Zastava M70 owners, need your assistance

[BC17A]

Needing someone with a reliable M70 to take a look at these pics and compare them with your ejector, or post some pics so I can compare.

My M70 is a single shot PoS Yugo at this point, and will fail to eject 100% of the time. Every round ends up like the pic below where the fired case will extract, but skirt by the ejector without contacting it, ending up in a jam. It fails regardless of ammo used, either new factory or reloads. From what I can tell, the ejector appears to be as designed and not broken, but the front edge may be worn or maybe needs to be bent inward slightly so the case rim can contact it. I threw in a few pics of the extractor also, but it appears to be new or near new.

I tried to tell from some online videos but none are clear enough to be of much use. Any help is much appreciated, Thanks.

 

[Eugen]

Your extractor looks fine, albeit a bit dirty. My M70 likes to be well lubed to function properly. I've found my M70 is sensitive to needing a good clean oem mag with the feed lips properly adjusted. I also only use round nose ammo. I have some aftermarket Triple K mags that just don't function as well as oem ones. They will jam like you experienced. I polished my ramp just a little to improve feeding. It may or may not have helped as I did this several years ago and can't recall the details. If you have large hands be sure your hand is not interfering with the slide movement as that can cause FTE issues.

 

[BC17A]

Thanks Eugen. That extractor dirt you see is actually factory red paint that's breaking down. Here are few more pics with different jams caused by the failure to eject. Going to reload some 93 grain heavies with a max charge to see if they'll help.

 

[Eugen]

I bought mine slightly used. When I took it to the range, I couldn't get through a mag before it jammed. I took it home and detail stripped, cleaned and lubed it. It cycled fine with no issues with the oem mag. The aftermarket mags were problematic and I had to work on them. I did strip and clean the oem mag and then polished the lips and follower to ensure smoother feeding. I reload 32acp as well and only use 71gn rn projectiles with a medium to hot load. Everything on your M70 looks OK from the photos. Do you have snap caps to test cycle and dry fire? Snap caps are my little friends in the shop.

 

[wiscoaster]

I don't have an M70 so can't speak from experience on that make and model, but I've cleaned an awful lot of different makes and models and I'd say, looking at your photos, that there's been some peening of the top forward inside edge here:

View attachment 967438

I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you could torque that a little bit toward the inside.

 

[BC17A]

I don't have an M70 so can't speak from experience on that make and model, but I've cleaned an awful lot of different makes and models and I'd say, looking at your photos, that there's been some peening of the top forward inside edge here:

I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you could torque that a little bit toward the inside.

Today, I'm going to see how much space there is between the ejector and slide and will probably bend it in a bit if there's room. The thing with this particular pistol is that the fire control group (FCG), which has the ejector built into its housing, looks to be used/worn more than the rest of the pistol. The rest of the pistol appears mostly new with almost zero wear. I'm guessing since most, if not all of these pistols were sold as reconditioned, the serial numbered parts were kept together and the rest were just whatever they grabbed at the time of reassembly.

 

[wiscoaster]

Let us know how you come out.

 

[BC17A]

The Yugo is ready for the range again. Instead of bending the ejector inward, I decided it would be better to weld up the corner and reshape to a wider point. Pics 1 and 2 show it before the fix and you can see the ejector doesn't protrude into the path of the rim at all. Pic 3 shows the ejector position after the fix and now it will manually eject a round every time.

 

[wiscoaster]

Nice work!!

You're promoted to honory master gunsmith!!

 

[BC17A]

Good news. Every case ejects with authority now, however it's still a Yugo and will FTF jam more than normal. When it does fail to feed I find the follower is hung up in the mag so when I eject it, the round or rounds above the follower will usually be loose. Should be an easy fix, probably a bent follower or a burr somewhere.

 

[Eugen]

Great job on that ejector. Glad to hear you got it cycling.

I experienced the same mag related failure with aftermarket mags and their too narrow followers. I manged to mostly correct the problem by doing what you suggested: I bent the bottom front tab of the follower leftward. This prevented the slide stop from jumping under the mag follower...and jamming everything. I'm not sure I explained it very well, but wanted you to know you are on the right track.

 

[BC17A]

Well it's official, I'm labeling the M70 a piece of crap.

After I adjusted the magazine feed lips it actually ran pretty reliably so I started to shoot the snot of of it. At about the 100 round mark my trigger finger couldn't take anymore pain so I quit. The problem was the sharp machining of the trigger face along with the 12 pound(ish) pull.

