Norinco Milspec parts interchangeability

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Larry Vickers

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Okay so after my visit to Canada and the One Shot Tactical demo day where I had a chance to shoot a Norinco M4 kindly provided by a CGN member ( thanx again !) I have returned to the USA and told my friends of my experience

Not surprisingly most all of them did not even know Norinco made an M4 clone- I was aware of it before I came up North but had never handled one let alone shot one

The inevitable questions started of how close to USGI Mil Spec the Norc M4- as I understand it the buffer tube is commercial spec but what else has anyone tried to interchange ? Will it accommodate a Milspec bolt carrier group? How about fire control group ? Most all the pictures I see here on CGN it retains the Norc flash suppressor so I assume the muzzle threads are not Milspec ? I read somewhere they are 1/2 x 20 and not 1/2 x 28 - is that true?

Just wondering how close the Chinese where able to reverse engineer the tolerances of a Colt M4 for instance

Thanx in advance for your replies

Larry Vickers
 
Ive seen it with a milspec BCG and match grade trigger group. Now that I think about it ive never seen a different flash hider on it either. I've put a milspec buffer on mine. The real issue that many have with it is gas block removal. The front sight is dedicated to staying on there. Tolerances are looser as far as ive seen. I can recall 3 examples of plus 10, 000 rounds rigs going no failures. Mine is at 3000 no fail.

BTW, Thanks for making the great 2 point slings and that fancy new chest rig.

-chris
 
I installed a DPMS lower parts kit in my 2012 manufacture Norc "M4". Not only did it install perfectly, the 2 new takedown/pivot pins tightened up the fit of the upper to the lower...no movement at all.
I also installed a PWS Triad muzzle brake....the muzzle end threads are 1/2 x 28.
Everything Magpul has installed perfectly, except for the front handguards which took a bit of dremeling (not much) at each end of the "lips" to install. Once installed, they are as solid as a rock.
 
Hit and miss to be honest. A few friends of mine that own Norcs and have tried putting various parts or upgrades in or on there Norcs have had a multiple of issues at times. Although I would guess there consistency has improved with standardization on there parts many of the Norcs require extra work in regards to having various milspec parts exchanged and some gunsmithing here and there..

One owner i know had to swap out more parts than they intended and have had other issues of high quality parts simply not working together with other Norc made parts. Simple upgrades can lead you gutting the whole gun and taking the BCG and triggers right out entirely.

I guess when you go from finely machined parts being mixed with cruder standards it can get tricky, but the Norcs work great considering what you are getting for the price.
 
I had a Norc M4 (14.5) running a Stag LPK, and a Vortex FH. I used a Mid West free float rail. I also ran the Norc upper on an Armalite lower with no issues. I did a post on ARF when I first got the rifle, it might still be there, quite a few pictures IIRC. The Norc uppers fit very tight to western AR lowers (I also ran a 10.5 on the same Armalite lower) and of course they do go bang all the time in my experience.
 
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I swapped the flash hider with no problem. The Rock river trigger dropped in but I had to widen the notch on the safety bar a bit. that was easy to do. Float tube install was smooth. the gas block pins came out with some persuasion. Pistol grip changed ok.
 
I had a Norc 10.5" - all my magpul goodies fit except the fore-end, it would require some minor dremel work to squeeze into the delta ring properly

I have a bunch of friends who have them and have installed muzzle brakes, they are the standard 1/2 x 28 threads.
 
Norinco CQ-A 556
NorincoCQ556.JPG

NorcARs.jpg

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Generic Version
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/09/03/paraguay-army-using-chinese-m4-clone-cq-556/

Lever Arms Version
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/04/15/chinese-cq-m4-being-sold-in-canada/

They do all very but all come with full auto bolt carrier and also with M4 feed ramp's. Some have come with auto safety's but all of them I have run across have very small sign's of machining marks and there pin's for the front sight post are all over done. Meaning that the only way to take it off is by cutting it off.
If you have a friend who has a sand blaster and a anodizing plus nitride tank you can make the out to be a whole lot better looking but when it comes down to it they all run. Even being field by multiple third world countries.
 
Every Magpul part, the floating quad rail a USGI Mil Spec BCG all fit with no difficulty onto both of my Norc M4s
I believe that they are a great entry level AR
 
20121001_214440_zps95c3d787.jpg


The receivers are Norcy,
The BCG is a Chromed Colt FA carrier
The barrel is an LMT 11.5 inch
The stock is a milspec VLTOR
The rail is a YHM
The brake is a PWS KAC but since it's on the LMT barrel I can't tell you about the original Norcy barrel which was an M4 profile.
The LPK is still the original Norcy with some trigger voodoo done by a friend and former CF weapons tech. He refuses to tell me what to do, but it is one of the nicest single stage AR triggers I've ever fired.
The finish is Krylon
The sling is re-purposed from my SAN Classic Green Carbine.
The missing Micro windage and elevation caps are by me.
 
Leibermuster said:
Hit and miss to be honest. A few friends of mine that own Norcs and have tried putting various parts or upgrades in or on there Norcs have had a multiple of issues at times. Although I would guess there consistency has improved with standardization on there parts many of the Norcs require extra work in regards to having various milspec parts exchanged and some gunsmithing here and there..

One owner i know had to swap out more parts than they intended and have had other issues of high quality parts simply not working together with other Norc made parts. Simple upgrades can lead you gutting the whole gun and taking the BCG and triggers right out entirely.

I guess when you go from finely machined parts being mixed with cruder standards it can get tricky, but the Norcs work great considering what you are getting for the price.
Click to expand...

That is my experience as well...spec on the small parts is pretty random.

As a guy who's spent a lot of time with their 1911s and their M14s, this is not too surprising.

I would guess you could conclude just from the variety of answers in this thread alone that the "spec" varies pretty substantially. Sometimes other parts fit perfectly...sometimes "slightly less perfectly".

Great to see you posting here.
 
The things I had trouble with on my norc were, I had to file the enhanced trigger guard,magpul, to make it fit and my ncstar quad rail was a ##### to get on. Other than that I have had no problems upgrading.
 
No experience myself but a friend of mine replaced some of the bolt parts, charging handle and installed a extended bolt release all without problems. He tried to swap out his barrel but couldn't get the nut to loosen even with a vice and ar vice blocks/clamps.
 
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