Should I buy??? Norinco 320

[MarkV]

In spite of the uzi being a simple firearm, norinco can manage to fubar it. In fact the norinco 320's are a piece of crap next to a vector. I will never buy a norinco after the experience I had with a 320. Even by the time you spend the money to sbr it and swap out the thumbhole or buy parts to make it compliant you've spent nearly what a decent carbine would cost. Glad I never followed up bad money with good money on that purchase.

A local incident just verified my opinion of norinco when a couple of years back we had a domestic dispute. The husband attempted to go rambo with two norinco ak's after the po-po arrived. Both rifles jammed after a couple of rounds and he was tasered without a single person hit. I'm sure they can be made to work but you're better off spending your $500 somewhere else imo. Someone here said they weren't worth free... I'd have to agree.

 

[GPWASR10]

A local incident just verified my opinion of norinco when a couple of years back we had a domestic dispute. The husband attempted to go rambo with two norinco ak's after the po-po arrived. Both rifles jammed after a couple of rounds and he was tasered without a single person hit. I'm sure they can be made to work but you're better off spending your $500 somewhere else imo. Someone here said they weren't worth free... I'd have to agree.

Man, when things go wrong at the Trailer Park, they go really wrong ;-) LOL

 

[Ulwembu]

So strange that these stories pop up. I think most (I said most, not all) of these incidents are due to bad maintenance. I've shot over 10,000 rounds through my 320 and at least 5000 rounds through my 56-1 and never had one gun caused hick up.

 

[ttman]

I bet u don't like anything made in china huh? as for your rambo story, sounds like :bull cops normally do not face an armed man (w/2 AKs no less) w/tasers.

In spite of the uzi being a simple firearm, norinco can manage to fubar it. In fact the norinco 320's are a piece of crap next to a vector. I will never buy a norinco after the experience I had with a 320. Even by the time you spend the money to sbr it and swap out the thumbhole or buy parts to make it compliant you've spent nearly what a decent carbine would cost. Glad I never followed up bad money with good money on that purchase.

A local incident just verified my opinion of norinco when a couple of years back we had a domestic dispute. The husband attempted to go rambo with two norinco ak's after the po-po arrived. Both rifles jammed after a couple of rounds and he was tasered without a single person hit. I'm sure they can be made to work but you're better off spending your $500 somewhere else imo. Someone here said they weren't worth free... I'd have to agree.

 

[MarkV]

I bet u don't like anything made in china huh? as for your rambo story, sounds like :bull cops normally do not face an armed man (w/2 AKs no less) w/tasers.

nothing against china; just against firearms that don't fire after i spent good money expecting it to. if you have one and it works then consider yourself lucky. i'd buy a dog for $500 before i'd buy a norinco again; not to mention there's plenty of other quality firearms available at that price range.

story is definitely not bs. iirc 3 or 4 years back the wife called 911 after the husband rammed her car with his after an argument... that'll show her. he'd fled to a wooded lot next to the house when the officers showed up. i believe the cops snuck up on him and then tasered him while he was trying to unfnck his weapon. flatoday had a write up, i remember posting the article up on the board at work; it'd even made the drudge report. surprisingly enough it wasn't even in a trailor park but probably the next thing closest to it; after all Palm Bay, FL is a classy town. :thumbs_up

 

[Ulwembu]

Well, to be really fair then: I've seen more AR15's f**k up in dynamic rifle matches then any other gun, no matter what make they were. And most of those over here are JP, Bushmaster, Oberland, Olympic Arms and a few others. Does that make you not buy an AR15 anymore?

 

[Paul556]

A local incident just verified my opinion of norinco when a couple of years back we had a domestic dispute. The husband attempted to go rambo with two norinco ak's after the po-po arrived. Both rifles jammed after a couple of rounds and he was tasered without a single person hit. I'm sure they can be made to work but you're better off spending your $500 somewhere else imo. Someone here said they weren't worth free... I'd have to agree.

I think there might be more to your story than what appears on the surface. Every Norinco AK I have handled was well built and reliable. I owned 3 Norinco AK's when I bought my 320. The high quality and reliable performance of my AK's is what gave me the confidence to buy the 320. I assumed incorrectly that because Norinco could make a quality AK that they would do well with the 320 too. Boy was I wrong.

For what it's worth, my Vector Uzi crapped out on me too. The difference was that Vector took care of my sick Uzi and made it right. With the 320 I was up a river.

