$129.95 Norinco 780 Homeland Security 12ga 14" Barrel

Just got in from the range. Extraction 100% with Winchester AA low noise/low recoil. Occasional hangups with ejection that could perhaps be cured with a gentle dehorning of the ejection port - all jams (perhaps 4 out of a box of 25) were of the stovepipe variety. Giant pumpkin of blue flame issues forth with each shot, and each and every shot went bang.

Giant stiffy achieved. $129 well spent! Any tips on making the thing eject with a little more enthusiasm? And has anyone tried an 870 forearm on it?

Thanks much for the impending pix, Drew. I look forward to seeing them?
 
Ok, here's my update :)

I had three issues to deal with.

1. The "elevator" or carrier was not working,
2. The magazine would not feed the rounds,
3. The fired shells would not get extracted.

Let's just say that nothing was working. :D

1. for the carrier: I removed the trigger assembly (you just need to punch two pins out of the receiver) and realized the culprit was a stuck plunger as mentioned in my previous post. I had to use a dremel to file a little bit of the surface of the plunger and its cylinder to free it. I cleaned and very lightly honed these parts and it's working ok (for now anyways). Here's a picture of the plunger and spring finally removed from their hole:
Picture112.jpg


2. The feeding of rounds from the magazine was a bit more involving. When I inspected the receiver, I found that one of the grooves in which the two arms of the slide were suppose to slide showed some damage. I'm still puzzled as for the cause of this. Anyone having insight is more than welcome to share their thoughts.

Here's a picture of the section that was bent (after I straightened it). That picture is taken from the bottom, with the trigger assembly removed. The circled part was bent downward and kept the leaf spring from retracting in its track, preventing the feeding of a new round (and making any movement of the slide very difficult...). The gun is pointing to the left. I used a chisel to unbend it and used a dremel to finish the work.
Picture111-1.jpg


Even after this, the rounds wouldn't feed out of the magazine. I found out that the point of contact with one of the slide's arms and the leaf spring was buggered up (and badly machined to start with). Here's that part of the slide arm after it's been corrected:
Picture110-1.jpg


3. Finally, the extractor: it was all dull and badly shaped. I used the dremel again, gave it a more "biting" shape, and the gun is now extracting the shells properly (Haven't fired them yet though).

I hope it'll still do after I try to fire a round with it... I think I'll do it with a string from a distance!

The more I play with that gun, the more I see differences between a $130 gun and a $250 gun ;)

Hope this helps,

Lou
 
louthepou said:
Ok, here's my update :)

I had three issues to deal with.

1. The "elevator" or carrier was not working,
2. The magazine would not feed the rounds,
3. The fired shells would not get extracted.

Let's just say that nothing was working. :D

1. for the carrier: I removed the trigger assembly (you just need to punch two pins out of the receiver) and realized the culprit was a stuck plunger as mentioned in my previous post. I had to use a dremel to file a little bit of the surface of the plunger and its cylinder to free it. I cleaned and very lightly honed these parts and it's working ok (for now anyways). Here's a picture of the plunger and spring finally removed from their hole:
Picture112.jpg


2. The feeding of rounds from the magazine was a bit more involving. When I inspected the receiver, I found that one of the grooves in which the two arms of the slide were suppose to slide showed some damage. I'm still puzzled as for the cause of this. Anyone having insight is more than welcome to share their thoughts.

Here's a picture of the section that was bent (after I straightened it). That picture is taken from the bottom, with the trigger assembly removed. The circled part was bent downward and kept the leaf spring from retracting in its track, preventing the feeding of a new round (and making any movement of the slide very difficult...). The gun is pointing to the left. I used a chisel to unbend it and used a dremel to finish the work.
Picture111-1.jpg


Even after this, the rounds wouldn't feed out of the magazine. I found out that the point of contact with one of the slide's arms and the leaf spring was buggered up (and badly machined to start with). Here's that part of the slide arm after it's been corrected:
Picture110-1.jpg


3. Finally, the extractor: it was all dull and badly shaped. I used the dremel again, gave it a more "biting" shape, and the gun is now extracting the shells properly (Haven't fired them yet though).

I hope it'll still do after I try to fire a round with it... I think I'll do it with a string from a distance!

