Is the Norinco 1911 as good as it looks?

A bit behind the rush here, but I like my Norc 1911A1. With all the money I saved on the gun, I got a whole pile of ammunition to practice with. I'm new to pistols, so it was good way to go. Sure I'd like to get into a Kimber or a Springfield eventually, but on my budget and for what I need at this point it works good. A couple guys at the local shop who were serious pistol shooters said that for a guy looking to learn the basics and get into the hobby they can't be beat. The one fella said he had about 15,000 rnds through his .45 with no probs.

I've only got about 700 through mine, the only issue being one gnarly FTE that required a screwdriver to pry out (slide locked completely on the casing). Other than that its good. Get some good mags though.
 
Thanks Spatual and the rest, I think with the Marstar warranty and their reputation I really dont see how I can go wrong. I dont care about snob value, poser status at the range, its what makes sense to me and that sport model from Marstar sure is pretty. I have my poser piece with my Beretta O/U, not going to do that with a hand gun. My Beretta doesn't shoot better or is "superior to my bread and butter Remington so I'm going for what seems right from all the comments here and the concensus in my mind is go with the Norinco
 
... just don't expect angels to come flying out of your butt and 40 virgins to show up at your door due to the awesomeness and magic of the cheap-ass chinese Norc that's absolutely SWIMMING in oil when you unpack it.

it's good, but not THAT amazingly spectacularly wonderful, and not just going by looks but roughness and crudeness of the guts. as far as i can tell, when you sand / smooth / polish the internal "metal" parts, they shouldn't turn yellowish orange (and no i'm not talking rust cuz i don't use water, i use kerosene), and brand new mainsprings swimming in oil shouldn't be rusty.

they (usually) cycle and (nearly always) go bang when you pull the (heavy crude gritty gravely) trigger. and the (large ugly) sights point in the right general direction. the (bicycle) rubber grips can always be replaced for only a few bucks. it can always make an interesting (and emotionally painless) project gun.
 
BP7 said:
... just don't expect angels to come flying out of your butt and 40 virgins to show up at your door due to the awesomeness and magic of the cheap-ass chinese Norc that's absolutely SWIMMING in oil when you unpack it.

it's good, but not THAT amazingly spectacularly wonderful, and not just going by looks but roughness and crudeness of the guts. as far as i can tell, when you sand / smooth / polish the internal "metal" parts, they shouldn't turn yellowish orange (and no i'm not talking rust cuz i don't use water, i use kerosene), and brand new mainsprings swimming in oil shouldn't be rusty.

they (usually) cycle and (nearly always) go bang when you pull the (heavy crude gritty gravely) trigger. and the (large ugly) sights point in the right general direction. the (bicycle) rubber grips can always be replaced for only a few bucks. it can always make an interesting (and emotionally painless) project gun.
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Sounds like you got left at the alter by old lady Norinco or maybe stood up for by prom date little Sushie Q Norinco and left you hang'n with a full load.

Deep breaths baby sister, deep breaths. The cuts are deep but the pain will pass...:D
 
incorrigible said:
Sounds like you got left at the alter by old lady Norinco or maybe stood up for by prom date little Sushie Q Norinco and left you hang'n with a full load.

Deep breaths baby sister, deep breaths. The cuts are deep but the pain will pass...:D
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meh. just trying to keep buddy's expectations somewhta more realistic than the overriding tone of the thread that Norc's are insanely amazing for the money spent and God himself will forever smile down upon you for having the brilliance of buying a Norc over another similar item. even the first time i held a Norc - before even seeing a Springfield or S&W or anything - it felt cheap and crude and clunky. a $100 Tokarev copy felt like half the gun of the Norc 1911 for nearly one quarter the price. AND it shoots even cheaper ammo.

and realistically, after a while, more money is gonna be spent on the ammo than the gun, so saving a few bucks up front loses significance.

and in the whole 9+ pages, i think only one person touched on the "can't take it with you if you ever go to the USA" detail, in case the owner wants to go shoot a match in the states...
 
