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Old 03-17-2017, 11:41 PM
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Default Zastava M70 Commercial Mauser bolt rifle

As some of you know I bought a new 7mm08 Zastava M70 (think Interterms Mark X, Charles Daly, Remington 798) for my grandsons 15th birthday. The finish on these rifles is pretty poor; a couple coats of linseed oil so lots of pores and roughness. I sanded in a lot of coats of Truoil cut with turpentine. Now it has a proper finish.

Today It was off to the range for barrel breaking in and sighting it in. It was 10 series of one shot, cool and clean, one shot cool and clean. Then on to a series of 5 three shot runs and cleaning. Then, last, it was on to four 5 shot runs between cleaning.

Well the $400 Zastava M70 rifles are a shooters. The 5 shot groups were all about 1 MOA with factory loads. Here is my last five shot group plus a fouling shot (low and right) factory Nosler 120 gr. BT ammo.

I think I might pick one up for myself.

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Old 03-18-2017, 12:30 AM
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Group- not bad. Photo- excellent!
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Old 03-18-2017, 01:08 AM
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Would be interesting to see what this rifle can do with heavier bullets ~140 gr.
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Old 03-18-2017, 04:51 AM
Ivan the Butcher Ivan the Butcher is offline
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Somebody's grandpa is a great granddad! A rifle to last his lifetime!

Ivan
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Old 03-18-2017, 08:47 AM
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The quality on these Mausers has always been excellent, since Interarms started importing them as the Mark X in 1970.

They were sold by Interarms as complete rifles with a couple different stocks as well as barreled actions for custom and semi custom Mausers. The had a tenite tipped white line trimmed stock along the lines of the Remington "C" models. The checkering was pressed but it was nicely pressed and the walnut was generally quite nice. They also had a more classic looking walnut stock.

The early MK Xs, have a more traditional commercial Mauser style floor plate release, while the later Mk Xs switched to a cross bolt button release that is still in use today.

The M85 was added as the Mini Mark X in 1985 in smaller calibers like the .22 Hornet, .222 Rem and .223 Rem.

Importation fell off during the arms embargo in the region in the 1990s, but after Interarms closed it's door, Charles Daly started importing them as the Charles Daly Mauser and Mini Mauser with composite stocks.

Remington then started importing them as the Remington 798 and 799 respectively from 2006 to 2008. Remington used a slightly shorter barrel - 20" versus 21.5" and they used a laminated wood stock with fairly modern lines.

CAI now imports the rifles as the Zastava M70 and M85. The finish on the stocks is not impressive, but as noted above a little Tung Oil or Tru-Oil on the stock brings out the quality of the wood. The checkering also benefits from some finish work.

However, the metal work, polish and bluing on these rifles, under what ever banner they were imported has always been impressive, and I've only owned one over the years that has not been capable of MOA or sub-MOA accuracy.

----

My first as an Interarms Mk X rifle in .243 Win and it would consistently print 5 shot 1" groups at 100 yards with both 87 gr and 100 gr Hornady's.

My next was a Mk X barreled action in .308 that went into a Bell and Carlson stock and it was also a consistent 5 shot 1 MOA rifle.

My last three have been Mini Mausers - a pair of M85s, one in .22 Hornet and one in .223 Rem, and a Remington 799 in .22 Hornet. Both the .22 Hornets are sub MOA rifles (1/2 to 3/4 MOA), but the .223 struggles a bit with 5 shot groups in the 1.5 MOA range. I suspect it's barrel wasn't properly stress relieved as consecutive cold barrel shots give sub MOA accuracy.

Zastava has always used hammer forged barrels. They offer a very hard and very smooth surfaces that wears well and collects very little copper fouling, but the hammer forging process imparts a great deal of stress, so proper stress relieving is vital to stability as the barrel heats up.

Below are my Zastava M85 (middle) and Rem 799 (bottom) with my Browning 1885 Low Wall, all in .22 Hornet. The Mausers are in Interarms stocks that I acquired new in the box from Numerich Arms, who had gotten all the old stock from Interarms. However, I bought the last three they had.



Below is my Rem 799 in .22 Hornet in the Remington laminated stock:


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Old 03-18-2017, 09:56 AM
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My brother and I bought Mannlicher stocked M85s in .22 Hornet a couple of years ago. They are really neat little rifles, and give us 3/4 inch groups at 100 yds. You can really only fire 2 shot strings however, as the barrels tend to heat up fast in the full length stocks.

Has anyone found a source for extra magazines?
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Old 03-18-2017, 10:13 AM
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I forgot all about the full stocked versions.

Interarms and Remington both used a small bit of bedding compound under the receiver around the front screw and recoil lug. In the Remington, this is a glob of greenish bedding compound. The Zastava rifles do not use any bedding compound.

They all shot well enough as is, but I've glass bedded the stocks on my Mk Xs and Mini Mausers and have taken care to free float the barrels.



---

I have searched long and hard for spare .22 Hornet Magazines for the M85.

Interarms imported spares, and I'm almost certain that Remington did as well, but CAI doesn't seem to care and they are the importer for these Mausers in the US, and thus have the spares market tied up.

Zastava does sell magazines individually in Europe and I've had offers from members on other forums to buy them there and ship them to me here.

I may have to go that route.

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Old 03-18-2017, 10:39 AM
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My grandsons Zastava has just dab of bedding compound by the recoil lug and front screw.

I shot some Hornady Precision Hunter 150 gr. ELD-X loads and they too go into 1-1/4 MOA groups. The rifle has a 1:8 1/2 inch twist. I think that is because the European have always favored heavy bullets in the old classic 7x57mm.
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Old 03-18-2017, 12:05 PM
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Great thread guys. I picked up an Interarms Mini Mauser in 223 about 10-15 years ago I kept the Big Leopold scope and put a 3-6x30 compact Veri-X on it for my older brother. We went ground hog hunting, and found his rifle set-up good to about 300 yards for offhand shots! He still has it loaded but locked as his go-to/pest rifle for around his farm.

Ivan

Last edited by Ivan the Butcher; 03-19-2017 at 02:18 AM.
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