Norinco 97TW is here!

[mattw]

After I partially field stripped it and cleaned the crap (oil and metal shavings) out of the bore and action I decided that the forearm was not flimsy feeling or anything like it. the actionbar (yes only one) looks to be about 1/6 inch thick. so it is pretty beefy. The reason why i thought it was flimsy feeling upon first handling it is that i am used to the forearm of the 870 which has no play in it at all until conscious force is applied rearward. The norinco 97 has alot of play in it until it is cocked and ready to fire. Once it is cocked the lockup is as tight as my 870.

The partial fieldstrip i did involved removing the headshield/bayo lug and the magazine tube cap and the magazine tube spring. I didn't take it down any further because as someone else sighted.. it is a very open design and cleaning was easy and did not require a full field strip.

The action is still pretty stiff and new feeling, i suspect is will smooth out upon firing it this weekend. I felt no noticeable hangs or hitches while cycling it once it was reassembled and oiled up. The only snag i felt in the action is when i press the bolt release button and do not forcably manipulate the forearm. If the forearm is not manipulated with a conscious effort and a fair ammount of force the bolt and shell lifter some times snag half way out. Once more force is applied, however, the action cycles perfectly.

The finish is a nice dark blueing that reminds me of the black-blueing of the earliest 1911s. It seems to be not very durable however. My shotgun was brand new and when i took it out of the plastic at the pawn shop and cycled the action a few times i noticed the finish already wearing away on the mag tube. In the shotgun's defense I am very heavy handed with my weapons. I've had to scrape off wood residue left on my 870's mag tube from the torque i put on the forearm during firing. It is not a conscious thing, i try not to but some times i just get caught up .

I will continue to post more as I spend more time with this shotgun. I am very interested in it and i know others must be.

oh eyah.. price OTD: $342.98

 

[mattw]

i guess something is wrong with linking to my sprint pcs online album... they don't like bandwidth leeches i guess... here are some better pictures anyway.

Here are the first round of pictures, they are not very good because i was using an old camera and it was very bright outside. I will have more either tonight or tomorrow.









In this picture you can see the laser etched US flamming bomb logo.




My favorite of this bad set:


And just incase you forgot where this shotgun came from...

 

[mattw]

btw, range report coming thursday night

 

[Sulaco]

Looks good. I have a friend who is interested in one of these only not the trench gun setup. Let me know how you fare!

 

[mattw]

I might not have gotten the trench gun version myself had it not been for my father's experience with a real USMC issue winchester 1897 trench gun that he used several times on guard duty and with 1st recon in vietnam. I like to have something that i could imagine my father using in combat, since it is likely that I will never see any action like he saw in vietnam. The best i'll be able to do is raiding some crack den in gulfport, ms. As soon as I finish college i'm going to do my best to get a job with the swat team.

 

[mattw]

Range Report: Norinco 97TW

Ok everyone here it is:

I was using bulk remington 7 1/2 shot (2 3/4 of course). I fired a total of 55 rounds in about one hour. I was shooting at clay pigeons launched from a hand thrower by my friend. together between the both of us we probably hit about 70%. I chalk up the missing 30% to the 20" inch barrel which i believe is fixed IC choke. Its kind of tough to hit clays from about 50 yards with that barrel and using that low-brass 7 1/2 shot.

The total misfire/malfunction count was 3 out of 55.

The first one was my fault, I am used to the 870. With my 870 once you get the shell picked up by the bolt and into the chamber you are ok. With the norinco 97 and winchester 1897s you have to slide the forearm to the full extent of its rearward travel ability and then forcefully thrust it fully forward, otherwise you might pick up a shell and have it chambered, but the hammer will not have cocked.

1 of 3 = my fault, short stroked it.

The second one I blame on the ammo. A shell was chambered and the hammer cocked. When the hammer fell the primer was struck but nothing happened. Upon examination of the shell I found that the firing pin had stuck the primer with the appropriate force and that the gun was not at fault. I put the shell back in and tried to fire several more times by pulling back the hammer and pulling the trigger but nothing happened. It must've been that the primer was set too far into the shell or something like that but I definetly do not place blame with the shotgun, there was a clear, deep primer strike.

2 of 3 = ammo's fault, bad primer.

The third one is a mystery. The last four shells that we had were all loaded at once. First one in the chamber last three in the magazine tube (which holds 5 shells). the first three shells were fired and everything went fine. I threw the last clay and my friend went to fire and nothing happened. I guessed it was the ammo again but to our surprise when he opened the bolt there was no shell in the shotgun. We began to look around and found one unfired shell on the ground. Somehow the shell had moved from the magazine tube to the ground without either of us noticeing. I blame this on my friend's magician skills. He must not've put the shell all the way in the tube and since the shell lifter does not cover the mag tube entrance during lockup and firing I can only guess that the recoil from the shot of the first shell was enough to jar the first shell out of the mag tube (which would not have happened had the shell been all the way into the mag tube.)

3 of 3 = operator error, shell not completely pushed into mag tube.:banghead:

So I am happy to report that the norinco 97 performed above expectations. I have not fired many shells through it yet and I will update when I have more ammo through the gun but I believe it is off to a strong start.

Btw all you old sticks in the mud with stiff shirts hanging from them, I slamfired about 6 shots total. I did it three times with 2 shots each time. with birdshot it is very controlable and I fully intend to try it with some buckshot when my wallet premits. Until such time I intend to practice breaking doubles with a slam fire burst.

I had zero malfunctions and zero injuries as a result of slamfiring the 97.


Pictures and a more extensive range report coming soon. Likely this weekend.