The cool thing with Norcs is that you can buy the gun and STILL have money left for the bling. 20 years ago you had to buy a Colt ($800-$1000), or if you were lucky, a Springer ($700 - $900) and then start with the bling - there were NO $400 1911's then and the bling would run you as much as the gun.
Turning a whore into a Lady: My Norinco 1911 rebuild
- Thread starter Spanky
- Start date
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
Down in the park with a friend called five....
Down in the park with a friend of mine.....
I managed to get the Wilson drop in beavertail/grip safety installed using a skeletonized hammer a friend had laying around. These 2 parts were BOTH total drop in's... no fitting or modification necessary. Not sure what brand the hammer is, but it looks cool. Also swapped the extended mag release from my SR-1911, put on a set of wrap around grips and the trigger from dlask. I do intend to order another extended slide release for this gun. But thats it. It works flawlessly and looks like a gun you wouldnt be afraid to knock around.
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
i picked up a Dlask trigger as well but i can not get that bugger to fit in there.
what mods did you have to do to yours to get it in??
and love the hammer, was that from Brownells?
what mods did you have to do to yours to get it in??
and love the hammer, was that from Brownells?
Well I've come to the end of the build (the part that I can do anyway) - I need to get that match barrel fitted to the slide, and possibly a nitron finish down the line.
Here's the whore-turned-lady:
It feels so much nicer, definitely worth the work and $$$. Trigger pull is about 4 lbs now.
Cheers
John
Here's the whore-turned-lady:
It feels so much nicer, definitely worth the work and $$$. Trigger pull is about 4 lbs now.
Cheers
John
Looking good man. Our guns will almost be twins. Except for the guide rod (I'm staying old school) and the fact that you have a stainless trigger and mag release they will look identical. Assuming I ever get my 1911 that is. The parts are sitting here waiting for a home!
Im going to do another mag release on mine as well. After installing one on my Ruger its just way too nice. The extended ruger release is nicer than the stock norinco one but that extra setback of the Wilson one is sweet.
What did you do to get the trigger pull down so far? I put another 250 rounds through my gun today along side my SR-1911 and honestly, they shoot exactly the same. After cleaning both (and both getting a bit higher round count therefore more broken in) the Norinco, while not as nicely finished, is every bit the shooter the mid level Ruger is. Id like to have a much lighter pull though.
What did you do to get the trigger pull down so far? I put another 250 rounds through my gun today along side my SR-1911 and honestly, they shoot exactly the same. After cleaning both (and both getting a bit higher round count therefore more broken in) the Norinco, while not as nicely finished, is every bit the shooter the mid level Ruger is. Id like to have a much lighter pull though.
That's the great thing about 1911s... there's an infinite number of ways to modify how they look, feel and perform.
Aside from swapping all the factory parts with performance parts, I polished all the surfaces involved with the trigger pull (top and bottom of trigger, trigger bars, disconnector, sides of hammer etc.) I also de-burred and smoothed the trigger track and hammer slot with the specialized stones from Brownells. I got the 1911 armorer's block and re-machined the sear and disconnector surfaces until I got them to fit perfectly and with no overhang.
Cheers
John
It's definitely a little interesting to see people's different ideas about what constitutes an improvement over the factory configuration.
I do use the same sear in my guns, and almost any quality extractor is going to be an improvement over the Norinco one (assuming it gets tuned correctly during the build process, obviously).
Correctly fitted by a skilled builder, most of the parts on that list could definitely be an improvement over a Norinco's factory parts.
Poorly fitted, on the other hand, or dropped in with no fitting at all, they would probably combine to reduce reliability. But that's life with 1911s...they are not for people who want to swap parts. They are for people prepared to put the time in to understand the system.
Unfortunately the massive availability of various parts for the 1911 means it's become a gun that is very popular with people who like to swap parts.
I would argue that that is probably 50% of the reason for its reputation as an unreliable handgun.
Of the remaining 50%, I would guess most of it is shared between, say, Taurus, ParaOrdnance, Auto Ordnance...well, this list could get pretty long.
