Zastava M70A Safety Problem

[Panzerschwein]

Hey gang! I've got a Zastava M70A 9mm Tokarev pistol that I bought NIB a few months ago. It's got an issue though, with the safety, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

With a magazine out of the gun, and the hammer cocked back, with the safety on, the trigger can be pulled and the hammer will go forward most of the time. I absolutely making sure the safety is pressed down all the way, but the hammer will still trip when the trigger is pulled. Now the gun does have a firing pin block on safe, and it seems to work. It stop the hammer from hitting the firing pin... but the hammer isn't supposed to fall with the safety on, is it?

Not sure what to do about the gun. I've only shot it one time but it was 100% reliable. I like the gun, but this safety issue has me greatly concerned and I'm just wondering if anyone out there can help me with this.

Thanks so much!

 

[Richard Head]

Doesn't the M70 have a transfer bar safety that can be engaged with the hammer up or down? Have you tried firing the gun with the safety on? I know it has a magazine safety and you shouldn't be able to pull the trigger without a magazine you should probably call Zastava.

 

[Brin]

I know you said it is a new pistol but it sounds to me like someone disconnected the magazine safety and botched a trigger job by removing too much metal from the sear and hammer notch. I would return this pistol if possible. If not, I would take the trigger assembly apart and find out what’s going on. These pistols are really easy to work on so keep us posted. I would like to know what you find.

 

[jimherb]

How to remove magazine safety?

 

[tark]

The hammer should never fall with the mag removed, whether or not the safety is on. It should not fall with the safety engaged even with a mag in the gun. I have three Zastavas a long and short slide 9mm and a standard 7.62X25. All are commercial with the safety in the slide. None of them act like your gun.

Your gun has serious problems. Take it back.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Darn, I forgot to tell that I removed the magazine cutoff safety! Common mo with these guns, but the hammer shouldn't fall when the gun is on safe right?

 

[Brin]

What else did you do to this gun that you forgot to tell us about?

 

[Panzerschwein]

What else did you do to this gun that you forgot to tell us about?

Hey smart aleck, if you don't want to help, don't post.

 

[Brin]

Obviously, you misinterpreted what I wrote. We can't give you accurate information to help if you don't give all the specifics of what you've done.

 

[Richard Head]

Removing the magazine safety may of had unwanted consequences. Can you put it back and see if the gun functions correctly? We're just trying to help you there's no reason to get defensive.

 

[tark]

Don't ever use that gun for self defense. You shoot someone, it ends up in court, the other side discovers you de-activated a safety feature..... you're screwed! That makes you a "dangerous, reckless" person.

I hate the damn things too (Magazine safeties) but I have just learned to live with them.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Removing the magazine cutoff safety is a very common mod on these Zastava Tokarevs. Doing so improves the trigger pull and makes the mags drop free.

All it is is a little metal tap that bends in when the magazine is taken out of the gun (the magazine pushes the tap out when inserted). The tab then blocks the rear of the trigger from moving, but it puts pressure on the magazine so it doesn't drop free. Like I said, common mod to remove and it should not in any way shape or form affect the slide mounted firing pin safety.

I have researched the issue and have heard of a couple others having this problem. Like I stated originally, even though this is a 1911 style gun, the hammer will drop when the trigger is pulled while the gun is on safe. The hammer should only drop when the safety is off.

 

[jhb]

Whether the gun is flawed or not...once you did gunsmithing you lost warranty. The risk of trying mods. I own a half dozen or more tokarevs. Im a big fan and have shot more rounds of 7.62x25 than most in them. These are not like 1911s when it comes to trigger feel and no mods will ever get them to that level. Learn to love the trigger for what it is......i did. Plus i don't feel its that bad for what it is.....

Id find a gunsmith in your area who is familiar with these and have him get it back to working order. Just my opinion but trying to fix it with Internet advice isn't the best plan. Too each their own though.

 

[Monac]

Tokarevs are not much like 1911's when it comes to the firing mechanism. The Soviets modified it heavily to get a "packaged", removable hammer-mainspring-sear module. So knowledge of how 1911's work doesn't do much good here.

What is needed is a schematic or parts diagram of the M70A, so somebody can figure out how the safety catch is supposed to work. I couldn't find one in a quick Google search. Does the gun come with one?

Failing that, somebody (maybe the OP?) needs to detail strip the slide completely to find out the same thing. Otherwise, we're just shooting in the dark.

