Norinco Olympia pistol 22LR only 199$

Did you clean and lubed the pistol? Though I do not have this Olympia, my experience with 22 pistol/revolver with misfires is I would say good enough. Manufacturers has tolerances that varies. Even the powder they use might cause varying velocities as stated. Casing hardness also plays factor. Some brands has harder casing causing misfires and sometimes no fire at all. Extraction is also a factor in unusually harder casing. Bulk Ammo is hit and miss. I had good results with Blazer, Mini Mag, Federal 525, Fed Match, CCI SV, Win M22. Remy Golden Bullet is also good, but damn dirty. Going back to misfires, if you can fully strip the pistol down to the last screw (don't do this if you are not comfortable that you can reassemble it back). Pay attention to the extractor and firing pin. Make sure the extractor moves freely to catch the fired casing. The firing pin, make sure it slides inside out of the firing pin channel. Clean it with a fine grit abrasive paper if you can feel rough edges as I am not sure if the firing pin is machined or stamped. Clean the whole pistol of the factory lube as this lube is generally thick to protect the pistol from corrosion after production before it gets t the customer. Good luck.... Safe Shooting!

Beeron said:
Got my Norinco in hand a week or two ago and had it out to the range recently.
I paid 200$ so I'm not complaining really but these are definitely a bit coarse. At least mine is.
They are also modeled after a pistol from the 1930's so features are also not what I'm used to.

No bolt hold open lever.
Mag drop is pretty good but the release is super awkward to get to.
Also need to depress the release to feed a mag. I am not sure this is an intended feature or just break in but the magazine retention thingo inside the handle looks to be very much squared off and not ramped from below and it catches on the lip of the mag upon insertion.

It's accurate though and the trigger is very light compared to my other 22 pistols.

I have had a few misfires though and upon inspection, it looks as though the firing pin is making contact with the cartridge well inside the "rim" (more towards the centre still on the rim generally but the outer rim is less kinked) which is unlike any of my other 22lr rimfires. So maybe with modern ammunition, the primer is set up a bit differently.

It is what it is I guess but maybe someone on here can make a suggestion related to the misfires?
Click to expand...
 
Beeron said:
Got my Norinco in hand a week or two ago and had it out to the range recently.
I paid 200$ so I'm not complaining really but these are definitely a bit coarse. At least mine is.
They are also modeled after a pistol from the 1930's so features are also not what I'm used to.
No bolt hold open lever.
Mag drop is pretty good but the release is super awkward to get to.
Also need to depress the release to feed a mag. I am not sure this is an intended feature or just break in but the magazine retention thingo inside the handle looks to be very much squared off and not ramped from below and it catches on the lip of the mag upon insertion.
It's accurate though and the trigger is very light compared to my other 22 pistols.
I have had a few misfires though and upon inspection, it looks as though the firing pin is making contact with the cartridge well inside the "rim" (more towards the centre still on the rim generally but the outer rim is less kinked) which is unlike any of my other 22lr rimfires. So maybe with modern ammunition, the primer is set up a bit differently.
It is what it is I guess but maybe someone on here can make a suggestion related to the misfires?
Click to expand...

I was shooting my Olympia a week ago. Before, I cleaned thoroughly all “cosmoline” with Ballistol. The ammo I used was the CCI Standard Velocity (lead bullet), Aguila HV, AR Tactical and CCI Mini Mag. I had only two misfires with the CCI Mini Mag. But that was it. No misfires at all with other brands.
In one of two mags which came with the pistol, the CCI Stand. Velocity lead bullet was catching the magazine cutout and couldn’t move up. A bit of inside filing smoothed the edge of the cutout and everything is fine now. My Olympia very much likes the AR Tactical cartridges. Although, the accuracy with the other brands was also pretty good. The trigger pull weight is close to 4lbs.
I have large hands and the grip fits me like a glove. The two-hand hold gripping is also very comfortable.
I agree that the lack of the lack of slide stop lever is weird and the mag release button is completely un-ergonomic. But these are minor problems. After a while, one can used to it. I don’t quite understand why you are saying that you need to depress the release to feed a mag. I just give it a light smack with the open palm of my left hand and that’s it.
 
