My wife recently decided, with some trepidation, to buy her first handgun. She's not (yet) a dedicated gun nut, so price was a factor.
I sat by her elbow giving moral support while she called Marstar. A couple of weeks later the parcel arrived.
The box features a big blue eagle with graphic cues suggesting about 1950, very appropriate for a retro design. The gun was well coated in grease, but it cleaned up nicely after a few minutes with some rags and solvent.
The first thing you notice about the M93 is its size - it is tiny. It's a clone of the Colt Woodsman, and it resembles a three quarter scale Luger. It is also very light and the raked grip is small. These are advantages to it's new owner, since she hates heavy guns and has a small hand.
The second noticeable thing is the finish. Like a lot of recent Norinco products it's better than you expect. The dark "blueing" is even, there are no nasty sharp edges (though some care is required with the slide release) and the plastic checkered grips offer a firm hold. The slide can also be easily pulled with a finger and thumb, another thing my wife likes.
Today we took it out to the range for a live fire test. The first results were not encouraging. She loaded the 10-round mag with Winchester 333 and every other round failed to eject. However, after switching to Federal Champion Target SV it was smooth sailing. The little pistol loved that ammo and went through 6 or 7 more mags without a hiccup. I don't know how closely the M93 resembles the Woodsman mechanically. It may be that this design prefers SV, which was all that was available when the Colt was originally made. Next time we'll try some other HV just to see what happens. (The mags, by the way, have a sturdy follower button and are very easy to load.)
It's hard to evaluate accuracy from today's results. Firing from a sand bag she put most of the rounds inside an 8 inch bull at 15 yards and got a couple of 2 inch 5 shot groups. At 25 yards they were at least on the paper. She's not very familiar with iron sights or with pistols, so I think this was OK for a novice.
I'd have to say that the M93 is not a bad choice for a first handgun, especially for someone with small hands and a limited budget. It's well balanced, seems to be well made, operates easily and works well with the right ammo. The trigger is surprisingly good and the slide locks open on the last shot. There are not many semi-auto .22s that offer these features for $150.
I sat by her elbow giving moral support while she called Marstar. A couple of weeks later the parcel arrived.
The box features a big blue eagle with graphic cues suggesting about 1950, very appropriate for a retro design. The gun was well coated in grease, but it cleaned up nicely after a few minutes with some rags and solvent.
The first thing you notice about the M93 is its size - it is tiny. It's a clone of the Colt Woodsman, and it resembles a three quarter scale Luger. It is also very light and the raked grip is small. These are advantages to it's new owner, since she hates heavy guns and has a small hand.
The second noticeable thing is the finish. Like a lot of recent Norinco products it's better than you expect. The dark "blueing" is even, there are no nasty sharp edges (though some care is required with the slide release) and the plastic checkered grips offer a firm hold. The slide can also be easily pulled with a finger and thumb, another thing my wife likes.
Today we took it out to the range for a live fire test. The first results were not encouraging. She loaded the 10-round mag with Winchester 333 and every other round failed to eject. However, after switching to Federal Champion Target SV it was smooth sailing. The little pistol loved that ammo and went through 6 or 7 more mags without a hiccup. I don't know how closely the M93 resembles the Woodsman mechanically. It may be that this design prefers SV, which was all that was available when the Colt was originally made. Next time we'll try some other HV just to see what happens. (The mags, by the way, have a sturdy follower button and are very easy to load.)
It's hard to evaluate accuracy from today's results. Firing from a sand bag she put most of the rounds inside an 8 inch bull at 15 yards and got a couple of 2 inch 5 shot groups. At 25 yards they were at least on the paper. She's not very familiar with iron sights or with pistols, so I think this was OK for a novice.
I'd have to say that the M93 is not a bad choice for a first handgun, especially for someone with small hands and a limited budget. It's well balanced, seems to be well made, operates easily and works well with the right ammo. The trigger is surprisingly good and the slide locks open on the last shot. There are not many semi-auto .22s that offer these features for $150.
