bolt Action Rifles, DBI Books 1995, Frank De Haas, page 231 (A quality action) and also pages 233-234 (FN No. 5 Magnum action failure) :

"The FN No.5 Magnum action was not a true "magnum" action, as was the Brevex Magnum, but merely a standard action modified to handle H&H Magnum cartridges".

A standard M98 commercial action - and a quality one too - for H&H Magnum cartridges ? Well, like I said, to each his own. But as for me, no thanks.
 
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