Zastava LK M70 worth the money?

[mark-hunter]

Winchester type safety availble by few companies for those who want to upgrade zastava rifle.
The workshop calls them "Dakota safety".

Proizvodi – N Delta Custom

ndeltacustom.com

 

[Shootist43]

I purchased one (a 9.3 X 62) for my son several months ago. His rifle would not feed a round nosed bullet. So, it went to a gunsmith. Several months later I put some reloads together with pointed bullets. The rifle fed them with no problems. The gunsmith looked at the chamber and discovered that there was no chamfer leading into the chamber. He had to remove the barrel, chamfer the chamber and worked on the trigger to keep it from firing when "the stock was "bumped" on the floor. Now it works just fine. On the last trip to the range, it put 3 shots into a less than 3/4" group at a hundred yards. $ was around 700.00

 

[cajunchefray]

I have two Whitworth Express 375H&Hs, two Interarms Mark Xs, and a Remington 798; all of which are great shooters.

I've heard several times about people getting the actions on their Zastavas "slicked up", but I've never fully understood what all that entails. Is it mostly just polishing certain metal work, and is this something you can do at home? Thanks!

I've owned 4 Zastava made rifles (Whitworth 270, 375, two 458s),
Yes, an action can be slicked up at home.
Brownell's has made a Bolt Raceway Polishing Tool, that you wrap with fine emery cloth (600 grit, then 800, then 1000) and run it through the bolt raceways along the action, avoiding grit and shavings getting into the locking lugs. Clean thoroughly afterwards.
I use boiling hot water with a couple of drops of Dawn soap, on a hot sunny day, and douse the rifle thoroughly so that all the crud washes out. The water needs to be nearly boiling so that the steel becomes almost too hot to touch. The rifle should be bone dry in less than 5 minutes.
Then oil the rifle thoroughly (I like CLP).

Another method is using FINE valve grinding compound with a soft cotton wheel on a Dremel tool. Hit the raceways and top and bottom of the magazine feed lips, and the feed ramp. You DON'T want to change any dimensions, just remove fine machine marks. Wear eye protection, because some will fly into your face.

You can coat the bolt raceways with Flitz polishing paste and work the action several hundred times (watching African hunting shows). You must remove the firing pin mechanism from the bolt and trigger so that these tolerances are not changed. Do NOT let any abrasive compound get into the locking lug recesses.

Some skilled gunsmiths can do this for the locking lugs, using proper gauges and skill. Not at my skill level.

I have used these methods for a rough from the factory CZ 550 416 Rigby, and a mid 2010s Ruger 77 African 223.
It helped a lot.
While these methods take some time, it's not difficult, and in a way is like cooking, time, temperature and method.
My Whitworth 458 is pretty smooth as is (I owned 2 and kept the smoothest one).

I would buy another Zastava made rifle in a heartbeat, using these methods, at the right price.

 

[cash_tx]

Thank you, @cajunchefray !

 

[Bushkey]

I attended a course on elephant hunting at the SA Wildlife College near the Orpen gate of the KNP. The instructor asked me what rifle I use. I indicated that I had a Zastava. The instructor immediately replied that it was a great gun. They use them at the college to train rangers and field guides. He mentioned that they somedays put up to 400 rounds through their 375. His closing statement was that you will not buy a better hunting rifle than a Zastava, maybe more expensive, but not better. I have three. .223, 375 and 458. Love them.

 

[Bushkey]

And I think she is pretty enough

 

[ThreeJacks]

There is currently a BNIB 375 H&H on this site for sale, motivated seller (ME)!

 

[Rick HOlbert]

Hi

Has anyone gathered experience with Zastava rifles or actions manufactured within the last 10 years?

There is a quite new M70 LK version in .375 H&H for under 850$ available...

Is Zastava worth a try (in general - I know that I have to look at the action itself carefully in person) - in the worst case just to use the action for a custom .375 H&H?

Thanks in advance

I have a Zastava M70 LH in 9.3X62. Had my gunsmith tune the action as it had a minor feeding issue with flat nose solids. Feeds smooth as silk now. Factory stock was kinda rough in appearance so I had it restocked in AAA walnut. The rifle deserved it as it has harvested more game in Namibia for me than the other rifles I've used there. If you love 98 actions then yes, buy it!!

 

[Hedge774]

Excellent rifles have a few of them some of the Second tier gunmakers in the UK.Use them for rifle builds shame they don't make a long action as we are going to run out of CZ550 416 Rigby sooner than we believe.

Have Zastava in 7mm rem mag and 300 win

I am very lucky to have found a 550 in 375 NIB. It'll never leave my collection.

 

[Hedge774]

There is currently a BNIB 375 H&H on this site for sale, motivated seller (ME)!

Any luck on moving that pretty thing? I war with making you an offer as I have two 375's already!

 

[ThreeJacks]

Any luck on moving that pretty thing? I war with making you an offer as I have two 375's already!

Not yet.

 

[Trapper]

Hi

Has anyone gathered experience with Zastava rifles or actions manufactured within the last 10 years?

There is a quite new M70 LK version in .375 H&H for under 850$ available...

Is Zastava worth a try (in general - I know that I have to look at the action itself carefully in person) - in the worst case just to use the action for a custom .375 H&H?

.

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, but for anyone else that may be looking to buy a Zastava LK M70 bolt action rifle, I'll toss in my opinion.
I recently bought one brand new in .375 H&H.

