Hi AK folks!
Just figured I would post a few thoughts on my recent purchase of a NIB Npap M70 Zastava AK rifle. Most of you guys know the differences and nuances that come with the Yugo as opposed to your standard AKM offering.
The little button in the back for disassembly is kinda cool in my opinion, and should it fail will not hamper the function of the rifle at all.
Fit and finish are decent. Fit on my example is excellent as it seems straight to the naked eye anyway. Still have to zero it to myself. Finish is ok. The park finish is ok but seems like it may wear out sooner than later. I have touched up a small scratch with Birchwood flat black and it blends perfectly. Whoever dremmeled out the magwell at Century must have had a good day or they invested in a good jig that gets it right. Mag wobble is none existent with magpull, surplus and drums I have tried.
Century must have send some of their builders to some classes cause in my opinion this rifle is built just as good as offerings costing a lot more. Rivets all look good, nice and domed and none that caved the receiver.
I replaced the paper clip with a FCG retainer plate and I actually have more wiggle in the FCG pins than with the pin. Not enough to where they will walk out and not a big deal since the paper clip tends to fail sooner or later anyway.
Only other imperfection I noticed, was when the front sight post was pressed on, a little metal pushed out of one of the sides. nothing that impacted the rifles function whatsoever but for my ocd I went ahead and filed it flush to the rest and touched up with flat black finish which blended perfectly. Like it was never there.
Accuracy, I cant say much as I have not taken it as far as I have wanted to but she seems to shoot where I point her. Interwebs consistantly say that this is a 3-4 MOA rifle so not too worried bout it.
Barrel is not chrome lined but unless you are rocking corrosive or really dumping rounds thru it, it should not be an issue. To the naked eye it seems to have a larger outer diameter than euro versions. I may be incorrect.
This thing is over built to say the least. The gas block, front sight post, rear leaf, top cover, receiver, everything screams overbuild. Also translates to heavy but I got the wood stock version so thats to be expected. The underfolder is probably lighter.
Speaking of wood stock, so if you look at the reviews on AKOU or Hickcock45 you will see that there were issues with cheek slap due to the high comb of the rifle. I went in knowing that but I bury my face as far forward and rest my nose on the side of the top cover to achieve the same sight picture each time, so when I am zeroed, it will hit whatever I am shooting at. But anyway to my surprise my example came with a more traditional sized and shaped warsaw pact style buttstock. So cheek slap should be eliminated to those that like to have a cheek weld further back. It does not however have a rubber pad or a provision for a cleaning kit. Oh and it is still mounted in the Yugo fashion.
Mine does have a rail that fits not only yugo designed mounts but regular euro mounts as well. So no more hunting for yugo specific optics mounts. At least in my example.
Maybe I got lucky or maybe Century got their stuff together, time will tell. But I am more than pleased with the quality thus far of this tank like Yugo rifle. All markings are nice, deep, uniform, and relevant except for the "please read owners manual before use" marking. Besides that the Zastava, Serbia, etc are all nice and clear. Gone are the days of Centuries electro pencil I guess.
I like traditional wood on my rifles and the Yugo has nice Teak? I am not sure, seems to be a hardwood. Handguard and buttstock match nicely. I am toying around with the idea of stripping and making it a bit darker. It is a dark blonde right now finished with some sort of clear coat
On the topic of wood. I had an extra upper handguard gastube retainer that i needed to install in it. The wood was cut for it but the piece was not installed and the upper handguard portion was a bit loose for my liking. After a quick 2 minute installation of the retainer, that sucker is nice and tight in there with no wiggle anywhere.
I burned thru 90 rounds as quick as I could just to check function and no issues at all. With the slant break, shoots like any other slant break equipped AK. Again no cheek slap and the slant comp did what a slant comp does.
Seeing as there is not much collectors value in Yugos at the moment, this may be the first AK I trick out a bit with not permanent modifications. Simple magpul stuff mostly. Zhukov folding stock being the biggest. A buddy recently got one and said it is totally worth it.
Thats pretty much it folks. For $550 BNIB from Classic Firearms, it is a very good price, considering Armslist and locally folks try to sell them above new prices for a used gun. It is a bargain in my book and if they were going for 7-8 hundred I think the Zastava Npap is worth it in my opinion. No its no Arsenal, but a mighty fine Kalash.
Merry Christmas ladies and gents.
