Zastava 9.3x62 feeding issue

Deathrawt

Deathrawt

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I picked up one of the Zastavas from Intersurplus and for some reason it doesn't like to feed the factory PPu 285gr soft points
If i load two rounds it feeds and extracts fine, put three in and the first one jams but the other two feed fine
same deal with four rounds, first two jam and the other two are good
The soft point hits the edge of the chamber and thus jams
For $hits and giggles I loaded 5 rounds of 8mm Mauser and they all fed and extracted perfectly lol
Any one else have this problem I don't have any other ammo to try and I am thinking its probably the ammo causing the problem
The PPU soft points don't have much taper to them they are more like a round nose
Gun seems to shoot ok but only being able to have two rounds loaded up sucks
gonna have to call this rifle the Liberal edition lol
 
Mycustom rifile with a stainless Zastava action and an aftermarket barrel rebored to 9.3x62 had the same issue with a full magazine of Prvi ammo. I don't have a fix for you since I sold the rifle.
 
Sounds like it's a lottery on which bullets these rifles like lol
One thing i am going to try is resize 30-06 brass to 9.3 and see if the slightly smaller case head diameter makes any difference or not
 
Deathrawt said:
Sounds like it's a lottery on which bullets these rifles like lol
One thing i am going to try is resize 30-06 brass to 9.3 and see if the slightly smaller case head diameter makes any difference or not
Click to expand...

It might not be help to you, but look real close how the "jam" occurs - I have a few BSA sporter conversion from older M1917 (P17) Enfields - so original 30-06 military ammo was pointy full metal jacket bullets - seemed to feed fine. BSA milled a shape - sort of part of an "hour glass" look - into the "feed lips" - I read somewhere that was to allow Round Nose hunting cartridges to rise up quicker at the front end - which the pointy military bullets did not have to, compared to round nose bullets coming up the feed ramp. I also notice that BSA installed "cartridge stops" in those magazines - the military version did not have those - so I presume it was important in the BSA scheme to keep those rounds to the rear in that magazine - instead of sliding forward any amount. Might have been just about deformities to the bullet tips?? Or maybe was part of their feeding scheme for Round Nose bullets??

In picture below - you might notice the difference in the feed rails - the top one is a BSA Sporter (with a rear aperture sight) - can see that "cut-out" on right hand side feed rail - is matching identical on the left side rail - as I recall, to allow the round nose cartridge to rise earlier than the set-up for pointy bullets. I do not quickly find an unaltered original military here - so the lower receiver in the picture has had much "sporterizing" - with the rear scope base and ring - but notice that the feed rail on right side appears to be straight. I think "straight" might be how most Mauser 98 (like a Zastava) were made.


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Deathrawt said:
Sounds like it's a lottery on which bullets these rifles like lol
One thing i am going to try is resize 30-06 brass to 9.3 and see if the slightly smaller case head diameter makes any difference or not
Click to expand...

make sure you re doing the proper way or you may have some missfires and primer not igniting properly ...

i have to add i was not able to feed properly the hydro woodleigh bullets but that was about it as i was lucky to try and shoot a lot of different bullets shape in my zastava for the bullet test. i might have been lucky but the only thing that was changed is the stock: a boyds laminated one with a shorter lop. so i can use it in winter and im just adding a slip pad on when summer or fall.
 
Potashminer said:
It might not be help to you, but look real close how the "jam" occurs - I have a few BSA sporter conversion from older M1917 (P17) Enfields - so original 30-06 military ammo was pointy full metal jacket bullets - seemed to feed fine. BSA milled a shape - sort of part of an "hour glass" look - into the "feed lips" - I read somewhere that was to allow Round Nose hunting cartridges to rise up quicker at the front end - which the pointy military bullets did not have to, compared to round nose bullets coming up the feed ramp. I also notice that BSA installed "cartridge stops" in those magazines - the military version did not have those - so I presume it was important in the BSA scheme to keep those rounds to the rear in that magazine - instead of sliding forward any amount. Might have been just about deformities to the bullet tips?? Or maybe was part of their feeding scheme for Round Nose bullets??

In picture below - you might notice the difference in the feed rails - the top one is a BSA Sporter (with a rear aperture sight) - can see that "cut-out" on right hand side feed rail - is matching identical on the left side rail - as I recall, to allow the round nose cartridge to rise earlier than the set-up for pointy bullets. I do not quickly find an unaltered original military here - so the lower receiver in the picture has had much "sporterizing" - with the rear scope base and ring - but notice that the feed rail on right side appears to be straight. I think "straight" might be how most Mauser 98 (like a Zastava) were made.


View attachment 663772
Click to expand...

i may have to take a picture of the m46 and the zastava to compare. but my zastava is a left hand version and as we are backwards maybe the factory did something wrong that worked good lol
 
I looked at the rifle and it does have a bit of an “hour glass” shape but nowhere near as what your pics show
When it jams it shaves off a bit of the lead tip of the bullet and then the flat part of the jacket is up against the face of the chamber
I think you are on the mark about the reciever needing the edges relieved hence the hour glass shape which would allow the round to pop out of the magazine at a straighter angle to the chamber
At least I know now that it’s a known problem and it’s not just my rifle that has it
Can’t see myself grinding away at the reciever so will have to try some different Bullets or just leave it as a two round magazine
 
medvedqc said:
i may have to take a picture of the m46 and the zastava to compare. but my zastava is a left hand version and as we are backwards maybe the factory did something wrong that worked good lol
Click to expand...

