Whoever worked at Zastava, a former Yugoslav, now Serbian arms company, had never heard of the term search engine optimization. If they had, they wouldn’t have created four guns named the Zastava M70. Depending on where you go, if you ask for a Zastava M70, you might get an AK variant, a bolt-action rifle, a Tokarev copy, or a pocket pistol.
Zastava is a creative company in many ways, but when it comes to names, M70 must have been the easy route to take.
Choose Your Fighter: The Zastava M70, Zastava M70, Zastava M70, or Zastava M70?
The Zastava M70 – The AK One
The most common Zastava M70 is going to be the AK variant made in Serbia. These guns serve Serbian forces and have been sold to American shooters in a semi-auto variant. The M70 famously features a 1.5mm receiver, the same as an RPK, making it both robust and quite hefty.
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They are still imported, but their price point has risen as the AK market has gotten out of control. What used to be a $600 AK has ballooned into a $1,300 AK. It’s a bit nuts, but still, one of the better options on the market.
The M70 AK comes in a few different configurations. This includes classic wood, an underfolding stock, or modern tactical models. Hell, they even made a gold one for guys who want that Saddam drip.
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The Bolt Action M70
If you want to go hunting for large to medium game with a traditional bolt-action rifle, then you can pick up a Zastava M70. Specifically, the LK M70, which is now imported to the United States. This is a full-sized Mauser action with a chrome vanadium cold-forged barrel.
Caliber options include .243, .308, .270 Win, and .30-06. The classic North American cartridges are all well represented, as is the hard-hitting .458 Winchester for big-game hunting. You can also find M70S marked Charles Daly, when Charles Daly handled the importation of these guns.
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Mausers aren’t new to Zastava. They’ve been pumping them out since 1924. What riflemen will love is the controlled feed design. It’s a true Mauser and not a push-feed option. At around $700, they are among the more affordable controlled-feed designs.
The M70 That Wants To Be a Tokarev
Who doesn’t love the Tokarev? The fast-moving, hard-hitting, flashy 7.62x25mm round always impresses. Yugoslavia was a Warsaw Pact country, so they had their M57, which was a direct copy of the Russian TT-33 pistol. Although, to be fair, the TT-33 was largely based on John Browning’s principles.
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The TT-33 was easy to produce, cheap to produce, and reliable, accurate, and durable. However, the 76.2x25mm round wasn’t quite popular. Zastava fired up the machinery in 1970 to produce yet another Zastava M70. Specifically, the M70AA, a 9mm pistol based on the Toakrev design.
Outside of the chamber design, not much changed. They added a manual safety for export purposes, and they began flowing into the United States. The sell was simple. It’s a classic iron curtain pistol in a cartridge you could easily and cheaply find. They are still bouncing around and still affordable.
The Little Zastava M70
The Zastava M70 that got me interested in this entire selection of M70S was the smallest of the batch, the M70 in .32 ACP and .380 ACP. It’s often called the baby Tok because it looks so much like the Tokarev, just with the barrel trimmed significantly.
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Zastava produced the M70 to arm police officers and certain military officers who wanted a lighter, smaller alternative to the M57, a TT-33 copy. This little M70 used a straight blowback-operated design and fed from a single-stack magazine.
This gun has both a manual safety lever by design and a magazine safety. Much like the Tokarev, it’s easy to take apart and clean. You can remove the hammer assembly by pulling out a single piece of the gun. Plus, these are ultra-cheap and commonly available on the surplus market.
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Let’s Call It the M70
Zastava engineer 1: “What will we call it?”
Zastava engineer 2 “I don’t know, let’s call it the M70.”
That’s gotta be the conversation they had a few times. What will be the next M70? I’m hoping for an AR. Only time will tell if Zastava keeps the theme going.