Scorpio EM332A mods - making a silk purse from a sow's ear

The one I bought for my son had a QC tag on it that said it was made in 2017, so 5 years old already. No threaded barrel on it either, but that's not an issue. He has no idea he's getting a rifle for his birthday, but has already asked if I can take him and a friend to the range on Saturday. The timing should work out good, his birthday is on Thursday. I'm going to have to shorten the stock a bit for him, and was trying to figure out how the recoil pad is attached. It doesn't look like there's any screw holes in it, so I guess it's most likely glued on. I'll probably end up knocking a couple inches off the butt with the band saw and just gluing it back together for now, maybe make it adjustable later on.
Kristian
 
Pretty decent guns for $200, the stock fit me well for offhand, not great for a bench. I have 2 of the NOS 522's, so dumped the 332.
 
The stock is a bit long, but I won't have to take as much off as I thought. I put the scope on about as far back as it will go, and it looks ok for prone shooting at least. He was pretty stoked that my brother got him a bipod to go on it too. Hopefully we get to try it out at the range Saturday. Looking at the stock got me thinking about maybe cutting it off, and threading in an AR buffer tube, then putting an adjustable AR butt stock on it. It would probably require a bit of filling with JBweld or epoxy in the thread area, but might just work.
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Kristian
 
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We took my son's new Norinco to the range yesterday to see what it could do. He really liked shooting it, but I was a bit disappointed that out of the box I wasn't able to do any better than about 3/4" to 1" groups at 50m with CCI standard, shooting from a bench with a bipod and rear bag. The action was also pretty sticky, and he had a hard time closing the bolt a couple times. We took it apart when we got home and I noticed that even though the barrel looked like it had enough clearance to be free floated, right at the end of the fore end it had been rubbing on the barrel. I sanded that out a bit, and figured it needed the rest of the typical Norinco finishing work as well. I slicked up the cocking piece and striker, the bolt cutout in the action, stoned the trigger and sear, and added a lump of JB weld on the trigger that I later filed down to get rid of the over travel. I also cut an inch out of the butt stock to fit my son a bit better. We haven't shot it yet, but as usual it feels like a totally different gun once it's had a bit of work done to it. I don't have a trigger pull gauge, but just putting the tip of the trigger on the edge of the kitchen scale and slowly letting gravity pull it down gives a fairly repeatable 20-21 oz with the stock trigger spring, but I did twist it a bit tighter to reduce the preload. It definitely passes the butt against the floor test, and the safety still works great. Today I made a bigger bolt handle (from a Cat head bolt) and threaded it on, and have been blending the stock a bit where I glued it back together.
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I really do like my heavier barrel NS522, and hopefully I can get this Scorpio shooting as good as it does. I didn't really realize what a bargain the 522 was until yesterday I got the chance to shoot a Vudoo loaner at the range, and I liked my Norinco better. To be fair, it's hard to really get to know a different rifle in a short amount of time though.

One of the differences I noticed with the new one compared to the older rifle is that the small parts are MIM rather than milled from solid, and they generally have a much better surface finish, which requires less smoothing and polishing. The sear notch on the trigger did take a fair bit of stoning to get a square edge on it though.
Kristian
 
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Try some SK rifle match... this really got our Scorpios shooting. Some will respond well to CenterX but I need a tuner on mine to get that ammo to really shine.

Some TLC and these rifles can work superbly. I have no problem putting this beside any high end custom rimfire wrt to function/operation and these will likely feed better

Can you share how you threaded the bolt handle? Mine is a really crude method and I would like to learn something with more finesse.

