LeibstandarteAdH
Member
Havent posted here in a while, but i purchased one of the newly EAA imported Zastava M88 A's from a gun show this weekend. Im looking for the cheapest source for a replacement magazine or two. They are only 8 round so i do not think they are going to be subject to any future potential bans, so im not looking to stock up, but i do want more than the one that it came with and cannot find them at my usual online sources.
On a side note, i have not shot the gun yet and will post results here once i get a chance to. I really like the gun itself so far in terms of its size and ergonomics ect.. It is not just a shortened TT-33 as most people seem to say, as when i tore it down there is more and more i realized that was done to make it shorter and improved over the TT-33 design. My orriginal intent was to convert it to 7.62x25 with a new barrel and barrel bushing, but now im thinking about leaving it as is. Here are some of my notes about the gun and how it relates to a Tokarev TT-33.
The frame itself is basicly a TT-33 frame, with the back end scalloped at a diffrent angle. It removes some material from the area while also making the grip more ergonomic for large hands (less of your hand web spills near the hammer area) The front of the frame is also trimmed about .5 cm, and a spacer is pressed into the bottom rear of the magazine well and secured with 3 crosspins that have been pressed in and peined into place, making the slightly shorter 9mm magazines fit. The rear of the slide is also cut at an angle rather than a large curve such as on the tokarev, removing a small ammount of material from the rear of the slide. The front of the slide is about 2cm shorter, as well as the barrel itself making for a very compact but still 'fullsize' feel 9mm handgun that actually feels better to handle than a TT-33 itself due to the improved angle on the rear of the frame. To shorten the barrel and slide required zastava to machine the barrel bushing on the top interior (basicly removing the interior top half) to clear the tt-30 style barrel locking lugs which are removed/relieved on the bottom as in the tt-30. The recoil spring assy. is also diffrent in that it has the spring around a full length "guide rod" that protrudes from under the barrel in the front bushing of the slide, and is also captive in that when the usual guide is removed, the spring does not decompress due to a keeper that is holding the spring onto the guide which has been extended into a guide 'rod' on the m88. This makes installation of the mainspring assy. easy in that the whole spring/guide can just be removed as one piece rather then the spring shooting off like it usually does on the tt-33. A small hinge and pin near the rear end of the spring/guide assy. create a "wrist" that allows it to be removed without flexing the guide rod that is still protruding into the barell bushing. The trigger and group is the same save for a small spring steel tab that is riveted to the frame, which fits into a corrosponding cutout in the tail of the trigger/linkage that blocks the trigger from being pulled when a magazine is not incerted. I plan on drilling the rivet and removing this. The main thing added that i like is the hammer blocking saftey that is thoughtfully mounted on the left rear of the slide. It is slim, tasteful and completely covers the firing pin from being able to be struck by the hammer or anything else in a drop ect.. it also depresses a small spring loaded pin on the trigger/hammer group that disables the trigger. The grips on the gun are also well thought out in their relief cuts that look useless and/or awkward, yet perfectly fit your hands when you grip the gun while keeping the grip frame area as thin as possable. The magazines have a steel finger rest that is nice, and the lanyard loop on both the magazine and bottom corner of the frame as on a Tokarev have been deleted. One more addition is the small holes bored into the sights with glow paint in them for better low light or night time sighting.
To convert the pistol to 7.62x25 would require cutting down and recrowning a replacement 7.62x25 barrel, then milling off its front locking lug on all but its top half, modifying a TT-33 7.62x25 barell bushing by relieving it for the locking lugs, then removing the spacer in the magazine well for the 9mm mags.
On a side note, i have not shot the gun yet and will post results here once i get a chance to. I really like the gun itself so far in terms of its size and ergonomics ect.. It is not just a shortened TT-33 as most people seem to say, as when i tore it down there is more and more i realized that was done to make it shorter and improved over the TT-33 design. My orriginal intent was to convert it to 7.62x25 with a new barrel and barrel bushing, but now im thinking about leaving it as is. Here are some of my notes about the gun and how it relates to a Tokarev TT-33.
The frame itself is basicly a TT-33 frame, with the back end scalloped at a diffrent angle. It removes some material from the area while also making the grip more ergonomic for large hands (less of your hand web spills near the hammer area) The front of the frame is also trimmed about .5 cm, and a spacer is pressed into the bottom rear of the magazine well and secured with 3 crosspins that have been pressed in and peined into place, making the slightly shorter 9mm magazines fit. The rear of the slide is also cut at an angle rather than a large curve such as on the tokarev, removing a small ammount of material from the rear of the slide. The front of the slide is about 2cm shorter, as well as the barrel itself making for a very compact but still 'fullsize' feel 9mm handgun that actually feels better to handle than a TT-33 itself due to the improved angle on the rear of the frame. To shorten the barrel and slide required zastava to machine the barrel bushing on the top interior (basicly removing the interior top half) to clear the tt-30 style barrel locking lugs which are removed/relieved on the bottom as in the tt-30. The recoil spring assy. is also diffrent in that it has the spring around a full length "guide rod" that protrudes from under the barrel in the front bushing of the slide, and is also captive in that when the usual guide is removed, the spring does not decompress due to a keeper that is holding the spring onto the guide which has been extended into a guide 'rod' on the m88. This makes installation of the mainspring assy. easy in that the whole spring/guide can just be removed as one piece rather then the spring shooting off like it usually does on the tt-33. A small hinge and pin near the rear end of the spring/guide assy. create a "wrist" that allows it to be removed without flexing the guide rod that is still protruding into the barell bushing. The trigger and group is the same save for a small spring steel tab that is riveted to the frame, which fits into a corrosponding cutout in the tail of the trigger/linkage that blocks the trigger from being pulled when a magazine is not incerted. I plan on drilling the rivet and removing this. The main thing added that i like is the hammer blocking saftey that is thoughtfully mounted on the left rear of the slide. It is slim, tasteful and completely covers the firing pin from being able to be struck by the hammer or anything else in a drop ect.. it also depresses a small spring loaded pin on the trigger/hammer group that disables the trigger. The grips on the gun are also well thought out in their relief cuts that look useless and/or awkward, yet perfectly fit your hands when you grip the gun while keeping the grip frame area as thin as possable. The magazines have a steel finger rest that is nice, and the lanyard loop on both the magazine and bottom corner of the frame as on a Tokarev have been deleted. One more addition is the small holes bored into the sights with glow paint in them for better low light or night time sighting.
To convert the pistol to 7.62x25 would require cutting down and recrowning a replacement 7.62x25 barrel, then milling off its front locking lug on all but its top half, modifying a TT-33 7.62x25 barell bushing by relieving it for the locking lugs, then removing the spacer in the magazine well for the 9mm mags.
