Zastava M70 375 H H

While I am a fan of Zastava M98's and have a couple, I'm not a fan of their conversions to the magnum length cartridges. I know there haven't been any failures and they obviously work well but the 2 .375's I owned were pretty crudely done. On one of them the lower locking lug in the receiver was ground out way more than necessary and the way the mag well was extended on both was pretty crude imo. There are better ways to fit a magnum length cartridge in a standard M98 than just hogging out the lower locking lug and putting a cheap sheet metal extension on the front of a cut off mag well.

Again, I know these are perfectly safe and reliable rifles but I just couldn't handle the crude conversion work on the ones I owned and sold both to buy a CZ550 Magnum.
 
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Slamfire said:
Thanks! My 7x57 Zastava groups real good with 175gr SBT Sierra GameKing's and Reloder22. Consistently sub-inch at 100 meters off the bench.

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7x57 Zastava LKM70 Full Stock Carbine with Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 1.75-5x32mm
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My first Zastava was a full stock model in 9.3x62. After seeing the accuracy from it, right out of the box, I opted for a partner to go with it, same as yours, in 7x57. Surprised how well they shoot for an inexpensive rifle. Oh, do you happen to know the rifling twist rate in your 7x57? And, what bullet and weight works best for you?
 
pounder said:
I have Zastava in 9.3x62 great rifle to carry not unpleasant to shoot,has anyone had the mag. floor plate open up on recoil. Mine did it twice now it is taped shut. Also it will not feed 286gn RN bullets PVC ? Feeds pointed like butter.
pounder
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never had one open for the floor plate but both our 9.3x62 didnt feed well gmx and tsx but very good and positive feeding for the Rns ..
 
pounder said:
I have Zastava in 9.3x62 great rifle to carry not unpleasant to shoot,has anyone had the mag. floor plate open up on recoil. Mine did it twice now it is taped shut. Also it will not feed 286gn RN bullets PVC ? Feeds pointed like butter.
pounder
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That's interesting. The Zastava floor plate release is actually a pretty good design and I'm surprised yours pops open like that. I would like to examine that and see why. Perhaps it's easily fixable. I've never had that issue with any of mine.

Feeding has always been a strong point on the Zastava's I own/owned. My stainless 7x64 is absolutely flawless in that department.
 
I think I have the Zastava fever now.

I have been humming and hawing over one in 375 or 9.3x62.

So many guns, so little time.
 
Lower lug recess dimensions compared. Doesn't appear to be a significant difference between my 375/416 Zastava and 308 CZ550 Exclusive.

Zastava has a slot cut through one of the bolt lugs and bolt face for the ejector blade. CZ has a slot cut through the bolt face for the ejector blade.

Rear safety lug is a bit more forward on the Zastava bolt.

Magazine and trigger guard are similar on my 550 Exclusive and Zastava.

Finer points of the Zastava and CZ actions. ;)

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It just seems to not have enough metal holding the floor plate closed. As for feeding RN bullets this is the result almost every time. I did not have the time or energy to try and solve it so I pulled a bunch of 285's and seated Speer 270's works great. Other than the floor plate thing.
pounder
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It looks like there is lots of latch holding the floor plate closed. I played with mine a bit and found the if I light closed the floor plate the latch would only catch 1/2 ways. This may be part of your problem, insure the latch is full engaged.
 
pounder said:
It just seems to not have enough metal holding the floor plate closed. As for feeding RN bullets this is the result almost every time. I did not have the time or energy to try and solve it so I pulled a bunch of 285's and seated Speer 270's works great. Other than the floor plate thing.
pounder
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My 9.3x62 built on a zastava action does the same with a full magazine from time to time. It feeds fine ​
with one cartridge less.
 
Slam your latch may have a bit more than mine,it just can't open in the field. Would a trigger guard floor plate with the latch inside the trigger guard fit ?
pounder
 
Pounder, I pulled my stainless M70 7x64 out and had a look. The floor plate release on mine appears to have less contact than either your's or Slamfire's but it has never popped open. My floor plate has less gap between the trigger guard slot though so that may have something to do with it.

A couple possibilities come to mind as how to repair that. If you know someone handy with a TIG you could get him to weld a bead on the floor plate using stainless rod then carefully file it down to fit the slot in the trigger guard tighter. Same could be done to the latch but due to the small amount of metal on the latch it would be difficult to do it without burning it back. Can be done though. The guy I use for the welding on my builds did that to the floor plate on a Siamese Mauser I had and after I filed it to fit, the floor plate never popped open again. Totally different design to the Zastava but the principle is the same.

I should also mention that you really wouldn't be able to add too much metal to the latch as you wouldn't be able to release it then. The amount would be very small but might make a difference. I would probably fix the play in the floor plate to trigger guard first.

Also, the Zastava is just a standard M98 action and there are lots of other trigger guard designs out there. Of course nothing else in stainless though as far as I know. Swapping it out for a different design is possible.
 
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