Thanks

Jerry
 
Thanks Jerry, but I don't think you can call what I did with the bolt handle finesse. I just used a hack saw to cut the ball down in size a bit, then made it about 1/4" diameter on a bench grinder and threaded it by hand with a die. I was going to see if I could figure out a way to grab it with the lathe, but my dad's 4 jaw chuck weighs at least 150 lbs and is a real pain to swap out. I was a bit disappointed in myself that I slipped with the hack saw and marked up the top of the bolt handle a bit, but my son said he doesn't care. Apparently I should have done a better job instilling a sense of pride in workmanship with him. As far as using SK rifle match, I haven't seen it for sale locally here. My 522 seems to like the flat nose basic though, so once I get it sorted out with the cheap stuff, I'll give that a go.
Kristian
 
turbo_bird said:
Thanks Jerry, but I don't think you can call what I did with the bolt handle finesse. I just used a hack saw to cut the ball down in size a bit, then made it about 1/4" diameter on a bench grinder and threaded it by hand with a die. I was going to see if I could figure out a way to grab it with the lathe, but my dad's 4 jaw chuck weighs at least 150 lbs and is a real pain to swap out. I was a bit disappointed in myself that I slipped with the hack saw and marked up the top of the bolt handle a bit, but my son said he doesn't care. Apparently I should have done a better job instilling a sense of pride in workmanship with him. As far as using SK rifle match, I haven't seen it for sale locally here. My 522 seems to like the flat nose basic though, so once I get it sorted out with the cheap stuff, I'll give that a go.
Kristian
Click to expand...

A bit of filing, shaping and cold blue... good as new.

Jerry
 
I actually used something called express rust blue that I got from PJ's Products a few years ago, not cold blue. It's not Radocy like their website says, but apparently very similar. It's the first time I've used it, and I think it worked much better than the few little parts I've done with various cold blues. If I take a picture of the same bolt knob using the flash on my phone, it comes out looking more brown than blue. You heat the part in boiling water, swab on the solution, back to the water, then card with 0000 steel wool and repeat. I lost count, but think I did 7 or 8 turns with it after wet sanding the knob to 1000 grit using my drill press to spin it. My dad's old lathe only goes to about 360 rpm, so not ideal for small parts. Still beats the hell out of a drill and a file for most things though.
Kristian
 
Shot the Rimfire Rally at the Joe Rich range in Kelowna on Sat. Got the overall win in OPEN... there was some very good competition and gear in the following 5 spots.

Targets were small at the LR portion like shooting golf balls at 190m. The Scorpio shot very well.

I was running CenterX and a tuner, and I have no complaints on the accuracy potential out to 290m that we shot at.

Looks like the ejection issue has been pretty much resolved. Still need a bit of a 'snap' pulling the bolt back but the TLC to the extractors seem to get the case moving in the right direction out of the action port. I am going to relief the scope base more

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Fun rifle.

Jerry
 

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Fascinating thread! Just bought one of these and was wondering if there are kits that anyone has put together combining all the "tweaks"?
I suppose, I could try following the instructions as well. ;)
 
LarryG said:
Today I made a bigger bolt handle (from a Cat head bolt)


Hi, what is a cat head bolt?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion, it was just a handy chunk of steel of about the right size. It just happened that it was a head bolt for a Cat diesel engine, and I thought it was kind of funny to make a bolt handle from an actual bolt.
Kristian
 
Testing out to 400m today.. finally got some nice conditions and the Scorpio shoots!!!!

All being well, will be running this rifle at the CRPS Western Championships mid July. It will be the least expensive rifle in OPEN for sure... :)

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
Testing out to 400m today.. finally got some nice conditions and the Scorpio shoots!!!!

All being well, will be running this rifle at the CRPS Western Championships mid July. It will be the least expensive rifle in OPEN for sure... :)

Jerry
Click to expand...

I might see you there with my NS522, it was about the same price point too.
Kristian
 
Grantmac said:
If you want to stick with the cheap and effective theme then look for an RWS Drooper Mount. Roughly 30moa of slope and fits right on the 11mm dovetail.
Click to expand...

That looks pretty handy for a cheap mount. I ended up using one without any cant, and then using Burris rings with the offset bushings. To bottom out the travel on my scope I ended up sanding down the thickness of the -10 insert at the bottom front, and making one with more offset with my 3d printer for the rear. I'm still missing out on about 5 mils elevation, but it's much better than it was.
Kristian
 
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