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.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1071[/ATTACH]

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.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1072[/ATTACH]

A 6.5 Grendel. B&C Caberlite Green/Black Speckle.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1073[/ATTACH]

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.

[LRRPF52]

Bwaites has had great results with the 100gr NBT's for accuracy, IIRC, but he also has a Satern barrel that shoots almost anything under 1/2 MOA easily. Some of his groups are in the teens.

[bwaites]

The 100's have shot well in all three of my Grendels, the 19.5 inch and 28 inch Saterns, and in the 19.5 inch Lothar Walthar barrel I had as well. I know that Variable also has had great luck with them as well.

Have you tried BLC-2? I know it appears too slow, but I was getting close to 2800 FPS out of a 19.5 inch barrel with it, and it was deadly accurate out to 700 yards with that Lothar Walthar barrel, which is far more than I would have expected.

[hm2 clark]

So for <$500 you could get a 7.62x39 complete rifle. Use it as a kids plinking&hunting rifle for a few years and then convert it to a Grendel. (or maybe a 358 Gremlin if you wanted a woods rifle) The only real work needing to be done would be new barrel.

[Variable]

My luck is with the 120 NBTs. I have some 100s, but I never loaded them. I loaded the 120 NBTs with Win 748 way back when and they shot so good I have loaded very little else since then. They shoot great in any Grendel I stick them in.

My go to load is (insert start low and work up/ beware Internet load data/ explosions pending warnings here):

120 Nosler ballistic tip (seated 2.265" coal)
31.7 grains of Win 748 (compressed load)
Lapua brass
CCI 450 primer

Many many groups sub .5 moa from my 19.5" with that load and shoots good in other guy's rifles as well. I worked up the load weight looking for velocity and it hit great groups there without even really trying anything else. I won't warranty it safe in anybody else's rifle, but it's been safe and accurate for me in everything I've shot it in for what that's worth.

I've got a bunch of other components to try, but I'm lazy and hate to reload, so I usually just go with the one that worked right out of the gate for me.LOL

[adamjp]

Short update on my Zastava based Grendel with just under 200 rounds downrange.

The accuracy is no better than 1.5in at 100m. When I went to my preferred gunsmith on Sunday I took the Grendel to see if he could spot a problem I was blind to. After inspecting the rifle he stated that my work on bedding, etc. was fine, no issues there. He knew he put it together square and inspected everything before assembly to ensure they were quality. So just to ensure completeness he pulled out the borescope and had a look at the bore.

Now, the barrel on this rifle is a PacNor Stainless Select Match barrel in a #3 profile, cut to 21inches overall length. These are hand lapped barrels, the best PacNor can make.

He spotted an issue straight away - the rifling in the last inch of the barrel is disintegrating due to inclusions in the steel. In simple terms the crown is disintegrating - this explains the poor accuracy I have experienced.

I am waiting on a report from him and will then take it up with PacNor.

[LRRPF52]

That really sucks! Wish you were Stateside and could get "quicker" service on replacement.

[adamjp]

Thanks for that, I expect PacNor to be very helpful with this as their reputation for customer service is high. Once I have it working again I'll try ALL the damn loads I went through over the last couple of months.

I probably should make it very clear......This is not a problem that could be controlled by PacNor in ANY way. It is due to the steel manufacturer and from what I have heard since discovering the problem it has affected barrel manufacturers across the US in the last few years. In short, US made 416 Stainless is not as consistent as it once was.

One of our leading benchresters (regularly places at the World Benchrest Championships) spoke of a benchrest barrel he had that suffered this problem (not a PacNor - think twice the price) but still took him to national champion in 2011. The difference is that his was 4in forward of the throat, my problem is within 1in of the muzzle. Even a few Bartelin barrels have been reported with this problem - it is the steel, not the hole drilling and rifling.

The real annoyance is that we are approaching the peak of deer season and I'm off on Friday to hunt a large property with Fallow, Red, Sambar, Chital and Rusa deer on the offering. The property borders a 300,000 acre game ranch in southern Australia and the free range deer are breeding so well they are leaking over the boundary fence. I would love to try out the Grendel on some Fallow and Reds.

[Variable]

That really sucks to hear about your barrel. Hopefully you get it all worked out well.

Good luck on your hunt too!

[LRRPF52]

You could just have the smith cut your pipe to 20", re-crown, and drive-on. I wonder if Meloniting would be any kind of insurance against inclusions, since there would be a layer of nitrogen bonded to the surface. If impurities in the substrate steel are bad enough though, I don't know how much I would want to ride on the loss of ductility and possible fizzures.

[adamjp]

Within 24 hours of sending my email to PacNor they have come back with an offer of complete refund or a replacement barrel.

It is great when a company stands behind their product like that.