Norinco 1911 stress test project?

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xopher

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Seeing as how summer is coming to an end, i feel like i need to start thinking of a project gun for this upcoming fall/winter season.

After reading about how the new colt 1911s failed after 12000 rounds for the marines, I've decided to do something similar with a norc and not one of my safe queens.

I am by no mean new to shooting 1911s however I've never actually done any work on one.

The plan is to pick up a Norc 1911 in either 45/9, fix up the trigger, possibly the sights, fit the slide to frame and shoot the crap out of it using factory spec reloads.


Now heres my question: I have never really looked into doing custom work on a 1911. I am aware to make one shoot like a champ, ill need to do lots of hand fitting to it. As a person with little to no experience working on a pistol at that level, do you more experienced guys think this is something i should pursue?
 
I'm not a fan of nutnfancy but I found this video while contemplating working on my trigger...let's just say I won't be.

He has two videos where he takes a 1911 to a smith and you can watch the smith do the work. If, after watching this, you still want to work on your 1911 then go for it.

h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCF2u3K743A
 
xopher said:
Seeing as how summer is coming to an end, i feel like i need to start thinking of a project gun for this upcoming fall/winter season.

After reading about how the new colt 1911s failed after 12000 rounds for the marines, I've decided to do something similar with a norc and not one of my safe queens.

I am by no mean new to shooting 1911s however I've never actually done any work on one.

The plan is to pick up a Norc 1911 in either 45/9, fix up the trigger, possibly the sights, fit the slide to frame and shoot the crap out of it using factory spec reloads.


Now heres my question: I have never really looked into doing custom work on a 1911. I am aware to make one shoot like a champ, ill need to do lots of hand fitting to it. As a person with little to no experience working on a pistol at that level, do you more experienced guys think this is something i should pursue?
Click to expand...

It would be cheaper and easier to buy the Norc from Armco, with the prep package on it - it'll go 12,000 rounds without issue, except perhaps for cleaning. Remember Norc frames and slides are tool steel.
 
kman300 said:
I'm not a fan of nutnfancy but I found this video while contemplating working on my trigger...let's just say I won't be.

He has two videos where he takes a 1911 to a smith and you can watch the smith do the work. If, after watching this, you still want to work on your 1911 then go for it.

h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCF2u3K743A
Click to expand...

Point taken, but there is A LOT of pretty basic work you can do to improve the trigger pull on a Norinco 1911. This would be well before getting into the sear nose and hammer hooks, which is the stuff that I think amateurs should be very cautious about.

Here's my short list of jobs requiring relatively little specialized knowledge and no specialized tools:

Polish trigger bow, trigger bow channel, disconnector, sear, hammer, and sear / trigger bow contact points on the sear spring. Tweak sear spring tension. Add and fit a lightweight trigger, add hammer and sear shims. I've done everything except the shims on this list, and the improvement is very satisfying.

From what I've heard, you can't argue with the value of the Armco package...
 
alpining said:
Here's my short list of jobs requiring relatively little specialized knowledge and no specialized tools:

Polish trigger bow, trigger bow channel, disconnector, sear, hammer, and sear / trigger bow contact points on the sear spring. Tweak sear spring tension. Add and fit a lightweight trigger, add hammer and sear shims. I've done everything except the shims on this list, and the improvement is very satisfying
Click to expand...

I've re-worked several Norc 1911's, and I agree with the "to do" list that you have put together. Norincos need a lot of smoothing out/polishing to run really well. Polishing the feed ramp and smoothing out where the frame meets the slide are the first things I do to a Norc, followed by a new trigger and mainspring. Norinco 1911's are a great gun to learn some smith skills on, and the hard steel is VERY forgiving;)

To the OP, let me know if I can be of any assistance, I see we are located in the same area:wave:
 
Please elaborate on these shims.

I can't find any shims on my 1911 pistols. Am I missing something?

alpining said:
Point taken, but there is A LOT of pretty basic work you can do to improve the trigger pull on a Norinco 1911. This would be well before getting into the sear nose and hammer hooks, which is the stuff that I think amateurs should be very cautious about.