The more I play with that gun, the more I see differences between a $130 gun and a $250 gun ;)

Hope this helps,

Lou
Click to expand...
----- Thanks for the Pic,s Lou, and the very detailed information, Wow , what a Adventure !! :) --- a new explanation to the term " A Learner " --- I can only wonder what lies in store for me ?? !! Good Luck with it Lou !! ----------
 
BWEST said:
----- Thanks for the Pic,s Lou, and the very detailed information, Wow , what a Adventure !! :) --- a new explanation to the term " A Learner " --- I can only wonder what lies in store for me ?? !! Good Luck with it Lou !! ----------
Click to expand...

Thanks Bwest. You nailed it on the head. With this one I am learning at least $130 worth of knowledge and experience :)

Lou
 
louthepou said:
The more I play with that gun, the more I see differences between a $130 gun and a $250 gun ;)

Hope this helps,

Lou
Click to expand...

Indeed, $185 when on sale for a Mossberg Maverick 88, that works and always will, or $330 for a Browning brand new even from Sako Alberta. The fellows that bought two of these could nearly buy a Browning, which is where I scratch my noggin. :eek:
 
Ardent said:
The fellows that bought two of these could nearly buy a Browning, which is where I scratch my noggin. :eek:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip lou. Now that I took a very small dremel tool to the extractor and polished where the chambered shot goes both gun work flawlessly, even with the Walmart universal shells(which now comparing realize how sh*tty they are). If thats all I had to do to save $200 plus dollars per gun count me in for two more .lol.jk these are great for plinkers with friends!!!
:cheers::cheers::cheers:
 
Interesting note - I had mine apart again last night to do the last of the "smoothing up" I plan on ever doing to this thing. Most of the resistance came from the inside of the forend tube - the welds that hold the tube itself to the action arm were insufficiently cleaned up, and as a result there's a lot of scuffing on the mag tube.

I reached in there with a chainsaw file and got most of it, then finished with sandpaper. It's pretty smooth now for a $129 gun.

Got looking at the box the shotgun came in. There was a wee sticker on one end panel that said, in about 2-point printing, "Fore-end too tight".

Has anyone else found the little sticker that tells all on their shipping box? Might be of some help in diagnosing any previously discovered issues...
 
Seems to me on mine the bolt lock doesn't go up all the way into the barrel lock slot.
After 2 shots of high brass SSG, the bolt came back 1/8" and jammed!
Took off the mag cap and got it apart ok but it was sketchy.
Going to try my HP9 bolt and see the lockup fit.
Any suggestions??
Tks,
Tim
 
timglayn said:
Seems to me on mine the bolt lock doesn't go up all the way into the barrel lock slot.

Any suggestions??
Tks,
Tim
Click to expand...


I thought some of the wear looked a bit sketchy on my locking block/locking recess after cycling it a few times... my plan was to bust out the black permanent marker and dremel and improve the contact/fit between the two... haven't got to it yet though... still painting... lol
 
Got mine in the mail two days ago, heavy Snow Storm yesterday So, Rather Busy !!! ---- Came covered , and dripping with heavy oil. Cleaned up some then stripped it down, including the trigger group, which was O.K.; after what Lou had to say, I was doing some Wondering. Cleaned all parts in Varsol , oiled lightly, as its coming apart again , to file or dremal the inside of forearm tube and get things a bit smoother, as it is really rough in there. The ejector seems to be good, feeds and cycles O.K. -- but I,m No real fan of that cheap mag shell follower, not at all, smoothed a couble of sharp places on stock parts, not bad ----- I haven,t fired yet, So I don,t know how things will be, ---- But All and All , I,m Pleased with it, for $130.00 , Really not too bad at all !! Like I say, after I fire it I,ll know a little better, Anyway here,s Hoping !!! -------- * By the way , Regarding that mag follower, Does anyone out there, know , by chance , How close a Remington 870 is , or will they work ??? ---- any advice would be appreciated !! Maybe make One !! ?? This was the first shotgun I took right apart as well , and a learning experience, some Choice Words , were used several times --------- I,m used to Enfields and Mausers, what can I say !! Anyway, will see how things go Later !! --------- Cheers :) ------ And its Snowing Again !!
 