I have to say I would not want to do that, because I would probably wind up with a box of parts I could not get back together.

The only other thing that occurs to me is that the magazine safety blocks the trigger, and the manual safety stopped doing that when the mag safety was removed. Is that a case of 2 plus 2 making 4, or is the mag safety completely independent?

 

[Panzerschwein]

The mag safety is completely independent. It's a very simple little metal tab that when the magazine is inserted, it moves out of the way of the trigger. When the magazine is out of the gun, the tab will bend back and block the travel of the trigger.

It seems as if something is catching inside the gun, I noticed today that it happens intermittently... sometimes, when I cock the hammer and put the safety "on", no matter what I do I can't get the hammer to drop. But, other times, even when I am making sure the safety is 100% depressed downwards in the "on" position, I pull the trigger and the hammer drops! Now, keep in mind that the firing pin is still protected when the gun is on safe. Even though the hammer will drop sometimes, it won't hit the firing pin.

But, of course, the gun isn't supposed to be doing this. It's very frustrating. I tried looking for schematics for this model, but frankly Zastava's website is lame and they only had the schematic for the M57 Tokarev which has a different safety arrangement.

I guess I'm going to have to locate a Tokarev gunsmith who maybe can help me out. Although I've read of this issue happening to a few others who own M70A's, I haven't been able to find if they were able to fix them or how. I know I voided the warranty when I snapped off the mag cuttoff safety... but I figure I'll call CAI (the importers of these guns) and just see what they have to say or if they can help me at all.

It's a shame how this is turning out. I really wanted to love the gun, but with this issue I can't.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Anyone know whats going on with my Zasti?

 

[Brin]

I do.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Brin, could you please explain?

Thanks!

 

[Brin]

I'll get back to you tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Okay great. I've done some research and have come up empty handed on what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Brin]

All the safety does is push down on the 1/8” rod on top of your trigger assembly. This in turn push’s the rear of the trigger bow down just enough so when you pull the trigger it won’t trip the sear release and drop the hammer. If you take the slide and grips off and push down on the 1/8” rod you can see the rear of the trigger move down and then figure out what’s going on. I would take the trigger out and make sure it’s not bent before you remove any metal or make any other modification. All you might have to do is remove .005 of metal from the back of the trigger bow notch with a small file. If this is confusing, I can post pics later. Hope this helps.

 

[Panzerschwein]

This is exactly what I was thinking! I was looking at the pistol yesterday and noticed the safety does push down on the little pin below the firing pin block piece thing. I need to do what you said and go from there. Working from memory, it kind of seems like maybe the pin isn't quite long enough and that the safety block doesn't push down on it far enough... not sure. But THANKS so much for your help! I'll go get the pistol out and take a look at it and report back.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Okay, I took the gun apart and did what you said.

It appears that on my particular gun, that the firing pin block doesn't push down enough on the little trigger disconnect pin when the safety is pushed down.

It does appear that if I were to file a little bit off the rear of the trigger bow, where it interacts with the sear, that it might work. Does that sound correct?

UPDATE:

Okay so I started to gently file the notch on the trigger bow. It looked to me like I should file the actual notch itself, not the raised part where the disconnector presses down on the trigger bow. I am filing slowly the rear of the trigger bow in the little notch. Here is a pick, shiny metal has been filed:



It started out 4.24mm thick, and I've since filed it to 4.20mm thick. Going to test it out now and see what it does.

UPDATE:

Okay, I've since filed it down to 4.10mm thick. Still not enough. When looking through the trigger guard, without a doubt there is too much metal on the trigger bow notch. When the safety is moved down, the rear of the trigger bow isn't pushed down far enough to clear the sear. It appears more filing is in order, I'll take it slow. I've got a needle file set and am using a hand file on it.

 

[Brin]

Some times the trigger hammer assembly does not seat all the why down in the slide notch. You need to look at that. I would concentrate on the relationship between the trigger bow notch and the sear release lever. Think it through Don't be in a rush.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Some times the trigger hammer assembly does not seat all the why down in the slide notch. You need look at that. I would concentrate on the relationship between the trigger bow notch and the sear release lever. Think it through Don't be in a rush.

It does seem like the hammer assembly isn't all the way down, but the "rails" on the assembly are bottomed out and it looks more like the slide notch is just cut too deep. Sorry for this rather bad phone picture:



Does this appear to be alright? I am still filing the trigger bow notch. It's slow going, I only have a finishing hand file and it's quite fine.