Norc 1911 upgrades

bogie

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I always wanted a 1911 but was not willing to put a couple thou into a used Colt so a friend who is a retired Marine Armorer suggested I get myself a used Norinco 1911A1 and give it to him. He stripped all the springs, the barrel (which had little to no rifling in it), and the mags. He prefers UN spec mags, not what is sold to us peons. Apparently military copies made by Norinco actually use really good steel but the springs, barrels and mags are contracted out so there tends to be some crap in there. So now I have a decently refurbished 1911 I am wondering if there are other upgrades I should do since this gun takes standard 1911 parts. Its in very nice shape and shoots like a hot damn. Sights are 3dot white which seem to be decent and it is accurate. What else should I get if anything? Apparently the barrel he installed is made by Charles Daly.
 
Sounds like you have a nice rig now!

When I had mine I added nice wood grips to it, liked them better than the cheap plastic one last that come with it.

Aside from that the things you changed are all I would add.
 
A nice mod would be a trigger job, but not really necessary. I got mine as a project gun years ago. The bluing was as good as a colt so I didn't have the heart to take the dremel to it to take off some of the sharp corners. It's as accurate as any of my other 1911's. I just changed the magazines, nothing more. I still have a bobtail mainspring housing kicking around somewhere.
 
I guess having an armorer doing it leaves little to be desired. He treats everything as if its going to be used hard in a firefight. I guess it does not get much better than that. I suppose this series has been tinkered to the extremes. Not like a 1022 that NEEDs mods. I will be happy if I just shoot the crap out of it. I thought I should at least ask but I just traded a guy for a crapload of 45 ammo so I am just going to take a couple of friends out and cut them loose. Everyone loves the 1911 because it is in every movie they have seen or video game so they get a kick out of actually holding and shooting one.
 
A young CAS protoge got a Norc 1911 for Xmas, the target model. Nice gun. It's got all the bells, goings and whistles on it. Trigger could be a little lighter.

He'll be using it in CAS "Wild Bunch" and is taking the IPSC 'Black Badge' course with it as well. For a first 1911 he couldn't have done much better considering the cost of getting into a 1911 for competition. I gave him some serviceable mags and he'll be acquiring more as he progresses.
 
A young CAS protoge got a Norc 1911 for Xmas, the target model. Nice gun. It's got all the bells, goings and whistles on it. Trigger could be a little lighter.

He'll be using it in CAS "Wild Bunch" and is taking the IPSC 'Black Badge' course with it as well. For a first 1911 he couldn't have done much better considering the cost of getting into a 1911 for competition. I gave him some serviceable mags and he'll be acquiring more as he progresses.

I have one in satin chrome with the adjustable sight in .45. Great gun; no mods at all. Tried a couple aftermarket grips, and put the Nork hard rubber checkered ones back on; they just feel better. Those black grips look good on the satin chrome finish.
 
My Norkie 1911 is a Kotanko customed Sport two tone. It has a crisp trigger tune, just enough de-horning, Bomar style rear sight, Fiber optic front sight, Videki trigger and Smith Alexander style mag well. This baby will work with any magazine, Nork originals to McCormicks, Mecgars etc. At some point I had 5 Norkies and this is the last of them, which I intend to keep, unless the Libs grab it.
 

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I add sights, grips and a trigger job.

Accurate and reliable.

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And some get changed to other calibers.

9mm to 7.62x25

45 to 460 Rowland
 
I find the 3 dot sights to be accurate enough and the trigger is pretty good. I have pretty wood grips too so I think at this point I will just shoot the damn thing. It shoots better than I do at this point. Gonna go make some scrap brass when it gets a bit warmer here. Shooting a gun with this much history is a delight. Along with my Pietta Colt Single Action Army in 45Colt I can make a day of it. I picked up a Sig 1911-22 made by GSG for $250 at Cabelas a couple of years ago so I am happy. My CZ85 is also just a smaller 1911 pattern I think and in 9mm it is cheap to feed. However the suggestion to change cal is interesting. I am collecting brass for a large club (see Range Brass for Club MDRGC) so I have access to a lot of pistol brass. 7.62x25 interests me. Hmmmm
Thanks everyone for your input. Range time coming up soon. Who is a good source of parts to convert this 1911?
 
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