BWEST said:
Regarding that mag follower, Does anyone out there, know , by chance , How close a Remington 870 is , or will they work ??? ---- any advice would be appreciated !! Maybe make One !! ??
Click to expand...

S&J Hardware makes a beautiful follower that fits like a charm... I ordered two from SFRC when I bought my two shotguns, worth the $9.00 a piece, that's for sure...

I don't know if I've ever seen anything as cheap as that little yellow follower they came with...

Matt
 
autocrash said:
S&J Hardware makes a beautiful follower that fits like a charm... I ordered two from SFRC when I bought my two shotguns, worth the $9.00 a piece, that's for sure...

I don't know if I've ever seen anything as cheap as that little yellow follower they came with...

Matt
Click to expand...
----- Thanks Very Much , autocrash , for this Info, ----- Will follow up on this for Sure !! Yes, they are a Gem !! ?? ----- Much Appreciated !!! :)
 
Dropped by P&D this afternoon looking for a follower that wouldn't coast me a bunch of shipping. They had three different 870 followers - and not one of them would fit past the end of the mag tube. They never made it as far as the dimple. Stock 870 mag followers are of a larger diameter than the mag tube of the 780.

I lined my 780 up beside an HP9 they have there in stock, and found a few other interesting differences:

- The trigger group and receiver are each a good 1/2 inch longer on the 780. It's like they're sized for 3 1/2" shells.
- The third pin (dainty little thing above the back pin on the receiver) appears to serve no purpose at all.
- The ejector on the HP9 is like the one on the 870 - a spring riveted to the sidewall of the receiver opposite the port. The 780 makes due with a fixed blade riveted in the same location.
- The HP9, crude implement that it is, is something of a silky-smooth Italianate hot rod compared to my 780. There is no comparison whatsoever in terms of function, fit, and finish between the two. Racking the slide on the HP9 was easy enough - fairly slick, good positive action. Racking the slide on the 780 is like pushing a canoe paddle through a 45 gallon drum full of pea gravel and tar.

We have a mystery here. What would cause the Chinese to manufacture a crude semi-copy of a design they were already making, with many pieces out of spec from the original? Surely there would be an additional cost to wanking around with the blueprints.

What the hell were they thinking?
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
They had three different 870 followers - and not one of them would fit past the end of the mag tube. They never made it as far as the dimple. Stock 870 mag followers are of a larger diameter than the mag tube of the 780.
Click to expand...
Did you try the S&J hardware follower? in my two 780's, it fit like a charm... although admittedly it did take a healthy shove to get it past the dimples, once past it slid in the tube perfectly (I think if anything its that the dimples are bigger than an 870, not that the mag tube is smaller...)

We have a mystery here. What would cause the Chinese to manufacture a crude semi-copy of a design they were already making, with many pieces out of spec from the original? Surely there would be an additional cost to wanking around with the blueprints.

What the hell were they thinking?
Click to expand...


A very good question, especially considering the original price for these was going to be in the same range as the HP9..
 
I haven't tried the S&J - while I'm confident it's an excellent piece of kit, it'll cost me as much in shipping to get it here as the piece itself, and I'm what science calls "a cheap bastard".

What I found weird was that the dimples weren't the issue - the stock 870 followers never got past the mouth of the mag tube. I would have thought that 12g. mag tubes were all pretty much the same ID...

I was shocked at the difference in fit and finish between the 780 and the HP9. The HP9 is actually a decent piece. I would say it's at least as nice as the Remington. I wonder if there's a noticeable difference between the HP9 and the Grizzly.
 
Ok, I got to fire a few rounds from mine once again. I'm done playing with it, learned what I wanted to learn, so now, it's up for grabs as a parts gun.

The issue I had with mine, which makes in in my opinion officially dead, is that portions of the "rail" on which the slider slides is bending under downward load when a round is fired. For some reason, when the round is fired, there is downward pressure; the bolt pushes on the slider arms, the arms push on their "rails" or ribs or whatever; and then these rails are bending. After a few shots, the bending causes a few different malfunctions. I posted a pic a few pages back showing one side, the same thing happened on the other side today.

Anyways that was fun, I did learn a lot and didn't have to scrap a $350 gun for that :)

Lou
 
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