If you do not mind go ahead and post pics of mods to the stock.

They must be building these on separate assembly lines. My four came in today and I have no complaint about the smoothness of the bolt action, definetly smoother than a stock stainless Ruger. Inletting is pretty good with the exception of the action for the RH 9,3 bought for my son.
Same crappy checking as everyone else and the wood on all four is medicore at best. Stocks appear to be about 50% finished.

Still, am happy with the purchase.

Mine came in a few days ago but my FFL was off moose hunting. I picked it up tonight. Mine is much the same as Jim's and in 7x57. Not nearly as nice for figure but not bad. Looks, smells and feels like they just gave it one coat of linseed oil. Comb is too high for irons, or at least the irons on the rifle. I see some rasp time this winter. Still a good bargain I would say. I'll post some pics later but need to finish canning caribou meat.

Mart

I picked up mine this afternoon. Mine has really dark wood and what little finish on it is muddy. It looks like there may be some figure there but it's going to need a professional refinishing to get it to show.

Strangely the comb of the stock is not to high for me to use the iron sights, they actually are positioned just about perfect for me. This stock has a lot of drop at the heel. The other strange thing is how small in diameter that the barrel is, at the muzzle it only mics .660". The barrel wall is only .101 thick at the muzzle (458 Win Mag), I would think that it would be at least .125" to add some weight. It looks like I'm going to have to add some weight to the forearm.

The wood to metal fit around the action and barrel is not bad but there is a lot of extra wood around the tang. Since there is a good sized chip around the tang it will need to be taken down anyway. Where the chip is the wood is a lot lighter so maybe the stock can be cleaned up to look better.
Here's a picture of the butt taken on my cellphone. As soon as my camera recharges I'll try to get a macro of the tang area showing the lighter color where the chip is.



More comments:

The gun weighs in at less than 9 Lbs with a very muzzle light feel. It has a 25" barrel but the muzzle diameter is only .660" (My Winchester 375 H&H has a muzzle diameter of .750").

The feel of the action is not bad for a new gun, the bolt cycles with barely a hint of roughness that will probably smooth out with use. I don't have any rounds loaded up yet so I haven't checked the feeding and extraction. The trigger is surprisingly nice, smooth with minimal creep and a let off of less than 4 Lbs. The metal exterior appearance isn't bad, no obvious glitches and an even black/bluing.

The stock has a horrible finish, with maybe one thin coat of linseed oil applied, patchy and almost bare wood in places. This should make it easier to strip off as the muddy, blotchy stain that was applied has to come off, there may be some actual grain fighting to show through. The inletting around the barrel and action isn't bad but around the tang there is too much wood and the cut out for the bolt to slide is crooked with a chip out of it. I haven't pulled the barreled action from the stock yet but I know that it will have to be bedded. There are no plugs over the crossbolt. The checkering wasn't done by hand, it looks like it was done by foot.

Over all the gun has potential, it just needs a lot of stock work done before it goes out in the field.

Here's a picture of the tang:

Will post some picture later today. The finish they used is bleaching of the grain need to try some heavy degreaser or some TSP. Got ahead of myself and glass bedded stock before I removed finish just wamted to see how they shot, next one will remove finish first soaking in strong degreaser. I do like the wood and the action has smoothed up really nice.

[IMG]http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/1484/satavalh70001.jpg"> [/IMG][IMG]http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3982/satavalh70002.jpg"> [/IMG]Cut the comb down and shortened to 13 3/4 LOP and reduced the weight from 36 oz to 29 oz. thinned up the forearm and pistol crip and removed all checkering and yocan see oil seeping out

I fixed it.

George

Thanks George

Is the recoil pad glued or screwed? Clint

slotted screw

almost there. Birchwood trueoil finish
[IMG]http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/2162/zastavalh70006.jpg"> [/IMG]

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http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/2162/zastavalh70006.jpg

Looking good!

Jim thanks for fixing picture I don't no what I am doing wrong. I just ordered a gentry 3 position safety and a tubb's speed lock pin and spring. The gentry 3 position safety was 179.00 with 10 shipping and you have to order from them , brownells does not carry them. I just can't help myself. Gun looney.

Remove the

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from the IMG URLs.

George

Thanks again George

I've been an infrequent follower on AR for several years but seldom post anything. After watching this thread, I ordered a Zastava 458 Win today. It sounded like they still had several left. Living in a non-communist state (PCS'd from Chicago area last year), I just have to wait for shipping to the local ffl. I should have it next week and hope to be as pleased as several others have been here.

Mat