Norinco NP-34 Review
So my NP-34 finally arrived today!
It took exactly two weeks plus a day from ordering it from Marstar to it being in my hands. Not bad.
Initial observations are positive. It comes in a plastic foam lined case with the foam being pretty much saturated with oil. I guess this is a good thing as these firearms are probably held in storage for long lengths of time and the excess oil helps to keep the rust away. The finish is good... I wouldn't call it excellent or outstanding, but it is definitely worth mentioning given the price. It has a few handling marks here and there but you have to look closely to see them.
I was really impressed with the weight. My only other pistol is an M-93 (Woodsman copy) and I have gotten quite used to its weight and was kind of apprehensive about the weight of a "real" gun. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. It is a lot lighter than it looks. My first thought as I picked it up for the first time was "I didn't know this was made of plastic". Fortunately it is not, rather it has an aluminum frame. That makes for a very light gun.
I bought an extra mag for it as one is never enough. (I know, I know, I should have at least a half dozen more...) I loaded one up to see how easy or hard it will be at the range and I'm guessing they're gonna be a thumb-buster after a dozen or so re-loads. Then I loaded up the second mag and discovered that it only held 8 rounds. Well that ain't right! I took them both apart and it turns out that Norinco bends up a tab from the base of the mag to keep the capacity to 10.
Well, the tab was too long on the second mag so I took it apart and using a dremel, ground off the longer tab to the same length as mag #1. Mag disassembly is quite straightforward: use something pointy to depress the tab in the hole on the bottom of the mag, slide the base off and it all pops out. Do this carefully as it is under spring tension (duh) and if you tried, you might hurt yourself doing it. I can't even say you might lose a piece because as you can see, they're all quite large.
The mags themselves are otherwise built quite nicely with no other problems yet that I've observed. I'll update this statement if I have to after I've been to the range to see how reliably they feed. Here are few pics depicting the double stacking and the last-shot-slide-hold-open-catch ta
Disassembly begins by locking the slide back using either an empty mag to engage the last-shot-slide-hold-open-catch or using your thumb to press it up as you rack the slide back.
Next rotate the disassembly lever down and while holding the slide, release the last-shot-slide-hold-open-catch and slowly guide the slide off the front of the gun.
Carefully depress the recoil spring and take the guide rod out and then the barrel will come out after.
To reassemble, repeat the previous steps in the opposite order. It's really just that simple. But I'm sure all you guys already knew that.
Overall, I'm quite pleased that I decided to buy this gun... I even like the "crappy plastic" grips. Maybe I'd change my mind if I ever got to try out a set of better grips, but for know, I think these will do fine. They seem to fit my hand well and when I raise my arms to aim, the sights line up naturally. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If anyone has any specific questions or would like specific pics, feel free to ask and I will do my best.
Range Report
In a word: snappy. This gun has recoil! Of course this is coming from a guy whose only other pistol is a .22. I have shot 9mm and .45 before, but it was so long ago I don't really have a clear memory of it. However, that being said, I was still surprised the first time I pulled the trigger.
[youtube]R7cRn165Zyc[/youtube]
I guess the fact that this is a rather light gun has a lot to do with the recoil. (imagined or not) I was shooting American Eagle 115 gr FMJ at 1160 fps which I kinda took for being a light load. I'm new to 9mm though so really, I have no idea.
So how did it shoot? I'll get to that in a minute.
I popped off a few dozen .22 rounds with my M-93 to warm up and noticed that I was grouping my shots slightly low and to the right. So I consulted my "pistol correction chart" and concluded that I was tightening my grip while pulling the trigger. I worked on it for a few dozen more shots and managed to move the group up but I was still grouping them to the right. One of the more experienced shooters advised me to simply adjust the rear sight.
You might ask what my .22 shooting performance has to do with the NP-34. Let me tell you.
I ran a few mags through the NP-34 just to get used to the trigger and recoil and then decided to see what I could get for a group. Well, at 25 yards I managed to pull off this:
As you can see the group is about right for elevation (with the exception of a few) but is printing to the left. My previous targets and the ones I would shoot after were all similar with varying, but similar, group sizes. Again I consulted the "pistol correction chart" and decided to use more trigger finger to try to move the group back to the centre, but to no avail.
Now you understand why I went on about the .22 shooting. For those of you who still haven't had your morning coffee, it's to illustrate that the pistols are grouping to opposite sides of the target despite the shooter's best efforts. This is not to lay blame on the pistols or the shooter, just to point out that sometimes, sights need to be adjusted.
So, I think I will go back to the range without adjusting anything and if I get similar results again next time, I will drift the .22 sights slightly to the left and the NP-34 sights slightly to the right.
So back to the target... you'll notice one particularly poorly placed shot in the upper right hand corner. Yeah, that was the first shot, double action of course. I won't show you the DA only target I fired.... yowsers! To say that the DA is stiff is putting it nicely. I imagine that it'll probably work in a little but I don't have high hopes for it. I'll probably dry fire it a lot in DA but until I can get the front sight to stop snapping to the left on the trigger break, I'm not going to waste any more ammo on it. The SA pull is nice. My only complaint is that there is a lot of slack to take up before you reach the breaking point. Is this maybe a lawsuit friendly safety feature...?
As for function, no problems. I fired 70 rounds today with no malfunctions of any kind. So far so good. I know 70 isn't a lot, but from a brand new unfired gun that hasn't been broken in at all, I'd say that is good.
