Bushing for Norinco 1911 in 9mm (NP-29)

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I've recently bought NP-29 and I love the pistol. The fit, finish, even the trigger is surprisingly good. Works 100% reliably even with weakest 9mm ammo I could find (115gr CCI Blazer) and groups well.

However I found one problem - it was shooting way to the right. when looking from the muzzle side, it's obvious that the barrel is not perfectly centered (moved ~0.5mm to one side). I first compensated it by moving rear fixed sight, but I hate having it off-center. Further inspection revealed that the barrel bushing is the cause of the problem, so I want to replace it.

Could somebody please point me to the bushing that will fit the pistol? I'm new to 1911 platform and not sure I can find exactly what I need. Do you think part 160-102-038WB from Brownells would work?
 
I'd get one from EGW that is based on the measurements of your barrel and slide. Do you have a micrometer?
Check this out,
http://www.egwguns.com/bushing-faq
 
That part number from Brownells would work as it is a 1911 9mm barrel bushing.
But is does not say anything about it needing to be fitted so it is probably just a regular replacement bushing.
As suggested above I would get an EGW bushing to be a nice snug fit.
The barrel should fit to the bushing and slide nice & snug to ensure consistent lockup & accuracy.
 
1911's are all the same but at the same time they are all a bit different due to tolerances. What I'd do is run your gun around to Wanstalls for a start and see if they can find a good fit out of their parts. If they don't have what you need then perhaps drive a bit further to Rusty Wood up in Mission. RW has a reputation based on cowboy guns but he was and still is a big fan of 1911's and has a pretty good stock of bits around. I've seen the box and it's chock full of bits and pieces that has helped me with my own 1911's.

Needless to say I'd call both first and just double check what I'm thinking they can do for you.

This is also a good example of why I love and hate Norinco guns at the same time. What they do well they do VERY well. But so frequently there's hiccups such as this.
 
Thanks a lot for your answers, guys!
I don't have a micrometer so probably getting a generic part or having a part selected/fitted by a gunsmith are the best options for me.

What is the normal price range for bushing replacement by Wanstalls/RW?

I'd say Norinco 1911 is a very good choice even if you need to replace few parts. In my case I don't really need to, but obviously it would be better to replace the bushing. I'm also planning to work on trigger later, but even out of the box it's pretty decent. At this price NP-29 is a good gun to play with.
 
BC's got a good point about checking with Wanstalls, I haven't been out their way since they coined the "house of 1911" theme but it would suggest they should have parts on hand,
Another thought is to see if the retailer you bought it from can help.
I know Canada Ammo has sent me Norinco parts when I've had issues out of the box. Who did you buy it from?
 
I've bought it from Reliable Gun, perhaps I'll ask them first. I'm not expecting them sending me parts for free as there are no problems with functioning in fact, but perhaps they have good selection of parts, and they are closer to me than Wanstalls or Rusty Wood
 
Certainly Reliable has been around for a lot of years. There's a good chance they can sift through their own box o' bits and do something for you as well.

I've had or still have a couple of Norincos. And for anyone wanting to tinker and learn a few things for themselves they are great guns due to the low cost. But I tend to not suggest them for anyone that isn't willing or can't tinker with them. They almost always come with at least a couple of small "surprises" included. Even if it's just the razor sharp lines on the ouside corners and slide serrations. So I tend to consider them as "kit guns loosely assembled for your convenience".

There's an excellent article on the Brownell's technical resource web page on how to tune the three finger spring in a 1911. You can get "most" of a trigger job just from doing that really well. In addition stripping the gun down and fitting the trigger bow so it slides easily but has no wobble goes a huge way towards giving a clean and consistent trigger pull. I'd suggest you exhaust these two free tricks first as ways to improve things before you bother with the rest. The next point to put attention into would then be the bow to disconnector fit to polish those surfaces and the diconnector's sear lip and the lip on the hammer. With these last two a little goes a LONG way. Particularly on the sear edge and the hook on the hammer where a little too much will ruin things. You want to use fine tools and ideally jigs to ensure the angles are maintained or you can suddenly produce a hammer that slips off the full ####. And if you use power anything in this area you can mess up the timing between the disconnector and the sear and the hammer and run into other problems. But if you live by the idea of using the least intrusive methods, avoid big power tools and work at removing the least amount of material you'll be amazed at what you can get. The very best tool in this case is "knowledge". So read around and get a feel for doing this sort of work. Most of all try to be delicate and focus on details. Avoid suggestions to stuff parts into a big buffing wheel.
 
