jobu07
Contributing Member
Forgive the long post ladies and gents, but it will give you something to read as this week draws to an end and you sip on something tonight.
PSA has recently introduced a copy of the Norinco Type 56 dubbed the “Spiker.” I was lucky enough to snag one that they had in stock on their website the other day. I wanted to share some photos and initial impressions with the brain trust of my recent purchase.
Unfortunately the only original Norinco I have to compare it to is a Type 84S in 5.56. First you can see some glamor shots of the Spiker. It seems like a beautifully made and finished rifle. PSA clearly put some care in the design and production of this.
The Norinco is a blued finish whereas the PSA is a very nice satin black paint. The furniture on the Norinco is certainly machined out of wood blocks to shape and laquer finished. At first I thought the PSA had a faux wood plastic stock, but it’s a very nicely finished stock set. The bayonet groove was very precisely machined out and well done – no chunks of wood are missing or damaged. The bayonet is well produced and locks up tight. The checkering on the pistol grip is very light and shallow, probably applied by a laser or quickly pressed, but it looks like it was burned out.
The receiver wisely has the manufacturer, Soviet Arms, and serial number placed in front of the mag well while the left side of the receiver is marked MADE IN USA and 7.62x39. The selector is three position and is marked in Chinese characters. The bolt and carrier are chrome and the trigger group is very serviceable. It features a long take up but a relatively light pull to break.
It can’t all be sunshine and rainbows, though. There are a few items that I wrote PSA about to see if it’s “tough luck” or “send it in and we’ll make it right.” I’ll update when I hear back from them. The metal probably wasn’t totally cleaned of oil under the gas tube lever. I found the finish bubbling in a very distinct arc following the path of travel of the lever. I worked the lever once and the finished scraped off leaving bare metal. This is strictly cosmetic and it’s an AK, but it’s also a brand new rifle off the production line. There is a minor chip in the bottom of the pistol grip as well. Also, cosmetic… The rear sling swivel seems to have too much left and right travel. The Norinco only goes forward and back as you would expect a swivel of this style to do. They also opted to secure the swivel to the buttstock with torx head screws instead of flathead.
A few items that seem more major. The bayonet is able to return to it’s stowed position to the left and right of the machined groove. If locking this in place without using care I can see this widening the machined groove. This is mostly a cosmetic issue, but I could see this eventually causing stress on the hinge. Probably the largest issue is the magazine well. This mag wobble is reminiscent of the old Century import WASR series. Left and right wobble isn’t too bad, but shockingly to me there is a significant amount of front and rear travel, maybe 2-3mm without measuring precisely. I have not fired this rifle yet, but this does concern me. The receiver is dimpled, but it may be out of spec. My experience with my WASR’s tells me this rifle will function fine with mag wobble, but boy is it annoying with a brand new rifle with this price tag.
Some other minor grips. It shipped without a cleaning rod, this is the first PSA AK rifle I have received without one. It also shipped without a sling and came with a Magpul magazine. I put a Romanian sling on it and put the first surplus magazine I grabbed out of the pile into it. Overall, this seems to be a fairly faithful reproduction of the Chinese Type 56 and I am not upset with my purchase.
Well, hopefully everyone enjoyed taking a look at this on a Friday afternoon. Have a great weekend!
PSA has recently introduced a copy of the Norinco Type 56 dubbed the “Spiker.” I was lucky enough to snag one that they had in stock on their website the other day. I wanted to share some photos and initial impressions with the brain trust of my recent purchase.
Unfortunately the only original Norinco I have to compare it to is a Type 84S in 5.56. First you can see some glamor shots of the Spiker. It seems like a beautifully made and finished rifle. PSA clearly put some care in the design and production of this.
The Norinco is a blued finish whereas the PSA is a very nice satin black paint. The furniture on the Norinco is certainly machined out of wood blocks to shape and laquer finished. At first I thought the PSA had a faux wood plastic stock, but it’s a very nicely finished stock set. The bayonet groove was very precisely machined out and well done – no chunks of wood are missing or damaged. The bayonet is well produced and locks up tight. The checkering on the pistol grip is very light and shallow, probably applied by a laser or quickly pressed, but it looks like it was burned out.
The receiver wisely has the manufacturer, Soviet Arms, and serial number placed in front of the mag well while the left side of the receiver is marked MADE IN USA and 7.62x39. The selector is three position and is marked in Chinese characters. The bolt and carrier are chrome and the trigger group is very serviceable. It features a long take up but a relatively light pull to break.
It can’t all be sunshine and rainbows, though. There are a few items that I wrote PSA about to see if it’s “tough luck” or “send it in and we’ll make it right.” I’ll update when I hear back from them. The metal probably wasn’t totally cleaned of oil under the gas tube lever. I found the finish bubbling in a very distinct arc following the path of travel of the lever. I worked the lever once and the finished scraped off leaving bare metal. This is strictly cosmetic and it’s an AK, but it’s also a brand new rifle off the production line. There is a minor chip in the bottom of the pistol grip as well. Also, cosmetic… The rear sling swivel seems to have too much left and right travel. The Norinco only goes forward and back as you would expect a swivel of this style to do. They also opted to secure the swivel to the buttstock with torx head screws instead of flathead.
A few items that seem more major. The bayonet is able to return to it’s stowed position to the left and right of the machined groove. If locking this in place without using care I can see this widening the machined groove. This is mostly a cosmetic issue, but I could see this eventually causing stress on the hinge. Probably the largest issue is the magazine well. This mag wobble is reminiscent of the old Century import WASR series. Left and right wobble isn’t too bad, but shockingly to me there is a significant amount of front and rear travel, maybe 2-3mm without measuring precisely. I have not fired this rifle yet, but this does concern me. The receiver is dimpled, but it may be out of spec. My experience with my WASR’s tells me this rifle will function fine with mag wobble, but boy is it annoying with a brand new rifle with this price tag.
Some other minor grips. It shipped without a cleaning rod, this is the first PSA AK rifle I have received without one. It also shipped without a sling and came with a Magpul magazine. I put a Romanian sling on it and put the first surplus magazine I grabbed out of the pile into it. Overall, this seems to be a fairly faithful reproduction of the Chinese Type 56 and I am not upset with my purchase.
Well, hopefully everyone enjoyed taking a look at this on a Friday afternoon. Have a great weekend!