Fit and finish are just so-so. I actually like the dull oil finish on the stock over the high gloss that most American producers prefer. My stock was pressing against the barrel on one side closer to the end of the forearm (a terrible fit) and I removed the barreled action from the stock and used a wood dowel and sandpaper to remove enough material to free float the barrel.

I also noticed that the factory put what appears to be a very small dab of JB Weld on the recoil lug. When I say small, I mean extremely small, like a grain of rice small. It was cracked right from the factory. I grabbed my Dremel tool and roughed up the stock and did a bedding job that turned out very good.

The gun shoots well. As this was intended to be a dangerous game rifle, I mounted a 1x4 Leupold on top. At 50 yards, the group can be covered with a quarter and I consistently get clover leaf patterns if not better. at 100 yards I'm still getting groups under 1 MOA. So no complaints as far as accuracy or the barrel goes.

The trigger has a lot of creep in it but breaks nicely. It doesn't feel like two bricks rubbing against one another and although I'm not one bit impressed, I can deal with it for now if I keep the gun.

The action. The action is rough. Very rough. Many will tell you "It will wear in with time." I'm not sure anyone wants to shoot a .375 H&H, (or any other rifle) that much while hoping that it wears in. I did the usual lube and cycle of the action while watching TV at least a thousand times. You can see the material wearing off on the rag when you remove the bolt and wipe it down every one hundred cycles. This didn't prove to be very effective either way. I have switched to using Flitz to allow the parts to wear in quicker. It is getting better, but is NO WHERE near that of a decent factory rifle off the shelf.

Feed problems. This is the most aggravating of all the issues. You don't want feed problems when a cape buffalo is staring you down. Even when using pointed rounds (I'm loading Barnes 300 gr. TSX) shells jam when feeding. I may need to polish the feed ramp a bit and I'm working on that now. I have found that if I seat my bullets 10k deeper than the recommended O.A.L, it helps the feed issues quite a bit (not 100%), but I haven't range tested those loads yet to see if it makes a difference in accuracy. Time will tell.

To be blunt. I wish I would have just spent the money and went with a better rifle to start with. The time I'm spending on this could be put to better use. I'm seriously considering selling this Zastava and have had my eye on a Bergara Canyon in the same caliber. Yes, it's double the price, but you get what you pay for.

 

[Odinsraven]

Got one out of the box - perhaps 10 years old - used it for training guys on DG rifles so maybe 600 down the pipe would hunt with it - they are excellent just need a little love ! They are the only blue collar 375 now CZ550 is not manufacuted

 

[Rick HOlbert]

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, but for anyone else that may be looking to buy a Zastava LK M70 bolt action rifle, I'll toss in my opinion.
I recently bought one brand new in .375 H&H.

Fit and finish are just so-so. I actually like the dull oil finish on the stock over the high gloss that most American producers prefer. My stock was pressing against the barrel on one side closer to the end of the forearm (a terrible fit) and I removed the barreled action from the stock and used a wood dowel and sandpaper to remove enough material to free float the barrel.

I also noticed that the factory put what appears to be a very small dab of JB Weld on the recoil lug. When I say small, I mean extremely small, like a grain of rice small. It was cracked right from the factory. I grabbed my Dremel tool and roughed up the stock and did a bedding job that turned out very good.

The gun shoots well. As this was intended to be a dangerous game rifle, I mounted a 1x4 Leupold on top. At 50 yards, the group can be covered with a quarter and I consistently get clover leaf patterns if not better. at 100 yards I'm still getting groups under 1 MOA. So no complaints as far as accuracy or the barrel goes.

The trigger has a lot of creep in it but breaks nicely. It doesn't feel like two bricks rubbing against one another and although I'm not one bit impressed, I can deal with it for now if I keep the gun.

The action. The action is rough. Very rough. Many will tell you "It will wear in with time." I'm not sure anyone wants to shoot a .375 H&H, (or any other rifle) that much while hoping that it wears in. I did the usual lube and cycle of the action while watching TV at least a thousand times. You can see the material wearing off on the rag when you remove the bolt and wipe it down every one hundred cycles. This didn't prove to be very effective either way. I have switched to using Flitz to allow the parts to wear in quicker. It is getting better, but is NO WHERE near that of a decent factory rifle off the shelf.

Feed problems. This is the most aggravating of all the issues. You don't want feed problems when a cape buffalo is staring you down. Even when using pointed rounds (I'm loading Barnes 300 gr. TSX) shells jam when feeding. I may need to polish the feed ramp a bit and I'm working on that now. I have found that if I seat my bullets 10k deeper than the recommended O.A.L, it helps the feed issues quite a bit (not 100%), but I haven't range tested those loads yet to see if it makes a difference in accuracy. Time will tell.

To be blunt. I wish I would have just spent the money and went with a better rifle to start with. The time I'm spending on this could be put to better use. I'm seriously considering selling this Zastava and have had my eye on a Bergara Canyon in the same caliber. Yes, it's double the price, but you get what you pay for.

I have a left hand model M70 Zastava in 9.3X62. Yes the action needed some cleaning up and the feed ramp needed recontouring and polishing. Had problems feeding NF Flat Nose solids but after the minor tweaks it's now 100% reliable. I do admit to being a controlled feed fan. And a 98 Mauser is my favorite. This rifle has harvested more game for me than my other rifles and is my favorite medium bore. Because of this, I had it restocked in some very nice wood.
To me it's worth the minor cleanup to bring the rifle to life. But as I always say, it's what works for you.