Inaccurate Norinco.

[53vortec]

After a few range sessions with my Norinco 1911 I've concluded it has a serious accuracy issue. At 10 yards, it does good to hold 7" 8-shot groups.

It's in great condition with less than 300 rounds fired and no signs of tinkering, so I'm guessing I have bad barrel. Is that the most likely culprit?

The slide/frame fit seems fine for a stocker, and I've tried it with a variety of ammo. Nothing nasty about the trigger, and no signs of peening. Oh, and the loose nut behind the trigger has been tested behind other pistols to check for proper calibration. :D

I was considering a Kart Easy-Fit or Nowlin Prefit barrel. Am I on the right track?

[niemi24s]

Are these groups one-handed, two-handed or from a rest?

Are the groups fairly round or are they strung out vertically of horizontally?

Measure the barrel-bushing-slide play when the gun's in battery.

Measure the slop (play) between the aft end of the barrel and the slide when the gun's in battery.

If you have not shot any 1911 too much, you might learn more about your gun by letting someone who has try it.

Another possibility is shoot your barrel in another 1911 that locks your barrel up fairly tighly when in battery (if one can be found which does).

Whether or not you're on the right track by assuming it's the barrel (bore or fitting) is impossible, for me at least, to say without you doing some further tests and taking some measurements.

I have no personal experience with Norincos or their barrels. You might sniff around in the Norinco section of this forum to see what you can learn.

[Hill]

After a few range sessions with my Norinco 1911 I've concluded it has a serious accuracy issue. At 10 yards, it does good to hold 7" 8-shot groups.

It's in great condition with less than 300 rounds fired and no signs of tinkering, so I'm guessing I have bad barrel. Is that the most likely culprit?

The slide/frame fit seems fine for a stocker, and I've tried it with a variety of ammo. Nothing nasty about the trigger, and no signs of peening. Oh, and the loose nut behind the trigger has been tested behind other pistols to check for proper calibration. :D

I was considering a Kart Easy-Fit or Nowlin Prefit barrel. Am I on the right track?

Yep, sometimes they're not very well fitted.

I have one that had a really poor fitting of the barrel in just about every way imaginable and it shot like yours - once.

I happened to have a Fusion drop-in barrel that I'd bought in one of their auctions where they have nice low start prices think it was $99. so I put that into my then new Norinco. It fit pretty good and I took it outside and shot into smaller than 2" offhand on my little 15 yard range.

I later needed to fit the barrel a little more to get it's lugs well up but just as it came it turned that gun from my worst shooter into amongst the best.

So any of the ready to go barrels should fix you up. I don't think the Norinco barrels themselves are all that bad but the guns come in a variety of clearance sets as if nobody checks that aspect.

[Rope]

I had a similar experience with a Norinco, but one call to EGW fixed it.

Measure the ID of the slide and the outside diameter of your barrel and EGW will make a custom bushing for about $25. I had .009 of play on my original slide/bushing/barrel setup. I have it down to .001 now. The new bushing has to be removed with a wrench, but it fits like a glove.

I also added an EGW oversize slide stop to take some of the play out of the barrel. It worked. Gun shoots much better than I do now. It isn't quite as good as my match gun, but then it didn't come from the custom shop.

All it took to get everything to match up was a little time with some Flitz polish on a cotton cloth.

Total cost was under $50 shipped.

[53vortec]

Groups were fired two-handed, standing. They were fairly round.

I've got a good bit of experience with 1911s (you could say they're a family tradition), and I don't get groups like this with any of my other ones.

Wont be able to get any measurements, as I'm overseas right now. Was hoping this would be a "glaring" issue I could throw some parts at and tinker with next time on leave, but I kinda figured that was wishful thinking on my part. I may have my gunsmith swing by the house and pick it up to take measurements on it.

Thanks,
53vortec

[niemi24s]

Was hoping this would be a "glaring" issue I could throw some parts at and tinker with next time on leave, but I kinda figured that was wishful thinking on my part.
So far, posters have recommended two possibilities for accuracy improvement - barrel and bushing. The third might be a slide-frame tightening. Sort of a take-your-pick situation, I guess.
I may have my gunsmith swing by the house and pick it up to take measurements on it.
With no access to the gun, that may be your best bet. If your 'smith knows anything about 1911's, he/she ought to be able to tell you what it it really needs.

Cheers

[53vortec]

I did take note of the suggestions of the other posters, and took them into consideration with appreciation. However, I also decided it probably would be more prudent to check specs on everything before throwing parts (cash!) at it.

Thanks again to everyone, and more input is most appreciated.

[niemi24s]

. . . I also decided it probably would be more prudent to check specs on everything before throwing parts (cash!) at it.
Wise decision! :appld:

Without a close look your Norinco might have (perish the thought) a slide so far out of spec that even the most oversized hard-fit barrel might not improve its accuracy all that much. :(

Cheers