New Rifle Outta The Box........

[Dick284]

So I got a bit of vanilla ice cream, with lotsa sprinkles on top the other day.


Zastava M70(Mauser 98) left hand in 30'06.

Out of the box it came with a 14-5/8" length of pull. Nicely adorned with a but pad made from a left over hocky puck from the Sarajevo Winter Olympics.
4.5 pound trigger pull with a disparaging amount of creep and over travel.
The trigger on this rifle is adjustable for over travel, sear engagement, and weight of pull, and in no time I had a nice crisp 2.5 pound trigger pull, that passes a rigorous bump/slam fire test.

I traveled in to the big city and purchased two Pachmeyer Decellerator grind to fit recoil pads, one being 1", the other 0.6".

I fired up the chop saw, and cut the stock back about 3/4", and fitted the 1" pad which gave me a LOP of 13-3/4". Fitting the 0.6" pad gives it a LOP 13-9/16".
Perfect for myself for both warm weather, and cold weather hunting.

Next I proceeded to epoxy bed the recoil lug on this rifle. It came factory free floated, but with nothing but wood inletting for bedding had me whipping up some epoxy and giving it a nice tight fitting bed job.


I tore the bolt down and gave it a thorough de greasing with brake cleaner, followed by a scrub in the bolt body with an old bore mop, followed up by a dose of Rem Dri Teflon lubricant.

Next came the rifles bore. I used a bore guide, and a Dewey rod, the first patch really was an eye opener.


I followed up with some JB's bore brite, and a few more patches of Butches Bore Shine.

Rings and bases were mounted, the rings lapped with 600 grit compound, and a 3.5-10x44 Zeiss Conquest, was installed.


I've run out of weekend, so here's to my next weekend off and some load development.

[CritterCommander]

She's a beauty! Hope it shoots as good as it looks!

[H380]

aaahhhh !! A lefty rifle , a thing of beauty . Thanx for sharing .

[bat119]

Nice rig should be a good hunting rifle, I know what mean about those recoil pads they are made out of left over hockey pucks

[gitrdun]

That one of yours Dick has the most character of any wood stock Zastava's that I've seen. The soiled patch is obviously cosmoline since they have to make the journey in a sea-can. I've recently load developed some 30-06 rounds for a stainless one. It dialed in nicely and quickly by standard hunting tolerances.

[catnthehat]

Great looking gun!
The Zatavas in particular seem to have a real excess amount of storage grease when they leave the factory, and certainly benefit from a c0mmp-lete teardown before shooting - as a friend found out last year in cold weather when the firing pin acted like a snail as he aimed at a deer!
Dammed solidly built rifles!
Cat

[bigjohncdn]

Being basically a large ring Mauser they are great, strong guns. Yes, lots of grease, but I would rather see that than rust from a trip for sure.

Looks really nice, look forward to hearing your shooting report.

A friend has one in 6.5x55 and really happy with the rifle.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by bigjohncdn

Being basically a large ring Mauser they are great, strong guns. Yes, lots of grease, but I would rather see that than rust from a trip for sure. .

Yup, can't have too much storage grease!!
That Danged '98 is one of my top five picks for bolt actions rifles!
Cat

[ForwardBias]

I bought a lefty in 06 as well. While a little rough around the edges, very solid rifle. Wish there was more availability on these workhorse rifles (left hand).

[gramps73]

Nice choice, great looking rifle 284..
Look forward to seeing what kind of groups she will get,,

[elkhunter11]

14-5/8" length of pull, do they expect their customers to be giants? It is nice to get a fully adjustable trigger that can be adjusted to a reasonable pull, unlike many triggers that won't adjust below 4 to 5 pounds. If it shoots as good as it looks, you will have a very nice package.

[dogslayer403]

Good work now I want to see what trick you have for fixing that bolt they seem to have made a mistake at the factory and put it on the wrong side

[sns2]

I never seen a Zastava like that. You got the nicest one in Canada I'd wager. Great job, Dick!.

[JD848]

Very nice gun and great work,it's a beauty,enjoy.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Looks good...let me know when you need me to sight it in

LC

[whitetail Junkie]

Nice Rig!

[propliner]

What's the total weight of that rig?

[1Heavyhitr]

Originally Posted by dogslayer403

Good work now I want to see what trick you have for fixing that bolt they seem to have made a mistake at the factory and put it on the wrong side

lol. x2

[Coldrider]

Great looking rifle, good luck with it and enjoy! Sure makes me jelous, Im a lefty but dont have any left hand rifles yet...! Do enjoy all my rh ones though just as well!

[Dean2]

Nice Rifle Dick. I just Sold a Zastava 7x57 LH. They are really well built and the bluing on them is much better than most domestic rifles. Bolts need a little slicking up and the bedding will certainly help, it did on mine by knocking the groups in half. Would easily shoot Sellier and Bellot under .75 at 100 yards. Not bad for a production gun that sin't all that expensive.

I like the over long LOP. Easy enough to shorten, but it is a son of a gun to try and make it longer.

[CheeseBurger]

Very nice. Did you try to use the iron sights at all? I could never get my eye low enough with that aggressive roll over monte carlo to see a proper sight picture with the irons. When I had mine in LH 9.3x62 it kicked the tar out of me. I was getting a lot of cheek slap and big headaches as a result. In hindsight I should have spent some more time with it and tried to tame the beast. I've shot my buddies right handed Zastava again in 9.3x62 and it seems much more manageable than mine did. Go figure...

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by propliner

What's the total weight of that rig?

8.75lbs, scope and all.

[.257Weatherby]

But, but, but , the bolt is on the wrong side
Sure hope it shoots well.
Tight Groups,
Rob

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by .257Weatherby

But, but, but , the bolt is on the wrong side
Sure hope it shoots well.
Tight Groups,
Rob

No the bolt is on the correct side, for those of us in our right mind.

[Rugersingle]

ok.. i'm sold
Find me a LH 300 H&H or a 7x57 and I’m in

Very nice looking rig, looking forward to trying it out next time I'm down that way

[Pathfinder76]

For me they would be a money pit. I'd need a new Heillman bolt handle (whomever designed that one was a little sleepy at the time), bottom metal, bolt shroud/safety, possibly trigger, and stock.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Rugersingle

ok.. i'm sold
Find me a LH 300 H&H or a 7x57 and I’m in

Very nice looking rig, looking forward to trying it out next time I'm down that way

Zastava, Blazer and Sauer all make LH 7x57. Zastava you could special order the 300 H&H or have a 300 WM rechambered.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by chuck

For me they would be a money pit. I'd need a new Heillman bolt handle (whomever designed that one was a little sleepy at the time), bottom metal, bolt shroud/safety, possibly trigger, and stock.

Well, since it was only $700 to start with you still wouldn't be in all that deep when you are done.

[Bushrat]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Zastava, Blazer and Sauer all make LH 7x57. Zastava you could special order the 300 H&H or have a 300 WM rechambered.

You would have to set the barrel back a long way to get rid of the large shoulder of the win mag chamber to make it a H&H chamber.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Bushrat

You would have to set the barrel back a long way to get rid of the large shoulder of the win mag chamber to make it a H&H chamber.

Well you could always start with an 30-06 then.