Scorpio EM332A Bolt Action Rifle .22lr

Just can't place it but that stock looks remarkably similar to an earlier Norinco offering...I'm looking forward to seeing some reviews on them...
 
The local Canadian Tire just got a lot of these Scorpio .22LRs in, I really like the feel of it. I'll go back and buy one after reading most of this thread. The gun guys there didn't know anything about them and they are listed at $199. I got a semi-auto Mossberg PLinkster for around the same price, and this bolt action Scorpio feels much more solid. The sales guys said they hadn't sold one yet - I may be the first one to pick one up here.
 
I was happy with mine at ~$230, at $199 I'd say they are a great buy. I was able to do a slight modification to one of my Scorpio mags and get it to work reliably in one of my NS522's. But, for some reason, that mag doesn't feed in my other NS522. Perhaps a bit more filing of the front of that mag would sort it out, but I haven't bothered with it yet.

On that note, how many mags come with the Scorpio's at your CanTire?

Oh, and if you're wondering about reliability & accuracy: Mine runs flawless and with open sites it's as accurate as any of my other 22's with open sites. The small size and weight make it really handy when bringing it up to my shoulder quickly and banging off rounds. I do intend to scope it at some point and go for groups to compare against my other 22's, but I'm focusing on other shooting fun for now.


northerndad said:
The local Canadian Tire just got a lot of these Scorpio .22LRs in, I really like the feel of it. I'll go back and buy one after reading most of this thread. The gun guys there didn't know anything about them and they are listed at $199. I got a semi-auto Mossberg PLinkster for around the same price, and this bolt action Scorpio feels much more solid. The sales guys said they hadn't sold one yet - I may be the first one to pick one up here.
Click to expand...
 
grox6 said:
I was happy with mine at ~$230, at $199 I'd say they are a great buy.
On that note, how many mags come with the Scorpio's at your CanTire?
Click to expand...

Update/ Edit: Bought this gun on Friday, finally went and shot it today with my son. Shot alongside the Mossberg 702 Plinkster that I bought for the same price a couple months ago. Quite different .22s but same price, so ok to compare.
I believe I was the first one to buy the gun. Disclaimer - I'm a new shooter. Hence I lean towards cheaper guns as I'm learning.
It comes with 1 mag and I asked them to order some more mags. The guys behind the counter know a ton about guns but this one is new to them. I informed them that it may be Norinco or Norinco parts and they immediately got a lot more excited by it. I told them I'll be reporting back.
Compared to the Mossberg this Scorpio is longer and much heavier - in the right places. The fit and finish is underwhelming, but it was well oiled and everything worked out of the box. I used a laser bore sight and the factory iron sights were already dialed in (the Mossberg wasn't). I was surprised when I was able to hit a life-sized grouse target at 10, 20, 30 yards first shot with the open sights. I was shooting with older Fed lead 40 grain ammo. To compare, it took a while to get the mossberg on paper, and then many more rounds to get the sights properly dialed in. Not needed at all for this gun!
After shooting it a few times I was very, very impressed with the accuracy and reliability. I want to go buy another one! It also begs for a .22 scope for those 30+ yard targets.
Pros:
- Heavy in the right places
- Bolt action!
- Shoots straight
- Trigger seems about right for the price
- Looks nice
- Already has mounts for straps on stock
Cons:
- Some rough fit and finish/ machining in the bolt and action
- Dovetail mount is rounded rather than flat
- You'll probably want to buy another one for 'spare parts' or 'the kids'
I have some pictures I may post later. We only had 1 hr to shoot today, will go again tomorrow with a bit more time.
 
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What make/model of scope did you mount? (I couldn't identify it in the pics)

northerndad said:
Hi everyone here's some pix of our scorpio .22. Just mounted a scope and am going to go try it out. After our last shoot the scorpio has become the kids new favourite .22. They love the pistol grip - I'm guessing easier trigger pulls, and they both prefer the feel of it. Will see how they do with the scope once I have it sighted in.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1KjqiMRYtAha1hwMnhHZ0pvZkU
Click to expand...
 
Hi Everyone,

Just added some pix of the paper from sighting the gun in last night. We were very happy with the iron sights - and we could hit targets at 10,20, and 30 no problem with iron - but want to try improving accuracy with a scope.

