Can you scope a Norinco?

TAZWILLFIX

TAZWILLFIX

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I currently own a Norinco .22 (woodsman clone) and as silly as it might sound I was wondering if anyone has ever put a NcStar red dot scope on one. My first choice would be to Purchase a Beretta U22 or something similar that is designed to mount a scope but money being short I thought it worth asking the question. I would be interested if it is possible which mount works best and what scope you have used or would suggest using. I am expecting and looking forward to a little ribbing/jokes but am truly looking for some good information.

Taz
 
I doubt if there is a specific mount for that gun but if you are handy with power tools I am sure it could be done. Duct tape and pipe clamps are forbidden.:D
Here is a picture of a project a while back:

Tactical1851001-1-1.jpg
 
Of course you can scope a norinco. I have been wanting to for a while.

I'll use a 338 lapua. Anyone want to volunteer their nork?

(not being helpful, I know)
 
There is really not that much metal in the slide to work with. It is a small gun.
Perhaps a grip mount that replaces one of the grips might work. I don't know if they exist for the Woodsman but I know that they have been made for other pistols. Try digging around Ebay.
 
Anything that you come up with will need to mount to the forward fixed barrel portion.

The weight of the slide on these guns is finely tuned to work along with the recoil spring. Stick a rail and red dot onto the moving portion and it will add enough weight that the gun won't cycle correctly.

I know there are special very lightweight open frame style red dots for handguns where they replace the rear sight. But they are generally used on center fire pistols where the added mass of the site won't affect them as much. On a rimfire even a lightweight option like that would likely mess up the cycling.

There's two ways to adapt something if you're handy with tools. One is to cove out the base of a picatinny rail and then drill and tap the fixed forward portion of the receiver to accept some mounting screws. This is touchy stuff since you're drilling and tapping into the metal around the barrel. Not a good idea if you're not a keen and experienced metal worker.

The other option is something I recently saw done on a S&W 422. It was a replacement right side grip made from aluminium that extended up and "L'd" over the slide. The top of that L was a picatinny rail section that mounted a red dot. Now nothing says that a red dot has to sit upright. If you did this with a flat plate of metal and screw mount a rail to the flat side you could mount the red dot sideways. Just the adjustments would reverse. You may need to bend or otherwise build up the system to allow for any offseting needed to center the tube over the barrel. If done neatly it would not look any worse than any other .22 with a red dot. Of course this means once again that you need to be fairly handy with doing metal work to build such a thing. But at least in this case you're not doing anything to modify the gun itself. If you're handy enough to be able to line it all out, cut things with a hacksaw, shape them using files and sandpaper and drill/tap/countersink for screws to hold it all together then you could make your own mount.

Really though, it's a lot of trouble unless you're simply in a situation where your eyesight and corrective glasses makes it tough to use the plain iron sights.
 
Should be pretty easy to get a section of rail fit and silver soldered to the flat part of the barrel.
The thought crossed my mind when I had one...
Woodsman.jpg
 
I would just stick with iron sights over a junk NcStar RDS, even if there was a way of mounting it on an M93. If you really want a .22 pistol with an RDS, save up for something more suitable and a good optic to go with it.
 
Can-down said:
Should be pretty easy to get a section of rail fit and silver soldered to the flat part of the barrel.
Click to expand...

I have yet to see a picatinny rail which is made from anything but aluminium. And aluminium doesn't silver solder. But otherwise if some steel rain could be found it's not a bad idea. Rather permanent though. And it would require some fancy jigging up to ensure it goes on straight. Plus it would be in the way of the iron sights and leave the front of the receiver scarred for life.

tjhaile said:
I would just stick with iron sights over a junk NcStar RDS, even if there was a way of mounting it on an M93. If you really want a .22 pistol with an RDS, save up for something more suitable and a good optic to go with it.
Click to expand...

Nice way to rain on the guy's parade. He mentioned that he's tight for cash. So what he wants to do is entirely appropriate.

It's ONLY a .22. So any cheap ol' $25 red dot even out of asia will do fine.
 
TAZWILLFIX said:
I currently own a Norinco .22 (woodsman clone) and as silly as it might sound I was wondering if anyone has ever put a NcStar red dot scope on one. My first choice would be to Purchase a Beretta U22 or something similar that is designed to mount a scope but money being short I thought it worth asking the question. I would be interested if it is possible which mount works best and what scope you have used or would suggest using. I am expecting and looking forward to a little ribbing/jokes but am truly looking for some good information.

Taz
Click to expand...

