The M83: The communist spin on an American classic

 

Image (1): A factory M83 artistically laid out by our Mr. Reese. Note the CZ emblem at the bottom of the grip. 

From the Wild West to the Wild East: 

There's a certain allure to a perfectly themed aesthetic. From pirates sailing the open sea to six-gun toting cowboys riding into the American sunset, it has a way of captivating our imaginations young and old. The latter aesthetic of American cowboys and outlaws was incredibly popular, from dime novels to Clint Eastwood everyone had their own flavor of the Wild West. I'd wager there's not too many people who haven't dreamt of riding off into the sunset at one point or another. It turns out this "American Dream" wasn't just a domestic hit, but an international one as well; reaching across the Iron Curtain to Yugoslavia in popular media and movies brought into the country. These influences may very well have played a vital part in kickstarting the creation of Yugoslavia's first and only domestically designed and manufactured revolver: the M83. 

This revolver represents an interesting study in what happens when a modern & experienced armory attempts something they've never tried before. The M83 was Zastava's attempt at creating their own version of the classic six-guns of Western fame. They rightly figured that they'd built scores of assault rifles, carbines, and machine-guns, so if everyone else could do then so could they! Much of the M83's life was plagued with the classic conundrum of each solution providing them one step forward and two steps back. By the end of its development the factory it was made in had been bombed, the country it was designed in was no more, and the time of revolvers seemed all but past, but the little Šumadija held on through it all. So have a seat, grab your favorite Slavic beverage, throw some Pierogies on the grill, and let's pull back the (iron) curtain (haha) and delve into what makes this comrade tick! 

A small disclaimer before we begin, there isn't much written on these revolvers and much of my information comes from a Serbian historian, Branko Bogdanovic, along anecdotal stories from Serbians on various forums. Other than Mr. Bogdanovic none of these sources cite any academic sources for the claims they make, so please take these with a pinch of salt. These sources also have conflicting information at times, so when this transpires, I'll do my best to illustrate the varying viewpoints. Finally, I'd like to give a warm thank you to Petar Kurilic, whose assistance in translating and firsthand knowledge aided greatly in the production of this article.  All that said, let's get into it! 

The birth of the Eastern gunslinger: 

 

Image (2): Mr. Rodoljub Matković displaying one of his M83 revolvers. 

The M83 began life in the mind of one Rodoljub Matković, who having examined other countries' revolvers, longed to help create Yugoslavia a .357 revolver of their very own. After a few years of design Matkovic had his first model ready in 1983. He (creatively)christened it the R-83 (Revolver 83) / M83 (Model 83) loosely taking inspiration from the West German RG-38S revolver. These similarities are most well seen in the wooden grips, chambering, venting along the barrel, style, and the trigger guard itself. To me it looks like he took this German 38 and BULKED IT UP! 

 

Image (3): R-83S displayed & sold at Bradford's Auction Gallery. 

Matkovic's initial design consisted of a six-shot classic SA/DA revolver, with wooden grips and a swing-out style cylinder. It was chambered for .357 mag while also being compatible with 38 Special. One aspect I found particularly fascinating was the ability of the M83 to use9x19 rimless cartridges. You simply had to use a specific cylinder with an adapter, along with special ejection clips. Half or full moon-clips were used to load these cylinders, and the clips were also used for shell extraction. I'd love to acquire one of these for some significantly cheaper range-days, but I've not yet been able to locate any state-side or otherwise.

Image (4): Original M83 manual courtesy of Petar Kurilic. Note the 9x19 cylinder at the top with it's adapter.

 An interesting thing to note on the cylinder, are these three numbers on the edges of three of the chambers. I initially wondered if they were some kind of numbering for the chambers, a factory code, or the last few digits of the serial on the frame. After precious minutes of examination and research I'm proud to share my academic conclusion! Drumroll please...I have no idea. No one has written anything on it online and it doesn't correspond to the count of the chambers so I'm going to assume it's either a factory code or some ancient Slavic runes that enchant the cartridges for maximum penetration. 

Image (4): Mystery numbers & marks on the 12, 2, & 4 O'clock positions.

