Need Info on 458 Rifle

[Mountaineous]

My father gave me a rifle the other day, and I am curious if anyone knows what make it is. Or any other pertinent info about it would be helpful! I assume from the barrel stamp it is a 458 win mag, but the ammo he dropped off with it (leftover from his buffalo hunt 20+ years ago) was all 458 Lott.

 

[Sarg]

Cool old rifle, well done, did he shoot his Buffalo with Open/Peep sights ?

Looks like a Custom on a Zastava M70 Mauser action by the bolt knob ?

It says SPL so could be called .458 Special using .458 Lott ?

 

[Tintin]

Bolt shroud and safety also indicate Zastava made action aka Interarms aka Whitworth.

The stock looks like the Zastava branded ones I have seen.

Some good general info at

https://revivaler.com/the-zastava-m70-an-affordable-mauser-98/

 

[CoElkHunter]

Very cool. I love these old “mystery” rifles. I don’t see the older style “inside the trigger guard” magazine floor plate release of a Zastava though. The newer models had a push button release on the forward right side of the trigger guard. But the safety looks the same.

 

[Mountaineous]

Cool old rifle, well done, did he shoot his Buffalo with Open/Peep sights ?

Looks like a Custom on a Zastava M70 Mauser action by the bolt knob ?

It says SPL so could be called .458 Special using .458 Lott ?

Thanks for the info. Yeah, he killed his buffalo with the sight setup currently on it. This is the remainder of the box of ammo he said he used on his buffalo. He also had several boxes of Hornady fmj’s.

 

[Mountaineous]

Bolt shroud and safety also indicate Zastava made action aka Interarms aka Whitworth.

The stock looks like the Zastava branded ones I have seen.

Some good general info at

https://revivaler.com/the-zastava-m70-an-affordable-mauser-98/

Thanks for the link!

 

[Mountaineous]

Very cool. I love these old “mystery” rifles. I don’t see the older style “inside the trigger guard” magazine floor plate release of a Zastava though. The newer models had a push button release on the forward right side of the trigger guard. But the safety looks the same.

Is that I'm looking at it, I’m actually struggling to figure out how one releases the floor plate.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Is that I'm looking at it, I’m actually struggling to figure out how one releases the floor plate. View attachment 684287View attachment 684288

Yeah, I don’t know? Here’s mine. The top one is an older semi custom with the inside trigger guard magazine release and the bottom one is a newer model with the push button release forward of the trigger guard.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Hopefully, one of the Mauser action experts on here will chime in.

 

[MauserDuff]

It looks like you push toward the trigger guard from the outside (note cutaway in front of trigger guard). Perhaps a design to prevent dropping the magazine contents with an errant trigger finger under recoil.

 

[Mountaineous]

It looks like you push toward the trigger guard from the outside (note cutaway in front of trigger guard). Perhaps a design to prevent dropping the magazine contents with an errant trigger finger under recoil.

You are correct. I had tried that before but it wouldn’t budge. I just got some tools out and got it to open though. It was just very gummed up!

 

[CoElkHunter]

If it’s an Interarms Zastava, it should have the rifle’s manufacture date on the right side of the back of the receiver in front of the bolt handle. Unless it was delineated. Mine is VERY faint and basement lighting sucks but looks like 12/82.

 

[wvfred]

Looks like a FN action to me.....look at the bottom metal I've never seen a Czech made rifles with that type of floor plate release.

 

[Andrew62]

Beautiful rifle! Wonderful your father passed it on to you!

 

[Flewis]

Careful, it looks like it may have been pinned. I had that done on two of mine.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Custom piece built on a post 1982 Interarms Whitworth Yugoslavian Mauser Model 98 action. You open the floor plate by pressing the button outside the trigger guard inwards.

 

[Mountaineous]

If it’s an Interarms Zastava, it should have the rifle’s manufacture date on the right side of the back of the receiver in front of the bolt handle. Unless it was delineated. Mine is VERY faint and basement lighting sucks but looks like 12/82.

I don’t see any on there, but it could be hidden under the peep sight. I’ll pull it off this evening and check.

 

[Mountaineous]

I thought this was a blemish before, but looks like some sort of stamp on the bolt handle, in case it helps in the ID…

 

[Mountaineous]

Careful, it looks like it may have been pinned. I had that done on two of mine.

Do you mean the bottom plate catch? If so, I did figure out how to open it. The pin in the trigger guard is the hinge to the catch . It was just gummed up and stuck.

 

[Mountaineous]

I pulled the action out of the stock. It is stamped FN Made in Belgium. It was just hidden below the stock. It also had a few other faint stamps on the bottom of the action, as shown in the picture.