You have enough barrel exposed to just get a cheap clamp on rail-

http://www.canadaammo.com/product.php?productid=164&cat=0&page=1

I am sure they could supply a dotsight as well that meets your price range and then you only pay shipping for one package;)
 
I expected to get some ribbing and jokes so all is good, I have pretty thick skin and a good sense of humour. I like the idea of the clamp on rail but I think it would be quite bulky looking, and the scope I was offered is a 4X30 and it looks like it is just about as long as the Norc itself. I am doing this because my wife struggles to see where on the target she is aiming at 25yards and I want to keep her interested until I can buy her something nicer (read newer and prettier) what do you guys think of a small trigger mounted laser pointer such as this http://canadaammo.com/product.php?productid=230&cat=6&page=1 Yes it might be a little gimmicky but if the dot shows up on the target so you can see that you are lined up on the bulls eye instead of right or left I think that would do the trick instead of a scope. What do you guys think? Has anyone used one?
 
BCRider said:
Nice way to rain on the guy's parade. He mentioned that he's tight for cash. So what he wants to do is entirely appropriate.

It's ONLY a .22. So any cheap ol' $25 red dot even out of asia will do fine.
Click to expand...

If he's tight for cash, sticking with the iron sights will cost him nothing. I would hardly classify dissuading someone from making a foolish decision as "raining on his parade".

"Only a .22" can only go so far. I find it hard to believe that any RDS that sells for $25 is going to be serviceable. It would be far better to take the money spent on the sight plus kludging it onto a gun with no mounting provision and start saving towards a better gun/optic combination.

The Norinco Woodsman copies seem to be mostly decent basic .22 plinkers for the money, but they are a copy of a pistol designed long before it occurred to anybody to put optics on a handgun. I just don't see any sense into making one into something it isn't, especially on the cheap.
 
Taz, in my experience with helping a number of new shooters that are not very "mechanically inclined" I found that a red dot sight actually made it harder for them to aim. That is because they need to have enough hand coordination to hold the gun more or less in line with their sighting line.

It's simply amazing how many folks, and I've found that this applies more to people that don't have some history with hand/eye sports, cannot simply lift their hands up with the gun in their grip and be more or less on target. A red dot or magnifying scope makes this even harder for such folks. They'll simply stand there waving the gun and scope around and never get the sight picture. Or it takes darn near forever and is easily lost if their attention wanders for even a second. Such folks are not hard to spot. They are seen holding the gun like it's some sort of garden snail in a manner which simply lacks confidence.

Try this on for size with your wife next time she comes out. Tell her to look at the target and raise the gun up to her line of sight. Raise the muzzle A LITTLE as needed to see and put the front blade onto the center of the target. Then raise the rear of the pistol up to "cradle" the front sight in the "U" of the rear sight. Stress on her the need to be focused on the front blade and let the target go fuzzy. Also if she is one of those who tends to bend her arms and hold the gun closer thinking that it makes it easier to line up the sights tell her that this is simply wrong. Instead it tries to make us look at an even wider sights to target spacing and it simply makes things MORE fuzzy.

Some of these new shooters seemed to "get it" after reminding them to line up the sights as I described a few times. Some of them simply do not want to bother or are just so non mechanical that they never figure it out during my time with them. But if I had the same person to work with over a number of range visits I could likely guide them into becoming decently proficient with using the iron sights in this way and at some point it would all click with them.

In any event if any of this sounds at all familiar to your situation then I suspect your wife is either not trained in sports or other hand/eye coordination activities at all or simply is shooting just for something to try out without being serious about it. Or she actually has a vision issue such as trying to use the wrong eye with a strongly dominant eye issue or poor vision.

Either way a handgun scope or red dot sight won't help other than with a vision correction issue.

You can test this for yourself. If you have the scope already just have her find something out at a distance with the scope quickly. If she can't do that with the scope not on the gun she won't be any better with it on the gun.
 
BC RIDER she's actually a fairly good shot (better than me most days;)) but I really like your advice and will probably print it out and try it next range trip. Her complaint is that all she does is aim at the center of a blury piece of paper and shoot and she would really like to actually see the bulls eye and be able to look through the scope and see if she's hitting it instead of setting it down and picking up the binoculars. I think I might pick up a cheap lazer for fun and start saving for a new pistol for her with the scope she wants. If anyone online here has a nice set up and would be willing to make a range trip with us the the Oceola (winfield) range so we can check one out that would be fantastic. I will spring for the ammo and a drink or two afterwards.:cheers:
 
From the last post I see that I read too much into the "why".

She's seeing just what the rest of us see in that case. But if that's not enough then set up a scope or red dot for her. Keep in mind that handgun scopes are generally of a lower power than rifle scopes. This is because of the wobble that would be quickly apparent if more than about 2 to 3x magnification was used unless a bench rest is used to aid in steadying the gun. But rested and with a scope would be a little too much like "cheating" and at that point a rifle seems like a more obvious choice.
 
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