Zastava M21
Encyclopedia
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
developed and manufactured by the Zastava Arms
Zastava Arms
Zastava Arms is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannons. It is currently the leading producer of firearms in Serbia and is a large contributor to the local defence industry...
company.
Overview
The M21 is based on the AK-47AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
Kalashnikov principle, chambered in the 5.56×45mm cartridge. Like many modern assault rifles, the M21 can incorporate picatinny rails for mounting accessories like optics, vertical grips, bipods, etc.
The Zastava M21 is gas operated with a rotating bolt locking system. It features a hard chromium plated, cold forged standard rifled or an optional polygonal rifled barrel, integrated 22mm flash hider grenade launcher, rigid metal folding stock, heavy-duty synthetic handguard with an additional right hand side fire selector, cover mounted picatinny rail for optical sights. The rifle can also mount a 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher. It has a magazine capacity of 30 rounds. The cyclic rate of fire is 680 rounds per minute, and the sustained rate of fire is 120 rounds/min.
Barrels
- conventional barrelRiflingRifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
(Zastava M21) - polygonal barrelPolygonal riflingPolygonal rifling is a type of gun barrel rifling where the traditional lands and grooves are replaced by "hills and valleys" in a rounded polygonal pattern, usually a hexagon or octagon....
(Zastava M21B)
The regular barrel has six grooves with a right-hand twist. A octagonal polygonal version is also available and has four grooves with a right-hand twist (M21B). Barrels are also hard chrom
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
plated to provide a longer service life.
The rifle has conventional iron sights
Iron sights
Iron sights are a system of shaped alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist in the aiming of a device such as a firearm, crossbow, or telescope, and exclude the use of optics as in telescopic sights or reflector sights...
that consist of a front post and a flip-up rear sight with 300m and 500m apertures. A set of picatinny rail
Picatinny rail
The Picatinny rail or MIL-STD-1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail or a "Tactical Rail" is a bracket used on some firearms in order to provide a standardized mounting platform. A similar system is the Weaver rail mount.-Description:...
s on the hand guard can mount various optoelectronic devices. The M21 is a modular weapon, with configuration dependent on the task and mission.
Optical sights:
- ON M04 "TELEOPTIK and
- ON M04A "ZRAK"
Optoelectronic devices:
- Reflex sight, M04 "MARS"
- Bookmark target laser M04A-AIM2000
- Passive monocular M04 MINI N/SEAS
- Passive sight PN 3x50 "SOVA"
- Bookmark laser target M04 "INFIZ"
- Passive monocular MINI N/SEAS combined with reflex sight M04 "MARS"