Norinco JW-25A Gold or Garbage?

not from my experience.

Wood is cheap, dents and marks easily... Very easily...
Front side post welded on angled... had to file back left and front right to straighten and thin it out.
Feeds un-reliably if you don't slam it around.
Take down is kind of a pain.
Does feel like a nice rifle though in your hands, doesn't feel like a toy.

Accuracy wise, eh not bad not amazing.
 
I'd buy another if I had a need for one.

Only thing that bugs me in operation is the mag release - very small and hard on the fingers.

The norc mag is mostly crap. Buy some CZ ones and it feeds well. Just work the bolt like you're not pissing about.

Mine shoots better than my 10/22 does, and I've only ever put my lousiest bulk ammo through it that I won't use in a better gun.

I put an old 6x weaver .22 scope on mine to give it an ersatz sniper look.

If you're of a certain bent, it takes a k98 bayonet and sling.
 
I have an early one that has a side plate on the receiver for a scope mount.
It has a N.A.C. Ridgefield N.J. address on it so it probably was one of the guns diverted to Canada because of the Clinton Ban.
The newer models have a bent bolt to accept a scope. Someday I would like to get one of the side mounts to complete it.
 
Ordered one last week from CanAm... will be here this week... ordered leather k98 slings from eBay for $20usd and see through 11mm to 20mm full rail mount for optics for $5usd. Can't wait to to get the jw25a and start putting it through its paces. I was going to get some spare magazines but found most wanted almost $50 before shipping and taxes for cz mags and I think that's stupid expensive for 10 rounders so I'm going to stick with the factory mag.
 
Had one, not impressed and sold it.
JW15 are not bad, short ones are handy.
No gold with norks....the NS522 is decent, but a bronze at best Iol
 
If it's basically a JW 15 ,BRNO knockoff with a military type stock it should be a good accurate shooter ,albeit not as nicely finished at a fraction of the price of a BRNO.Personally,I prefer sporter stocks than military lookalikes,and since I already have JW 15, the JW15a and a JW23( 22 mag)and they all shoot as well as my BRNO I see no need for the military version,especialy since I have to scope it anyway so I can shoot it.Why they can't use even a cheap hardwood instead of softwood is beyond me.I refinished mine with an epoxy type finish to harden it up.
But for those looking for a miniature mauser it's probably a good deal
 
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I recently picked one up and am quite impressed overall. Lots of complaints of the wood, and may be on the soft side, but it looks good in my opinion. The bolt isn't as smooth as my Marlins but not bad. Mine has a Bushnell scope so the front site doesn't bother me. Would recommend.
 
I sold mine.

Fit and finish was fair. Bolt was rough. Wood was very low quality. However, was an absolute tack driver. Ridiculously small groups at 50m with premium ammo.
 
I paid about $200 new for mine and love it, fun gun to shoot. Very accurate with the scope on it. The irons printed good groups too but the point of impact was about 6"high at 25m? One of the collection that I would never sell.
 
I've had two, well three if you count the one I sent back for crooked sights. The bolt was a bit a rough, a few minutes with a Dremel and a few TV shows on the couch cycling the bolt it fixed that.
The wood is nice, haven't abused it much yet so the softwood hasn't been an issue. It is a cheap gun so no tears will be shed when it gets dinged.
Accurate as heck, I was shooting a steel plate at 90m, wasn’t having much luck with other guns, pulled the JW-25 out just before I left, hit every shot.

If you get one expect the sights to be a bit crooked, a scope can fix that. On one I filled in the rear sight with epoxy and filed it down closer to centre.
 
The safety lever arm can be quite stiff,but a dab of toothpaste( the poor man's polishing compound) and working it back and forth freed it up nicely.I also used toothpaste on the takedown catch on the JW20 Browning SA knockoff that was really stiff.
The softwood stocks respond quite nicely to a hard penetrating sealer or brushing on coats of epoxy then spray painting.Its still not like a good hardwood,but much improved over the original,my last Norinco was a JW15 a short barrel .22 *that came with the plastic stock,not the best but better than the softwood stocks on the others

*add a 4 x scope which I have to have anyway and this is about the best grouse gun you can get,compact,accurate and BRNO reliable
 
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Mine just came in from CanAm today. I LOVE IT... spent a couple minutes cleaning it... I doused it with that pink hd degreaser cleaner from superstore and poured almost boiling water all over it and voila... just a couple minutes to get it super clean and no scrubbing... then I doused in brake cleaner for moisture elimination then a quick blast of G96 and then blasted 50 rounds at various targets and it's dead on up to 50 yards... the wood is near flawless and action is okay but will be better after some jewelers rouge polishing... trigger is crisp but feels like 8 lbs which will be rectified tomorrow when I break it down and polish up the trigger/hammer components.





 
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Sounds like you got a good one. I think they are hit and miss, I had one bought "used but unfired", came with a chunk missing out of stock behind bolt. Bolt was very rough and safety took some work to get it to engage. Front sight complaints are common. I fired a couple dozen rounds at most, did some cleaning up of the bolt to smoothen things up, but quickly lost interest and sold it at a loss.
From a distance though, they look nice.
 
Yes, I'd say you pretty much nailed it. Trigger pull was 7 lbs 8 oz. Took a lot of polishing to get it down to 3 lbs 4 oz mark. My bolt required some major polishing as did the magazine as the elevator would stick down if inserted with the bolt closed with 5 rounds in it. But as I said its deadly accurate at 50 yards. I think I got a better than okay one and feel like its money well spent. We'll see how it does when I get optics on it and start reaching out to 150 yards and see just how accurate it is..
 
I wouldn't say they're gold or garbage~somewhere in between maybe. :)

Seriously though...for the price, I think they're decent/good guns. A little heavier than you might expect, I found the "wrist" in the stock to feel a little too thick for my liking. Sights were straight, mag sucked, CZ mags fit tight but worked. You had to work the bolt with some authority. All-in-all...great value, decently accurate, high on the "cool" factor. I found I never reached for mine after a year or so...so off it went. Have considered getting another, but I know I'll always reach for the CZ first.

On a side note~I do own a JW-15 "Backpacker". Can't bring myself to sell that little plinker. CZ mags fit great, handy size, light, decently accurate. That thing has been rained on/snowed on more times than I can even remember and it keeps coming back for more. Paid $175 for it, and for what I could get for it used~not worth selling.
 
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