Zastava 85 .223 carbine on the way

[FergusonTO35]

Went to the fun store at lunch hoping to find one of the Ruger 9mm carbines. That didn't pan out, but he did have a sweet little Zastava 85 bolt action .223 carbine in stock for $375.00 so I put it in layaway jail. I've always wanted a .223 bolt action, but not a 10 pound varmint gun. I want it to have real sights too. Always liked the CZ's but never found a good deal on one. I know Zastava has been around forever and has made rifles and pistols of all kinds. I'm planning to feed it Hornady and Sierra soft points until I start casting for it. Anybody have experience with these guns?

 

[Locust Cutter]

Solid looking little gun and a Mauser action I believe. I'd love to try one as I've been thinking very hard lately about buying either a .223 o 5.56 NATO bolt action. I love ARs, but as a re-loader, being able to shoot w/o losing brass and do it more slowly (w/o the urge or ability to dump a mag) is actually very appealing to me. It took buying my Ruger 77/357 to remember how much fun shooting light recoiling cartridges, slowly, while focusing on the fundamentals and hitting everything I aim at, really is!!!

Looking forward to hearing about how well it performs for you.

What twist rate it that barrel?

Congratulations Sir!!!

 

[Wagnerwerks]

Very cool. I have a youth model axis 223 I bought a few years ago for 169.99 after the rebate. I couldn't pass up the deal and it shoots great for a cheap gun.

Congratulations!

 

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks. It is a Mauser derivative, the main difference being the overall size and the use of a Sako style extractor. I didn't see the rate of twist mentioned on either the Zastava site or Century Site. I have read in some places that it is 1:12, one person claimed it is more like 1:9.5. If it shoots standard 55 grain slugs well I'll be happy.

 

[srb08]

Went to the fun store at lunch hoping to find one of the Ruger 9mm carbines. That didn't pan out, but he did have a sweet little Zastava 85 bolt action .223 carbine in stock for $375.00 so I put it in layaway jail. I've always wanted a .223 bolt action, but not a 10 pound varmint gun. I want it to have real sights too. Always liked the CZ's but never found a good deal on one. I know Zastava has been around forever and has made rifles and pistols of all kinds. I'm planning to feed it Hornady and Sierra soft points until I start casting for it. Anybody have experience with these guns?

I love the lines. Hope it shoots as good as it looks.
How's the trigger?

Hurry up and pay it off, I want to know how you like it.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I don't dry fire guns I haven't paid for yet, but it is an old school adjustable trigger. I'm trying hard not to shop for .223 reloading stuff right now, gotta pay off the rifle first!!

 

[Locust Cutter]

.223 can be a bit of a PITA compare to larger casings/calibers w/more material in the casing. Not to mention larger opening for powder flow and bullet alignment prior to seating. You'll have an easier time with either a single stage or a turret style press than a progressive I'll wager. 62gr game bullets would be dynamite on smaller critters and could work on whitetails with a solid lung or head shot.

 

[srb08]

.223 can be a bit of a PITA compare to larger casings/calibers w/more material in the casing. Not to mention larger opening for powder flow and bullet alignment prior to seating. You'll have an easier time with either a single stage or a turret style press than a progressive I'll wager. 62gr game bullets would be dynamite on smaller critters and could work on whitetails with a solid lung or head shot.

I load .223 on a Dillon 550B but do all of the case prep on a Redding T7 turret prior to using the Dillon.
I have a lot of once fired military brass and case prep is a pain in the balls.

 

[Wagnerwerks]

I load .223 on a Dillon 550B but do all of the case prep on a Redding T7 turret prior to using the Dillon.
I have a lot of once fired military brass and case prep is a pain in the balls.

I just started doing the same on my 450 and you're exactly right. Military brass is a huge pain. I had never messed with crimped primers before this. Ugh.

 

[srb08]

I just started doing the same on my 450 and you're exactly right. Military brass is a huge pain. I had never messed with crimped primers before this. Ugh.

I use a heavy duty universal decapping die to deprime and a Dillon Super Swage to remove the crimp. I buy decapping pins in bulk.

I had a friend give me a five gallon bucket of once fired military .45acp brass with crimped primers.............I almost gave it back.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I do all my rifle loading single stage so no problems there. Anybody ever try Reloder 7 in .223? I have a full can waiting to be used. The first bullet I'm going to try is the standard Hornady 55 grain soft point. Reviews suggest it is very accurate and holds together pretty well on larger critters. Dirt cheap as bullets or loaded ammo too.

 

[srb08]

I do all my rifle loading single stage so no problems there. Anybody ever try Reloder 7 in .223? I have a full can waiting to be used. The first bullet I'm going to try is the standard Hornady 55 grain soft point. Reviews suggest it is very accurate and holds together pretty well on larger critters. Dirt cheap as bullets or loaded ammo too.

I've used Reloader 7 in .223 but it's been a while. If I remember correctly, it was the first powder I tried and it provided good results.
I used it with 50 grain bullets.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Alliant lists it with 53 grain but not 55 grain bullets. Close enough for me since I'm not going anywhere near the maximum charge. I'm planning to try for .222 level performance and use a neck sizing die, especially since the rifle doesn't have a gas system to operate.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Whaddya know, Alliant says you can use up to 20 grains Reloder 7 in the .222 with 55 grain slugs. So, that should work just fine in the larger .223 case.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reload...owderlist.aspx&type=1&powderid=7&cartridge=45

 

[FergusonTO35]

Bailed out the Zastava last week and finally got a chance to try it out. Ammo was PMC 55 grain FMJ, the cheapest non-commie ammo the store carries. From the get go it was shooting great at 65 yards with the issue sights.

I tried the UTG aperture sight and unfortunately it is too tall for the original front sight, which is already pretty high. I'm going to measure the scope mount holes and see if Williams has anything that would fit.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Also, the trigger pull is pretty good but different. It's very smooth but creepy, like a Glock trigger. I took the stock off and fiddled with the adjustments some. I don't see how to get rid of the creep without reducing the sear engagement a whole lot. The rifle shoots great so I just decided to leave it as is for now.

 

[Locust Cutter]

I wonder if you stoned the trigger, if it would lose any of the creep? Normally that only really helps with grittiness but you never know. You also might consider an AM trigger, if/when you decide to do something about it, that's designed for a Mauser action. I have a Dayton-Traister in my Czech VZ-24 and it's pretty amazing. The only thing I'm not a huge fan of are the serrations on the trigger face. During recoil, w/220gr pills, that trigger can actually take a bit of skin off if you're not careful. I imagine that wouldn't be the case for a .223...

 

[FergusonTO35]

Sounds good. If I decide to do anything with the trigger there is a very talented smith here I'll take it to. Sure wish we had a rifle season for turkey here. I imagine a 55 grain soft point at 2600 fps would be just dandy.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I have put a couple of boxes of PMC FMJ through the Zastava and it is a good shooter. I have an older Japan made Bushnell Banner 2.5x20 scope that needs a home, so I mounted it to the rifle with some Weaver rings and bases. Perfect size scope for a light rifle. Decided to try my hand at loading for it, I already have dies and brass and have a couple boxes of Hornady 55 grain soft points on the way. I resized and primed 50 rounds tonight. It went the same as my other calibers except these cases feel tiny, even compared to the .30-30. Soon as the slugs arrive I'm going to load them with a few different charges of Reloder 7 and give 'em a try.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Rolled up my first .223's tonight, 18 grains of Reloder 7 under the 55 grain Hornady's. I figger this would be good for around 2600 fps, basically duplicating the .221 Fireball. Hopefully they will be at least as accurate as the PMC factory rounds I have been using.