Type Assault rifle Manufacturer Zastava Arms Length 985 mm (M90) | Place of origin FR Yugoslavia Weight 4.9 kg Cartridge 5.56×45mm NATO | |
The Zastava M90 was an assault rifle developed and produced by Zastava Arms in SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia. It was developed from the famous Zastava M70 assault rifle, the modified copy of the Soviet AKM assault rifle, but with a Western type flash eliminator added on the barrel end, chambered in also Western, 5.56×45mm NATO caliber, and with that a different magazine design, similar to Western STANAG magazine
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The M90 was intended to replace the M70 in the Yugoslav People's Army, but the breakup of Yugoslavia disrupted the production and the weapon today remains rare and was never actually formally used, probably due to lack of 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition.
Overview
The Zastava M90 is the modified version of Zastava M80, itself a version of the Zastava M70 (chambered in Western 5.56×45mm NATO round), also comes with a flash eliminator and different magazine design, which means that like its predecessor, the M90 is a modified Soviet AKM. It is gas-operated, air-cooled and magazine-fed, shoulder fired weapon with selective fire capability, and like M70, can launch rifle grenades and has a rifle grenade sight added on the gas tube, instead of under barrel grenade launcher like on most other AK variants.
Like all Zastava produces AK variants, the M90 can be identified from the originals by its longer lower wooden handguard design, which has three cooling vents, no bulge and like the stock, is made out of different wood type. Also, due to using Western round, this particular model also has different magazine design, similar to Western STANAG and a Western type flash eliminator, similar to one used on American M16 assault rifle. Like on the other Zastava AK's, this three vent feature gives the M90 lower overheating when compared to the originals, but, the Western round in this case, slightly reduces reliability.