My new 'rinco NP28
- Thread starter Plink
- Start date
That's one of the beauties of these Norcs, you can take chances with them that you just wouldn't dream of taking with an $1100 Kimber. Good for you
I've got nothing wrong with taking a Norc and tearing it down to make it better....WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY ON IT.
I don't understand why some guys buy the Norc and than get the Cherry wood grips, new hammer, trigger, slide refinished and so on, so forth.
Next thing you know, you've got an $800 Norc and wasted
3 months of your time when you could have just spent the extra money right off the bat and got something decent to begin with. How many times have you seen a "tweaked Norc" in the EE for $700 or $800.
I'll take my chances on something reputable that is used.
I've got nothing wrong with taking a Norc and tearing it down to make it better....WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY ON IT.
I don't understand why some guys buy the Norc and than get the Cherry wood grips, new hammer, trigger, slide refinished and so on, so forth.
Next thing you know, you've got an $800 Norc and wasted
How many times have you seen a "tweaked Norc" in the EE for $700 or $800.
I'll take my chances on something reputable that is used.
Sometimes its about more than “what its worth” at the end. Sure you can go the new hi buck path and you end up with a nice pistol and nothing else. Or if you’re so inclined you can buy a norinco spend some time making it better and learn something in the process. I don’t think either path is right for everyone, but it doesn’t make either less valuable or attractive either. As to changing out parts on the norinco, I say why not? The frames and slides are made from good steel (some say better than US made products) and are in spec to the originals, it’s the small parts that are rough. They (the small parts) are inexpensive and easy to install and in many cases make the pistol more enjoyable to look at and shoot. Finally on a practical note if someone is going to practice his budding smithing skills wouldn’t you rather see him do it on a $350 norinco (that you don’t like anyways) over potentially making a bubba monster from that nice Kimber?
I like my NP29......I ended up with a transitional model that I haven't seen from Marstar again. I was actually a little pissed when I got it because they had the normal pic up when I bought it, and even after I received it. Mine did not come with extended safety, rubber wrap around grips, or full beavertail grip safety. The finish however was phenomenal, so I didn't have a problem keeping it.
I dropped in a .38super barrel and it's been a blast to play with. I actually don't shoot it at all in 9mm anymore.
I dropped in a .38super barrel and it's been a blast to play with. I actually don't shoot it at all in 9mm anymore.
Take a look at my pics again......I have since removed it, I'm a righty so it was a useless venture.
On the wide body?
Being new to 1911 speak, can you tell me about fitting a bushing for this model?
Do we know if the frame is the same as the NP-30? Going from memory the time I saw my father's NP-30 detail stripped, I think a regular ambi safety could be fit with minimal effort. It even has a slit in the frame for the RH side tang to ride in. I'd have to take some measurements, just to be sure.
http://www.firearmstraining.ca/np28.html
This says it doesn't fit, but maybe some ambi of some make works?
This says it doesn't fit, but maybe some ambi of some make works?
The tutorial.... or how I learned to rip apart my 1911
OK, in a nutshell, here's the things I did to smooth up the NP28.
Here's the tools I used to get going.... Just a regular assortment of hand tools and a dremel. Some sandpaper of the 400 grain variety. Not in the pic is my bluing components to cover up any metal you "make shiny" so it doesn't rust.
Completely disassemble the gun - Used a 1911 manual to learn the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.
Some of the components I found that were in dire need of care were the slide rails on the frame. They had a fair bit of rust and.. "gak" on them as can be seen here.
For now I am keeping these areas well lubed and cleaning the crap off every couple of days as the oil works its magic.
Another area that had significant rust and gak was in the firing pin and extractor channels..
Remove the firing pin and extractor, and conduct some TLC on the slide by adding a crap load of oil in the channels and letting it sit, clean out and repeat.
The extractor was a bit of a b!tch to remove, there was enough rust in there that it required some gentle persuasion.
Make sure you don't force it from the extractor claw, but from the rear of the slide only.
Take down the rest of the gun. The only pin I had a problem removing was the pin on the bottom of the frame. It needed a good whack to get it out.
After the guts are out, you can see there is some significant areas on the inside of the frame where rust is present. Also note how rough the finish on the inside is. For now, I'm simply keeping her well lubed, the rust will come up eventually from the oil, and will be wiped off.
