The Zastava M91 is a semi-automatic

designated marksman rifle A designated marksman rifle (DMR) is a modern telescopic sight, scoped high-Accuracy and precision, precision rifle used by infantrymen in the designated marksman (DM) role. It generally fills the engagement effective range, range gap between ...

chambered in

7.62×54mmR The 7.62×54mmR is a rimmed rifle cartridge developed by the Russian Empire and introduced as a service cartridge in 1891. Originally designed for the bolt-action Mosin–Nagant rifle, it was used during the late tsarist era and throughout t ...

, developed and manufactured by

Zastava Arms Zastava Arms ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Застава oружје, Zastava oružje) is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery, based in Kragujevac, Serbia. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannon. It is the leading producer of firear ...

company in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. Like its predecessor, the

Zastava M76 The Zastava M76 is a military semi-automatic designated marksman rifle developed and manufactured by Zastava Arms. History The Zastava Arms Company released the M76 in the mid-1970s. Since then it became the standard issue designated marksman r ...

, the M91 is internally based upon an elongated version of the

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...

design, but the M91 shares more external similarities with the

Dragunov sniper rifle The SVD (russian: Сна́йперская Винто́вка систе́мы Драгуно́ва образца́ 1963 года, lit=Sniper Rifle, System of Dragunov, Model of the Year 1963, translit=Snáyperskaya Vintóvka sistém'y Dragunóv ...

than the M76. The rifle is in service with the

Serbian army The Serbian Army ( sr-cyr, Копнена војска Србије, Kopnena vojska Srbije, lit=Serbian Land Army) is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. History Originally established in 1830 as the Army of Pr ...

, where it replaced the M76, which was chambered for the

7.92×57mm 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

cartridge.

History

Zastava's website claims that the M91 rifle was designed after a long and careful study of combat tactics and experience of military and police special forces worldwide; and that its development has been carried out under supervision and in close cooperation with some of the most experienced and capable special and anti-terrorist units. Current modernisation of Serbian forces is proceeding on the basis of a plan designed during the late 1990s known as Model-21. It envisages upgrading personal equipment in 26 different categories, of which only five will be imported from abroad. One of the important new developments is the introduction of a series of domestically developed systems such as M91 7.62×54mmR sniper rifle (a requirement resulting from the decision to withdraw the 8×57mm IS chambering used in the

sniper rifle and SARAC M53 "šarac" machine gun).

Design details

The M91 is a semi-automatic rifle fed from detachable 10-round box magazines. In concept, it is similar to the Soviet Dragunov sniper/designated marksman rifle. While the design of the M91 is based upon an elongated version of the

design just like its predecessor, the

, the M91 features several modifications, bringing it closer to the Dragunov rifle. The separate stock and pistol grip used on the M76 have been replaced with a thumbhole stock made of synthetic polymer material resembling that used on the Russian rifle. The 7.62×54mmR chambering of the Zastava M91 is the same as used in the Dragunov. The 7.62×54mmR is suited for long-range use, and replaced the 8×57mm IS round in Serbian service. The

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

profile is relatively thin to save weight and is ended with a slotted

flash suppressor A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a muzzle device attached to the muzzle of a rifle that reduces its visible signature while firing by cooling or dispersing the burning gases that ...

. The barrel's bore is chrome-lined for increased corrosion resistance, and features 4 right-hand grooves with a

twist rate In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the pro ...

of 240 mm (1:9.4 in). Overall, the design of the flash suppressor, the detachable box magazine, the simplified PSO-type rangefinder reticle used in earlier Zrak telescopic sights, the thumbhole stock and modified bolt carrier as well as a milled receiver strongly point at the Dragunov as the M91's design template. A side-rail on the left wall of the receiver accepts various

telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate po ...

s and night optics. The standard daylight

for the M91 is the ZRAK ON 6 × 42. For low light conditions the rifle can also be equipped with PN 5 × 80 passive sights of the first and second generation of

Night vision device A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...

s. The optical sight can be removed from the rail and reinstalled without loss of zero. The rifle features adjustable backup

iron sights Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers (usually made of metallic material) used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons (such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow or even compound bow), or less commonly ...

with a sliding tangent rear sight which can be adjusted from 1 to . These can be employed when the primary optical sight is damaged.

Performance

The best results are obtained at ranges up to . The maximum aiming distance offered by the optical telescopic sight and iron sights is . For high targets (head silhouette), the effective range is approximately , for high targets (chest silhouette) the range is and for a high moving silhouette the effective range is .

Users

* * * *: Used by

Southern Resistance Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

forces.

References

External links