Smoothed the trigger, then dug into the pistol to see what I could do to lighten the pull. That's when I found the sear's pin hole was about .025" larger than the pin. My first thought was that it must have had a bushing at some point that was either not installed initially, or maybe I lost it when I had it apart. Either way I machined a new brass bushing and reassembled it. Trigger pull was better at about 10 pounds and actually felt more crisp so back to the range I went.

All was great for another 100 rounds or so, then the trigger would periodically fail to reset. Only happened once every two or three mags initially, then gradually got worse until it started happening several times per mag. When it happened, a smack to the back of the slide would usually do the trick so I figured it was probably hanging slightly out of battery due to being dirty or possibly something out of whack with my reloads. Back home, and out to the shop I went.

After a good clean and lube, it still had the same reset problem which I quickly found to be the disconnector hanging up on a burr that it had beaten into the slide. A quick file and polish had things working reliable again. I'm not confident the same thing won't happen again as the slide doesn't seem to be made from good quality steel or wasn't heat treated properly.

Last issue, and why I probably won't be shooting this one much, is the lack of case support which will eventually ruin all the brass. I didn't think too much of it until I went to clean the brass and discovered how badly it was bulged. Looks like I have a reason to load all the thick European brass I've collected that won't chamber in my other 32's.

I'll let these pictures tell the rest of the story. On the bright side, I've got a good candidate for the next gun buy-back

 

[Steel Hayes]

discovered how badly it was bulged.

Yep, mine did the same thing to 50-60 rounds before I discovered it.
It’s a fun backyard plinker, but that’s it.

 

[Eugen]

I haven't fired mine for a few years, but in reviewing my range log, mine has been more reliable. I bought it used and have about 600 rounds down the pipe. I get a few FTejects and the aftermarket mags I have are unreliable. But, as most should acknowledge, this is a range toy firearm. Enjoy the gun for what it is, a distant relative of the TT-33 and a cheap vintage collectible. I never bought this gun to carry or throw in the back of my truck, so I'm not disappointed.

 

[Tabequache]

Interesting problem. I haven't shot mine enough to reveal any extractor or magazine issues, but I did have one issue right off the bat when I purchased it - light primer strikes (or more accurately "no primer strikes"). Gunsmith and I disassembled and found the firing pin to be about 1/16 inch short. Welded a tip on the firing pin and it shoots okay now. The firing pin was not broken. We surmised that the gun may had a re-arsenal in the past and perhaps the wrong pin was installed. I'll will check for extractor problems as I shoot it more.

 

[Monac]

I think I am going to sell my M70 while I can still honestly say "I've never fired it, so I don't know if anything's wrong with it".

Maybe I'll get an M88 instead; the design makes a lot more sense in 9mm.

 

[Steel Hayes]

Maybe I'll get an M88 instead

I’m looking at the M57, I found one for a reasonable price.

 

[BC17A]

Interesting problem. I haven't shot mine enough to reveal any extractor or magazine issues, but I did have one issue right off the bat when I purchased it - light primer strikes (or more accurately "no primer strikes"). Gunsmith and I disassembled and found the firing pin to be about 1/16 inch short. Welded a tip on the firing pin and it shoots okay now. The firing pin was not broken. We surmised that the gun may had a re-arsenal in the past and perhaps the wrong pin was installed. I'll will check for extractor problems as I shoot it more.

I'm guessing the firing pin was made with a higher quality metal than the fire control housing is. When I welded the ejector, which is built in to the housing, I had to use a very low amp pulse TIG because the metal melted faster than no other I've seen. Also, it took very little effort to smooth out the peening burr on the back of the slide which is why I believe it will happen again.

Does the machining in your frame look like it was done with a bastard file like mine does? I've never seen anything as poorly manufactured as this pistol.

 

[Tabequache]

Yes, the machine marks inside the frame are very rough. So far the pistol shoots okay, although I haven't fired it much or in awhile.

 

[Tabequache]

I think I am going to sell my M70 while I can still honestly say "I've never fired it, so I don't know if anything's wrong with it".

Maybe I'll get an M88 instead; the design makes a lot more sense in 9mm.

 

[Tabequache]

I bought a M88A in 2018 a couple of months after purchasing the M70. It's a more robust pistol, Tokarev style, in 9mm with a mag disconnect. I really haven't had any problems with it.

 

[Monac]

I bought a M88A in 2018 a couple of months after purchasing the M70. It's a more robust pistol, Tokarev style, in 9mm with a mag disconnect. I really haven't had any problems with it.

Thanks, Tabequache, first-hand reports are the best information!