I have one of the TT Olympia Norcs from the 80s.
It is quality manufactured (the same as my early Norc M14 and 1911), functions well, and is accurate (relative considering the sights). I purchased mine used, and sadly it does not have the weights that came with it. It only had one mag, but I picked up two extra over the years at auctions. (Who says auctions are useless and overpriced.
)
The fact that these rarely come up for sale over the past 10yrs now speaks to how owners like them.
I suspect these ones being sold now are new production and not old stock left over because the grips are cheaped out plastic. So beware if you are comparing them to the early 80s production like mine.
The little pistol is an exact copy of the Walther Olympia. If memory serves, it actually was used for Olympic competition and won a gold medal back in the 30s for the German team. [Someone set me straight on that please.]
You have to consider the fact that sights back then were mostly only a drift adjustable rear in a dovetail. Target sights, like on this pistol, consisted of an elevation adjustable front blade with a little set screw and slide adjustable rear leaf inside a base with adjustment screws on both sides to set windage adjustment. The front blade is narrow and the rear leaf cut out is narrow as well - not great compared to modern target sights. The Norinco is a true to form copy right down to the original sights. So don't blame Norinco for this, but rather that was the way sights were back in those days. I have a period Beretta Olympia that has similar sights which do not really perform like a target pistol but it is a collectible in original box with accessories.
The thing to bear in mind about Norinco guns is that they are made with real metal and not plastic or pot metal. They used to use real wood for stocks/grips as well and not plastic crap.
On a couple US websites there are guys who have done trigger jobs on these older Norc Olympias and put different sights on them and used them in competition. If you hold the gun down on a sandbag and test it on paper at 25yds with some decent SV ammo you should get surprising results. I used to be able to shoot mine freehand with suitable results, because the factory trigger on mine is pretty crisp and light without any creep.
It is quality manufactured (the same as my early Norc M14 and 1911), functions well, and is accurate (relative considering the sights). I purchased mine used, and sadly it does not have the weights that came with it. It only had one mag, but I picked up two extra over the years at auctions. (Who says auctions are useless and overpriced.
The fact that these rarely come up for sale over the past 10yrs now speaks to how owners like them.
I suspect these ones being sold now are new production and not old stock left over because the grips are cheaped out plastic. So beware if you are comparing them to the early 80s production like mine.
The little pistol is an exact copy of the Walther Olympia. If memory serves, it actually was used for Olympic competition and won a gold medal back in the 30s for the German team. [Someone set me straight on that please.]
You have to consider the fact that sights back then were mostly only a drift adjustable rear in a dovetail. Target sights, like on this pistol, consisted of an elevation adjustable front blade with a little set screw and slide adjustable rear leaf inside a base with adjustment screws on both sides to set windage adjustment. The front blade is narrow and the rear leaf cut out is narrow as well - not great compared to modern target sights. The Norinco is a true to form copy right down to the original sights. So don't blame Norinco for this, but rather that was the way sights were back in those days. I have a period Beretta Olympia that has similar sights which do not really perform like a target pistol but it is a collectible in original box with accessories.
The thing to bear in mind about Norinco guns is that they are made with real metal and not plastic or pot metal. They used to use real wood for stocks/grips as well and not plastic crap.
On a couple US websites there are guys who have done trigger jobs on these older Norc Olympias and put different sights on them and used them in competition. If you hold the gun down on a sandbag and test it on paper at 25yds with some decent SV ammo you should get surprising results. I used to be able to shoot mine freehand with suitable results, because the factory trigger on mine is pretty crisp and light without any creep.