Zastava Bolt Action

[LRRPF52]

I was looking at Zastava's webiste, and they offer barreled actions with trigger mechanisms and bottom metal.



I also looked at their action length for the M85, which I noticed at SHOT, and it is 18.25cm long, or about 7.125" long. Their short actions are 22.9cm long, or 9.00".

http://www.zastava-arms.rs/cms/index.php?id=244

[icanhithimman]

Hay thats pretty cool. Looks likt the same one Remington was importing and marking it the 798

[hm2 clark]

Did anyone find if they were for sale? I could not find a price.

[adamjp]

Hay thats pretty cool. Looks likt the same one Remington was importing and marking it the 798

It is the rifle that Remington imported and sold as the Remington 799 in the US market.

The 798 was a traditional Large Ring Mauser (m98) built to a commercial specification.

Stocks can be had from Bell and Carlson (40oz), HighTech Specialties (20oz), MPI (16oz to 22oz depending on construction) and Richard Microfit (laminates). Boyds is possibly going to do a batch of stocks for this little action in June/July this year.

I have three rifles built on these actions,

A 6/223 (aka 6x45) that was built in 1996 and is still going strong. It is a particularly brilliant spotlighting rifle (we target foxes heavily in the early winter to stop them taking young lambs born in the late winter). Richards Microfit Old Classic in Irish Moss.
P1020138.jpg

A 6mm PPC that was built two years back and is deadly on bunnies out to 350m. Works well on the foxes, but the 6x45 is easer to use. Boyds Pepper thumbhole.
LHS.jpg

A 6.5 Grendel. B&C Caberlite Green/Black Speckle.
Grendel.jpg

There are a few things that need to be done to these actions to make them 'slick' but they work in nicely and are a great little way to build a bolt action Grendel.

They come with a fairly adjustable trigger, and ANY Mauser 98 trigger can be fitted.

[adamjp]

Forgot to add. The actions alone are $370 over the counter at gunshops here in Australia. A rifle in 223 costs about $650. All with 20in barrels, blued steel and a reasonable walnut stock or a PoS plastic thing made from recycled garbage bags.

The Mannlicher stock one is a special order, but if I could lay hands on a stock, I'd build a 6/223 or Grendel one in a heartbeat.

In the other direction, I would be interested in getting my hands on a small AK magazine to see if I could get it to work with the little action using an AI style DBM kit made on the mill.

[LRRPF52]

Those are sweet rifles. What optics are on your Grendel? Any pics of groups you've shot with it? What about velocities, bullets you've used, and so forth?

[adamjp]

The Grendel currently wears a March 3-24FFP as I am doing load development. The hunting scope will be a 2-7x36 Kahles.

So far I have ladder tested three different powders under the 100gn NBT but have not found a load I like. I am going back to the loading bench to work it up systematicaly as I become sidetracked with chasing low ES and SD numbers and whilst I managed to get them down to the single digit level with 3000fps type velocities, the accuracy was only 1.5in. The PacNor select match can do better than that.

I intend to go back to using AR2206H (H4895 in the USA) and BM2 (Bnechmark) to work with the 108gn Scenars first, then go back to the 100gn NBTs and 100gn TTSXs. I started with the hunting bullets in the hope of lucking out with a good hunting round straight away so I could use it on some Fallow deer this season. The weather has been so wet, many of the dirt roads to my hunting blocks are still cut at creeks.

[carbontetrachloride]

KVAR in LasVegas is importing Zastava.

[LRRPF52]

The 100gr NBT has been finicky for me too in my 16" Grendel, as far as accuracy goes. That is impressive that you're getting 3000fps with it. I figured the 100gr class bullets would scream along like that. 120gr should be in the 2750-2800fps range.

I'd be interested to see what velocities you can get with 129gr and 130gr Hunting projectiles, like the Hornady SST, IB, and Swift Scirocco.

[adamjp]

The 100gr NBT has been finicky for me too in my 16" Grendel, as far as accuracy goes. That is impressive that you're getting 3000fps with it. I figured the 100gr class bullets would scream along like that. 120gr should be in the 2750-2800fps range.

I'd be interested to see what velocities you can get with 129gr and 130gr Hunting projectiles, like the Hornady SST, IB, and Swift Scirocco.

That finicky nature is nice to know as I've been pulling my hair out trying to work out what was wrong.

I might have to step up to the 120gn NBTs, or the 120gn ProHunters. I have several hundred of both bullets.