Zastava stainless 7x64 Brenneke

[jbmauser]

Finally received this today after a 2 1/2 year wait and thought I'd post it up for anyone interested in the stainless M70 Zastava produces. A range report will follow but I'll need a few days to get some rounds loaded up.

For those that don't know much about the Zastava M70, it is a commercial Mauser 98 action and basically the same as the FN and Santa Barbara versions. The M70 PSS is all stainless (except the mag spring and ejector blade) with a polymer stock.

The metal work on mine is not as nice as some of the blued models I've handled and not as nice as my Charles Daly by Zastava. Bolt travel is a bit rough but doesn't bind and will probably slick up with some use. The trigger is fully adjustable and I was able to set it up for a nice clean break and little over travel. It was pretty bad as it came from the factory.

The stock has raised and textured panels in the wrist area and forend. Typical cheap plastic stock feel to it but fairly rigid compared to some I've felt. The recoil "pad" is as hard as a hens face. I don't expect the 7x64 to be much for recoil though.

I mounted a Leupold VX-II 3-9x40 in Talley light weight rings.

Not as pretty as the Mannlicher ones or some of the walnut/blued versions but the stainless synthetic combo and 7x64 round should make a great general purpose hunting rifle.

 

[medvedqc]

nice working tool and pictures.

one of the best caliber.

cant wait the range report.

 

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

Something different...I like it! Do let us know how it shoots.

 

[Longwalker]

Very interesting! thanks for sharing.

 

[Remembering]

That's a great looking rifle! Is it a 24" barrel?

 

[kamlooky]

Neat and tidy looking.
Hope she shoots as well as she looks.

 

[Kudu]

7x64 brenneke - my favourite caliber - wish I had one!

 

[blargon]

Where did you order?

 

[Baribal]

I've been working on something too, they're the only GENUINE SS M/98 on the market and to my POV, they should attract much more interest than they do for now. Most of those SS Zastava I've seen in the past didn't have any sights, so we, Canadians have some luck.
I'm more than glad that Baïkal Canada (Impex, the importer) have finally decided to bring in the "different ones" in certain quantity.
I think they deserve more interest from the hunters.

 

[medvedqc]

I've been working on something too, they're the only GENUINE SS M/98 on the market and to my POV, they should attract much more interest than they do for now. Most of those SS Zastava I've seen in the past didn't have any sights, so we, Canadians have some luck.
I'm more than glad that Baïkal Canada (Impex, the importer) have finally decided to bring in the "different ones" in certain quantity.
I think they deserve more interest from the hunters.

+1.

working on to get those in LH ....

 

[jbmauser]

I've been working on something too, they're the only GENUINE SS M/98 on the market and to my POV, they should attract much more interest than they do for now. Most of those SS Zastava I've seen in the past didn't have any sights, so we, Canadians have some luck.
I'm more than glad that Baïkal Canada (Impex, the importer) have finally decided to bring in the "different ones" in certain quantity.
I think they deserve more interest from the hunters.

Yeah, I can't believe these aren't flying off the shelf. A stainless version of the immortal M98 should be in high demand.

 

[jbmauser]

That's a great looking rifle! Is it a 24" barrel?

Ah yes! I meant to post up some specs last night and a couple other pics but forgot I guess.

Barrel is 22". 4 groove rifling but I haven't measured the twist rate yet.

Weight on my somewhat accurate scale is 8.4lbs scoped. I forgot to weigh it before I mounted the scope but just subtract the weight of a Leupold VX-II 3-9x40 and a bit for the Talley rings.

I should have time to load up some ammo later tonight and hopefully I'll be able to make it to the range sometime this week yet.

I should also thank Epps for ordering this for me and all the time they spent checking on the status of my order and such.

Here is a pic of the trigger and the inside of the stock.

 

[CanadianAR]

Nice looking rifle Jeremy. Maybe its time you build me a scoped rifle. Lol

 

[Ardent]

If you need more brass I've got a little bit of fired 7x64, and I wonder if a standard large ring inletted sporting stock would fit this? Got a couple of those in walnut too!

I imagine it would drop in, imagine it in this

Angus

 

[jbmauser]

I agree it would definitely look better in that nice stock of yours Angus.

For the purpose I bought it for, it'll be just fine in the junky plastic stock though.

Well I'm off to the range to shoot the thing. Finally.

I'll report some results later tonight.

 

[jbmauser]

Well I did make it to the range yesterday but didn't have time to post up the results last night so here they are.

I'll start with the function aspects of the rifle. Feeding was perfect. There were no last round, full mag, left or right side feeding issues. It fed perfectly every time and pretty smoothly too. Not as nice as my FN Winchester M70 but pretty close. It even feeds empties without issue. ( I know that's a pretty useless test but thought it was interesting anyway.) Ejection was flawless as well.

On to the loads. Now I should note that none of these loads were max loads. They were all 1 or 2grs below the mildest max loads cross referenced between three different manuals. I looked at both 7x64 and .280 load data then picked the lowest max for my bullet weight and powder and stayed a bit under it. The intention with these loads was to do some plinking and get a feel for the rifle. My hunting load will be developed with 140gr TSX's later on with velocity and accuracy more in mind. I'll update at that time.

All brass was Bell as well as the primers. I bought a hundred factory primed Bell brass and the same amount of Bell 172gr bullets at a gunshow. The guy didn't own a 7x64 so he pulled it apart for the powder.

Bullets used were the Hornady 139r boat tail Interlock and the previously mentioned Bell 172gr flat base. I used 4 different powders but didn't have time to get through them all last night. It was so hot at the range that between cooling offs it took a lot longer to do the shooting I wanted to than expected. The barrel never did get to cool off completely and was pretty warm while shooting some of the groups. Still, it did pretty well and shows good potential.

Basically what I did was sight it in using some of the work up loads and then went through the rest of the work up loads to get to my "max" loads. I fired one 3 shot group of each "max" through the chrony. Not a definitive show of what it can do but you'll get the general idea of accuracy.

Here are the two different bullets. Hornady 139 on the left and Bell 172 on the right.

First load shot was the Hornady 139gr BT over H4831. Avg velocity was 2658fps. Again this is pretty mild stuff.

Second load fired was Bell 172gr over H4831. Avg velocity was 2430.

Third load consisted of the Bell 172gr over H4350. Avg velocity was 2370fps.

Fourth load is Hornady 139gr BT over H4350. Not sure what happened here, if it was me or what. Couldn't get my chrony to read either. Overall it was just a poor outcome on this one. I have several more rounds left of this load so I'll give it another go and see. Pretty useless info on this one but I'll post the bad with the good.