Zastava M57
semi-automatic pistol
The Zastava M57 is a Yugoslavian and Serbian semi-automatic pistol produced by Zastava Arms. It was the standard service pistol of the Yugoslav People's Army from 1961 until the early 1990s. The M57 was an unlicensed derivative of the Soviet TT pistol, with a number of modifications, namely a longer grip and a slightly larger magazine. Zastava reverse engineered the Soviet TT in 1954, and began serial production of the weapon type as the M57 in 1963.
As of 2021, Zastava still produced modernized variants of the M57 with updated safety features: the M57A in its original chambering and the M70A in 9mm Parabellum.
History
Designed in the mid-1950s, the M57 was an unlicensed copy of the Soviet TT-33 Tokarev. The Yugoslav People's Army had initially attempted to adopt the TT as its standard service pistol after World War II, and a number were delivered by the Soviet Union. However, the Tito–Stalin split prompted the Soviet government to cease military aid to Yugoslavia before deliveries of the pistol were fully completed. In 1952, Zastava was charged with developing its own variant of the TT to satisfy the army's needs. Zastava's engineers were able to reverse engineer the weapon by 1954, creating a faithful copy of the original TT. However, its factory was already at capacity manufacturing rifles and submachine guns, and it was unable to open a new production line to produce a new handgun.
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