1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
When the Chinese clones of my beloved 1911 pistols hit the shelves
a few years ago, I looked the other way. I had visions of fitting/finishing
performed with a hacksaw and a bastard file...plus non-interchangeable
parts issues when something broke. Wish I had my time to do over.
I recently aquired a Norinco that had been brought to me for some
hands-on instruction and trigger clean-up. The owner wanted me to walk him through it so that he could perform the tasks himself. I opened it
up...my first look at a Norinco...and made him an offer. The deal was
struck, and I did the trigger tweak myself. It went from a gritty, creepy
7-pounds (estimated) to about 5 and a half, with a smooth rollout break
in about 30 minutes...The slight captive angle on the hammer hooks is intact, and the trigger is a very nice, useful and safe street trigger. Perfect, for my needs. The smoothness makes it feel like 4 pounds, but
the trigger pull gauge says it's a tick over 5.5 pounds.
If anybody has considered a Norinco and backed off....your loss. These
things are as hard and tough as boiler plate, and all critical specs are
right on. There was a minor issue at the back of the grip frame, but that
was easily taken care of. The hammer was a little wide, and rubbing on the
slide and ejector. Another quick fix. The right side slide rail was a little
wider than the left side, but light filing and stoning brought it right into spec. Total time spent with the gun, including fitting and blending a flat
Smith & Alexander mainspring housing and rebluing...about an hour.
I also dropped in a prepped Colt synthetic trigger from a 1991-A1
Commander. (Long trigger) Take-up is about .050 inch, and overtravel
is minimal. No tabs or set screws needed.
Bopped on down to the range yesterday to wring it out. Got rained on.
I was able to engage 10-inch plates at 50 yards with a center hold, firing
one-handed in a classic bullseye stance...at a rate of about 7 in 10 tries.
Younger eyes and a steadier hand would have likely made it 10 out of 10.
I can't ask for more from a pistol in this class, and expected far less.
Pleasant surprises sometimes come from unlikely sources.
Rapid-fire at 7 and 15 yards was likewise impressive. The pistol settled
on target with the best of'em, and the steel rang while the brass flew.
I didn't shoot the gun at 25 yards, mainly due to rain and the fact that
25 yards is a pretty fanciful range for me to practice rapid-fire drills.
Checking further, the locking lug engagenment is very good at about 90%
or a little better, insuring a long service life for the gun. Barrel vertical lockup was also very good. There is a little horizontal and vertical play
in the slide, but not so much that I will bother with any tightening/refitting any time in the near future. The barrel bushing could stand to be a little
tighter in the slide, but it's not really worth worrying with at this point.
The gun is already more accurate than I am, and it would be done mainly
to make me feel all warm and fuzzy.
The pistol functioned perfectly with all ammunition...mostly reloads with
hard cast lead round nose and truncated cone...along with some hardball
and Hornady 200 and 230-grain XTPs. 50 rounds of Hydra-Shok also
went through the gun like grease through a goose. No reliability tweaks
were done on the gun, nor were they needed. 500 rounds without a hitch
put me in a happy place.
The pistol has ZERO MIM or castings anywhere in it, and the extractor is
real spring steel. The finish machining is a bit rough on that part, but
it's a cosmetic issue. I didn't care for the odd-looking front sight, and
reshaped it to better suit my tastes, and to make it less prone to snagging. As it so happens, the operation put the point of impact
dead center with a center hold at 50 yards and at 15 is so close as to
be a non-issue unless the object of the exercise is the X-ring.
If I had my time to do over, I'd have borrowed money and bought a pickup truck full of'em.
Coming soon...hopefully...the run-down on Springfield's GI clone. I expect that the gun will be serviceable, but this Norinco is gonna be a tough act
to follow.
Cheers all!
Tuner
a few years ago, I looked the other way. I had visions of fitting/finishing
performed with a hacksaw and a bastard file...plus non-interchangeable
parts issues when something broke. Wish I had my time to do over.
I recently aquired a Norinco that had been brought to me for some
hands-on instruction and trigger clean-up. The owner wanted me to walk him through it so that he could perform the tasks himself. I opened it
up...my first look at a Norinco...and made him an offer. The deal was
struck, and I did the trigger tweak myself. It went from a gritty, creepy
7-pounds (estimated) to about 5 and a half, with a smooth rollout break
in about 30 minutes...The slight captive angle on the hammer hooks is intact, and the trigger is a very nice, useful and safe street trigger. Perfect, for my needs. The smoothness makes it feel like 4 pounds, but
the trigger pull gauge says it's a tick over 5.5 pounds.
If anybody has considered a Norinco and backed off....your loss. These
things are as hard and tough as boiler plate, and all critical specs are
right on. There was a minor issue at the back of the grip frame, but that
was easily taken care of. The hammer was a little wide, and rubbing on the
slide and ejector. Another quick fix. The right side slide rail was a little
wider than the left side, but light filing and stoning brought it right into spec. Total time spent with the gun, including fitting and blending a flat
Smith & Alexander mainspring housing and rebluing...about an hour.
I also dropped in a prepped Colt synthetic trigger from a 1991-A1
Commander. (Long trigger) Take-up is about .050 inch, and overtravel
is minimal. No tabs or set screws needed.
Bopped on down to the range yesterday to wring it out. Got rained on.
I was able to engage 10-inch plates at 50 yards with a center hold, firing
one-handed in a classic bullseye stance...at a rate of about 7 in 10 tries.
Younger eyes and a steadier hand would have likely made it 10 out of 10.
I can't ask for more from a pistol in this class, and expected far less.
Pleasant surprises sometimes come from unlikely sources.
Rapid-fire at 7 and 15 yards was likewise impressive. The pistol settled
on target with the best of'em, and the steel rang while the brass flew.
I didn't shoot the gun at 25 yards, mainly due to rain and the fact that
25 yards is a pretty fanciful range for me to practice rapid-fire drills.
Checking further, the locking lug engagenment is very good at about 90%
or a little better, insuring a long service life for the gun. Barrel vertical lockup was also very good. There is a little horizontal and vertical play
in the slide, but not so much that I will bother with any tightening/refitting any time in the near future. The barrel bushing could stand to be a little
tighter in the slide, but it's not really worth worrying with at this point.
The gun is already more accurate than I am, and it would be done mainly
to make me feel all warm and fuzzy.
The pistol functioned perfectly with all ammunition...mostly reloads with
hard cast lead round nose and truncated cone...along with some hardball
and Hornady 200 and 230-grain XTPs. 50 rounds of Hydra-Shok also
went through the gun like grease through a goose. No reliability tweaks
were done on the gun, nor were they needed. 500 rounds without a hitch
put me in a happy place.
The pistol has ZERO MIM or castings anywhere in it, and the extractor is
real spring steel. The finish machining is a bit rough on that part, but
it's a cosmetic issue. I didn't care for the odd-looking front sight, and
reshaped it to better suit my tastes, and to make it less prone to snagging. As it so happens, the operation put the point of impact
dead center with a center hold at 50 yards and at 15 is so close as to
be a non-issue unless the object of the exercise is the X-ring.
If I had my time to do over, I'd have borrowed money and bought a pickup truck full of'em.
Coming soon...hopefully...the run-down on Springfield's GI clone. I expect that the gun will be serviceable, but this Norinco is gonna be a tough act
to follow.
Cheers all!
Tuner
