Zastava M57

Zastava M57
The M57 with a loaded 9-round magazine.
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	Yugoslavia
Service history
In service	1963–1992 (Yugoslavia)
Used by	Yugoslav People's Army, Viet Cong, North Vietnamese Army
Wars	Vietnam War, Gulf War, Yugoslav Wars
Production history
Designer	Zastava Arms
Designed	1957
Manufacturer	Zastava Arms
Produced	1960–present
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	854 g (30.1 oz)
Length	194 mm (7.6 in)
Barrel length	116 mm (4.6 in)
Height	134 mm (5.3 in)
Cartridge	7.62×25mm Tokarev
Action	Short recoil actuated, locked breech, single action
Muzzle velocity	480 m/s (1,575 ft/s)
Effective firing range	50 m
Feed system	9-round detachable box magazine
Sights	Front blade, rear notch 156 mm (6.1 in) sight radius

The Zastava M57 pistol was the standard sidearm of the Yugoslav Army from 1957 to the country's collapse, produced by Zastava Arms. A licensed copy of the Soviet TT pistol, it is a single-action semi-automatic pistol chambered in 7.62×25mm Tokarev. Many surplus M57 handguns were imported for sale in other countries and subsequently modified to fit their import requirements, and have become frequent collector's items due to their low price and historical value.

As of 2022, Zastava still produces modern reproductions of the M57 with updated safety features - the M57A in its original chambering and the M70A in 9mm Parabellum.

History

Adopted in 1957, the M57 was a license-produced copy of the Soviet Tokarev TT pistol. Yugoslavian army surplus M57s were imported to the United States in large numbers by many companies, such as Century International Arms and K-VAR/FIME, and have become common collectors items.

Design details

An improved copy of the TT-33 design, most notably including a longer grip and 9-round magazine, and less notably, a larger magazine release button and a captive recoil spring. The larger 9-round magazines of the M57 makes it incompatible with standard 8-round tokarev magazines. Originally, the pistol has no manual safeties except for a half-cock notch on the hammer.

Due to BATFE import restrictions, poor-quality frame or trigger safeties were frequently fitted to surplus models imported to the United States.

See also

• Zastava Arms
• Zastava M70 (.32 ACP/.380 ACP)
• Zastava M88
• Zastava CZ 99
• Zastava PPZ
• TT pistol