Now the good stuff.
Remove the mag release and trigger. The trigger in my unit was quite rough on the outside. I polished lightly with 400 grit sand paper and then re-blued. The sides were much smoother after that.
The mag release itself was REALLY crunchy. Almost needed two fingers to push it in. Two things here, the outside was really rough, and the inside was rusty, and rough.
I polished up the outside with the dremel, not to much, just enough to clean it up and make it smooth. I cleaned up the inside with a small screwdriver and some solvent. Then I used a really small dremel bit to take of the rough edges inside the mag release cylinder. This improved its operation by 100%.
I finished it all up by re-bluing everything and reassembling.
The hammer was rough where it touches the sear and disconnect. I polished and re-blued in the following two areas.
The sear and disconnect were incredibly rough. Again, I polished and re-blued these two parts as shown. Not sure if I should have touched other areas or not. If anyone knows where all needs to be done to clean up these parts, let me know. I was basing my polishing on how the parts worked together from visual inspection, and the 1911 manual.
Last but not least, I polished the feed ramp on the barrel. Just cleaned it up a bit, and made it nice and slick for the rounds to slide in. Also did a bit of polishing on the top of the barrel where it moves in the slide.
After all is done and polished, I simply re-assembled, with liberal amounts of lube on everything for now until all the rusty stuff goes away.
That's what I've done so far. If anyone has ideas / questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!
From these "updates" the action has improved dramatically. It's almost as smooth as my M&P... sorta.. LOL
OK, in a nutshell, here's the things I did to smooth up the NP28.
Here's the tools I used to get going.... Just a regular assortment of hand tools and a dremel. Some sandpaper of the 400 grain variety. Not in the pic is my bluing components to cover up any metal you "make shiny" so it doesn't rust.
Completely disassemble the gun - Used a 1911 manual to learn the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.
Some of the components I found that were in dire need of care were the slide rails on the frame. They had a fair bit of rust and.. "gak" on them as can be seen here.
For now I am keeping these areas well lubed and cleaning the crap off every couple of days as the oil works its magic.
Another area that had significant rust and gak was in the firing pin and extractor channels..
Remove the firing pin and extractor, and conduct some TLC on the slide by adding a crap load of oil in the channels and letting it sit, clean out and repeat.
The extractor was a bit of a b!tch to remove, there was enough rust in there that it required some gentle persuasion.
Make sure you don't force it from the extractor claw, but from the rear of the slide only.
Take down the rest of the gun. The only pin I had a problem removing was the pin on the bottom of the frame. It needed a good whack to get it out.
After the guts are out, you can see there is some significant areas on the inside of the frame where rust is present. Also note how rough the finish on the inside is. For now, I'm simply keeping her well lubed, the rust will come up eventually from the oil, and will be wiped off.
Now the good stuff.
Remove the mag release and trigger. The trigger in my unit was quite rough on the outside. I polished lightly with 400 grit sand paper and then re-blued. The sides were much smoother after that.
The mag release itself was REALLY crunchy. Almost needed two fingers to push it in. Two things here, the outside was really rough, and the inside was rusty, and rough.
I polished up the outside with the dremel, not to much, just enough to clean it up and make it smooth. I cleaned up the inside with a small screwdriver and some solvent. Then I used a really small dremel bit to take of the rough edges inside the mag release cylinder. This improved its operation by 100%.
I finished it all up by re-bluing everything and reassembling.
The hammer was rough where it touches the sear and disconnect. I polished and re-blued in the following two areas.
The sear and disconnect were incredibly rough. Again, I polished and re-blued these two parts as shown. Not sure if I should have touched other areas or not. If anyone knows where all needs to be done to clean up these parts, let me know. I was basing my polishing on how the parts worked together from visual inspection, and the 1911 manual.
Last but not least, I polished the feed ramp on the barrel. Just cleaned it up a bit, and made it nice and slick for the rounds to slide in. Also did a bit of polishing on the top of the barrel where it moves in the slide.
After all is done and polished, I simply re-assembled, with liberal amounts of lube on everything for now until all the rusty stuff goes away.
That's what I've done so far. If anyone has ideas / questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!
From these "updates" the action has improved dramatically. It's almost as smooth as my M&P... sorta.. LOL
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