Beeron said:
Got my Norinco in hand a week or two ago and had it out to the range recently.
I paid 200$ so I'm not complaining really but these are definitely a bit coarse. At least mine is.
They are also modeled after a pistol from the 1930's so features are also not what I'm used to.

No bolt hold open lever.
Mag drop is pretty good but the release is super awkward to get to.
Also need to depress the release to feed a mag. I am not sure this is an intended feature or just break in but the magazine retention thingo inside the handle looks to be very much squared off and not ramped from below and it catches on the lip of the mag upon insertion.

It's accurate though and the trigger is very light compared to my other 22 pistols.

I have had a few misfires though and upon inspection, it looks as though the firing pin is making contact with the cartridge well inside the "rim" (more towards the centre still on the rim generally but the outer rim is less kinked) which is unlike any of my other 22lr rimfires. So maybe with modern ammunition, the primer is set up a bit differently.

It is what it is I guess but maybe someone on here can make a suggestion related to the misfires?
Click to expand...

My magazine catch and mags behaved the same when I got them and I just kept forcing it in and now my the mag slides in great with a nice click. In my experience with all norinco firearns is that they need a break in period, especially the cheaper ones.

As for the misfires I'm not sure, havent got my paperwork yet to go to the range so I havent fired mine
 
Beeron said:
Got my Norinco in hand a week or two ago and had it out to the range recently.
I paid 200$ so I'm not complaining really but these are definitely a bit coarse. At least mine is.
They are also modeled after a pistol from the 1930's so features are also not what I'm used to.
No bolt hold open lever.
Mag drop is pretty good but the release is super awkward to get to.
Also need to depress the release to feed a mag. I am not sure this is an intended feature or just break in but the magazine retention thingo inside the handle looks to be very much squared off and not ramped from below and it catches on the lip of the mag upon insertion.
It's accurate though and the trigger is very light compared to my other 22 pistols.
I have had a few misfires though and upon inspection, it looks as though the firing pin is making contact with the cartridge well inside the "rim" (more towards the centre still on the rim generally but the outer rim is less kinked) which is unlike any of my other 22lr rimfires. So maybe with modern ammunition, the primer is set up a bit differently.
It is what it is I guess but maybe someone on here can make a suggestion related to the misfires?
Click to expand...

I was shooting my Olympia a week ago. Before, I cleaned thoroughly all “cosmoline” with Ballistol. The ammo I used was the CCI Standard Velocity (lead bullet), Aguila HV, AR Tactical and CCI Mini Mag. I had only two misfires with the CCI Mini Mag. But that was it. No misfires at all with other brands.
In one of two mags which came with the pistol, the CCI Stand. Velocity lead bullet was catching the magazine cutout and couldn’t move up. A bit of inside filing smoothed the edge of the cutout and everything is fine now. My Olympia very much likes the AR Tactical cartridges. Although, the accuracy with the other brands was also pretty good. The trigger pull weight is close to 4lbs.
I have large hands and the grip fits me like a glove. The two-hand hold gripping is also very comfortable.
I agree that the lack of the slide stop lever is weird and the mag release button is completely un-ergonomic. But these are minor problems. After a while, one can used to it. I don’t quite understand why you are saying that you need to depress the release to feed a mag. I just give it a light smack with the open palm of my left hand and that’s it.
 
I recieved mine and it's great for the price, mine has a little spot that looks like the bluing wasnt done well or was warn off. Other than that I'm very happy with it, pistol has some weight in the hand and doesnt feel cheap. Machining is good, small seam on the barrel but great everywhere else. Recieved awesome customer service from marstar as well so shout out to them for that. The pistol fits the hand well and is super simple to disassemble. Really looking forward to trying it out.

One thing as well that I noticed is the spare aftermarket mags do not have plastic baseplate that is part of the grip while the magazine is in the pistol. Not a big deal by any stretch, just something I noticed. Also the mags didn't want to push into the pistol at first but once I forced it a few times it worked great.

Overall very pleased that I picked one of these up. Thanks marstar for the awesome price!
 