I've commented a number of times that the Norc products are very good in three particular ways:

1) they allow us to access some products that would be prohibitively expensive if we had to buy US versions - Norc M14s vs Springfield M1A
2) they allow us to access products otherwise in short supply - Norc SKS before the recent flood of former Soviet Union originals and
3) they allow some of us to try a particular style to see if we like the idea before dropping a lot of cash on a US made (better ?) version - Norc 1911 vs the rest or Norc AR15 vs the rest

Given that the price differential is so huge it is silly to say that a Norc 1911/M14/AR15 etc isn't as good as the Kimber/Springfield/LMT . In my opinion though they are mostly really good value and, in some cases, they really do exceed reasonable expectations.

Bob.
 
Over the years into this hobby, I have change my view about true value of guns. I used quite against Glock and Norinco but turned to like them. Part of the reason is I 've seen magor brand name gun including one of my pistol has something fly out and disappear somewhere in the range. Some may look really nice but can shoot just as normal as any gun. Some may look ugly with a mushy trigger but shoot as nice as it can be. I can understand most of you don't like Nor because it is made by China but it is also a true value of a shooting iron. It may not look good or not as smooth as some other high end 1911 but it is also a good way to learn 1911 smithing or do some simple mods. Bottom line they are just a tool.

Trigun
 
hey, does anybody remember the awful guns the spanish and west germans used to put out at one time - some of the astras, rohms, - whatever- you look at those, and tell me the NORINCO product isn't SUPERIOR?
 
Trigun said:
Over the years into this hobby, I have change my view about true value of guns. I used quite against Glock and Norinco but turned to like them. Part of the reason is I 've seen magor brand name gun including one of my pistol has something fly out and disappear somewhere in the range. Some may look really nice but can shoot just as normal as any gun. Some may look ugly with a mushy trigger but shoot as nice as it can be. I can understand most of you don't like Nor because it is made by China but it is also a true value of a shooting iron. It may not look good or not as smooth as some other high end 1911 but it is also a good way to learn 1911 smithing or do some simple mods. Bottom line they are just a tool.

Trigun
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Right on!
 
Hey BP7, "buddys" expectations are exactly where they shound be. Se in Wal mart when you push your old ladies shopping cart around full of Chinese underwear lol!!!!!!!! You get what you pay for, I'm a big boy BS7.
 
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banjaboy said:
Hey BP7, "buddys" expectations are exactly where they shound be. Se in Wal mart when you push your old ladies shopping cart around full of Chinese underwear lol!!!!!!!! You get what you pay for, I'm a big boy BS7.
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fyi, fruit of the loom ( which is wally's major) is made in MEXICO, their PENMAN SHIRTS ARE MADE IN PQ, and the grey work socks are made just outside of toronto- the pants are made in mexico as well-b/c chinese mens wear is TOO EXPENSIVE to import
 
banjaboy said:
Is the Norinco 1911 as good as it looks?...I looked and played with a Norinco 1911 for less than $400!!!!! I could buy 4 for the price of a Kimber. ...But you know, that Norinco looks more like my idea of a 1911 than most others I have played with. Are aftermarket parts easy to get? Are they a reliable viable option for my .45 1911? Money is not a huge factor for me but I really liked the rugged feel of the Norinco, the Kimber felt different, not better, not worse, different.
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Simple answer is no, it is better than it looks. A sub-$400 1911 doesn't deserve to be this good. Perhaps that is why you are asking the question, I know it sounds to good to be true.

The Norkie 1911 is not as handsome as a Kimber or STI or all the higher priced, better dressed makes and models. It is a plain Jane 1911 unless you get the Sport or Police or TT, or the later Commanders....all of which come with beavertails, ring hammers etc. All Norkies I have seen and held have rough and sharp edges, literally. Easily remedied and smoothed out but the gun will have to be refinished.

