A good quality, .22 caliber bolt-action rifle, such as the Zastava MP22, is among the best firearms available for all shooters and those who love the outdoors. It is suitable for training, recreational shooting, small game hunting, and general outdoors duty. The .22 caliber rifle is easy to use well, and practice is cheap. There is no harsh recoil to intimidate young shooters.
Most .22 caliber rifles demand very little maintenance. Occasional shooters, and those who have little time for training and maintenance, will appreciate the manually operated repeater. The Zastava rifle illustrated is a quality rifle with good features. Zastava is a European maker of many types of firearms including Tokarev and AK-47 variants. The rifle is well made with excellent final fit and finish. The stock is nicely finished with machine checkering to aid in abrasion.
The rifle is similar in finish to the Howa line, which is very good. The rifle uses a detachable box magazine. The bolt is smooth enough, and the rifle cocks on closing. The rifle is well balanced with a pleasant heft. This balance and heft results in very little motion as the rifle fires.
While recoil and .22 LR do not fit together in the same sentence, there is some motion when the rifle fires. The trigger action isn’t adjustable, and just OK at about four pounds. However, it is a good trigger for beginners and by the same token those who know how to master a trigger will be able to exhibit good work with this trigger. It could be dangerous to perform a trigger job as most .22 rifles have only a hard outer coating on the trigger and sear. If this is removed, the metal is rather soft.
The trigger is best managed by carefully pressing the trigger to a point, and then, continuing the press smoothly. The sights are well designed. The rear sight may be folded down if needed. The aiming point is a square notch and the sights offer adjustment for elevation. The front sight is a shrouded bold post.
The rifle isn’t difficult to mount a scope, but I have left the Zastava as issued and probably will continue to do so. The sights set up well and offer excellent accuracy potential. As far as accuracy goes, the rifle is a tack driver or match lighter to 25 yards or so. I mean this in the literal sense. The rifle will be spot on for those who practice and understand sight picture and trigger press.
A five-round magazine is supplied with the rifle. The pushbutton magazine release works better than the usual toggle release. I like this set up better than the Ruger 10/22 in general, and it seems rugged enough for long-term reliability. The rifle has been used often when I need to maintain minimum noise, there is a need for a single-shot rifle for training, when training the next step up from the single shot, and when expense is an important consideration in training numbers of students.
Zastava MP22 |
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|---|---|
| Caliber | .22 Long Rifle |
| Barrel | 22 inches |
| Weight | 6.2 pounds |
| Operation | Bolt action |
| Finish | Blue |
| Capacity | 5+1 |
As for absolute accuracy, the rifle has been fired at 50 yards to test its potential. Using Federal .22 Long Rifle, CCI Standard Velocity, and the CCI Velocitor, results have been good to excellent. The Velocitor would be the first choice as a hunting load. The CCI Standard Velocity loading cut the smallest groups. The best groups have been less than two inches with a single group of 1.25 inches. The rifle may be counted on for two inches at 50 yards from a solid bench rest firing position in the hands of a marksman. The Zastava rifle is well worth its modest price.
Do you own or have you fired the Zastava MP22? What is your favorite rifle for plinking or small game. Share your answers in the comment section.
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To the Author ;
Please try to give a mrsp.. It would be helpful, and curve cardiac arrest form sticker shock.
Love the articles keep up the great work!
I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for reading! ~Dave
How much for this rifle and where can you get one?
You can buy from K-Var’s website. ~Dave Dolbee
Who fixes these things? I have one that doesn’t extract so it’s effectively a single shot.
As an FFL dealer I sold probably a dozen of these rifles a few years back. At the time they were imported by Kassnar Imports of Harrisburg, Pa. as the Superior II. A couple of years later they were imported by Remington and sold as their Model 5. As the writer says, high quality gun, great bluing job, good metal to wood fit on the oiled walnut stock, and a real tack driver. I sold them at right around $200 at the time (2006), and they were on closeout by CDNN sports, as Kassnar was in bankruptcy and their products were being liquidated.
Unfortunately I had one come back with a problem. A month after the sale, a problem developed with the safety. When the gun was cocked placed on ‘safe’ and then the safety was pushed off,…the gun would fire! Thankfully the customer (a young Boy Scout) returned it, and I had one more in stock, so I took the gun back and gave him a the last new one that I had. I was glad to get this unsafe gun in my custody. This was in 2017.
Since the one year warranty had expired, and KBI was long out of business I began a year long hunt for repair parts and service. There were no parts available anywhere for this gun, and I thought I’d exhausted my search (had the gun in shop here for a year), when I noticed that center fire Zastava guns were being sold through Century Arms in Florida again. I called Century arms, and discussed the problem with one of the salesmen there.