Just figured I would post a few thoughts on my recent purchase of a NIB Npap M70 Zastava AK rifle. Most of you guys know the differences and nuances that come with the Yugo as opposed to your standard AKM offering.
The little button in the back for disassembly is kinda cool in my opinion, and should it fail will not hamper the function of the rifle at all.
Fit and finish are decent. Fit on my example is excellent as it seems straight to the naked eye anyway. Still have to zero it to myself. Finish is ok. The park finish is ok but seems like it may wear out sooner than later. I have touched up a small scratch with Birchwood flat black and it blends perfectly. Whoever dremmeled out the magwell at Century must have had a good day or they invested in a good jig that gets it right. Mag wobble is none existent with magpull, surplus and drums I have tried.
Century must have send some of their builders to some classes cause in my opinion this rifle is built just as good as offerings costing a lot more. Rivets all look good, nice and domed and none that caved the receiver.
I replaced the paper clip with a FCG retainer plate and I actually have more wiggle in the FCG pins than with the pin. Not enough to where they will walk out and not a big deal since the paper clip tends to fail sooner or later anyway.
Only other imperfection I noticed, was when the front sight post was pressed on, a little metal pushed out of one of the sides. nothing that impacted the rifles function whatsoever but for my ocd I went ahead and filed it flush to the rest and touched up with flat black finish which blended perfectly. Like it was never there.
Accuracy, I cant say much as I have not taken it as far as I have wanted to but she seems to shoot where I point her. Interwebs consistantly say that this is a 3-4 MOA rifle so not too worried bout it.
Barrel is not chrome lined but unless you are rocking corrosive or really dumping rounds thru it, it should not be an issue. To the naked eye it seems to have a larger outer diameter than euro versions. I may be incorrect.
This thing is over built to say the least. The gas block, front sight post, rear leaf, top cover, receiver, everything screams overbuild. Also translates to heavy but I got the wood stock version so thats to be expected. The underfolder is probably lighter.
Speaking of wood stock, so if you look at the reviews on AKOU or Hickcock45 you will see that there were issues with cheek slap due to the high comb of the rifle. I went in knowing that but I bury my face as far forward and rest my nose on the side of the top cover to achieve the same sight picture each time, so when I am zeroed, it will hit whatever I am shooting at. But anyway to my surprise my example came with a more traditional sized and shaped warsaw pact style buttstock. So cheek slap should be eliminated to those that like to have a cheek weld further back. It does not however have a rubber pad or a provision for a cleaning kit. Oh and it is still mounted in the Yugo fashion.
Mine does have a rail that fits not only yugo designed mounts but regular euro mounts as well. So no more hunting for yugo specific optics mounts. At least in my example.
Maybe I got lucky or maybe Century got their stuff together, time will tell. But I am more than pleased with the quality thus far of this tank like Yugo rifle. All markings are nice, deep, uniform, and relevant except for the "please read owners manual before use" marking. Besides that the Zastava, Serbia, etc are all nice and clear. Gone are the days of Centuries electro pencil I guess.
I like traditional wood on my rifles and the Yugo has nice Teak? I am not sure, seems to be a hardwood. Handguard and buttstock match nicely. I am toying around with the idea of stripping and making it a bit darker. It is a dark blonde right now finished with some sort of clear coat
On the topic of wood. I had an extra upper handguard gastube retainer that i needed to install in it. The wood was cut for it but the piece was not installed and the upper handguard portion was a bit loose for my liking. After a quick 2 minute installation of the retainer, that sucker is nice and tight in there with no wiggle anywhere.
I burned thru 90 rounds as quick as I could just to check function and no issues at all. With the slant break, shoots like any other slant break equipped AK. Again no cheek slap and the slant comp did what a slant comp does.
Seeing as there is not much collectors value in Yugos at the moment, this may be the first AK I trick out a bit with not permanent modifications. Simple magpul stuff mostly. Zhukov folding stock being the biggest. A buddy recently got one and said it is totally worth it.
Thats pretty much it folks. For $550 BNIB from Classic Firearms, it is a very good price, considering Armslist and locally folks try to sell them above new prices for a used gun. It is a bargain in my book and if they were going for 7-8 hundred I think the Zastava Npap is worth it in my opinion. No its no Arsenal, but a mighty fine Kalash.
Merry Christmas ladies and gents.