It was a very fast process, and I used some inexpensive Remington .22 golden bullet rounds. I had some Fed rounds that shot straighter. The remington shoots a fair bit lower, but I bought a bunch on sale and it's mostly for plinking so that's what I used.

Once sighted in the gun shot accurately at 30 yards, and the kids shot targets at 10, 20, 30 yards. You can see from the pics that at 20 yards the group is nice and tight, and then at 30 it spreads a but but is still within the target - as I told the boys, that grouse be dead. So, we're still happy with the scorpio 22.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1KjqiMRYtAha1hwMnhHZ0pvZkU
 
I have a few buckets of the Golden Bullets(Like you, I couldn't pass up the price) that I also use for plinking. But, if I was heading out looking for grouse I wouldn't risk the opportunity on the Golden Bullet ammo as your Scorpio can do a lot better with just slightly more expensive ammo: Based on testing I've done I'd expect your Scorpio to get much tighter groups with CCI Standard Velocity ammo and other relatively inexpensive CCI .22 ammo.

I currently have a Scorpio like yours along with an Anschutz MPR & 1416D Hunter, two NS522's, an older & a newer Savage Mk2, Mossberg Plinkster, standard 10/22 & a takedown 10/22, Lil Badger, and a TacSol X-Ring: The Remington Golden Bullet ammo gets >6" sized groups at 50meters(regular flyers, sometimes way worse than 6") out of all of those .22's while in my higher end .22's the CCI SV tops out at a best of ~1/2inch at 50m and consistently around 1" @50m(Scopes, bench rest & sandbags). A few weeks ago with my TacSol I was getting dime sized groups at 25m using CCI SV while the GB's couldn't do better than 4" @25m.

To be transparent, I haven't mounted a scope on my Scorpio yet. But, on my initial outing with my Scorpio I did compare CCI SV, CCI subsonic HP, Federal Bulk, Fiocchi Standard and Remington GB's(I didn't use any Ely or RWS given the open sites). While I don't recall the specific group sizes, I do recall that there was a dramatic difference between the CCI and GB's(open sites off of bench and sandbag).


Anyway, I suspect that your scoped Scorpio could take grouse at 50m using CCI SV that you might miss at 25m using GB's.

northerndad said:
Hi Everyone,

Just added some pix of the paper from sighting the gun in last night. We were very happy with the iron sights - and we could hit targets at 10,20, and 30 no problem with iron - but want to try improving accuracy with a scope.

It was a very fast process, and I used some inexpensive Remington .22 golden bullet rounds. I had some Fed rounds that shot straighter. The remington shoots a fair bit lower, but I bought a bunch on sale and it's mostly for plinking so that's what I used.

Once sighted in the gun shot accurately at 30 yards, and the kids shot targets at 10, 20, 30 yards. You can see from the pics that at 20 yards the group is nice and tight, and then at 30 it spreads a but but is still within the target - as I told the boys, that grouse be dead. So, we're still happy with the scorpio 22.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1KjqiMRYtAha1hwMnhHZ0pvZkU
Click to expand...
 
grox6 said:
your Scorpio can do a lot better with just slightly more expensive ammo: Based on testing I've done I'd expect your Scorpio to get much tighter groups with CCI Standard Velocity ammo and other relatively inexpensive CCI .22 ammo.
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks for the tip and the info. Good stuff. I interchanged firing the federal ammo with the GB and the difference was remarkable - the GBs we landing a full 3-4" lower at 20 yards than the federal. Both same 40 grain bullet. On the upside for us we'd rarely shoot a grouse more than 20-30 yards - lots of trails and brush and they tend to be at almost reach-out-and-grab-em range.

Having said that good ammo would be nice, so maybe I will re-0 the scope with some good ammo and relegate the GBs to the 702 plinkster.
 
I shortened the stock on our scorpio by 1.5" the other day (retained the stock buttplate) to shorten the length of pull for the kids. It was quite easy to shorten and now the gun is much better for the kids to shoot. I got a small recoil pad to add the length back on for me.
 
Quote "How does this compare to a cz455? " At 1/3 the price and at least 2/3 the quality,
Norinco's always shoot well for their price.Not target quality but grins on your face quality. I'm sure they could humble some far more expensive guns including most 10-22's.
 
Guys,

I have an older EM322 that is missing the rear sight slide. It appears the EM322a has the exact same sight. Does anyone know where I can get this part?

Help!!!!
 
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