Zastava M70B

The Zastava M70B (automatska puška model 70B) is the Yugoslavian designation for an AKM based underfolder rifle.
It is a shoulder fired, magazine fed, air cooled rifle capable of semi-automatic or fully automatic fire. As such, in the United States, the weapon is a machine gun and a controlled item.
Civilian versions of the rifle are available to the public. Generally these rifle are made on a US-produced receiver and a mix of surplus and newly manufactured parts. The civilian versions are not capable of fully automatic fire.
The M70 uses a 30 round detachable box magazine. Other capacities may be used. The standard issue Yugoslavian magazines differ from most other AK/AKM magazines: the magazine follower is designed to hold the bolt open after the last shot has been fired, alerting the firer that the magazine needs to be changed. (Some East German AK/AKM magazines feature a follower of similar design and function.) Standard AK/AKM magazines from other nations, without the last shot hold open feature, may be used with the M70.
It is equipped with a grenade launcher sight, but it cannot launch grenades without the grenade launcher attachment and a grenade blank cartridge. When the sight is raised, it cuts off the gas supply to the piston, allowing the full force of the grenade firing blank to enact on the grenade and preventing the weapon from cycling. Most M70 rifles are found with a recoil brake attachment, rather than the grenade launcher attachment.
The M70 bore is not chrome lined which is unusual for a modern Kalashnikov. No official reason has been cited for not chrome lining bores on the M70 or the Yugo SKS rifles. The explanations usually given are that Yugoslavia did not have native chromium deposits and that access to foreign chromium supplies was limited for political reasons; however, later Yugoslavian AK models of different caliber do have chrome lined bores.
Additionally, the rifle features an RPK-patterned receiver which is 50% thicker receiver than the standard Kalashnikov (1.6mm versus 1mm), making this rifle generally more accurate than the standard AKM.
It has folding night sights.
The rear trunnion differs from that of most other AKM rear trunnions, thus the buttstock on fixed stock models has a long bolt/screw running through it that screws into the rear trunnion to attach the stock to the rifle. The prolonged upper handguard is supposedly meant to offer better protection of the gas tube, than the shorter upper handguard found on most other AKM models. And because of the grenade launching capability, the rifle has a pin/plunger that secures the receiver/dust cover in place during the firing of grenades.
The design was also sold to Iraq in the '80s, and was developed and issued as the Tabuk rifle.
Variants
*Zastava M70B1 - with solid stock
*Zastava M70B1N - with solid stock and mount for night, or optical sights.
*Zastava M70AB2 - with folding stock
*Zastava M70AB2N - with folding stock and mount for night, or optical sights.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu