For my Grandson's 15th birthday I purchased him a Zastava M70 Bolt rifle in 7mm-08. It is built on their commercial Mauser 98 action. It is the same action that was used on the old Interams Mark X and more recently the Remington 798.

The rifle I purchased had has a pretty decent piece of wood but the stock finish from the factory was pretty poor. It was just sanded and then they put some linseed oil on the stock leaving lots of pores and roughness. Of course what can one expect on an all steel and wood rifle that you can buy new for under $400. I fixed the finish with lots of elbow grease wet sanding in Tru-Oil thinned with turpentine. In a month when the new finish has cured I'll take it to a nice soft satin finish.

Now it is a some range time with the grandson and his dad to get her sight in.

__________________
Bill Bates

Very nice rifle, lucky kid!

__________________
NRA Life Member

Nice work with the stock. Looks good from what I see, and it appears at least a decent piece of wood, as you say. Nice caliber. Good power without too much recoil. Great way to get a 15-year old started. He'll love it.

Good lookin' rifle. Great choice of caliber for the young man also.
f.t.

__________________
South Carolina-God's country

I shoot a 7mm-08; so, when this one came into the shop I figured what the heck and bought it. This will make him a great rifle and there isn't an animal that he'll likely hunt that it wouldn't do the job very well.

It will be interesting to see how it shoots. Years ago I had an Interterms Mark 10 in 7mm Rem. Mag. that was a sub MOA rifle right out of the box. This gun with its European roots where 7x57mm Mauser is very popular has a rather fast 1 in 8 1/2 inch twist for stabilizing heavy bullets used in the 7x57mm. I have a feeling it will be a rifle that like bullets 140 grains and heavier.

It should make him a great deer and elk rifle and that Mauser action will last two life times.

__________________
Bill Bates

Beautiful rifle. I'll bet he already knows doing right will make life a lot better.

__________________
Just a shooter

Quite nice.

Those rifles are a bargain.

Good job on it.

He aught to be a pretty happy lad.

Almost too nice to take to the woods. Great gift.

__________________
Hue 68 noli me tangere

Sweeeeet.........

If you haven't already; check out the CZ line of rifles......great guns for the money... especially the rimfires.

I've got several in .22lr .22magnum, .17hmr and .223

nice mini and micro mauser actions ....... good to outstanding wood.... my favorite are the FS/mannlichers.

Interarms began importing the Zastava M70 as the Mark X in 1970. In 1980 when Zastava started making the smaller M80, a short action Mauser intended for smaller diameter head cartridges like the .223 and .22 Hornet, Interarms started importing it as the Mini Mark X.

Interarms sold them as both complete rifles and as barreled actions, which were frequently used as the starting point for custom mauser rifles.

Interarms importation was disrupted by the arms embargo imposed on Yugoslavia in September 1991, and by the time it and it successor embargo were lifted Interarms had closed it's doors.

However, Charles Daly (the upscale label of K.B.I. at that time) began importing them as the Charles Daly Mauser and Mini-Mauser. The Charles Daly imported rifles used a composite stock, but the metal work retained the same high quality fit and finish. Charles Daly also offered them as barreled actions.

From 2006 through 2008, Remington imported the M70 as the Model 798 and the M80 as the Model 799, this time with laminated wood stocks, but once again the same superbly finished metal. Remington also deleted the front sight and shortened the barrels from 24" to 22" on the 798 and from 21.5" to 20" on the 799.

CAI has been importing them since then as the Zastava M70 and Zastava M80 (not to be confused with the Zastava AK clones). As noted in the OP's post, the finish on the wood with the currently imported M70 and M80 rifles leaves a bit to be desired and generally has all the warmth and charm of shoe polish. The metal work however is still superb.

However, the factory applied finish makes a great base for a Tru-oil or boiled Linseed oil finish. The first couple coats take a bit longer than usual to dry down, but after that it's a normal and straight forward process.

---

My first Mk X was in .243 Win, and my next was in .308 Win - that one a custom rifle built on a barreled action. Both were sub MOA rifles.

I also own a Remington 799 in .22 Hornet along with an M80 in .22 Hornet. Both of these rifles are also sub MOA rifles. The only not so good shooting Zastava M70 or 80 I've owned is a CAi imported M80 in .223 Rem that struggles a bit at around 1.5 MOA. I haven't played with it much in load development, so its possible there's room for improvement, however I suspect the barrel wasn't properly stress relieved.

Zastava uses hammer forged barrels of its own manufacture. This process results in a very smooth bore that is also very hard, given the work hardening that occurs as the barrel is hammered around the mandrel containing the rifling pattern. This process however also imparts a great deal of stress in the barrel and the barrels must be thoroughly and properly stress relieved to ensure a high level of accuracy. Based on my experience Zastava gets this right 80% of the time, based on my sample of 5 rifles.

Below are my Rem 799 (middle) and M80 (bottom) .22 Hornets with my Browning 1885 Low Wall in .22 Hornet. You can see the shorter barrel sales front sight on the 799. Both of them however are in Interarms Mini Mark X stocks. I bought the last three new NOS Interarms stocks that Numerich Arms had in their warehouse, mostly because I don't like the laminated wood stocks on the 799.



Remington 799 in it's original stock:

Great rifle and caliber choice. I too shoot the 7mm-08, a Remington Model 7 SS and a custom Sako Forrester with a 20" Douglas barrel.