He recommended that I contact Fairfax Firearms Repair, 86 West St. Fairfield, Vermont. The gentleman that runs and owns the shop was at one time the head gunsmith at Century and worked on all the guns that they sold at the time, and were located up in Vermont.
So, I did contact (Jeff) if memory serves me correct. He said he could fix it, and the gun was sent to Vermont for repair. About 5-6 weeks later the gun came back, repaired and it works just fine. I called him up and asked what was wrong, and his reply was that some small part of the safety was too short, and he had to turn a new, longer part and install it in the safety.
Cost of the repair was $75 which included return shipping and veteran’s discount. I was thrilled, after over a year to get this gun back and in good working order. I’ve decided to keep this one for my own, since it was the very last of all that I had handled.
If I were to buy one again, I would be certain of the ‘warranty’ and repair facilities. Since these are foreign made guns, a source of parts is always going to be an issue. Extra magazines can be found at Gun Shows by asking for “same as a Remington Model 5″.
I was pleased with the repair service by Fairfax Firearms Repair, and would recommend their service to anyone needing help. Address again” Fairfax Firearms Repair, 86 West St., Fairfield, Vermont. From start to finish the repair cost $107 including my shipping cost to Vermont.
Hope this helps anyone out there with one needing repair and anyone contemplating a purchase.
Thanks so much for the repair referral. I’ll definitely give Fairfax a call. My Zastava was import stamped by FIME Emails to both FIME and K-Var regarding repair options were unanswered.
Steven,
I am not sure why your inquiries were not answered. IF the email you registered for the blog with is accurate, I can have them get ahold of you first thing on Monday. Otherwise, let me know how to contact you, and I’ll make it happen. ~Dave Dolbee
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your offer. Since I received your email, I presume my address registered with the blog is correct.
I can see it, but the public cannot of course. I’ll let them know today. ~Dave Dolbee
Dave,
Thanks to your efforts, I’ve just been contacted by Jeremy Peck at FIME regarding warranty service. I also have Stanley Janeski’s kind referral to Keith Billado at Fairfax Firearms Repair. It’s nice to have options.
My pleasure. Please reach out anytime I can be of assistance. ~Dave Dolbee
So much for FIME. Guess I’ll check out Fairfax Firearms Repair.
Good morning Mr. Yee
Unfortunately the zastava products warranty was only good for one year from the original purchase date. Since then we no longer import or perform service on Zastava products. We do apologize for the inconvenience Mr. Yee.
Jeremy Peck
Customer Service Representative | FIME Group, LLC
4395 West Post Road, Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV 89118
Phone: 702.215.3600 | Fax: 702.367.2765
jpeck@fimegroup.com | http://www.fimegroup.com
For being an “all steel” rifle, they are a good deal. All internal parts hold a magnet. Also, the 9 shot magazines work well. In asthetics and build quality the MP 22 does not compare with CZ 452 & 455, Sako Finnfire II and Steyr Zephyr II. Of course there is a heck of a difference in price also. Kind of like comparing a Remington 700 to a Westley Richards. But, all in all, I do enjoy shooting the MP 22 as much as the others mentioned.
Those rifles are a love/hate affair. Some work great, some dont. Some are a little better build quality than others…Most needed extractor finishing and nearly all of the 22lrs need magazine filing/tweaking. I have seen about 20 and not seen one yet that worked out of the box.
Fime was ok, Century not so much as an importer. Century warranted for a year and carried no parts….Fime had no parts either….
These rifles are very prone to breaking firing pins (It’s thin and light) and up until Zastava USA started, impossible to find. (Zastava.rs refused to ship abroad).
Yes I have one and I love it. Nice wood, nice cut checkering, nice blue and near perfect machine work…But I had to go through quite a few to find it…..
At 139-189 they were good buys…At $499 I am seeing now, not so much…
Can you expand a little on “extractor finishing”? I have one that is not extracting the shell. It looks like maybe the right side extractor could have a bit of a chamfer on the back side to help it get around the casing lip. Is this what you mean? Just file it a bit maybe? Thanks,
I recently purchased two of these rifles and love the look a feel of them. I am having issues with both rifles grabbing a shell out of the chamber (discharged or not) to eject. I’ve cleaned them both extensively (bolts too) and continue to have this issue. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Hi Clint. As I posted above, I was also having extractor issues. It looked to me like the extractor had a bit of a burr on the tip, keeping it from getting around the lip of the shell. I lightly filed the tip down and it works well now. I put 100 rounds through it today and it ejected every one fine.
I would love to find a better trigger for it though. It sucks compared to my CZ 457.