Mosin_redstar said:
I recieved mine and it's great for the price, mine has a little spot that looks like the bluing wasnt done well or was warn off. Other than that I'm very happy with it, pistol has some weight in the hand and doesnt feel cheap. Machining is good, small seam on the barrel but great everywhere else. Recieved awesome customer service from marstar as well so shout out to them for that. The pistol fits the hand well and is super simple to disassemble. Really looking forward to trying it out.

One thing as well that I noticed is the spare aftermarket mags do not have plastic baseplate that is part of the grip while the magazine is in the pistol. Not a big deal by any stretch, just something I noticed. Also the mags didn't want to push into the pistol at first but once I forced it a few times it worked great.

Overall very pleased that I picked one of these up. Thanks marstar for the awesome price!
Click to expand...
I concur with most of the above comments. However, I found the bluing to actually be pretty good and the gun had no real sharp edges to deal with. Giving the mags a good whack 8-10 times to smooth out the mag catch seemed to solve the problem of difficult insertion/removal. Yes, the mag release is a bit awkward to reach but not awful. My only real gripe (and not a big one at that) is that the safety was brutally hard to engage & disengage to the point where I had to hit it up and down about 15 times with a nylon punch to get it movable with my finger. Again, however, that seemed to smooth it out so i don't foresee a problem with this going forward.

Only one misfire out of 50 rounds of Federal bulk pack and that was a faulty round which I re-hit a couple of times with no detonation (good firing pin indents).

My only other issue is with adjusting the rear sight for windage. The screws are TINY, even making Ruger sight screws seem big by comparision. My gun was shooting to the left so I wanted to move the rear sight but all I had were jewellers screwdrivers with me which were not big enough to put sufficient leverage on the screw to move it. I'm still working up the nerve to use a more substantial screwdriver as the slot is so small i don't want to mess it up.

Overall still a great purchase for $200 and as with most Norinco guns I expect everything to have smoothed out considerably by the time I get a couple hundred rounds through it.
 
ted_dent said:
My only other issue is with adjusting the rear sight for windage. The screws are TINY, even making Ruger sight screws seem big by comparision. My gun was shooting to the left so I wanted to move the rear sight but all I had were jewellers screwdrivers with me which were not big enough to put sufficient leverage on the screw to move it. I'm still working up the nerve to use a more substantial screwdriver as the slot is so small i don't want to mess it up.
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, the windage on the rear sight of my Olympia was set up absolutely perfect in the center. Some reviews on the TT-Olympia reported that after shooting the tiny rear sight screws could unscrew themselves and got lost. I unscrewed the left screw that is a bit larger than the right one, to expose the thread and squeezed a drop of blue Loctite (#242) on it. Just to be on the safe side.
Obviously, I share the opinion of others that for $199 (+tax&shipping) the Olympia is a great deal.
 
seth said:
Dammit.

I missed this. And the guy in Nova Scotia who said he'd make grips isn't getting back to me.

Any more coming in?
Click to expand...

I am going up next week to pick up a Olympia pistol (slow ass Ontario cfo lol finely came through). So watch the site as since I am driving there, as soon as I get home, u know more will go up on the site lol
 
Does anyone else here have a faint line on the barrel, near the back end? as if its made of two parts.

Here is a photo of what I mean

https://ibb.co/WH2c6LX
 
So I finally got the Olympia.
At this price point, it is really hard to complain about anything, as it seems pretty reliable and accurate thus far.

However I do have one complaint and it is about the magazines....complete junk in my opinion.

I haven't tried to take them apart yet, but it seems that the spring runs only on one side of it, which by itself is a design flaw and prone to binding.

They are very hard to load, regardless of the technique used (or whether I use the side tab or not).
The rounds keep jamming (likely due to the poor spring/follower geometry) and I have to bang the base plate against the bench, just so the rounds line up against the feeding lips with some spring tension behind them once loaded.

This is literally a complete opposite of my Bersa Thunder, which I had recieved a few weeks before and which is a total pleasure to load (the mags).

It is also possible, that both of the mags are bad...but this is not very likely, as one would think they should all suffer from the poor spring to follower geometry.

Would anyone here in this thread have any input on this issue?
 
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