The Zastava M57 pistol was a standard sidearm of the 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. Currently, the M57 and M70 pistols are produced, updated with slide-mounted safeties.
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. 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 safetiesexcept for a half-cock notch on the hammer. Due to BATFEimport restrictions, a manual safety was fitted to surplus models imported to the United States. The controls on the military surplus M57s are identical to those of the AmericanM1911 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, the 8 round magazines of Tokarev pistols manufactured by other nations will not work in the M57 due to them being too short to reach the firing chamber. Its 9-round magazine will however work with other nations' Tokarevs, although it sticks out the bottom slightly. Other changes include a magazine safety, larger magazine release button, captive recoil spring and M1911 style firing pin and stop.
Variants
M57 basic model. M57A is an upgrade of basic model M57. It has an external safety. M70 7.65mm Browning compact variant M70A 9mm version of the M57A M88 shorter version of M70A. M88A features an external safety on the slide As of 2011 M88A are imported in United States by K-VAR/FIME Group. As of 2012 M57A, M70A and M88A are imported into the U.S. by Century International Arms.
