Zastava LKM85 bolt 7.62x39

ghughes

ghughes

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A new gun to me and the most poorly inletted gun I've ever owned however I like it a lot.
It shoots well enough for me, day 1 - cheap ammo, poor rest on a windy day <1" at 25 yds.

When I got it I noticed the stock screws and the bolt release screws were a little marred.
After shooting it I see why. The bolt release is a bit sticky, no problem.
The trigger pull is a little bit much but I can live with that, or fix it.
The trigger creep feels like an inch which needs to be adjusted.
Then I take it apart the stock screws seem over tightened IMO, and have binding resistance all the way out which I believe is an alignment issue with the steel pillar tubes (little threading resistance if bolts are threaded out of the stock).
The inletting looks like it was done free hand on a drill press.
The front bolt and front of the hinged floor plate seems a bit deep (rear behind trigger is flush with the stock).
This model apparently have a weak recoil lug contact in the stock wood.
Barrel channel has intermittent with the barrel.
I think that's most of it.
So how do I proceed?
Trigger adjustment is supposed to be the same as an M70 so easy done.

I can either raise the action by 1/8" to free-float the barrel or deepen the channel in the stock?

Can a broken recoil block in the stock be removed and replaced with bedding material? (Is 3/8-1/2" bedding block stronger than wood)?
Which do you do first the pillar or the action bedding.
After taking it apart again I'm think it might make sense to make a jig/vice from wood to get everything positioned at once.
Or get a new stock, which would require at least some of this work also?
Bit of a pickle I've found.
But I really like the gun.

And does anyone know if Carman Willows is still working on guns in Elgin, ON?
 
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Right, to be more precise the three problems are:
The inletting to receive the recoil lug has sheared out
The holes for the bolts that hold the action to the stock seem misaligned
The barrel channel is too shallow.

The biggest problem is the sheared wood for the recoil lug. That wood behind the recoil lug needs to be replaced. What's the best material for that?
A metal block (steel, brass or aluminum) and then bed it in?
Bedding material alone?
 
Probably several things that you could do - I had a Swede Mauser 96 with punky wood on recoil area that left go - the whole action was moved rearward. What I chose to do ( and there are other solutions) - a few wraps of electrician's vinyl tape around the barrel to "centre" the barrelled action and to create clearance for the barrel within the forearm. Then, I think it was three layers of tape to the rear end of the action to create a gap between the rear of the action and the wood, there - then I inserted headless bedding screws into the action - I believe the rear one got two layers of tape - whatever it needed to get a snug sliding fit to the metal tube - the front one, on a Mauser, has no tube. I chiselled out the wood inletting at the recoil area back to solid wood - then drilled some anchor holes into the sides to give the epoxy a place to grip and to hold - then mixed up a LOT of JB Weld and gooped that in there - the JB Weld replaced the wood that I had chiselled out and the various tape jobs put the action back where it belonged within the stock. Excess epoxy squished out all over - so be prepared for that. On that Mauser I had put on a layer of masking tape on the sides, bottom and front face of the action recoil lug - is apparently supposed to be full solid contact only at the rear face - about the ONLY place designed to transfer recoil from the metal part to the wood part - not the action screws, not the trigger guard, not the magazine box, nor any of the rear facing shoulders on the action - only the rear face of the recoil lug should bear on the wood - on a Mauser.
 
I am going out on a limb on this next bit - I believe an epoxy has similar adhesion to clean roughened wood, as wood fibres do to each other. I believe that epoxy has similar compression strength to many "steels" - so the epoxy should grab as good as the wood could have held - and the epoxy taking the recoil will be about as strong as metal would be - and far "stronger" than any wood used in rifle stocks. That all goes to whether one gains anything by inserting a steel cross bolt in an epoxy recoil area bedding job - I have become convinced that it adds nothing for strength, so I no longer use them.
 
I'm not sure if it may just split off. I may try that (JB Weld) and put some longitudinal screws in so it won't split more wood off or maybe a small rabbit in the side walls would help.
 
ghughes said:
Right, to be more precise the three problems are:
The inletting to receive the recoil lug has sheared out
The holes for the bolts that hold the action to the stock seem misaligned
The barrel channel is too shallow.

The biggest problem is the sheared wood for the recoil lug. That wood behind the recoil lug needs to be replaced. What's the best material for that?
A metal block (steel, brass or aluminum) and then bed it in?
Bedding material alone?
Click to expand...
I've used small metal blocks fit into the stock, or threaded rod cut to length and bedded in across the stock. Steel is what I tend to use. - dan
 
They make after market triggers for those very handy little rifles as well. The factory triggers leave a lot to be desired and appear to be crudely put together.

They're very strong little actions and were also chambered for the 5.56 Nato.

If you handload, they can be loaded a bit hotter than factory specs.

The M85 I used had a .310 bore and shot just about any bullet intended for the 303 British quite well.

Fun little rifles.
 
I bought one of these for my son back when they were 399. The poor inletting is typical and accuracy improved greatly on his after it was properly bedded. His also suffered from the bolt release inletting being so poor that it was putting so much upward pressure on it that the ejector blade was binding and wouldn’t even eject the casings. It was an easy fix to remove some wood. Triggers can be adjusted to be pretty reasonable but they aren’t fantastic. Overall they are good little rifles that can be improved with a little work and tinkering.
 
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