My Norinco 1911 (NP29) Experience

My circa 2003 NP29 has been super reliable with all ammo I've run through it including JHPs.

The only thing I don't like are the tiny sights but then again it's not a target pistol.

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My 2011 NP29 was reliable. The magazine follower on both original mags would snag on the magazine tube notch.

2 minutes with a file smoothed out the offending burrs on the follower. I got a couple of Tripp mags for it....flawless mags.

The pistol itself was 100% reliable through a couple hundred of my reloads. Accurate and boringly easy to shoot. Sold it and sad to say, I have not missed it at all.
 
I bought one used a year ago. I suppose it's a recent production with the heavy, ribbed, slide with "combat" sights.

Barrel fitting is a farce, one lug only (barely) engaging the slide. The hood is too short, like usual with the brand, allowing excessive back and forth play and damage to the lug. I won't shoot it again in 9mm until I get that hood welded up and a longer link (barrel/frame might then need some more fitting, I haven't bothered to check).
 
I had one. Ran flawlessly for 500 rounds. Then took it out one day first round and the slide jammed up before the casing was ejected and had to hammer slide shut and ejected the casing by racking the slide. It did that every time after until I got sick of tinkering then sold it. I think it was out of time and barrel lug was binding on the slots on the slide
 
Sounds like the issue I was having. Mine's still at the gunsmith, for the 5th time. I bought a second one and it has been working perfectly, I'm going to bring it to the smooth so he can measure and test different parts to see what the problem is hopefully. I emailed Tenda where I bought the original pistol, no response from them about best course of action.
 
When I got mine I found it took a bit of a shove to seat the mag. It sort of gets sticky halfway in. I tore it down and polished, deburred and lubed everything. It is better but still a bit noticeable. No issues with reliability, just the mag issue.
 
I just fired my recently acquired NP29 and the only thing it did was the thumb button on the mag release unscrewed itself. Other than this issue all was good, the gun was surprising accurate with nothing remarkable to mention. I've applied Loctite to the threads of the thumb button, hopefully this eliminates this problem.
 
elwoodpdowd said:
I just fired my recently acquired NP29 and the only thing it did was the thumb button on the mag release unscrewed itself. Other than this issue all was good, the gun was surprising accurate with nothing remarkable to mention. I've applied Loctite to the threads of the thumb button, hopefully this eliminates this problem.
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I had to do the same thing. I bought 3 NP29s about 4 years ago. All shot poorly. had to replace the barrels. Did not think to slug them.
 
I bought one from bullseye about a year and a half ago. Has shot great, one dud magazine caused stovepipes. Ejector tension was terrible, tweeked it out; fixed.

Have to agree with another poster as this isn't the best pistol for a newby or 1911 beginer. Tuning will be required. I bought it as a foundation for its forged frame /slide.

Ruger, remington, sepharim etc all make good sub $1000 1911's that are worth it. Buy once, cry once.
 
I bought an NP29 from Tenda just a few months ago. Very similar and unpleasant experience with the gun. One stove pipe after another from the day one. Occassional failure to feed with consistent slide refusal to stay open on the last round. Lousy magazines that do not work unlesss disassembled and deburred. Add to this extremely sharp edges and flimsy grips and you get .... a perfect project gun!
I just view it as the glass half full thing and pretty sure this can be turned into a great shooter with some effort. Plus this is a perfect gun to learn the basics of the 1911 kitchen-smithing.
 
I have 2 of the np29 doing the same thing. One has about 3000 rounds threw it and the other more like 10000 threw it. Now I can only get about 2 rounds down and it locks up. Tried different types of ammo, new barrel link, new exreactor and using non stock mags. So now it sits in the safe. The first one sat at our local pro shop for about a year. With excuse after excuse on why they could not fix it. Finally I got mad and just picked it up. Now it sits in the safe.

If there is a smith out there that thinks they could fix them, please pm me.
 
Raymond.Emsley said:
I have 2 of the np29 doing the same thing. One has about 3000 rounds threw it and the other more like 10000 threw it. Now I can only get about 2 rounds down and it locks up. Tried different types of ammo, new barrel link, new exreactor and using non stock mags. So now it sits in the safe. The first one sat at our local pro shop for about a year. With excuse after excuse on why they could not fix it. Finally I got mad and just picked it up. Now it sits in the safe.

If there is a smith out there that thinks they could fix them, please pm me.
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Get ahold of Rodger Kotanko at RK Custom Guns but call around 6pm as he does his work during nights.
http://darkinternational.com/index.php?main_page=privacy&zenid=c6f8eecd737be91155cb047d692657a8
 
9mm 1911s tend to run poorly in general.

But the Norinco one is quite a bit worse than others.

I have seen a few of them where the slide would jam half-way back after a shot.
The spend casing is stuck in the chamber, and the slide is stuck out of battery.

The only way to un-jam it is by hammering a squib-rod down the barrel.
 
"Then I had a serious jam.
The slide locked up with a spent case partially in the chamber and the slide about 1/2" out of battery. Couldn't figure out how to unjam."
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Hammering a brass squib rod down the barrel has been the best solution I've found.
(I always keep one handy)

With the amount of force needed to unjam it; You could really damage the gun by hammering on the outside of it.
 
Dexter Morgan said:
Hammering a brass squib rod down the barrel has been the best solution I've found.
(I always keep one handy)

With the amount of force needed to unjam it; You could really damage the gun by hammering on the outside of it.
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This doesn't sound comforting, I just put the first 200 rounds through it and it performed flawlessly except for the thumb button on the mag release turning itself out and landing in my palm. I have two norincos, np34 and the np29 and at the moment the latter is winning me over. Only wish it was a double stack mag but then the np29 does fit like a glove.
 
This doesn't sound comforting, I just put the first 200 rounds through it and it performed flawlessly except for the thumb button on the mag release turning itself out and landing in my palm. I have two norincos, np34 and the np29 and at the moment the latter is winning me over. Only wish it was a double stack mag but then the np29 does fit like a glove.
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If you got one that doesn't jam, that's great.

The jam I'm talking about seems to show up at least once in 500 rounds or so. I have seen it on multiple NP-29s.

But none of us have figured out what is causing the slide to get stuck like that.
Once you hammer out the stuck case; Everything seems fine on the gun.

You put in a fresh magazine, and it shoots normally again.
 
Mine runs fine, but I have not put a large amount through it, A fellow at the club is shooting a springfield SS 9mm with a supported barrel, and with lead handloads he shots at steel, has a lot of trouble, tight chamber ,
and not good resizing, case sticking in the chamber.
 
Holy #### you guys are crushing my dreams of owning a great working cost effective norinco !

Either y'all are lying or the norinco is really pure #### unless you only shoot 1-200 rounds or strip it and replace almost everything .

Screw it I'm buying a iwi Jericho 941 9mm steel frame burnt bronze
 
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