I’m a giant fan of .357 Magnum revolvers. My very first handgun was a Smith & Wesson 686 in .357 Magnum.
I’ve all the time had a couple of .357 revolvers within the assortment ever since. With that stated, I’m all the time open to getting one other one, particularly if it’s deal.
The Zastava M83 revolvers from AIM Surplus fall into that class, so I needed to examine one out.
From Serbia, With Love
I do know Serbia isn’t the primary place to pop into your head once you consider .357 revolvers, however that’s precisely the place these are from. Made by Zastava within the late Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties, earlier than the breakup of the previous Yugoslavia, the M83 was marketed in the direction of army and police contracts.
Centerfire Programs really has an ideal breakdown on the historical past of those. It’s one of many few locations that has quite a lot of background info on these. I like to recommend checking it out (after studying our TTAG protection, in fact) and giving it a learn. You’ll observe that mine is stamped M83/92. The 92 is the yr of manufacture.
M83 Options
Whereas the M83 appears to be like like a mixture of a Okay-frame Smith & Wesson with some Colt Python combined in, it’s really primarily based on the West German RG-38S revolver.
Regardless of its Japanese European origins, it boasts a traditional appear and feel, that includes a blued metal end and checkered wooden grips.
The hammer and set off are a contrasting silver coloration. That seems to be a coating quite than being stainless. The set off is serrated, and the hammer is checkered.
The barrel contains a heavy profile and a vent rib. The body is actually Okay body sized and fairly stable. These got here in 2-inch and 4-inch barrel variations. My gun is a 4-inch mannequin.
The M83 is a double-action design with a swing-out 6-shot cylinder.
General, the development is superb, with some good consideration to element. As an illustration, the chambers on the cylinder are recessed.
Single-action set off pull weight was a reasonably first rate 6 kilos. The double motion goes off my Lyman set off scale, which maxes out at 12 kilos.
My Smiths barely creep into the 12-pound vary, and the M83 is an effective bit heavier nonetheless in double-action. It makes use of a coil mainspring and has a switch bar security.
Sights are typical fastened revolver sights for the interval. A dovetailed entrance sight and a sq. notch rear within the revolver’s prime strap.
The M83 additionally contains a grooved prime strap and rib to scale back sight glare. They’re sturdy and practical, however nothing fancy, similar to the fastened sight Smiths and Rugers from the time interval.
Police Surplus Fashions
These revolvers are surplus, having been issued to police models within the former Yugoslavia. With that in thoughts, anticipate some put on and tear on them. That being the case, I used to be pleasantly shocked by how good my M83 was.
It isn’t mint, however it’s in superb situation. There a few minor scuffs on the steel and grips however nothing important. I’d classify them as character.
I’m unsure what holsters these have been issued with, however I attempted my M83 in a wide range of Okay and L body holsters.
It labored with most of them, so long as they have been designed to take a Okay or L body with a heavy or full underlug barrel. I had a few holsters designed for skinny-barreled Mannequin 10s that have been too tight for the M83.
AIM has had 4-inch and 2-inch variations of the M83, in blued and stainless finishes. Value on my 4 inch M83 mannequin was a really cheap $329.95.
Vary Time
The M83 was a stable performer on the vary. Timing was right on the cylinder, and the mainspring definitely had sufficient energy for constructive ignition.
The ergonomics for single-action capturing have been good. The hammer was simple to cock with both the thumb of the firing hand or the offhand thumb when capturing with a two-handed grip. That’s good, since you actually wanted a single motion for correct capturing. The double motion is sort of heavy, as famous.
I might hold my rounds within the 8- or 9-ring, double-action out to about 15 yards, however no fairly teams have been popping out of it.
For accuracy testing, all capturing was achieved offhand, single motion at 15 yards. The ammunition used was PPU .38 Particular 158-grain SWHP, PPU .357 158-grain JHP, and CCI Blazer .357 158-grain JHP, which I picked up from AIM.
I additionally had some Steinel .357 125gr XTP’s, Speer .38 +P 125gr Gold Dot HP, and Winchester Silvertip .38 110gr HP from my ammo locker. For reloading, I used HKS velocity loaders for the S&W Mannequin 10, which appeared to work fairly effectively.
The Gold Dot and Silver Tip .38’s each grouped on common round 1.25 inches. The PPU .38’s opened as much as round 2 inches. For .357 hundreds, Steinel was the champ with 1.75-inch teams, whereas each the PPU and Blazer .357s grouped within the 2.75-inch vary.
Recoil with .38 hundreds, even the +P’s have been fairly nice out of an all metal 4-inch revolver. The .357’s have been stout. The wooden grips have been snug sufficient with .38’s, and I wouldn’t say punishing with .357’s.
Nonetheless, they have been undoubtedly no Pachmayer grip, nor as hand-filling as one thing just like the S&W goal shares.
M83 Spherical Up
For an organization not identified for wheelguns, coming from a rustic additionally not identified for wheelguns, Zastava did a fairly darn good job on the M83’s.
They’re a pretty piece, that includes traditional styling and a stable construct. The vent rib, recessed chambers, and grooved prime strap are all good options that put these European revolvers a step above a fundamental police service pistol for my part.
AIM has gotten a couple of batches of the M83’s over the previous yr. Whereas I used to be engaged on this text, they’d one other batch hit their web site. Though I see all fashions are presently bought out. It’s price holding a watch out for any future imports, although. For the sub $350 price ticket you get a heck of a revolver.
The heavy double-action set off pull is de facto the one draw back I see to the M83. I’m hoping sufficient have hit the nation that Wolff Gunsprings would possibly think about making a lighter spring equipment for them.
Whilst you’re watching AIM for extra M83, you might as effectively see what else they’ve in inventory too. They all the time have a collection of police or army trade-in rifles, pistols, or shotguns, and so they’re normally very pretty priced.
The place To Purchase
