Norinco 1897's, are they any good?

[1911JMB]

A local gun shop is selling a norinco 1897 trench model that I almost bought earlier today. What I would like to do is send it to Arizona so that Hans Vang can have his way with it. But first, somebody please tell me, are the Norinco 97's of good quality?

 

[pauli]

my understanding: the norinco guns, especially the newest ones, are mechanically great, cosmetically rough, and politically divisive. if they were from brazil instead of china, people would be going bananas over them. as it is, you're in for a long thread of "i won't support chinese slave labor."

 

[Kamicosmos]

you're in for a long thread of "i won't support chinese slave labor."

Heh. Ironically, most of those people will then follow up with 'Besides, you can get a mossberg at Wal-mart for less...'



I do like the looks of the 1897 though. be cool to get a genuine one, but I've also heard that the Norinco clones are good guns.

 

[1911JMB]

Didn't know about the whole chinese labor thing. Does anybody else repro the trench model? I sure won't be putting 3 or 4 grand for an original.

 

[Doc Caddo]

Just 5 years ago you could pick up an original 1897 here in LA. for 150-200. Now that they are big in Cowboy Action they are going for 400 and up. Saw 2 at a gun show 2 weeks ago . one was 400 and the other was 450.. I bought my original(made in 1901) for 100 and then had it hard chromed for looks and hide some pitting on the barrel.

 

[lipadj46]

Yes they are fairly decent quality for the price but the Chinese literally own our country, 1 trillion dollars worth I heard today. Why send them any more of your money? I should talk though I own a russian shotgun

 

[earlthegoat2]

A friend of mine had one that had some major issues with locking up when the bolt was closed. Even after the gun was fired you just couldnt cycle it for anything. When testing for mechanical function it would lock up and you would have to half take it apart to get the slide to come back. Never knew what was wrong with it.

 

[Gunfighter123]

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=433040&highlight=norinco

 

[Grunt]

Both the wife and I have a couple Norchester 1897s (hers is the riot version and mine is the trench gun) She uses hers for SASS shoots and I used mine when I was farming to blast blackbirds out of the sunflower fields so both of them have seen a lot of rounds go through them without any problems. The later versions are a bit nicer than the early models and they will slick up with use (or you can send them to Coyote Cap to let him do his thing with them and they are REALLY nice).
As far as supporting slave labor, here's the other side of the coin, I see it as taking a gun out of the hands of the Godless heathens to prevent them from ever using it for their evil plans.

 

[.45Guy]

They can have their issues, at least mine did. But after the rework, it ran like a champ. Here's the thread on my Norinco adventure:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=283999