As I said earlier, if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
Matthew
So my NP-34 finally arrived today!
It took exactly two weeks plus a day from ordering it from Marstar to it being in my hands. Not bad.Initial observations are positive. It comes in a plastic foam lined case with the foam being pretty much saturated with oil. I guess this is a good thing as these firearms are probably held in storage for long lengths of time and the excess oil helps to keep the rust away. The finish is good... I wouldn't call it excellent or outstanding, but it is definitely worth mentioning given the price. It has a few handling marks here and there but you have to look closely to see them.
I was really impressed with the weight. My only other pistol is an M-93 (Woodsman copy) and I have gotten quite used to its weight and was kind of apprehensive about the weight of a "real" gun. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. It is a lot lighter than it looks. My first thought as I picked it up for the first time was "I didn't know this was made of plastic". Fortunately it is not, rather it has an aluminum frame. That makes for a very light gun.
I bought an extra mag for it as one is never enough. (I know, I know, I should have at least a half dozen more...) I loaded one up to see how easy or hard it will be at the range and I'm guessing they're gonna be a thumb-buster after a dozen or so re-loads. Then I loaded up the second mag and discovered that it only held 8 rounds. Well that ain't right! I took them both apart and it turns out that Norinco bends up a tab from the base of the mag to keep the capacity to 10.
Well, the tab was too long on the second mag so I took it apart and using a dremel, ground off the longer tab to the same length as mag #1. Mag disassembly is quite straightforward: use something pointy to depress the tab in the hole on the bottom of the mag, slide the base off and it all pops out. Do this carefully as it is under spring tension (duh) and if you tried, you might hurt yourself doing it. I can't even say you might lose a piece because as you can see, they're all quite large.
The mags themselves are otherwise built quite nicely with no other problems yet that I've observed. I'll update this statement if I have to after I've been to the range to see how reliably they feed. Here are few pics depicting the double stacking and the last-shot-slide-hold-open-catch ta
Disassembly begins by locking the slide back using either an empty mag to engage the last-shot-slide-hold-open-catch or using your thumb to press it up as you rack the slide back.
Next rotate the disassembly lever down and while holding the slide, release the last-shot-slide-hold-open-catch and slowly guide the slide off the front of the gun.
Carefully depress the recoil spring and take the guide rod out and then the barrel will come out after.
To reassemble, repeat the previous steps in the opposite order. It's really just that simple. But I'm sure all you guys already knew that.
Overall, I'm quite pleased that I decided to buy this gun... I even like the "crappy plastic" grips. Maybe I'd change my mind if I ever got to try out a set of better grips, but for know, I think these will do fine. They seem to fit my hand well and when I raise my arms to aim, the sights line up naturally. I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
If anyone has any specific questions or would like specific pics, feel free to ask and I will do my best.
Range Report
In a word: snappy. This gun has recoil! Of course this is coming from a guy whose only other pistol is a .22. I have shot 9mm and .45 before, but it was so long ago I don't really have a clear memory of it. However, that being said, I was still surprised the first time I pulled the trigger.
[youtube]R7cRn165Zyc[/youtube]
I guess the fact that this is a rather light gun has a lot to do with the recoil. (imagined or not) I was shooting American Eagle 115 gr FMJ at 1160 fps which I kinda took for being a light load. I'm new to 9mm though so really, I have no idea.
So how did it shoot? I'll get to that in a minute.
I popped off a few dozen .22 rounds with my M-93 to warm up and noticed that I was grouping my shots slightly low and to the right. So I consulted my "pistol correction chart" and concluded that I was tightening my grip while pulling the trigger. I worked on it for a few dozen more shots and managed to move the group up but I was still grouping them to the right. One of the more experienced shooters advised me to simply adjust the rear sight.
You might ask what my .22 shooting performance has to do with the NP-34. Let me tell you.
I ran a few mags through the NP-34 just to get used to the trigger and recoil and then decided to see what I could get for a group. Well, at 25 yards I managed to pull off this:
As you can see the group is about right for elevation (with the exception of a few) but is printing to the left. My previous targets and the ones I would shoot after were all similar with varying, but similar, group sizes. Again I consulted the "pistol correction chart" and decided to use more trigger finger to try to move the group back to the centre, but to no avail.
Now you understand why I went on about the .22 shooting. For those of you who still haven't had your morning coffee, it's to illustrate that the pistols are grouping to opposite sides of the target despite the shooter's best efforts. This is not to lay blame on the pistols or the shooter, just to point out that sometimes, sights need to be adjusted.
So, I think I will go back to the range without adjusting anything and if I get similar results again next time, I will drift the .22 sights slightly to the left and the NP-34 sights slightly to the right.
So back to the target... you'll notice one particularly poorly placed shot in the upper right hand corner. Yeah, that was the first shot, double action of course. I won't show you the DA only target I fired.... yowsers! To say that the DA is stiff is putting it nicely. I imagine that it'll probably work in a little but I don't have high hopes for it. I'll probably dry fire it a lot in DA but until I can get the front sight to stop snapping to the left on the trigger break, I'm not going to waste any more ammo on it. The SA pull is nice. My only complaint is that there is a lot of slack to take up before you reach the breaking point. Is this maybe a lawsuit friendly safety feature...?
As for function, no problems. I fired 70 rounds today with no malfunctions of any kind. So far so good. I know 70 isn't a lot, but from a brand new unfired gun that hasn't been broken in at all, I'd say that is good.
As I said earlier, if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer.
Matthew
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