Norinco rifle quality

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MartyK2500

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My next purchase is to be an m14 and i am in no rush to buy one. So far i have only bought premium brand firearms because i do not wish to have unreliable/innacurate ones, that have to be sold cheaply afterwards because they aren't worth much. That's why i was saving up for the springfield armory one.

Norinco sure has a price point that is making me think twice.
Would i be dissapointed by norinco? How reliable are they? Is there a noticeable difference in accuracy between the short and long ones?
 
There has been sooooo much discussion of the Chinese M-14s here.
I you really want a SA, save your sheckels and get one.
Otherwise, get the Norinco, work out any bugs (if it has any, many are great right out of the box) and have a good rifle for way less than the price of the SA. Put the money you save into ammunition, range time, or wine, women and song.
 
tiriaq said:
There has been sooooo much discussion of the Chinese M-14s here.
I you really want a SA, save your sheckels and get one.
Otherwise, get the Norinco, work out any bugs (if it has any, many are great right out of the box) and have a good rifle for way less than the price of the SA. Put the money you save into ammunition, range time, or wine, women and song.
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Yeah you are right, all these discussions here about Norcs i could check the forums a bit more. I bet there is at least 1 thread with an in depth comparisson between the Norcs and the SA?

If anyonme owns both a norc and an svt40, wich one is more accurate? That would give me a pretty good idea since i currently shoot my svt a lot (and currently group 6to8 inches prone, open sight, 100 yards)
 
My norc will consistently shoot 3 inch groups or less at 100 off bags using open sights and box federal ammo.

If you don't mind tinkering a bit the norinco m305's are great the work on. If your able to attend an m14 clinic, and can upgrade a few components such as the op rod, spring, possibly the sights and for me the flash hider and stock to USGI components you will now have a package that will preform as well as a Springfield for under $1000. They are such a fantastic platform to work on that pretty much all of the work can be done at home just from reading the stickies on this forum.

After having built one norc up, if I had the money to buy a Springfield, I would just buy another norinco and custom build a short barreled version.
 
Buzzballer said:
My norc will consistently shoot 3 inch groups or less at 100 off bags using open sights and box federal ammo.

If you don't mind tinkering a bit the norinco m305's are great the work on. If your able to attend an m14 clinic, and can upgrade a few components such as the op rod, spring, possibly the sights and for me the flash hider and stock to USGI components you will now have a package that will preform as well as a Springfield for under $1000. They are such a fantastic platform to work on that pretty much all of the work can be done at home just from reading the stickies on this forum.

After having built one norc up, if I had the money to buy a Springfield, I would just buy another norinco and custom build a short barreled version.
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Thanks for the good advice, yes i saw stickies do share knowledge on upgrading norcs, but was still unsure wich platform to start off with between norc and SA. Wich one would you chose for accuracy, long or short one?

I am guessing long is always better, but my target is usually at 100 yds, there is a 200 yds one at the range tho, never tried it open sight.
 
Having never shot a Springfield, I would imagine that they would shoot a little better out of the box, but you pay for that. With either rifle you would increase your reliability and accuracy by upgrading to USGI components or aftermarket parts with tighter tolerances. Then if you reload for your rifle you will be really able to unlock the accuracy of your rifle.

I am not sure what stock the SA comes with, but the Norc ones are cheap plastic or wood. Ether or slap on a USGI wood or Fiberglass stock, bed it properly and both rifles are easily capable of engaging targets out to 200 yards. *rember guys in afganistand and Iraq are using this platform as a Squad marksman and they will make shots out past 700 yards.* If you want a tac driver buy a Remington 700, if you want a really cool semi auto rifle buy an m14.

I would guess that in buying a SA rifle you have a better chance of getting a rifle that is in great working order out of the box. But you pay for that. With a norc you have the option of taking it back and exchanging it for another one from the store if the first one has any problems.

The last point I will say because for me it is a big deal, if you watch the EE you will see that most of the norc m14's that come up for sale, with some upgraded parts will sell for around or under $1000 and they sell very quickly. Any SA rifles I have seen for sale with some work done to them usually go for in the $2000 range and it takes them much longer for them to sell and the owners usually have to trade or drop the price on them. There seems to be a much better market for used m305's then there is for used SA 14's. Not to say your going to sell it, but if you do what type of market do you want to deal with.

That's all just my thoughts, YMMV
 
Yeah you're not learning me anything there. The follower on my svt40 is ground, so when last round ejects the bolt closes. I have to manually push pin up with slide open and mag out for the action to stay open.

Reading around here and there pretty much convinced me getting a norc. The resale value is good, so worst case scenario i buy norc and put plenty round thru it, resell and get SA later.

One last thing, is there a noticeable accuracy difference between the short and long version?
 
