Type Semi-automatic pistol In service 1957–1992 Wars Yugoslav Wars | Place of origin Yugoslavia Used by Yugoslav People's Army Designer Zastava Arms | |
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The Zastava M57 pistol was a standard sidearm of Yugoslav Army. It is a single-action pistol chambered for the fast and powerful 7.62×25mm Tokarev cartridge. These are very popular surplus weapons in the West, as they are affordable and plentiful. Zastava Arms still produces them new even today.
Contents
History
Adopted in 1957, the M57 was a license-produced copy of the Soviet Tokarev TT pistol, although the M57 had a longer grip to accommodate a larger magazine (holding 9 rounds, versus 8 rounds in the TT). Around 1970, Crvena Zastava began production of a similar pistol, the M70A, chambered in 9×19mm Luger. As of 2014, Zastava currently manufactures new production M57s, M70As and M88s. These models are updated with more modern safety features and sell at a retail price of $220–300 USD.
Design details
The M57 pistol is short-recoil-operated, locked-breech pistol that uses a Browning-type action with swinging link. The trigger is of single-action type. Originally the pistol has no manual safeties except for a half-cock notch on the hammer. Due to BATFE import restrictions, a manual safety was fitted to surplus models. The controls on the military surplus M57s are identical to those of the American M1911 pattern US Army pistols, which is a factor in their popularity in the United States.
The new manufacture pistols have a manual safety that is mounted on the slide rather than the frame. The new versions of the M57A/M70A also feature a magazine safety that renders the gun unable to fire unless a magazine is inserted into the grip frame. The magazine is single-stack, 9 round capacity. Although the M57 pistol is a TT-30 design, its 9 round magazine is not compatible with Tokarev pistols manufactured by other nations. Likewise, the 8 round magazines of other nations' Tokarevs will not work in the M57.
Variants
M57 basic model.
M57A is an upgrade of basic model M57. It has an external safety.
M70A 9mm version.
M70AA is an upgrade of basic model M70. It has external safety.
M88 shorter version of M70A.
M88A features an external safety on the slide, polymer handgrips and the bottom of easily detachable magazine.
As of 2011 M88A are imported in USA by K-VAR/FIME Group.
As of 2012 M57A, M70A and M88A are imported into the U.S. by Century International Arms.