# Chinese firearms



## Grenadier (May 16, 2007)

Tellner's Norinco 1911 got me thinking about Chinese firearms in general, so I decided to start this thread.  

Some people think of Chinese firearms as being inferior, and I was certainly in that crowd as well, until a handful of years ago.  

Most of that prejudice was due to my experience with a Chinese-made Makarov that was probably made at a less than decent facility, and that the gun had been neglected.  This Makarov had a terrible finish, and the machining was very rough, indeed.  It wasn't nearly as good as even the most base of Bulgarian Makarovs.  

All of that changed, though, when I got a hold of another Chinese-made Makarov.  The finish was beautiful, the machining was exceptionally smooth, and that trigger had a very nice pull (for a Mak).  The darn thing could shoot the hottest of Corbon 9x18 ammo, and be a tack driver from combat distances.  

I thought, judging from the initial appearance, that my friend had let me use an East German Makarov (thought of as the best Makarovs, followed by Russian, then Bulgarian), since this beauty of a gun was so good, that it had to be.  

When I took a closer look at the side of the slide, and saw the "Made in China by Norinco" on it, that was very surprising indeed.  

After having played around with a Norinco 1911 (that was also very inexpensive), along with a Norinco JW15 rifle (bolt action .22 LR), I would dare say, that the 1911, with a wee bit of fluff and buff, ended up being just as good as a Springfield Milspec, and that the JW15 was as good as my Remington Model Five, yet each cost significantly less than their American counterparts.  

All in all?  

Chinese manufacturing, especially their metallurgy, has gotten pretty darn good over the years.  These days, if you see something that says "Made in China," one cannot make any sort of assumption that it's going to be of inferior quality.  If anything, I seem to recall the days, back when "Made in Japan" meant inferior quality, and going through a similar revolution.


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## tellner (May 16, 2007)

I just wish we could get Norinco guns again.


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## Xue Sheng (May 16, 2007)

I am not an expert on Chinese guns or any guns for that matter, nor do I play one on TV. But I did once hear that what the Chinese manufacture for export (weapons) can at times be somewhat inferior to what they manufacture for in country.

But then I could have heard wrong and I did not follow up or do any research to find out if in fact that was true.


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## Grenadier (May 21, 2007)

tellner said:


> I just wish we could get Norinco guns again.


 
That and the replacement parts.  The distributors for replacement parts in the US have gone the way of the dodo, although there is a distributor in Canada, if I recall correctly.


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## David Wilson (May 29, 2007)

My Norinco SKS is one of my favorites.... it's not pretty and it's not match-grade accurate, but the darn thing just keeps on working.... it'll bring home the bacon (or the venison) if you want it to, and defend your home as well as anything....

It's not a great rifle (ergonomics kinda suck), but it's a good one....


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## tellner (May 29, 2007)

David Wilson said:


> My Norinco SKS is one of my favorites.... it's not pretty and it's not match-grade accurate, but the darn thing just keeps on working....



That was the whole point. It was designed so that a Roosian peasant who'd never picked up anything more complex than a hoe couldn't screw it up.


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## Callandor (May 29, 2007)

I don't know with maks but the Norinco 1911s are indeed ok. Gunsmiths frequently complain when you ask them to install new sights saying that the Norc's metal is hard. Rock River and Armscor are also good, btw.


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## LawDog (Jun 2, 2007)

I have two early SKS's. One has a pike type bayonet and the other has the blade type bayonet. These are really fun guns to shoot. The only problem now is that the ammo is very expensive.


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## Grenadier (Jun 2, 2007)

LawDog said:


> I have two early SKS's. One has a pike type bayonet and the other has the blade type bayonet. These are really fun guns to shoot. The only problem now is that the ammo is very expensive.


 
No kidding...  It used to be you could buy cheap Communist-bloc surplus for a song and a dance.  Ammo is still somewhat reasonable, at about 200 bucks per 1000 rounds from Ammoman.com, but gone is the Chinese fodder (that was actually excellent ammo), along with the East European stuff.  

One of these days, I'm actually going to buy the reloading dies for the 7.62x39 caliber, since I do have a good bit of boxer primer-comaptible brass.


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## K31 (Jun 2, 2007)

There are good reasons why if you want to continue owning firearms in the US you won't buy from NORICO:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/12/9/154606.shtml


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## tellner (Jun 2, 2007)

Ah yes, Hillary, the Devil, the Traitor, the Evil *****-Woman from Hell!

Sheesh.


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## K31 (Jun 2, 2007)

tellner said:


> Ah yes, Hillary, the Devil, the Traitor, the Evil *****-Woman from Hell!
> 
> Sheesh.



Of course! [slapping self in head] What was I thinking? You have swayed me with your clever use of rhetoric! Please keep buying those cheap NORICO firearms so the ChiCom generals can get their favorite candidates in this fall!


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