 The M83's sights are solid, albeit nothing revolutionary with a dove-tailed front sight and a U-shaped groove in the rear of the frame functioning as a rear sight. The trigger pull is certainly one of the more memorable aspects of this revolver. Maybe I have weak soy-boy hands, but the double-action felt very heavy and difficult to smoothly operate. Many Serbian individuals wrote of their experiences online with the DA being almost impossible to use accurately in the absence of steady training and practice (which they naturally did not receive). Much of this was anecdotal, but some Serbian users posted of them or people they knew purchasing these during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Officers arming themselves with their new revolvers found out the hard way that double-action's with a heavy trigger pull aren't the best thing to use against combatants armed with M70 AK's and M59/66 SKSs'. If my later described performance with the 357 DA is any indication, I would not have lasted too long thus armed! The single action, however, is a different story. Significantly lighter and easier to use, my groupings were much better, albeit the hammer was still equally difficult to cock with my non-dominant hand.

Image(s) (5 & 6): M83 side-shot of front & rear sights & sight picture. 

The West German R-38S was a solid revolver to base the initial design of the M83 from, but the issues that plaguing the M83 didn't stem from this initial basis. They came from the simple lack of any revolver manufacturing experience in the plant's history! Zastava had never actually manufactured anything like this, so it unsurprisingly led to quite a bit of fine-tuning and adjustment that's seen in the development cycle of the M83. The original M83 revolver went public at the end of 1986 with the designation of M83/86, with 86 designating the year of manufacture. These sold incredibly well due to their novel nature and excellent marketing. After all, who wouldn't want the fancy new revolver in spite of the (at the time) high price? These revolvers, while generally solid, encountered a host of small issues that required fixing over the ensuing months. Now, this leads us into a bit of a conundrum.

Image (7): Original M83 with early full brand & factory name inscription "ZASTAVA Kragujevac-Jugoslavija"

If you look at an M83 there's an excellent chance, it's been inscribed on the right side of the frame with the M83 designation followed by a two-digit year code. Now, the main article I used for research stated some of these were the only distinct variants, but a host of other posts all claim different year codes were the only variants. This leads me to believe they may be a two-digit year of manufacture stamp following the M38 designation, with the originals either being designated M83 or M83/86 and going from there. I've physically seen at least M83, M83/86, M83/89, M83/92, M83/93, & M83/94. What I DO know, is that these revolvers did have a host of various upgrades as Zastava figured out ways to make their M83s more affordable and streamlined to manufacture. They did this by following proven concepts from Colt and Smith & Wesson respectively. Ironing out the kinks as they came up, Zastava continued tweaking the exact makeup of the M83's as they were produced over the ensuing years. 

 A Slavic range day: 

So, after all that context and breakdown how does this revolver actually handle? Pretty well I'd say! I took it out to our indoor pistol range and started off with a Fair model M83.These models had a bit of rust and pitting, but nothing that affected the function of the revolver. I started with a cylinder of double-action 357 and BOY do you feel that 15lbs trigger pull! I could see the barrel twitching from side to side. Some of this can be explained by my lack of shooting & bad form, but the trigger felt so heavy it was difficult to squeeze evenly. Switching to single action made it significantly better, but I couldn't help but feel that I'd want almost anything other than this if I got dropped into war-torn Bosnia. Maybe an M57 Tokarev or even an M70 at7.65mm would at least be easy to aim! 

 

Video (1): Yours truly chats about the M83 and goes a blastin'!

These feelings were nullified to a degree when I switched over to a cylinder of 38 special. This model fired just as well; however, it lacked some of the wear and rust on the previous revolver. Firing it in rapid double-action I was able to achieve a decent grouping at 12 yards, but the single-action? It felt like an absolute LASER beam. If I was just firing it in single with 38 specials, I could have made one hole with 6 shots (or so it felt). The recoil on the 38 was naturally lower, which helped to keep the revolver on-target and correctly oriented. Sadly, I didn't have any of the 6" models to try, but I'd imagine with the longer barrel and heavier weight it would have been a pleasure in 38. 

After reading all I could find on this little guy and taking him out for some poor target blasting, I can definitively say: you absolutely get the bang for your buck with these M83s! The fact that you can spend a couple hundred on a nice surplus revolver with this level of quality is genuinely astounding. I was worried the days of affordable Milsurp were over, but I'm pleasantly surprised to say the M83 is here to harken back to nicer times. If you'd like to get one of these for yourself, be sure to click the link HERE to peruse our selection. All you'll need is a K-frame holster, some Serbian cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat three sizes too big for your head and before you know it, you'll be the coolest Slavic cowboy in town! 

Bibliography:

Bogdanović, B. (2019). Prvi domaći revolver. Oružje online. March 19, 2025, https://oruzjeonline.com/2019/08/26/prvi-domaci-revolver/

D. (2010). Revolveri - revolver Zastava R 83 .357 magnum. Revolveri - revolver zastava R 83 .357 Magnum - page. https://www.paluba.info/smf/index.php?topic=11537.0