Zastava M83 question

Zastava, From I believe Yugoslavia (?) has some imports here in USA. I see a lot of different styles they make for armies "over there." For total under $400, plus there will be my $35-40 FFL fee, does anyone know anything bad vs. good about these low-priced imports? They're .357Magnum/.38 Spl. and they look like a cross between a Colt & S&W, and some are rear sightless, as a M10, and I saw one or two with rear sights. In the price up above I added $30 for nicest-looking of 10 guns plus $6 shipping insurance. I think the PA sales tax may be in there, also. An acquaintance who has more guns than I have hair on my head...okay, more... said they are/have been good revolvers according to HIS homies lately for the money. We were talking about the Ruger Six Series and how they've been getting more popular slowly. More about prices and reliability and he brought up the Zastava. Dang it all, I just ordered one, as I said above. Right now all I see for sale are 4" blue models. As stated above, I ordered the nicest-looking of 10. (You guys know the drill!)
So, I've never heard of this brand. The only reason I ordered one is because of A) the Price, and B) popular .357mag caliber.
Anyone can chime in, good vs bad.
Thank you. Jeff

Zastava made/makes the Mark X Mauser sporting rifles that one sees quite often. I own a couple and consider them fine hunting rifles, showing good quality and fine performance. They also made the M48 and M24/47 military Mausers imported here a few years ago. I surmise they made/make any SKS or AK based Yugoslav rifles sold here as well. I assume the same is true for any Yugoslav Makarov or Tokarev pistols one sees here. That's really all I know about the company. I think the company is descended from or associated with a Yugoslavian government arsenal at Kragujevac (Sp?).

What do you mean by this: "rear sightless, as a M10"?

I have never seen a handgun of any type that did not have sights! They may be fixed and integral to the frame or slide, and may be very small as a Browning "Pocket .380", and not be adjustable as target sights, but they all have some sort of sight unless removed by a previous owner!

I can promise you that any company that manufactures firearms for any of the worlds armies makes high quality guns. even though they may not be particularly pleasing aesthetically!

I think he is referring to the rear sight as being fixed part of the frame like the Smith and Wesson model 10. Just the rear sight channel in the frame

Zastava has been a major arms manufacturer since the 19th century. They have either built or reworked millions of Mauser bolt rifles in 8mm that you will have seen in years past in places like Big 5. I have one of their 7.65x17 (32 ACP) pistols, the M70, not to be confused with their AK clone also called M70. It's an interesting piece with design features from J M Browning (1903 barrel retention) and Tokarev (unitized hammer assembly. It is built like a brick outhouse.

Wikipedia has a page on them.

Zastava Arms - Wikipedia

dobegrant said:

I think he is referring to the rear sight as being fixed part of the frame like the Smith and Wesson model 10. Just the rear sight channel in the frame

Click to expand...

I KNOW exactly what he meant! I was pointing out the flaw in his understanding of nomenclature. Don't you understand sarcasm??

I'm SO sorry I didn't write "non-adjustable rear sight." Seems almost everybody knows what I meant. (I should have written the word "it" before that last sentence in order to make it a complete sentence.)
I'm asking if anyone here has any experience with this particular gun, good or bad. For only $400, if I don't like the gun, I can send it down the road. If there are known issues that I need to look out for, I'm all ears. Since they are used in several other countries & militaries I suppose I'll have a decent shooter. Some of the guns I saw had different stocks, some had engraving, and some were stainless steel. All that were offered were 4" blued revolvers.
I WAS having a good morning...

ZASTAVAS are SERBIAN. I've owned a few of their Tokarevs in 7.62X25 they are decent reliable pistol - but OBSOLETE compared to other options at their price point. The only Zastava I still have is a jewel & a keeper- it is the M88A, a compact Tokarev in 9mm It is about the size of a colt pocket pistol & bears a resemblance - also uses browning linked barrel action. at first it was finicky - but after I removed its Magazine safety it became completely reliable & feeds everything. I bought it new & cherish it.

Zastava has been around a long time and they make some excellent firearms, and some that are more utilitarian.

As noted above the Interarms Mark X, a commercial version of the ‘98 Mauser, introduced in 1970 was made by Zastava and imported by Interarms in a few different configurations. When the arms embargo against Yugoslavia was imposed in 1990 Interarms had to stop importing them, and Interarms closed in 1999, before the embargo was lifted. Remington then started importing it as the Remington 798 with a laminated stock. They only did so for a couple years and then Charles Daley (the high end label for KBI) started importing it as the Charles Daly Mauser with a composite stock. It’s currently still imported forst by CAI and now by Zastava USA under its original Zastava M70 Mauser model name (not to be confused with the AK clone and pistol with the same model number as they were also introduced in 1970).

In 1985 the Mark X Mini Mauser was introduced by Interarms, also made by Zastava. Like the bigger version, it was later imported by Remington as the 799, then Charles Daly as the Charles Daly Mini Mauser and finally as the M85 Mini Mauser by CAI and then Zastava USA.

I’ve had a couple Mark Xs over the years, one a stock Interarms rifle in .243 Win and the other a custom Mauser built on the barrel dled actions that Interarms sold that were a very popular basis for custom Mausers as the polish and blue was superb. Both were solid 1 MOA capable sporters. I wish I still had them both.

I currently have Mini Mausers from Interarms, Remington and Zastava, although the Zastava rifles are in new old stock Interarms stocks as the Zastava wood and stock finish is less than spectacular.

My mini Mausers in 22 Hornet are consistent 1/2 MOA and 3/4 MOA 5 shot group rifles at 100 yards while my mini Mauser in .223 is a 1.5 MOA rifle, due to less than spectacular stress relief of the barrel.

Zastava uses very durable hammer forged barrel that are normally very accurate as they virtually always get the stress relief right. My .223 is an unfortunate exception.









Zastava also makes the MP22 Precision / CZ-99 Precision .22 LR rifles (not to be confused with the Czech CZ rifles). Remington also imported them as the Remington Model 5, again with a laminated stock.





These are fairly accurate .22LR sporters capable of 1.5 MOA groups at 100 yards with mid grade match ammo.

IMHO when it comes to Zastava don't worry about the manufacturing quality of the product. Look at if the design of the firearm meets your needs. They make a good, reliable product but are not cutting edge technology.

I had to add a couple pictures. Son of a gun, they DO have a rear sight! The front sight is adjustable for horizontal. I thought I’d show the different style screw heads; pretty cool. Also, the stock screw goes into a bushing on the right stock that you can hold with a screwdriver. I think that shows in the picture. When I was ordering the gun it said in the description that the hammers are bobbed. Not a big deal but the gun’s trigger pull is harder than arm wrestling Hulk Hogan. Yinz said that this company has been around for quite some time, so maybe there’s a spring kit available. The hammer spring assembly is very similar to the Ruger, but I’ll not disassemble it until I have words and/or video to look at. It’s in pretty good condition for a 30 year old gun.