MartyK2500 said:
My next purchase is to be an m14 and i am in no rush to buy one. So far i have only bought premium brand firearms because i do not wish to have unreliable/innacurate ones, that have to be sold cheaply afterwards because they aren't worth much. That's why i was saving up for the springfield armory one.

Norinco sure has a price point that is making me think twice.
Would i be dissapointed by norinco? How reliable are they? Is there a noticeable difference in accuracy between the short and long ones?
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I bought a norc and sold it 4 months later for a Springfield.
 
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shooterman said:
I bought a norc and sold it 4 months later for a Springfield. There is no comparison between them as far as fit and finish. Everything on the M1A is machined to the "T" with no tool marks or rough edges. The parkerizing was much better as well. Everything about it spelled quality. Even headspace is measured during final inspection. Definately worth saving for and its made by people that speak english.......
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Are you sure about that? Are you assuming that all parts are made in the US of A?
As far as QC goes, I just installed a US GI barrel on a SA receiver, along with a TRW bolt for a friend.
Did the same job on a Norinco receiver, USGI barrel, TRW bolt for another friend.
Guess what? The USGI parts went right on to the Chinese receiver, the barrel indexing, and the headspace bang on.
Not so much with the SA; the barrel wouldn't index without lathe adjustment, and the lugs had to be lapped to get headspace.
The SA receiver did have nicer Park, though.
 
MartyK2500 said:
Yeah you are right, all these discussions here about Norcs i could check the forums a bit more. I bet there is at least 1 thread with an in depth comparisson between the Norcs and the SA?

If anyonme owns both a norc and an svt40, wich one is more accurate? That would give me a pretty good idea since i currently shoot my svt a lot (and currently group 6to8 inches prone, open sight, 100 yards)
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IMO the M14s i have shot seem to be a bit more accurate than the SVTs i have used, though not by much. And it may just be the case that I end up shooting the M14 more so I end up being more accustomed to it hence more accurate. Both are really fun rifles.
 
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Sounds good, i like hearing advice from both sides. So far my safe only has 5 firearms, and so far only premium brands have been bought.

Anyone here stocking SA M1A's? So it gives me a pricing idea. I especially like the wooden ones.
 
MartyK2500 said:
Sounds good, i like hearing advice from both sides. So far my safe only has 5 firearms, and so far only premium brands have been bought.

Anyone here stocking SA M1A's? So it gives me a pricing idea. I especially like the wooden ones.
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P & D Enterprises has one in stock for $ 1899.00. I have bought from them and they are good to deal with.
 
MartyK2500 said:
Sounds good, i like hearing advice from both sides. So far my safe only has 5 firearms, and so far only premium brands have been bought.

Anyone here stocking SA M1A's? So it gives me a pricing idea. I especially like the wooden ones.
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Williams Arms in Port Perry , Ont also has one for $ 1895.00. Shipping would be a lot less to Que. as well
 
shooterman said:
Definately worth saving for and its made by people that speak english.......
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I wouldn't use that as a argument in persuading some one to buy a rifle.. First off welcome to the 21st century and secondly every heard of A Avtomat Kalashnikova - 47. Or possibly a Fabrique Nationale de Herstal - Fusil Automatique Léger. Two of the worlds most robust and reliable battle rifles, both from non English speaking countries.


Too the question about accuracy of the short barrel vs the longer one. This has been discussed a few times on here. With the shorter barrel there is a loss in velocity, but I don't believe it is enough to adversely effect the accuracy.

If your dieing for a super accurate m14, you should look at putting on a heavy contoured barrel, and a TRW bolt. I think in the end It really depends what you want, do you have the spare money and want a rifle that will probably be a little pretty out of the box. Or buy a less expensive rifle with conpairable metallurgy and the ability to be built in to a rifle which is as good as the SA but you get to custom build it your self, with the components you choose.
 
To be honest accuracy is a big issue. I have my share of "fun guns" in my safe, and now wish for something really accurate. I expect of my next rifle to be really accurate, it will outperform my capacities for sure. So my progress could be accuratly monitored. Exterior looks are not as important. I have always wanted a match grade m16 lenght ar15, but the non restricted status of the m14 keeps my interest alive for this rifle.
 
For sure accuracy comes with practice. But firearms have their limits, and i wish to buy something that will take years to attain it's limits. Just take a look at my russian rifles, it's been weeks now that my sks gets 8-9 inch grouping at 80yds, but my svt40 grouping is getting narrower at each range visit. You can only get as good with a rifle than it's limits.
 
Perhaps this is a better approach, what type of accuracy are you looking to attain? Such as sub Moa, or 2-4 inch groups or what are your thoughts?

Perhaps we can better direct you then.
 
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