1911 chinese turkey

[MapleSugar]

The Norinco 1911's are good, solid guns at bargain prices. I'm pretty happy they are around, because without them I probably would not have got into 1911's at all. I like to tinker with stuff, so I've spent as much on a couple of my Norincos as I would have paid for nicer guns to start with, but I think what I've learned by working them over was worth it, and I've got the satisfaction of doing the work myself.

I made some of the parts for the second one, all with hand tools. They both started as the unmarked Norincos that Canada Ammo had a few years back.
Kristian

Those look pretty good, Kristian! You're following in the footsteps of John Moses Browning. He made most of his firearms with hand tools.

I forgot to add, Norinco slides and receivers are made from forged steel (at least they used to be.)

Some people prefer them to receivers that were cast.

 

[maxman1]

Broadly speaking, they are series 70 - Easiest way to tell is that the series 80 design has an external extractor. I'll go out on a limb and say that most of us prefer series 70.

The extractor has no bearing on the firing system. For example, the Colt Series 80 and 1991 use an internal extractor.

A way to tell without field stripping is to draw the hammer to half #### and pull the trigger. If the hammer falls, it's a Series 80 system. Colt changed the half #### notch when they added the pin blocker.

Or you can strip the slide and look for the levers and plunger.

 

[maxman1]

Also, Colt stamps "SERIES 80" on the slide.

 

[grelmar]

If you can catch a sale on a Norinco, I would say go for that. I bought one a few years back for $200, I could probably get more for it now used, than I paid for it new.

I've shot it a fair bit - somewhere between 1k-2k rounds, didn't really keep track - still have it, still shoot it once in a blue moon. 100% reliable, and decently accurate. And I learned something very important from it - I don't actually care for the 1911 platform as a shooter. Not sure if it's the grip angle, or the controls ergonomics, or... I dunno... "something" doesn't jibe with me. I've borrowed more expensive 1911's for a magazine or two, and end up with the same impression at the end - even if the more $$ ones have better triggers and are generally smoother. It just doesn't fit my hand very well.

I'm glad I only spent $200 to figure that out, instead of $1K.