Here's my short list of jobs requiring relatively little specialized knowledge and no specialized tools:

Polish trigger bow, trigger bow channel, disconnector, sear, hammer, and sear / trigger bow contact points on the sear spring. Tweak sear spring tension. Add and fit a lightweight trigger, add hammer and sear shims. I've done everything except the shims on this list, and the improvement is very satisfying.

From what I've heard, you can't argue with the value of the Armco package...
Click to expand...
 
alpining said:
Point taken, but there is A LOT of pretty basic work you can do to improve the trigger pull on a Norinco 1911. This would be well before getting into the sear nose and hammer hooks, which is the stuff that I think amateurs should be very cautious about.

Here's my short list of jobs requiring relatively little specialized knowledge and no specialized tools:

Polish trigger bow, trigger bow channel, disconnector, sear, hammer, and sear / trigger bow contact points on the sear spring. Tweak sear spring tension. Add and fit a lightweight trigger, add hammer and sear shims. I've done everything except the shims on this list, and the improvement is very satisfying.

From what I've heard, you can't argue with the value of the Armco package...
Click to expand...

...THIS

I took apart my armco tuned 1911 and copied the polishing work he did on a 2nd nornco 1911. the armco has a 4.5lb trigger. My polished one has a 5.1lb trigger.

I noticed he did some sear/hammer engagement filing which I will not touch.

I am very satisfied with the improvements from just polishing, and anyone who can take apart a 1911 and is semi competent can do it.

Now adding and fitting NEW parts such as safety/sear etc is a whole different story and should only be done by someone who knows exactly what they are doing
 
Halger280HVMag said:
Please elaborate on these shims.

I can't find any shims on my 1911 pistols. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Aftermarket add-on. If your sear and / or hammer have side to side slop inside the frame, shims can reduce it. I haven't gone that far, as I'm quite satisfied with my trigger feel as it now is.

Gotta say that you can get the trigger pull down only so far with the stock steel trigger before hammer follow becomes a problem (caused by trigger bounce with that heavy steel trigger). Fitting a new aluminum pad trigger has eliminated this problem entirely... :)

and I just fit a new thumb safety, not nearly as difficult as I thought... DANG I love working on this pistol!!
 
Source for these shims?

alpining said:
Aftermarket add-on. If your sear and / or hammer have side to side slop inside the frame, shims can reduce it. I haven't gone that far, as I'm quite satisfied with my trigger feel as it now is.

Gotta say that you can get the trigger pull down only so far with the stock steel trigger before hammer follow becomes a problem (caused by trigger bounce with that heavy steel trigger). Fitting a new aluminum pad trigger has eliminated this problem entirely... :)

and I just fit a new thumb safety, not nearly as difficult as I thought... DANG I love working on this pistol!!
Click to expand...
 
about 800 rounds into my norc 1911 9mm now. it only gets better the more i shoot. ...or maybe it's me getting better. ;)

5 shot in 4 square inch(2inch by 2 inch) at 10 yard using remanufactured/reloaded ammo.

i don't know if i can improve on that on 2 hand standing hold.

for some reason, i shoot worse using sandbag on this particular gun.

oh and be sure to let us know how the stress test is going!!
 
I'm confused, is your project to stress test a Norc 1911 ?
Or mod out and improve one ?

I think if you were going to stress test it, the data you come up with would be more useful if it was bone stock.

I'm interested in the Norc 1911 myself, and would be curious as to what results you'd come up with after some abuse.
 
Sounds to me like just a bit of work to make the testing more enjoyable. Smoothing the trigger shouldn't affect durability whatsoever. Fitting the slide to frame should improve durability, but personally I wouldn't bother. Unless again the goal is simply to make it a smoother feeling gun for the user experience during the test (good enough reason, imo).
 
Dexter Morgan said:
You could always just buy a better gun.
Click to expand...

Comedy.

But I'm not sure how buying something other than a Norinco 1911 will help achieve the goal of stress testing a Norinco 1911.

But I think we've all figured out that the supposed 'stress test' is really just an excuse to shoot lots.:D
 
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