Yeah, I did it again. Just unpacked a box from Tenda containing one of their new short-barrelled bolt .22's. This whole category of rifles is one that I find strangely appealing; they're cheap, and they can have considerable charm if their combination of warts and beauty marks happens to average out well for you.
In this case, the NorthernRim CB22 immediately called to mind the Scorpio shortie that I had back about a year ago, when they were a topic of considerable discussion on MFK. Like the Scorpio, the NorthernRim is made in China. Like the Scorpio, I find the stock on the NorthernRim to be very ergonomic and comfortable, but in this case it's also pretty nice to look at as well. It's not walnut, not sure of the wood species, but it is well-shaped, very decently finished and equipped with several panels of very serviceable checkering done by robots or lasers or robots using lasers. There's a nice rubber butt pad, well-fitted and more substantial than those found on many centerfire rifles. Overall, the stock is one of the nicest things about this gun; it is absolutely the nicest wood stock I have encountered on any wood-stocked Chinese rifle I have owned or handled. I almost ordered the synthetic version when the wood ones sold out immediately, but now I am very pleased that I waited long enough for the wood ones to re-stock before I ordered.
The gun comes with a couple of clear-plastic 10-round rotary mags of 10/22-pattern. I tried these mags in a 10/22 and also used the OEM Ruger mags in this rifle; all combinations functioned perfectly. This is, IMHO, a big improvement over the mag choices on some of the other recent Chinese .22's that use Anschutz- or CZ-clone magazines...but that's partially because I have a bunch more 10/22 mags myself already...and partially because I just like flush-fit magazines.
The bolt action is pretty rough and gritty; I think it's considerably worse than the Scorpio was right out of the box, but can't be sure since that gun went down the road months ago so I can't compare directly. I'm sure that a bunch of cycling, perhaps with some super-fine abrasive, will smooth this gun out. I experienced zero failures to feed, fire, extract or eject through just over 100 rounds fired, even when experimenting with somewhat feeble and gentle manipulation of the bolt. The Scorpio, in contrast, failed to feed with regularity until you got to know how to manhandle it. But cheap guns just encourage bolt manipulation done in an aggressive manner.
The trigger is...a trigger. The actual trigger release is not really what you'd call crisp, but the trigger action leading up to the release is definitely down-right crunchy. Usually, the roughness leads to an audible and tactile click that could perhaps be described as the take-up of a two-stage. After that point, a bit more grinding and crunching eventually gets one to the trigger release itself. But sometimes the crunchiness is extra-pronounced and seems to by-pass the two-stage process and proceeds right to the the release. It's great fun trying to guess which trigger pull you'll get each time, keeps you on your toes. In contrast, the Scorpio that I had was actually much less crunchy...is that the correct terminology?...but it was also weird and spongy and creepy. I think that the NorthernRim trigger will smooth out with use and maybe a bit of cautious polishing, and has the potential to be far superior...but only time will tell.
Metal finish is okay, although IIRC the Scorpio was a bit more polished. Wood-to-metal fit is much better than I expected on the NorthernRim. The receiver is grooved for standard rimfire rings, but like other Chinese guns this one has a fairly pronounced rounded top on the receiver; you'll need rings that are concave on the bottom to accommodate this. Or you can use the Picatinny rail section that the gun comes with; this is a huge improvement over the idiotic gizmo that came with the Scorpio. This rail is simply screwed with a couple of substantial fasteners to the d&t'ed holes in the top of the receiver. I didn't use it at all; as with the Scorpio, I just used a pair of dovetail rings by Millett from out of my stash of assorted accumulated junk. Doing so keeps the scope nice and low, as I want it, and I don't need the optics mount on a cheap .22 plinker to be able to withstand tremendous stress and strain so I much prefer the lighter, cleaner install provided by quality .22 rings.
