Author Topic: Zastava M88  (Read 25451 times)

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Offline PTGT_Neon

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Zastava M88
« on: July 14, 2010, 02:50:27 AM »
I picked up a Zastava M88 today.  It's a new production Tokarev in 9mm.  I got it as a fun gun.  I wanted to take apart and tweak the thing.  Which I have already done now.

I put about 50 rounds through it.  The trigger was stiff, heavy and gritty.  Almost all my shots went low left as a result of fighting it.  Some of the brass came back and hit my in the face.  It wasn't gentle about it either.  But that didn't deter me a bit.  I did put a few shots dead center with a stronger grip. 

Taking the thing apart is where the fun is  O0  I started with the slide and pulled the safety out and the ball bearing detent promptly popped out into a mess of junk laying around.  I did eventually find it. 

The action is very simple.  And the whole action assemble just falls right out with the slide removed.  There is the sear with a leaf spring, a floating piston that engages the safety in the slide, and the hammer.  The hammer spring is short and completely inside the hammer.  The creep in the action is where the sear and hammer meet, as expected. 

A lot of the fight is in the springs.  The trigger return spring is aggressive.  This can come out once you figure out the trick to removing the grips.  This spring is pretty easy to tune with some large channel lock pliers.  The other spring is the sear spring.  This one is also a bit aggressive.  There's only so much I could do with that leaf spring.  But it is better.  Now there isn't a fight to make it through the takeup.  But fighting the sear and hammer engagement is still quite a lot of work.  I'll need to study the angle of engagement more closely to spread the contact surface area out a bit more.  The trigger is much much smoother now.  And dry firing it allows me to see the front sight is now staying on target.  So I made a significant improvement in the action.

There was one thing that was driving me nuts.  the trigger bar safety.  The trigger can't be pulled back without a magazine installed.  And the magazine doesn't drop free.  I peeled this trigger bar safety spring out a bit and that fixed that.

mbott

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2010, 07:09:42 AM »
All these words and no pictures?

 ;D

--
Mike

Offline PTGT_Neon

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2010, 03:27:08 PM »
I'll get some pics up.  Maybe today or tomorrow :-)

Offline PTGT_Neon

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2010, 12:09:00 AM »
Here are pics of the M88



Field stripped


Grips


trigger bar safety


trigger bar return spring


slide assembly


Action assembly


Action assembly dissassembled.  Yes, that's all the parts in it!


Sear engagement.  

more pics





« Last Edit: July 16, 2010, 12:16:24 AM by PTGT_Neon »

Offline PTGT_Neon

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2010, 12:17:48 AM »
I worked on the sear engagement some more.  It is really smoothing out!  Very light and easy!  I bet it could get a little better.   O0

Offline NVCZ

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2010, 03:48:23 AM »
If I may ask, what was initial cost of pistol?

NVCZ
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Offline PTGT_Neon

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2010, 12:24:15 PM »
About $300 out the door with tax. It could be had for $250, but that's harder to find than the pistol at a gun store.

Offline NVCZ

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2010, 02:18:29 AM »
Thank you, they look like a "fun gun", decent price, and I have heard good things about them.

Nice pics too... keep them coming.

NVCZ
Battle Born

Party Like It's 1773

www.soviet-steel.com
Com Bloc pistols, rifles AND tanks. Americans showing how we shoot their stuff.

Offline PTGT_Neon

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2010, 02:46:38 AM »
YAY!  I got a response!

Offline original_g

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2010, 01:37:58 PM »
It is really a nice gun, it was made to be a official weapon for JNA army and police, but I own and prefere M57 it is in 7,62x25 and doesen't have a slide brake.

It is a evolution of TT33.

Offline PTGT_Neon

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2010, 12:08:42 AM »
I ordered a compensator from makarov.com.  I have no idea if I'll have to bore it out to get it to fit.  I'll post pics  O0

Offline armoredman

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2010, 09:19:07 PM »
interesting older pattern sidearm, and quite nice photography!

Offline stantheman86

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #12 on: February 21, 2011, 10:14:12 PM »
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have an M88 and it's a great gun, I like it so much I plan to buy another one!

I altered my M88 to take standard Tokarev mags, it's a pain, but I did it.....you have to tap out the 2 pins that hold the mag well block in, which is a task in itself. I managed to get them out but put a few "pings" in my grip frame and on the backstrap from the punch slipping >:(  It's OK, the Hogue Handall covers them up :) 

Now for the fun part......Zastava added an extra "ledge" on the hammer group to support the 9mm magazine.......to make the Tok mags work you have to file away this ledge, in other words, make it look the same as a Tokarev hammer group, so the mag can slide up flush against it. It took me a week, working an hour or so a day, to file this ledge off. I didn't want to risk using a Dremel tool and mar the feed lips, so I did it all by hand..........hope you have a good radio station on or something, because this gets boring 8)   BUT it can be done..........like the OP, I bought this as a fun gun/range beater/trainer etc.  so I wanted to make use of the 10+ Tok mags I already have, rather than paying $17 each for M88 mags. My gun only came with one mag, so I figured I can alter the gun for free, or pay for more mags. I like to have lots of mags for guns I use as range shooters, so I can stick them in my pocket and just reload.  Getting 10 or more M88 mags would put me in more than I paid for the gun.  Since I already have a Tokarev, I like having mag commonality.

Offline JasonC

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2013, 02:29:05 PM »
I have one of these in 9mm and it is a great little gun, and a bargain at the price.
But there was one quality control issue with mine - the front sight is just poorly aligned, way off to the right of centerline.

I can actually get great groups with a "hold" that consists of left side of rear sight, target, and then right side of rear sight and front post right on top of each other at the right side of the sight picture.  That is how far off it is.  And it is quite hard to move it in its dovetail, which feels like it is a weld more than a dovetail.

YMMV, but check the sight before you keep your selection, if you have a chance to handle it in person before signing off on the transfer.  You might save yourself a trip to the gunsmith to get the thing lined up.

No other complaints, it fits my hand great, has never failed in function in any way, and the groups are tight (just not in the right place unless I use the above hold). 

Offline sslay

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Re: Zastava M88
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2013, 01:51:30 PM »
PTGT_Neon,
Sorry for being very late to this game, but just discovered this site.
Your descriptions and pictures are the best I have seen regarding how to improve the trigger pull on the Zastava M88.
I purchased one of these a few months ago and really want to do the same....otherwise, really like this gun.

Again, know it's been quite a while, but is it possible you would consider re-posting your photos, but with "arrows" pointing to the specific part, or specific place you are referring to in the photos?

Also, when you say you used channel lock pliers on the trigger spring, I assume you mean you "flattened" the spring slightly?

Much thanks is advance.

 

anything