Caliber: 9mm
Action: Recoil operated semi-automatic
Trigger: Single action
Safety: Grip safety, thumb safety
Magazine: 9-round
Frame: Blued finish steel
Grips: Black plastic
Barrel Length: 5 inch
Overall Length: 8.5 inch
Weight: 40.5 oz
No. 46 Sanlihelu
Bejing, China
Website: www.norinco.com
OK, first things first, let's get some of the boring stuff out of the way before I get into the nuts & bolts of this budget foray into the world of 1911-style pistols.
The China North Industries Group was established in 1980 and under the Norinco name they manufacture various goods such as vehicles, machinery, optical-electronic products, oil field equipment, chemicals, light industrial products, explosives and blast materials, as well as civil and military firearms and ammunition.
When it comes to handguns, Norinco is well known for making decent, affordable copies of popular models such as the 1911, CZ, SIG, High Power and Tokarev pistols. Since 1994 various politically motivated import bans have kept Norinco handguns from the US market but they are widely enjoyed by many Canadians looking to get a taste of handgun shooting without breaking the bank.
Right out of the box, the fit and finish are acceptable but the internals of this pistol are a bit rough, although they don't appear to affect the overall function of the pistol, since the rails are nice and smooth. It comes with fixed sights, a beavertail safety, extended slide stop, extended mag release, offers a full length, steel guide rod, which is a huge plus and has an ambidextrous safety for left-handed operation. This safety is a bit longer than on a standard 1911, so if you're planning on getting a molded holster, you will need to do some "customization" to the inside panel of the holster before it will fit properly. I had to carve about a 4mm notch to make it fit right.
The trigger has quite a bit of creep and breaks anywhere between 5-6 lbs. Compared to my Colt, this took some times to get used to, but after a while (and in more dynamic shooting situations) I didn't really notice it too much.
The fixed, three-dot sights, in my opinion, are not well thought out. Two white dots in the rear, coupled with one yellow sight up front, which disappears almost completely under certain lighting conditions. Instinctively, when taking my first shots, I lined up the top of the sights and noticed that I was shooting high at 20 m. When I adjusted my sight alignment to align the three dots, it improved things drastically, but as I said, under certain lighting conditions this proved almost impossible. I further improved the sight picture by buying a small bottle of fluorescent yellow paint and adding a drop into each of the divots. The sights really pop now.
When taking my first few shots, I also noted that it was shooting approximately 6 inches to the right (a pain in the butt when dealing with fixed sights). My first inclination was to purchase an adjustable rear sight, however I soon discovered that Norinco does not cut their slides to "industry" standards, making sight replacement an unfulfilled dream, unless I wanted to have a gunsmith recut the groove in my slide (which I was told would involve heating to relieve some of the tempering).
Since I didn't want to weaken the structural integrity of the slide, I opted to drop $60 on a universal sight pusher and adjust the rear sight myself. Lining the slide up in my vice and using the bore sighter made this job a lot easier and saved quite a bit on ammo (not that 9mm is all that costly).
When it comes to ammo, I found that it really did not work well with hollow-point or the 147 grain flat-nosed bullets (failure to feeds are a huge pain in the @#$ in the middle of an IPSC match), but it appeared to run flawlessly with 115 grain & 124 grain round nose projectiles. Also, once of the main reasons I went with the NP-29 instead of the standard 1911 was the substantial savings I incurred by adopting the 9mm option over the 45acp.
I only paid $299 from Frontier Firearms, but that's only because I managed to snag one on a mega sale, but you can find them from a number of other retailers such as Canada Ammo, for anywhere between $300-$350. Spare mags run anywhere between $20-$40, but finding them can be somewhat difficult, so if you can, buy extras when you buy your pistol. It comes with 2, but that's not enough if you plan on doing any serious competing.
Basically, for the price, the minor issues are no big deal. If you're willing to put in a little bit of work and run the right ammo, you can make it run well enough for most "legal" Canadian purposes to own a pistol.
Remember, if anyone looks down their nose at you on the range because you're not shooting a Colt or a Kimber, just remind them how much money you saved and then show them what a budget, entry-level pistol can do by shooting the tail-feathers off them.
Have fun on the Range and keep shooting, mon ami.
- e-Legal Canadian
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