Thread: Zastava 223

Hi all. As the title says I’ve just picked up a new to me gun to try before I buy. I’ve done a little research and although I’ve found that the zastavas are pretty accurate rifles, I can’t find out much about this model I have. It’s a rather ugly synthetic square stocked model. Just wondering if anyone can shed a bit of light about it.

Lucky you�� a photo would help, the older ones marked made in jugoslavia have a better standard of finish than the later Serbia labelled ones.
The distributor before the current one who is SRMarston ltd had a lot of barrelled actions fitted into flexible pressure bedded black plastic stocks that they dropped on the market before handover. I think this was around 2004 or 8
These gave the guns a bit of a variable reputation as they would warp if left in the sun.
I have one of those, i released the barrel channel and bedded it properly and it was a totally different gun.
There are a lot of zastavas on here and people tend to hang on to them because they are just good. I have been told the factory was evidently set up during the Soviet era with tooling from brno and mine carries the cz stamp along with zavodi zastava crajuvac yugoslavia.
Bullet weight should not exceed 65 grains as the twist rate is 1:12 although I believe later ones also came in 1:10.

stick to 50-55grn pills,dont load it to hot...cycle bolt like you mean it...keep it clean and well oiled and it will last you a lifetime.
sounds like MH has got the need to bed etc covered.....
welcome to the club.

I’ve got an early one in .222 and a laminate stock. Beautiful little rifle. Shoots better than me - rabbits to 300 piece of cake.
Extractor got a bit sloppy on mine, just got I back from Shooter Ready in Cambridge. Working like a charm again. Great service, would highly recommend them.
Dropped reds and fallow easy enough with boiler room shots. Would be one of the last on my list of rifles I’d sell if I ever had to.

laminate stock!!!!!! this I need to see....please.

oh golly that is SEXY.....possibly wish I hadnt seen that...now will be forever looking for one LOL.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

oh golly that is SEXY.....possibly wish I hadnt seen that...now will be forever looking for one LOL.

Boyds make the laminated stock for them. Were sold as Charles Daly's in th USA Remington also used the zasty action 793 and 794 were the model names iirc.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

STOP IT....now I know where to look........

Hey chaps, thanks for all the replies. I’ve waited until now to get back to you as I wanted to be sure about the rifle before I commented. Unfortunately the barrel is rooted. I’ve cleaned and cleaned and still can’t get a clean patch to come out of the thing. I can see pitting from the muzzle end, and the thing just can’t group better than about 2 1/2 inches. Even then it’s throwing fliers a lot. Luckily I’m not obliged to buy it. Even so, is there the chance I could rebarrel it?
Thanks for your patience.

Yes, you can definitely get a new tube put on it. Make it a stainless one, and it’ll last forever.

or convert to 6x45 . . .

but before you do.......if you own it.....try cutting inch off and recrown simply
then try shooting group...again

then repeat.... you have a couple or three inches to play with before its rooted for all but short range....loads of folks run .223s down to 16-18inches...suppressed the noise factor is cancelled out.

Those synthetic stocks were made in aussie and replaced the wood furniture by the distributor.
They weren't known for being very good in comparison to the wood which can be a very nice walnut.
The later Zastavas also had a set trigger. Which was very bling bling for that value of rifle.
Barrels are a 1:12 twist so don't like heavy pills. Mine hates anything heavier than 55gr.
Really like 50g blitzking pills though.
If it needs a barrel thats the perfect time to fit a heavier and faster twist barrel.
I had VTP make a 3d printed chassis system for my Zas. Fully modular so I can change everything as wanted

have recently had my old .223 zastava rebarreled with a CZ barrel after having the same problem with really bad pitting and throwing fliers all over the place,
was almost thinking of getting rid of it as it was so frustrating. very happy i went down the road of having the barrel replaced. the timber stock just seems to fit me,
and even the daughter was getting 1.5 inch groups at 200m at the last deerstalkers range day