Both guns were fired using very low-powered straight-tube scopes. At 50 yards, I don't feel that these handicapped me very much, shooting at 3-inch bulls. In both cases, mounting a bulbous target-oriented scope would help a bit, but IMHO guns like these call for small, lightweight, short scopes that produce a more balanced handling package than a big target scope with a little rifle bolted underneath it. I won't ever be spending hours of range time to test out every ammo on the market to find that last tiny bit of accuracy, and I sure as hell won't be feeding premium or ultra-premium target ammo through this rifle.
Accuracy? Hmm, not really fair to comment yet as all I have used in it is an assortment of leftovers and tail ends of boxes of a wide range of .22 ammo. It was really just an attempt to see how the gun feeds, fires, extracts and ejects, and it did all those things flawlessly with everything I tried in it. It ejects empties nicely about 5 - 6 feet to the side, instead of barely dropping them at my feet as the Scorpio did. It was easy to see the individual holes through the spotting scope, since none of them were very close to each other.
But, again, I was using what essentially amounted to mixed handfulls of different brands, velocities and bullet weights, so I will withhold judgment on it for now. Group sizes varied from 2" to 4" at 50 yards. I remain hopeful.
So, in some ways this gun is better than the Scorpio, in some ways it's worse...and in general, the two guns are very similar even if they look entirely different. They are both very inexpensive, they seem reasonably well made, and I believe that both can be improved dramatically from their as-delivered condition. They're both a bit of a PITA to scope; sadly, I suspect that most folks will be forced to use the Pic rails simply because they won't have access to one of the few brands/models of rimfire rings that will fit the curved receiver.
Both guns have their strengths and weaknesses, and selecting one over the other will of course be a matter of personal taste. And Chinese guns being what they are, it's important to bear in mind that this is a comparison between single samples; there's likely to be a fair bit of variation from one specimen to the next.
My preference? Neither! IMHO, the crown for "best of the cheapest" goes to the Chiappa Bootleg whatchamacallit lever gun; I am enjoying mine so much that I will be getting a full-size buttstock for it which will bulk it up a bit but make it easier to shoot. That little gun has exhibited perfect performance since day one, reasonable accuracy, surprisingly nice trigger feel...and it's a levergun! But I like bolt guns as well and I hope the NorthernRim comes to live here permanently.
In this case, the NorthernRim CB22 immediately called to mind the Scorpio shortie that I had back about a year ago, when they were a topic of considerable discussion on MFK. Like the Scorpio, the NorthernRim is made in China. Like the Scorpio, I find the stock on the NorthernRim to be very ergonomic and comfortable, but in this case it's also pretty nice to look at as well. It's not walnut, not sure of the wood species, but it is well-shaped, very decently finished and equipped with several panels of very serviceable checkering done by robots or lasers or robots using lasers. There's a nice rubber butt pad, well-fitted and more substantial than those found on many centerfire rifles. Overall, the stock is one of the nicest things about this gun; it is absolutely the nicest wood stock I have encountered on any wood-stocked Chinese rifle I have owned or handled. I almost ordered the synthetic version when the wood ones sold out immediately, but now I am very pleased that I waited long enough for the wood ones to re-stock before I ordered.
The gun comes with a couple of clear-plastic 10-round rotary mags of 10/22-pattern. I tried these mags in a 10/22 and also used the OEM Ruger mags in this rifle; all combinations functioned perfectly. This is, IMHO, a big improvement over the mag choices on some of the other recent Chinese .22's that use Anschutz- or CZ-clone magazines...but that's partially because I have a bunch more 10/22 mags myself already...and partially because I just like flush-fit magazines.
The bolt action is pretty rough and gritty; I think it's considerably worse than the Scorpio was right out of the box, but can't be sure since that gun went down the road months ago so I can't compare directly. I'm sure that a bunch of cycling, perhaps with some super-fine abrasive, will smooth this gun out. I experienced zero failures to feed, fire, extract or eject through just over 100 rounds fired, even when experimenting with somewhat feeble and gentle manipulation of the bolt. The Scorpio, in contrast, failed to feed with regularity until you got to know how to manhandle it. But cheap guns just encourage bolt manipulation done in an aggressive manner.