In fact I bought this gun only after reading a lot about it and reading a lot about 1911 tuning in general. I'm planning to get some tools for trigger job from Brownells (couldn't find them or any adequate replacement locally) and then use them not only for 1911 but also for some of my current and future guns.

By the way, it's interesting how well equipped new Norinco come:
- extended slide release
- extended mag release (which can be easily converted to normal - by unscrewing the top part)
- oversized ambidextrous safety
- flat checkered mainspring housing (probably the only part in the gun made of polymer, looks and feels amazing in hand)
- the grip panels are surprisingly good. They are not incredibly beautiful, but the material feels good in the hand is very grippy, not slippery at all. They are not ugly either, just black checkered grip panels.

Normally those additions would not be cheap to buy separately.

I didn't really notice any dangerously sharp edges, but definitely the finish could be better. The bluing is very thin and is going to wear on edges very quickly. Not a big deal though, it will look like shooter this way.

The only downsides I noticed (besides the aforementioned bushing) are
- beaver tail safety and manual safety have very different (and quite poor) finish than the rest of the gun. It looks matte and spotty
- the trigger is not very well fitted to the frame, it's kind of shaky. Eventually I'm going to get a new one and fit it to the gun.

Just to know the difference I've compared it side by side with STI Ranger II - well, for sure with Ranger II you get what you pay for, but I'd say with NP-29 you're getting more than you pay for (if you're ready to tinker with it).
I bought it for my wife, being ready to improve it gradually for her. But even out of the box (after cleaning, of course) it's fun to shoot as it's reliable and groups well.
 
"Tinkering" with the sear on a 1911 (or any gun) can and has many times resulted in the gun going full auto, so do be careful. That word makes me nervous. It won't necessarily even happen right away. The surface of the sear is hardened, but only to a certain depth. If you remove too much material, for instance, you can remove the hardening, resulting in a surface which will wear away faster than it should and eventually put the gun into a dangerous condition. There is a reason why we have gunsmiths. I'm not saying you aren't capable of doing the work yourself, I'm just saying that a lot of people have thought they were and were wrong. ;-)

Obviously (I hope) you should never test the gun with more than one cartridge in the magazine after tinkering with it, but even then modifications can lead to an unsafe condition. Please be careful.
 
"Tinkering" with the sear on a 1911 (or any gun) can and has many times resulted in the gun going full auto, so do be careful. That word makes me nervous.
Click to expand...

Would it look better if I called it "amateur gunsmithing"? :d

Your warning though is well worth noting and is why I stressed that the most important tool in the box to have is some well researched knowledge and to use methods that result in minimal metal removal. The better gunsmiths when doing a trigger job spend a lot of time removing very little material in just the right places.

The fact that he posted that he's waiting on a stoning jig arriving before venturing into the gun's interior certainly makes me feel like he's taking his "tinkering" in a serious way with the idea of doing things right.

A good method to note for anyone that does trigger work on any semi auto gun is to only load two rounds per magazine for the first half dozen test mags after the trigger work just to ensure that if it does go full auto due to messing up that it's only one additional round sent downrange.
 
My quest is still not over!

I've installed a new trigger and I love the gun even more now - no rattling, very solid and pleasant gun.

I almost internally agreed to increase the hole diameter in the slide, then decided it was better to try reducing diameter of the bushing, but while looking for bushing online I found that there is in fact a smaller variant of bushings that might fit the NP-29 with little fitting or no fitting at all:

Fusion 1911 Small ID 9mm Barrel Bushing, Match, Blue
$30.00
Special small ID 9mm barrel bushing for early model guns, blue, for the Colt 1911. Made in the USA to exacting standards.

So for now it looks like Norinco just used some older blueprints to produce their guns, not "just non-standard".
 
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