Century Arms M57 w/trigger safety Review

This was my first purchase from Century Arms and I am very pleased with the condition of this pistol. I did order "Excellent", but this thing looks like new and must have been totally reconditioned. The barrel shows some marks on the outside, but is bright and shiny inside. A very clear 6 flame crest is stamped on the slide giving it some added character.

It was very well packaged and protected during shipment sandwiched between two pieces of egg crate foam tightly sealed in a heavy box. I was surprised when it arrived yesterday afternoon, because according to them, it is still "processing" and I did not receive any shipping notification.

Upon unpacking, it was covered in a very thick grease, but it seemed thinner than Cosmoline. A soak in a little Dawn and some boiling water followed by a cleaning of each part in Hoppe's, rendered a fine result.

The magazine safety was annoying so to disable it, I simply wedged a short piece of plastic tie between it and the frame until it would clear the trigger bar. It is still there, and can be restored to function if desired later.

As expected, the trigger was absolutely terrible but with some patience and time, it is around 5.5 pounds now but still has a lot of creep. I only polished the hammer, sear and frictional surfaces and did not change any angles. The inside of the trigger bar was also polished and checked for burrs. It no longer drags along the magazine. The tip of the trigger safety was quite sharp and required some rounding to avoid punching a hole in my finger pad. Touched that up with some Cold Blue.

I expect to receive my order for a replacement trigger with no safety and fit it to the gun tomorrow. This will leave me with an M-57 that will look and shoot like it was designed, originally.

This is my first acquisition in this caliber so the quest to find some ammo for testing begins. Since I like having them for everything I shoot, dies are on the list of needs, too. Once I get those, the search for more toys in this caliber will certainly follow. I have seen this movie before.

A quick update: The new trigger arrived and dropped right in. It reduced the pull to a very smooth 4.5 pounds with a clean and predictable break. I am looking forward to shooting it soon.

Thanks for the review. I've been looking at them with curiosity but just can't justify buying another tok like I already have without putting the $ towards other gaps in the collection first.

You may want to experiment with a Wolff recoil spring test pack.

ETA: Lee die sets go on sale periodically. Exact fit for 7.62x25.

I looked at Wolff for springs, but they do not list the Zastava and the Tokarev uses a different recoil spring system. The M-57 has a captured spring system similar to Glock.

Since this one has been refurbished and all of the internals appear to be new, I am planning to shoot it before doing anything else to it.

I sure do like the look without the added safety selector and the operation seems very nice. The craftsmanship appears to be first rate. Can't beat a nice steel frame!

A guy over on the P.38 forum experimented with the Wolff springs in the M57, and developed a tool/method to replace them easily (which should also work on the Radom VIS / P.35p)

The standard Tokarev TT recoil spring from Wolff does work just fine though in the M57. It is a tad bit longer but the same coil diameter. That makes it act like an extra power recoil spring. The coils do not fully compress to touching under full slide movement back. The spring works great, softer recoil and less muzzle flip all while still ejecting the brass into orbit! I have shot several hundred rounds with this setup, both surplus and modern commercial ammo. Never once had a failure of any kind and easier to shoot as well.

Replacing the recoil spring can be a pain but I came up with an easy to use tool to hold the spring back while tapping out the pin on the recoil rod. I can change out the spring in a couple of minutes.

Click to expand...

subsequent post:
http://p38forum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=283398&postcount=13
repeated here:

Here it is, a simple two piece 1/4" lock collar. Loosen up the bolts almost all the way and it will fit over the large end of the rod. Hold the assembly in one hand and pull the spring back to put the collar on the shaft. Hold the collar closed and let the spring go up against it. Then with your holding hand pull the collar and spring back with enough room to access the pin. Lock it down with the other hand where you want it. You now have the spring out of the way to knock out the pin however you like!

Click to expand...

If I try it I might knock a coil or two off the spring to reduce the pre-load.

Awesome, thanks! I never would have thought of that. I might try that on my M57 at some point. I’ve got a bastardized safety one, but at least it’s the kind that’s an actual sear block instead of the dorkier looking trigger block ones. My trigger pull is heavy, but fairly crisp with no grit.

Well, I got it out to the range at Hap Baker this past weekend. What a hoot! The gun ran perfectly with both magazines(I was able to find a brand new Zastava spare) using three types of ammunition one of which used hollow point bullets.

The Yugo surplus that I got from SGAmmo with hard primers worked perfectly and shot so nicely that I have since ordered more from them and recommend it to other M-57 shooters. Read the warnings, this is not for most other 7.62x25mm firearms but works reliably in the M-57!

This is one round that looks like it would be cost prohibitive to reload at this time. Not a lot of selection or availability of affordable, good projectiles. Still looking into this for some possible future calamity. I like to have the ability to do things I may never need to do.