Just came from the range and shot my new Norkie 1911 Sport for the first time. I had two malfunctions in 80 rounds, a failure to feed and a failure to lock the slide on the last shot.

I first shot a couple of magazines worth of familiarization shots. Then shot off-hand, resulting in 8-shot groups at 15 meters of about 6 inches...about par for me, when shooting stock, untuned 1911s. Even the stock Gold Cup I had for several years, produced similar groups. Ammo was 5.0 grains Universal under 238 grain (actual averaged weight) Truncated Cone Tumble Lube design cast from 50-50 WW/pure lead, Lee Liquid Alox lubed and sized .451. With a tuned trigger, I am quite sure groups will shrink to 3 inches with me shooting...YMMV.

I think my ammo was a little weak and the original slide lock is not compatible with my Shooting Star magazines. I never had problems with Shooting Stars with my long gone Colts.

I replaced the original slide lock on my other Norkie 1911 and have had no last-shot-hold-open failures since. I will replace this suspicious slide lock with an original Colt from my parts bin. I will also bump the powder load to 5.3 grains Universal. Hopefully these changes will solve the problems.

If one is willing to look past the easily replaced little parts, like the slide lock, I think the Norkie 1911 works much better than it looks.
 
easyrider604 said:
Simple answer is no, it is better than it looks. A sub-$400 1911 doesn't deserve to be this good. Perhaps that is why you are asking the question, I know it sounds to good to be true.

The Norkie 1911 is not as handsome as a Kimber or STI or all the higher priced, better dressed makes and models. It is a plain Jane 1911 unless you get the Sport or Police or TT, or the later Commanders....all of which come with beavertails, ring hammers etc. All Norkies I have seen and held have rough and sharp edges, literally. Easily remedied and smoothed out but the gun will have to be refinished.

Just came from the range and shot my new Norkie 1911 Sport for the first time. I had two malfunctions in 80 rounds, a failure to feed and a failure to lock the slide on the last shot.

I first shot a couple of magazines worth of familiarization shots. Then shot off-hand 8-shot groups at 15 meters of about 6 inches...about par for me, when shooting stock, untuned 1911s. Even the stock Gold Cup I had for several years, produced similar groups. Ammo was 5.0 grains Universal under 238 grain (actual averaged weight) Truncated Cone Tumble Lube design cast from 50-50 WW/pure lead, Lee Liquid Alox lubed and sized .451. With a tuned trigger, I am quite sure groups will shrink to 3 inches with me shooting...YMMV.

I think my ammo was a little weak and the original slide lock is not compatible with my Shooting Star magazines. I never had problems with Shooting Stars with my long gone Colts.

I replaced the original slide lock on my other Norkie 1911 and have had no last-shot-hold-open failures since. I will replace this suspicious slide lock with an original Colt from my parts bin. I will also bump the powder load to 5.3 grains Universal. Hopefully these changes will solve the problems.

If one is willing to look past the easily replaced little parts, like the slide lock, I think the Norkie 1911 works much better than it looks.
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Nicely said.. not to mention it being cheaper $ leaves $ for ammo.. esp for us not made of $$$$$
 
scianna54 said:
A Norc can be made into a really nice gun with many years of service, not all may be reliable right out of the box, but sure nicer than the plastic Glocks (I have a G17 gen 3 and hate it). My wife who is a real lightweight shares my opinionBTW, she prefers the NP-28 over the Glock any day. She likes our SIG226 better though. Yes, we have many guns, ...
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i will gladly help you out and take it off your hands, not even charge you anything for my services :)

Glock FTW
 
Shalimar said:
Same.. once I have more $... current $ is dedicated to another purchase.

Though once that's done I'm hoping Marstar will get their "sport" model done in 9mm as well.
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sport is not in 9mm unless you take the np28 but it is double stack, and no ambi safety etc. np29 is the classic look 9mm single stack 1911, no extras (beavertail etc.)
 
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