ZASTAVA M70 OR M85 opinions and advices

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Hello guys,
I would like to buy me a ZASTAVA rifle and would like to ask you about how is their performance and reliability.

Thank you
 
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The M70's are good guns, little rough in the action but will smooth out over time, well made 98 clones that shoot good.
The M85 is kind of a bag of ####, the action is really rough, bolt is kind of a poor design with a lame extractor, very little stock material holding the receiver lug and is prone to cracking there, the bolt guide makes for a rough as hell action, and I never had one that was accurate.
 
Hello guys,
I would like to buy me a ZASTAVA rifle and would like to ask you about how is their performance and reliability.

Thank you

Supppose to be getting a brand new M70 early next week! I'll let you know about first impressions.

I got mine in a synthetic stock in 300 WM.

What caliber are you looking at?

David
 
The M70's are good guns, little rough in the action but will smooth out over time, well made 98 clones that shoot good.
The M85 is kind of a bag of ####, the action is really rough, bolt is kind of a poor design with a lame extractor, very little stock material holding the receiver lug and is prone to cracking there, the bolt guide makes for a rough as hell action, and I never had one that was accurate.

M70 good guns
M85 as described above
 
The M70's are good guns, little rough in the action but will smooth out over time, well made 98 clones that shoot good.
The M85 is kind of a bag of ####, the action is really rough, bolt is kind of a poor design with a lame extractor, very little stock material holding the receiver lug and is prone to cracking there, the bolt guide makes for a rough as hell action, and I never had one that was accurate.

This^^
Started to play with a 7x64 few years back. Shot well. Kinda like the BRNO ZKK series. Rough to start then smoothed out after use.
Bashaw Sports lists a few cal's on their website.
 
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Hello guys,
I would like to buy me a ZASTAVA rifle and would like to ask you about how is their performance and reliability.
Thank you

Depends on what you desire and caliber. I've had the Zastava M85 in 7.62x39mm for a few years now. For the price I paid ($550) it's a very good rifle. Mine has 1,538 shots on it. After 1,500 shots the mag follower spring broke (see pic). Replaced it with a new one for $25. Grouping with Barnaul guaranteed 1.5-2" (a Vortex scope). The bolt is a bit rough but it depends on the ammo (brass is much smoother). Never had any mechanical problems with the bolt. As a matter of fact, the broken follower spring has been the only mechanical problem I've encountered in all these years. Bluing is perfect. No stock cracking. However, I think that the M85 not worth more than about $600. At the moment Marstar has some in .223.
P.S. In retrospection I think that I'm a bit guilty for that broken follower spring. The mag capacity is 4 rounds. I was loading 4+1 in the chamber. Probably, that exerted additional compression stress on the spring.

J6NCDfS.jpg
 
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I bought 2 M85 in x39 from Canam whe they were blowing them out for $375. I don't think they are even worth $375 let alone $600.
 
I was looking for full stock M85 7.62x39,but changed my mind after reading the review above will have my attention M70 -30-06 or 308W.
Learn from the misfortunes of the others ,so others not to learn from your own.LOL

Thanks
 
I was looking for full stock M85 7.62x39,but changed my mind after reading the review above will have my attention M70 -30-06 or 308W.
Learn from the misfortunes of the others ,so others not to learn from your own.LOL

Thanks

I bought one of those to shoot up a bunch of surplus ammo. It worked fine, but wasn't accurate with any of it, so I ended up handloading for it anyway. - dan
 
the m70 is a copy or carbon of the fn98 and before the wars was even built on fn toolings. they may not as slick as fn but they are very good tools made of steel and wood what not to like.
 
Pay attention to how it is drilled for scope bases. Make sure they are straight. I had a Zastava once in 308 full stock, nice looking unit but was drilled crooked and the holes didn't align with the bases' holes. It had to be re-drilled and tapped properly. Also, the rifles designed for short action cartridge (308 or 243) may have the mag follower that is too short (Zastava actions are all the same length, long action). Even with the spacer, the mag follower is wobbly and it may be hard to align cartridges in the mag. No problems with rifles for long cases such as 270 or 30-06 which use the long follower, identical (I think) to the M48 followers. I found the bolt to be as smooth as my Ruger but bluing and metal polishing was superb. You might also need to bed the action as the inletting may not be a precision job. These are work horses, not show pieces. Good looking too, I love the classic look of a hunting rifle (all wood and steel) with Mauser action.
 
I looked at one in 458 yesterday, had nice blueing and some very nice wood. It had no sights, seemed kind of odd for a 458. I would have grabbed it in a second if it had sights.
 
What bases are you guys running on your Zastava 70? Are they the same as the Mauser 45,46 weaver set ups or are the actions set up differently?

Thanks!

45/46 will work one large ring Mauser rifles. I believe that's what I had on my Zastava (memory getting old). Check the Weaver website but I believe Weaver #98 one piece base may work as well.
 
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