The trigger is...a trigger. The actual trigger release is not really what you'd call crisp, but the trigger action leading up to the release is definitely down-right crunchy. Usually, the roughness leads to an audible and tactile click that could perhaps be described as the take-up of a two-stage. After that point, a bit more grinding and crunching eventually gets one to the trigger release itself. But sometimes the crunchiness is extra-pronounced and seems to by-pass the two-stage process and proceeds right to the the release. It's great fun trying to guess which trigger pull you'll get each time, keeps you on your toes. In contrast, the Scorpio that I had was actually much less crunchy...is that the correct terminology?...but it was also weird and spongy and creepy. I think that the NorthernRim trigger will smooth out with use and maybe a bit of cautious polishing, and has the potential to be far superior...but only time will tell.
Metal finish is okay, although IIRC the Scorpio was a bit more polished. Wood-to-metal fit is much better than I expected on the NorthernRim. The receiver is grooved for standard rimfire rings, but like other Chinese guns this one has a fairly pronounced rounded top on the receiver; you'll need rings that are concave on the bottom to accommodate this. Or you can use the Picatinny rail section that the gun comes with; this is a huge improvement over the idiotic gizmo that came with the Scorpio. This rail is simply screwed with a couple of substantial fasteners to the d&t'ed holes in the top of the receiver. I didn't use it at all; as with the Scorpio, I just used a pair of dovetail rings by Millett from out of my stash of assorted accumulated junk. Doing so keeps the scope nice and low, as I want it, and I don't need the optics mount on a cheap .22 plinker to be able to withstand tremendous stress and strain so I much prefer the lighter, cleaner install provided by quality .22 rings.
Both guns were fired using very low-powered straight-tube scopes. At 50 yards, I don't feel that these handicapped me very much, shooting at 3-inch bulls. In both cases, mounting a bulbous target-oriented scope would help a bit, but IMHO guns like these call for small, lightweight, short scopes that produce a more balanced handling package than a big target scope with a little rifle bolted underneath it. I won't ever be spending hours of range time to test out every ammo on the market to find that last tiny bit of accuracy, and I sure as hell won't be feeding premium or ultra-premium target ammo through this rifle.
Accuracy? Hmm, not really fair to comment yet as all I have used in it is an assortment of leftovers and tail ends of boxes of a wide range of .22 ammo. It was really just an attempt to see how the gun feeds, fires, extracts and ejects, and it did all those things flawlessly with everything I tried in it. It ejects empties nicely about 5 - 6 feet to the side, instead of barely dropping them at my feet as the Scorpio did. It was easy to see the individual holes through the spotting scope, since none of them were very close to each other.
But, again, I was using what essentially amounted to mixed handfulls of different brands, velocities and bullet weights, so I will withhold judgment on it for now. Group sizes varied from 2" to 4" at 50 yards. I remain hopeful.So, in some ways this gun is better than the Scorpio, in some ways it's worse...and in general, the two guns are very similar even if they look entirely different. They are both very inexpensive, they seem reasonably well made, and I believe that both can be improved dramatically from their as-delivered condition. They're both a bit of a PITA to scope; sadly, I suspect that most folks will be forced to use the Pic rails simply because they won't have access to one of the few brands/models of rimfire rings that will fit the curved receiver.
Both guns have their strengths and weaknesses, and selecting one over the other will of course be a matter of personal taste. And Chinese guns being what they are, it's important to bear in mind that this is a comparison between single samples; there's likely to be a fair bit of variation from one specimen to the next.
My preference? Neither! IMHO, the crown for "best of the cheapest" goes to the Chiappa Bootleg whatchamacallit lever gun; I am enjoying mine so much that I will be getting a full-size buttstock for it which will bulk it up a bit but make it easier to shoot. That little gun has exhibited perfect performance since day one, reasonable accuracy, surprisingly nice trigger feel...and it's a levergun! But I like bolt guns as well and I hope the NorthernRim comes to live here permanently.