Yes, no doubt errors do occur!!! Since I posted the pictures of the M1917's, I was looking at a Brazil 1908 and a Zastava that I bought new in 2013 - looks like the side rails taper inward just a bit, towards each other - appear to be more or less straight for most of the length, then slightly narrow, closer to chamber end. I suspect most military guns designed around just very limited number of shapes and sizes of bullets, whereas sporters could see multitude of difference shapes and weights?
 
Deathrawt said:
I looked at the rifle and it does have a bit of an “hour glass” shape but nowhere near as what your pics show
When it jams it shaves off a bit of the lead tip of the bullet and then the flat part of the jacket is up against the face of the chamber
I think you are on the mark about the reciever needing the edges relieved hence the hour glass shape which would allow the round to pop out of the magazine at a straighter angle to the chamber
At least I know now that it’s a known problem and it’s not just my rifle that has it
Can’t see myself grinding away at the reciever so will have to try some different Bullets or just leave it as a two round magazine
Click to expand...

or contact a master smith that is aware of mauser 98 commercial and feeding issue. you may have to build 3 or 4 cases with no primer or powder to go with that will the ultimate solution.
 
Potashminer said:
Yes, no doubt errors do occur!!! Since I posted the pictures of the M1917's, I was looking at a Brazil 1908 and a Zastava that I bought new in 2013 - looks like the side rails taper inward just a bit, towards each other - appear to be more or less straight for most of the length, then slightly narrow, closer to chamber end. I suspect most military guns designed around just very limited number of shapes and sizes of bullets, whereas sporters could see multitude of difference shapes and weights?
Click to expand...

of course that is most certainly the reason. for the original m98 8x57js or is they had one shape of bullet for most of the users. now imagine all the bullets for any calibers chambered in any 98 commercial since fn started of doing it or any conversion made in the day.
i do not have any voere left but we had one used for tracking wounded animal and it was a converted mauser 98 and she was feeding any 9.3x62 and she was polished a lot so the gunsmith at voere had an idea of what they were doing ... on the other side zastava took some toolings from the fn in the end of 70s and im pretty sure the operators were from the socialist communist and were sometimes not the best. i do not know how they have able to rebuilt the plant and restart the factory after the bombing by nato ... of course remington helped them but they were not known to be the best lol
 
I had a similar issue on a Zastava 9.3x62, just with round nosed bullets, it was quite a while ago but I recall the issue was corrected with a different stagger in the magazine, in other words try making your first cartridge sit on the right side then load the rest, if that does not work try the left side, the issue was round nose bullets catching on the edge of the chamber more on the left if I recall correctly.
 
brybenn said:
I read that the ppu round nose are loaded a touch long. Try using a seater die and knock down the coal slightly and see if that works
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I would do that as well before touching the receiver. PPU loads are not hot so there is no risk shortening the COL.
 
I thought I posted this already, but my Steyr model M also will not feed the big bull nosed PPU ammo. The lip or edge of the chamber seems to catch. Just reloaded a bunch of 250 NAB pointy bullets, it now feeds as Borat would say "very nice!"
 
There is a picture that I saw - can not find it - maybe in a book written by Finn Aargaard - was of that 458 Win Mag that Phil Shoemaker uses for big bears - as I recall, the bolt was perhaps 1/4 or 1/3 of the way forward - the cartridge rim was fully up behind the extractor on that Mauser and the cartridge was dead in line with the chamber - I think the bullet was pretty much into the chamber all ready - but was no knocking around for that cartridge to rattle into line to get into that chamber - was already set up, in line, when the bolt had only moved a short way forward - no doubt contributing to VERY slick re-chambering of next cartridge to be fired, when cycling that bolt. As I recall from Phil Shoemaker's writing, was MUCH careful honing done on those feed lips to get that. I believe that rifle started as a Mark X, which I think is a predecessor to the modern Zastava.
 
Potashminer said:
There is a picture that I saw - can not find it - maybe in a book written by Finn Aargaard - was of that 458 Win Mag that Phil Shoemaker uses for big bears - as I recall, the bolt was perhaps 1/4 or 1/3 of the way forward - the cartridge rim was fully up behind the extractor on that Mauser and the cartridge was dead in line with the chamber - I think the bullet was pretty much into the chamber all ready - but was no knocking around for that cartridge to rattle into line to get into that chamber - was already set up, in line, when the bolt had only moved a short way forward - no doubt contributing to VERY slick re-chambering of next cartridge to be fired, when cycling that bolt. As I recall from Phil Shoemaker's writing, was MUCH careful honing done on those feed lips to get that. I believe that rifle started as a Mark X, which I think is a predecessor to the modern Zastava.
Click to expand...

Interesting, very carefully removing material on feed lips to get it feeding perfect. Sounds like an art more than a science.
 
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