Zastava LK M85 Mini Mauser: The Range Report...

[u/nammaheff]

The other day I picked up a Zastava LK M85 Mini Mauser in 7.62x39. If you saw my previous post about my first thoughts, you'd know I had some apprehensions about the quality of this rifle. Today I put it to the test. Here are the results...

Saturday! We started the day with absolutely zero rain and minimal wind, so I decided that this morning would be a good day to go shooting. I packed up my rifle, a whole pile of ammo, targets, and headed over to my favorite gravel pit.

The ammo I tested the gun with was a mixed bag of S&B and MFS 124 grain FMJ, 120 rounds in total. My choice of optic was a brand new SIG Sauer Buckmasters 3-12x44mm scope paired with Vortex Hunter 1" low mount rings. To make the scope work to its full potential for this field test I had to remove the lever located on the magnification dial; on 12x setting the lever would block the bolt's ability to be fully manipulated. Shortly after my first post about this rifle I decided to lubricate the action as well and work it over hundreds of times to break it in, and it seemed to be much less rough than what it was.

Now for the shooting report...

As with any scope I've sighted in, I started at 25 yards and worked my way back to 150 yards until I found an acceptable level of accuracy. From there, I started burning through rounds.

8"x8" plates, paper targets, bouncing targets, I brought everything out for this test. I found at 150 yards I was getting consistent 1 1/2" to 2" groups on paper with both MFS and S&B ammo, which was much tighter groups than I initially expected. From there, I moved to the steel plates and bouncing targets and could hit them consistently. A few times during shooting I would try to get through as many rounds as possible within a minute or so timeframe, a few times I would take my time with steady shots. No matter how I shot I still managed tight, consistent groups. The barrel did get hot, but not hot enough to burn your hand on I found. No test can be done without attempting to make the barrel hot at least once to see how accuracy holds!

One thing that I'm glad I did before going out is breaking in the action. The morning was made much easier thanks to sitting down for an hour and working the bolt repeatedly! But there is still one problem with the bolt, and that is in its size. The bolt handle itself is quite small, but once you're used to the rifle, it's more so of a quirk you just have to learn to work with rather than a hindrance to operation of the rifle. Speaking of which, with the Magwedge rail and low mount rings, the Buckmasters scope has just enough height to be low enough to the bore, and high enough to allow bolt manipulation. After firing, the bolt does still feel a little stiff though- that isn't attributed to the machining, that would be attributed to the bolt's cock on open design. Nothing that you can't learn to work with. Ejection was all over the place, but I could attribute that to how I was working the bolt at times; some empty shells would barely leave the chamber, others would launch a good 4 feet from the rifle.

As for the trigger, I found it acceptable. Allegedly, the trigger is adjustable to about 3 lbs or so but I left it as is for the test. The trigger does have minimal creep and a crisp break, but I probably could adjust it to have a lighter pull. At one point allegedly Timney made aftermarket triggers that do fit the Mini Mauser, so it might be something I'll have to look into.

Finally, the magazine. Like many old school rifles the magazine is an internal, hinged floor plate design. The 7.62x39 model of the Mini Mauser holds 4 rounds, despite being advertised as having a 5 round capacity. I had no issues with loading the magazine and no issues with feeding. A plus side to this magazine design is there's absolutely no detachable magazine to potentially lose or misplace!

Final thoughts...

Overall, despite my first impressions with Zastava's Mini Mauser I do have to give it a passing grade. As a previous owner of a few different flavours of SKS I was a little apprehensive about an intermediate caliber bolt gun- being so used to the idea of just magdumping at a target I never really considered a bolt gun in the same caliber- to me, bolt guns always seemed right in rimfire or full size/magnum options. Not anymore! I can safely say this is a rifle that'll be a regular shooter for me.

8 out of 10, don't judge a book (or rifle) by its cover!

[u/Iokua_CDN]

So far,  everyone that I see that owns a 7.62 x39 bolt action, loves the damn thing. Cz, Ruger Ranch, Savage, it doesn't matter. Stick a 7 62 x39 in a bolt action and people just love to shoot them. Cheap ammo and a satisfying bang, and accuracy that seems to always impress (maybe because people have low expectations). Something magical about it.

[u/FD4L → u/Iokua_CDN]

It seems to be all positives. Most decent bolt action x39s seem to be at least 2 moa with Chinese crate surplus, some even better.

Thats not bad at all for a 30 cal with 35-50 cent ammo. On top of a great range gun, you can spend $2 a round and you have a perfectly acceptable deer rifle. I'd personally increase my cartridge for anything over deer, but if bad times came to worse, having 2k rounds in spam cans under my stairs and a reliable, easy to clean bolt action would bring me some peace of mind.

[u/nammaheff → u/FD4L]

I pretty much got it to have a rifle that's simple to maintain, has a long barrel life, and is easy to feed. If bad times get worse the idea of having a bolt action with thousands of rounds suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

[u/FD4L → u/[deleted]]

It can comfortably drop deer, pigs, coyotes at 200 yards and it can plink out to 400 yards for 30-50 cents a round, what else would you ask it to do?

[u/Creative-Ad9092]

I used to have one in .223- great little rifle. Mine shot most handloads into 3/4” at 100 yards. The Speer 70 grain bullet went just over one inch. Worked well enough on springbuck.

[u/SuperSidney376]

Looks cool, gonna have to keep it on the radar. Thanks for the review

[u/DougMacRay617]

This looks nice. What do these cost?

[u/chillyrabbit → u/DougMacRay617]

CZ just announced and are releasing a CZ 600 carbine which seeks to be the successor to the 527 line.

Bolt action 7.62x39 rifle

18.5" barrel

About 6 lbs

[u/DougMacRay617 → u/chillyrabbit]

Decent, ive got the 600 lux in 30-06. Its great

[u/chillyrabbit → u/DougMacRay617]

I realize the context of my comment feels off, but yeah basically wanted to point out there is modern production rifle for someone looking for a 7.62x39 bolt gun like the M85 as it has been discontinued, and the CZ 527 model was similar to to the M85 (which was also discontinued)

[u/nammaheff → u/DougMacRay617]

I have no idea since I got this on trade, but looking at previous ads anywhere from 700-1000 judging from what flavor or bells and whistles you have on

[u/FiresprayClass]

As for the trigger, I found it acceptable. Allegedly, the trigger is adjustable to about 3 lbs or so but I left it as is for the test. The trigger does have minimal creep and a crisp break, but I probably could adjust it to have a lighter pull. At one point allegedly Timney made aftermarket triggers that do fit the Mini Mauser, so it might be something I'll have to look into.

Do yourself a favour and look at the stock trigger first; it's likely already adjustable. The one I looked at for a friend was; and they're not the kind of person who'd drop an aftermarket trigger in there.