The New Zastava .338 Norma Magnum Machine Gun

Zastava unveiled a new machine gun chambered in the increasingly popular .338 Norma Magnum prototype at the Partner 2025 arms expo in Belgrade. Partner 2025 (held September 23-26, 2025) was officially opened by the Serbian Ministry of Defense and showcased the country’s latest military technology. As a machine gun guy, observing Partner 2025, I took note of the Zastava .338 NM MG, and in my opinion, it is one of the exhibition’s most innovative infantry weapons. Overall, the system represents both a technical and strategic milestone: for the first time, Serbia joins the cadre of nations fielding next-generation medium machine guns in the .338 Norma Magnum caliber. With this entry, Zastava joins a small, select group of manufacturers and nations investigating or adopting the .338 Norma Magnum for medium/heavy machine guns, pushing the boundaries of automatic fire while keeping the company’s trademark emphasis on durability and battlefield practicality.

Engineered around a cartridge prized for its flat trajectory and high retained energy at long range, the new Zastava system is designed to extend effective engagement envelopes while preserving the ease of integration and logistics that armed forces demand. From overwatch and anti-materiel tasks to suppression at distances previously impractical for lighter weapons, the .338 NM machine gun expands unit options on the modern battlefield. Robust overbuilt weapon design, PK-type quick-change barrel feature, and a caliber rapidly gaining traction among forward-thinking procurement programs have been increasingly interested in domestic and export sales.

The gun

Zastava’s .338 NM machine gun is developed from the M84/M20 general-purpose machine-gun family, itself an evolution of the licensed PKT series Zastava produced under license after the late 1970s. To accommodate the more powerful .338 Norma Magnum round, Zastava rechambered the M84/M20 design, fitted a heavier barrel, modified feeding components, and adopted a push-through feed approach for disintegrating links using the M20 feed system. The weapon appears to retain the standard M84 receiver while using a modified M20 feed tray, feed-tray cover assembly, and a new charging handle assembly.

Exact weight and full performance figures were not disclosed at the show, and I have not heard back from the company yet. For context, classic M84 GPMG in 7.62x54mm typically weighs about 19.4 lbs. (8.8 kg) and has an effective range of 800-1,000m. Zastava’s .338 NM design, by contrast, is built for substantially greater reach: Zastava's new offering should have an effective engagement envelope roughly 1,500-1,700m, and the platform is expected to be in the 22-28 lbs. (9.9-12.7 kg) range, similar to western .338-class machine guns.

Bridging the capability gap

Modern militaries recently saw a capability gap between 7.62mm GPMGs and heavy .50/12.7mm systems. The .338 NM explicitly intends to fill that niche: offering MAG58/M240-like portability with M2-like reach. U.S. and other Western programs pursuing lightweight .338 machine guns do so to give small units the ability to engage at extended ranges without mounting a .50-caliber weapon. Examples such as the SIG MG338 demonstrate the concept, roughly 1,700m effective range at weights of about 19.8-22 lbs. (9-10 kg), and Zastava’s design is conceived along the same lines, though expected to be heavier.

Modified bolt carrier for the push-through modification of the 7.62x51 M20 GPMG. By Lynndon Schooler.

Strategically, Zastava’s entry gives Serbia a homegrown capability that many Western armies consider a critical niche. A .338 NM Medium Machine Gun (MMG) enables infantry and light vehicle crews to dominate extended engagement ranges (1.5-2 km), suppress or defeat positions and materiel that 7.62mm weapons cannot reliably affect, and threaten lightly armored targets at distances previously reserved for heavier guns. At the same time, basing the design on the M84/M20 family helps Zastava slot the weapon into existing doctrine, tripods, mounts, and logistics more easily than introducing a wholly new heavy-caliber system.

Downside to the design

A .338 NM machine gun should fully exploit the caliber’s potential by integrating the appropriate enablers, optics, and an IR laser to support both day and night operations. Crucially, tripod mounting must be preserved. The current M20 GPMG-derived chassis system requires removing the chassis to fit the weapon to a tripod, which also forces the removal of chassis-mounted enablers as the chassis is attached to the tripod mounting points. That design degrades a capability most militaries will want to retain. So, this is one feature I would expect to see changed in the future.