Norinco 1897 pump 'trench gun': User opinion/reviews? Yea or nay?

Cold Warrior

Cold Warrior

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
Location
Vancouver Island
I am looking at one of the Norinco clone Winchester 1897s and interested in reading opinions/reviews from owners or others with experience with this shotgun.
Is it a keeper, or is it a klunker?
Cheers,
CW
 
They work ok. A lot of cowboy shooters use them. One thing to note is that parts ( particularly screws) can be extremely difficult to source. Some parts are compatible with the real 1897’s some are not. On mine some screw are metric some are English ( I think they used whatever they had that would work. It’s like a lot of their stuff. QC can be very iffy. One gun could work flawlessly for thousands of rounds, the next won’t work out of the box.I picked up 2 real 1897’s for about the same price, and they both run like a top.
 
dogzilla said:
They work ok. A lot of cowboy shooters use them. One thing to note is that parts ( particularly screws) can be extremely difficult to source. Some parts are compatible with the real 1897’s some are not. On mine some screw are metric some are English ( I think they used whatever they had that would work. It’s like a lot of their stuff. QC can be very iffy. One gun could work flawlessly for thousands of rounds, the next won’t work out of the box.I picked up 2 real 1897’s for about the same price, and they both run like a top.
Click to expand...

Can you advise as to where I should go for the real 1897?
 
EE, but you would have to be quick. One thing is that mine is an older one. The new ones are supposed to be better. For the price it’s worth taking the chance if you really want one
 
Norinco Disposables

Yeah, I shot Cowboy Action for a while. Many of them treated their Norincos like disposable guns--just shoot them and abuse them until they wore out, then flip them for new ones.
I've got a Norky "1911 Commander" that I finally got to run reliably, but not until I replaced all the springs with Wolffies, and all the control gizmos with Wilson Combats!

If the Chinese government is relying on Norinco to supply them with their military needs, then their opposition has little to worry about. :rolleyes:
 
Just proves my point. My Norinco commander shot at least as well as my SIG commander. I bought it as a project gun and left it as is. The guy I eventually sold it to loves it.
 
The latest batch, the ones marked CN19CA, have some quality control isses. If you look at my thread's I did a fairly comprehensive review.

BTW: they really aren't clones, more of a tribute look similar shotgun. Worst case, budget about a $100 for getting it tuned, still worth buying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom