Norinco 1911...

I had bought a Colt Government Stainless steel 1911 and Ikey Starks did a hand fitted barrel bushing, competition Trigger, flat mainspring housing, ambidextrous safety, and Novak Combat sights. When I told him I wanted a full custom 1911 is when he told me to buy a Norinco 1911 as the base gun for the build.
Colt 1911
 
Last edited:
I have one I bought years ago, always worked well and was much better finished than an Auto Ordnance 1911 I had at that time. Currently the Norinco is wearing a Colt Ace conversion slide (fits perfectly) and I mostly use it as a 22 plinker.
 
I have one, NIB. I planned to shoot it but never did. Time to let it go along with other handguns that are just sitting unused.

c7a1e35f-910e-49ad-aba5-8bd2ebfc676c_zps65242b50.jpg
 
They are decent clones and back when they were cheap they were a solid bargain and a good base for a custom gun project. These days there is a lot of nostalgia surrounding them because they are no longer imported. IMHO if they were not banned by Clinton people would put them in the same category as RIA 1911s which are decent budget shooters.

The whole rail road track steel is a urban myth IMHO. They do have reputation for being very tough steel. Wilson used to do work on them but then stopped because they were hard on their milling tools.

They are not without their flaws. The barrel lugs have been known to wear improperly they peen and set back. The steel in the barrel is weak compared to the steel in the slide. They also sometimes have poor machining in the side which also contributes.

All in all the OP did great. At $375 OTD Norks are still great guns. At $500+ IMHO they are not especially when you consider what they sell for north of the border NIB.

As to collector value you will not hurt it by using it as a base gun. It has little to no real collector value. They are barely beating inflation even at todays prices.
 
I really like mine, its a no roll mark version, Has had all internals replaced with Colt and Cylinder & Slide parts shoots great. Its a favorite 1911 among many 1911s
 
I own the Norinco two tone Sports model with a few tricks done to it. I had the trigger job done and a custom trigger Hammer and spring set came in it from the factory as well for just under $400.00 about 3 years ago now. I have put a adjustable sights from LMP on it and custom wood grips as well as redone the trigger job again. I will compare shooting this gun to any $2000. handgun out there. Yes the steel is extremely hard in it. I also use Wilson Combat mags in it as well. It is now one of the nicest handguns I have ever fired with NO creep at all. Deadly accurate at 75 feet as well. I am always in the center of the target with it.
 
I've shot a friends 1911 Norinco but never owned one. I do own their ATD.22,a close copy of the browning .22 that loads from the buttstock. The most accurate.22 I've ever shot and one of the 97 trench guns. They know how to copy American firearms and make them shoot as good as the originals.
 
I read the comments about buying a Norinco as a platform to customize, and how people add match barrels and bushings and different triggers and such. How do you "tighten up the slide", by the way? Put it in a vise and squeeze it, maybe? Maybe change springs in it. Or even sending them off to be "accurized" and stuff by people like Wilson.

So someone enlighten me, please. I don't understand the concept of buying a cheap foreign made 1911, then spending more money (hundreds?) to turn it into something that bears little or no resemblence to the original.

And why not buy an American made 1911 instead of a cheap imitation? Personally, I won't buy a gun made in China, I don't care what it is.
 
WATCHDOG said:
I read the comments about buying a Norinco as a platform to customize, and how people add match barrels and bushings and different triggers and such. How do you "tighten up the slide", by the way? Put it in a vise and squeeze it, maybe? Maybe change springs in it. Or even sending them off to be "accurized" and stuff by people like Wilson.

So someone enlighten me, please. I don't understand the concept of buying a cheap foreign made 1911, then spending more money (hundreds?) to turn it into something that bears little or no resemblence to the original.

And why not buy an American made 1911 instead of a cheap imitation? Personally, I won't buy a gun made in China, I don't care what it is.
Click to expand...

The gun unlike so many of todays clones took JMBs spec, or at least the 1911A1, and produced pretty true clone. Today in the good ol USA the manufacturers treat the JMB blueprint spec as more of a suggestion than well a blueprint.

People like the fact that the gun is reasonably true to the 1911A1 in terms of dimension & machining . This makes it easier to customize and you can be more sure of the tolerances of the base gun. This is the same reason people still like Colts for base guns.

The problem is that so many of the US made 1911s diverge from the original. External extractors, different dimensions, firing pin safeties, schwartz safeties etc... The list goes on and on. In the end that Chinese copy is closer to the original than many of the US origin clones.
 
Last edited:
I remember when they were still importing them.

They even had a light weight model that weighed about nothing. I wish that I had picked up one of those. I have never seen one since.
 
I bought a 9mm version in 1994 for $200. I had never owned a 9mm 1911 before. It was reliable, but somewhat more crudely made than my Series 80's Colt of that time. I do recall that it turned orange over a weekend in my truck's center console and I later traded it to a car dealer friend of mine for a tow dolly.
 
Excellent reverse engineered Chinese copy of the 1911. I bought one at at show in Ft Lauderdale in the late 80s/early 90s for (IIRC) $199. I replaced every part, pin and spring, save the barrel and grip screw inserts (actually bought it as a project gun)...I bought a Nowlin drop in kit (hammer, sear, disconnector) at the '96 SHOT Show...wound up having to sell it after my stroke in '02...just one of very many firearms lost after that incident, unfortunately....If I had to do it all over, I'd refinish it with Dura-Blue or Cerakote and have the slide cut for a dovetailed fiber optic sight...
 
Excellent gun....I have one that is still box stock that I use for SASS Wild Bunch. Totally reliable even with questionable reloads. It is flawless with ANY mil-spec .45 acp hardball.

Glad I left it totally alone! At first glance many have thought it was an original Colt 1911A1..............

Randy
 
I've owned two of these -- Excellent performance -- A great buy
 
For someone who isn't going to change out the parts, how does it compare to a Springfield GI equivalent made in Brazil? Mil-Spec.

For a little more, Springfield offers a better gun, and it looks like the best buy along these lines.

I haven't seen a Remington, but read good things about them.
 
Last edited:
The one I have will feed anything. Back when they were imported, they were very reasonable in cost. The last one I saw was in the used case at Gander Mountain for 450.00. I should have bought it.

Supposedly they have a fairly high grade 5000 series steel in them.

They came with chrome lined barrels and occasionally on gun broker you can find barrels that someone swapped out for really good prices. Accuracy is very good with them.

They are definitely keepers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Pawn shops Are Great Places To Shop
2 3
Replies
43
Views
1K
Skeet 028
S
Dump1567
  • Locked
The unavoidable gun fight. Are you confident with your handgun choice?
12 13 14
Replies
262
Views
11K
Tom S.
Tom S.
G
.22 Magnum Handgun
Replies
5
Views
279
guy510tn
G
A
ISO: 686 Stamped “Oakland PD”
Replies
0
Views
192
AgentP
A
P
The Hebrew Hammer
2
Replies
24
Views
1K
Just_Me2
J

Latest posts

Back
Top