Today I got to shoot the LH Zastava 7x57 for the first time. 1 MOA offhand at 50 yards was acceptable to me with the factory iron sights and 140 rem core lokts.

The issue was the first spent cartridge would eject about 6 feet and the second would just sort of dump out at my feet while the 3rd would go about 4-5 feet.

Any ideas on what can cause this? The rifle will be getting a work-over coming up but just curious.

Thanks.

With the staggered magazine it sounds like every other round is held differently against the extractor and therefor ejecting with different force.

fixable i assume?

Yes, fixable. And usually not too difficult to fix, either.

Jeremy

Since the rifle is a CRF with the ejection force cause by how firmly your cycle the action "often" ejection issues are operator error. If you don't cycle the bolt with the same speed and force each time ejection will vary. It isn't an ejector spring.

thought that. same speed though.

A staggered magazine can effect the feeding but the case comes out the same everytime from a round "fired" in the chamber, so I would suggest that you are the problem in that your not working the bolt smartly each time...but if you are then a good smith can hone or cut the extractor to work better or it may behove you to replace it with a new one, they don't cost much..if that doesn't work then the bolt face may be the problem, but I seriously doubt that.

If the rounds are extracting and ejecting,
I don't know what needs fixing ? ...tj3006

IMO you don't probably have too much of a problem ..... although I would also expect that when using the same amount of force to oprerate the bolt that the spent cartridges should all be lying in similar proximity to each other when a magazine full of cartidges has been expended (if you're shooting from the same position). Certainly my Zastava & Winchester Model 70 do when a magazine full of cartridges has been expended. Most likely though; just a tad attention to detail.

Like everyone else hads noted (and as usual Ray's response is spot-on) with a CRF rifle the force with which you operate the bolt to the rear to eject should dictate the force with which the cases are ejected. Since you were shooting with open sights there's not a scope mounted so potential issues of ejected cases banging off of or being affected by a scope and mounts aren't present.

The Zastavas are pretty raw when new unless they've improved their factory parts polishing since I last purchased one. My L/H 30/06 Sprg. required judicious polishing of some or all parts of the magazine, follower, bolt, feed rails and trigger to meet my expectations when new.

If yours is anywhere near as rough as mine was; four dummy cartridges and a couple hundred loading and ejector cycles will most likely relieve all of your issues.

For starters I'd go straight to the magazine spring to see if all's Hoyle.

When loading ....

Ensure the loading process is all the same; that the cartridge bases are all pushed to the rear and flush with the rear of the magazine well wall and staggered as they should be.

Check to see if the follower hangs up along the feed rails on any side(s); that it's level and the magazine spring is correctly clicked into both the bottom of the magazine floorplate and the underneath of the follower correctly; it may be out of whack just a smidgen.

Make sure the bolt stop assembly and ejector blade are in harmony (the screw is not too tight or loose). Mine required that the hole in the stock for the ejector blade screw and bolt stop assembly be drilled a tad deeper as the hole was so shallow that the screw could not be seated correctly.

Mauser actions are actually pretty simple but there's alot of synergies among all the Bits & Pieces for optimal functioning.

Like mentioned above; since they're pretty rough when new I'm sure that unless you've got some major issue due to factory assembly, a rough or wrong part (which I seriously doubt); the issue will most probably relieve itself after a coupla hundred cycles of the bolt.

Having said all that; if you're not able to perform these checks; then simply have a good gunsmith take a gander at it until it meets your satisfaction.

Good Luck with your new Zastava.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
Today I got to shoot the LH Zastava 7x57 for the first time. 1 MOA offhand at 50 yards was acceptable to me with the factory iron sights and 140 rem core lokts.

1 MOA at 50 yards = .500". That would certainly be acceptable to me with ANY kind of sights.

thanks all for the replies. to ray, i was purposely working the bolt the same as I noted the issue. so i don't think it was due to the operator.

gerry, they are pretty rough but i suspect as you said they can be turned into a nice slick machine with proper attention.

xausa i agree, minute of whitetail is quite acceptable. i think we sometimes get a little cranky about hunting rifles printing bench rifle groups! we need to remember the damage a high powered rifle inflicts upon living tissue. i for one would not enjoy being shot with any of them!

Jeff

I'm a little confused as to how magazine position and or magazine spring tension could affect the ejection of a Mauser style rifle.

Admittedly I'm new to Mausers since I bought my only one (LH Zastava) just a couple of years ago.

But, once the round is in the chamber with the extractor around the rim of the case shouldn't all the cartridges eject the same?

They are held in place by the chamber and the ejector only fits in one position so how does the way that the cartridge is fed into the chamber make any difference on where the empties land on ejection?

From one LH Mauser newbie to another Frank I wondered the same thing. Having looked at the functioning of the machine I do like the Mauser system.

I also noted this one has a follower which is longer than the factory 140 gr round. I suspect a 3006 length follower? Even that one is not as long as the magazine.

I am working on acquiring a magnum bolt faced Interarms/Zastava. Perhaps the long term plan will morph into either a 3006/375 H&H tandem or a 9.3x62/404J pair.

Time will tell. For now I want to get the action checked for overall function and have it polished out. That should help with a number of things.

Anyone know who is importing the Zastavas these days?

blue & Frank,

Don't have an axe to grind here - take the magazine spring outa your Zastava's and see how well they function - seriously, nuff said, they are a crucial part of Mauser synergy.

To see if I was too far off the mark; called two of my German Master Gunsmith's this afternoon and related this issue - both said "Check the magazine spring."

Waidmannsheil!

bring a dummy along here, Gerry. if you take the magazine spring out then the follower will have no tension under it right?

what did i miss?

A weak magazine spring is seldom an issue, a too strong magazine spring can pop rounds out over the rails as you feed and thats the touchy thing about feed rails..but a magazine spring has nothing to do with ejection itself as far as I know..

Ejection such as mentioned can be shooter error in not working the bolt smartly as the mauser was so designed to do or it can relate to the cut/angle of the extractor claw and how it holds the round as it is coming out of the chamber in that the pressure (drag) put one side of the chamber by the case lip on the case itself. That drag can vary on a staggard magazine causing less "pop" or "ping" as it ejects. This is a critical fit and I wouldn't swear to it, but case length could make a difference in the amount of pressue the ejector puts on the side of the chamber wall. Its always easier to figure out what is wrong when you have the gun in hand and can watch the feed and extraction as you work the bolt slowly..A good reason to always take it to a gunsmith.

thank you all for the replies. i will not know the answer until the gunsmith looks it over.

here is another question: on the rear end of the magazine follower I notice a corner of it is getting filed away as I contnue to work the bolt over and over. however, the follower gets shoved forward a little and then as the bolt rides over it it goes back to its original position when working the bolt. shold the follower naturally have some forward/backward play?

quote:

Originally posted by Gerry:
blue & Frank,

Don't have an axe to grind here - take the magazine spring outa your Zastava's and see how well they function - seriously, nuff said, they are a crucial part of Mauser synergy.

To see if I was too far off the mark; called two of my German Master Gunsmith's this afternoon and related this issue - both said "Check the magazine spring."

Waidmannsheil!

No offense taken, I honestly don't understand the relationship between magazine springs, followers and how the gun ejects cartridges. I read these types of posts to learn.


A7Drvr

K-Var in Las Vegas was the distributor that we worked through on the group buy and they have an importer. K-Var also had some left over right and left handed Zastavas for sale on their website last week.