 

[MarkV]

Well, to be really fair then: I've seen more AR15's f**k up in dynamic rifle matches then any other gun, no matter what make they were. And most of those over here are JP, Bushmaster, Oberland, Olympic Arms and a few others. Does that make you not buy an AR15 anymore?

no having bought a nib norinco 320 and not having it fire is what makes me not want to buy a norinco 320. comparing a norinco 320 next to a converted IMI provides clear evidence where the former is lacking. exuberance of youth and money burning a hole your pocket frequently leads to poor decisions like deciding to buy a norinco 320.

call the story bs, dismiss it as anecdotal if you will; it happened as best as I can remember without being there and hearing stories second hand. people rarely react in the manner expected often in spite of training otherwise.

i have never seen a quality norinco out of the box; they may very well exist, but i have never seen one that i'd be willing to part with my hard earned money for. in fact it's the only firearm from the handfull i've owned (with the exception of aftermarket conversions) that have ever given me trouble.

 

[GOLDWING]

I think if you check the archives, you will find all brands of UZI have had problems, but there are alot of Norinco owners on here that are happy with thier UZIs.

 

[N4KVE]

In my case, my IMI UZI has been perfect. While my Norinco UZI had problems, I have several Norinco AK's, & they are some of the best. Different products a company makes can vary in quality. A 72 Chevy Vega is a piece of crap, but a 72 Chevy Corvette is a nice car. GARY N4KVE

 

[galilgunner]

So far after about 15 years my Norinco 320 has been just as reliable as my Action Arms IMI model B. I have never had a malfuction with either one accept when I tried some USA brand mags many years ago. The Norinco doesn't look as nice as the IMI but mine works.

I don't have Norinco AK's anymore but, I have owned several over the years and all mine shot fine.

Being mass produced as fast as they could with very little time for quality control there probably were some bad ones out there too.

 

[Fdisk]

Norinco AK/mac 90 are hands down some of the best i have ever handled and
the recivers are a little thicker aswell if they have had malfunction i bet it had something to do with a person that is in a state of mind to shoot a Leo messing with internal parts of the guns in an attempt to get em to shoot a little faster i mean it wouldnt be unheard of for some fool to try to make a ak work like a open bolt weapon.
ive owned several Norinco firearms in the past and thay all worked great but i also had a friend who had a Norinco that needed a liottle work to funtion right it had the lower/pistol grip to low but after it was ajusted it worked great.

 

[APplaymaker]

i havent had my 320 for long, ive ran probaly 250 rounds threw it and they were the cheapest rounds i could find and ive had 2 jams so i have no complaints

 

[tonelar]

is vector producing again?

yes they are

i havent had my 320 for long, ive ran probaly 250 rounds threw it and they were the cheapest rounds i could find and ive had 2 jams so i have no complaints

that's not bad considering some of the 320's I've heard of. however, a decent UZI won't have 2 jams in 1,000 rounds.

 

[APplaymaker]

i was using the cci blazer clean rounds for like indoor ranges dont know if maybe they have less power or what but when i used the wwb rounds i had no problems, it just didnt extract the casing

 

[Ulwembu]

that's not bad considering some of the 320's I've heard of.

And I think that's where the biggest problems lies: a lot of people never shot one them selves and haven't been at the problems the others had. Hearsay doesn't let you know if the shooter inserted the magazine deep enough, if the shooter reloaded his ammo and had some low powdered rounds in between, etc. etc. etc. I'm not saying it's impossible to have a few M320's malfunctioning but any make will have that (just look at the recalls some major brands had the last year).

 

[APplaymaker]

i figured its like my 10/22 i try to run junk ammo through it i get junk results lmao but if i buy good ammo its a tack driver

 

[Paul556]

And I think that's where the biggest problems lies: a lot of people never shot one them selves and haven't been at the problems the others had. Hearsay doesn't let you know if the shooter inserted the magazine deep enough, if the shooter reloaded his ammo and had some low powdered rounds in between, etc. etc. etc. I'm not saying it's impossible to have a few M320's malfunctioning but any make will have that (just look at the recalls some major brands had the last year).

When a Norinco Uzi is bad it is very bad. Out of the box I could not open the bolt without removing the top cover (yes, I remembered to depress the grip safety). I am glad that you have not had the misfortune of experiencing a bad one, but trust me, they are out there. The problem is that if they are bad you have no recourse but to sell it, or fix it. I was to excited about getting an Uzi to take it back to the dealer and I thought I could fix it. I did get it to function, but it was a pain and I would not wish that kind of frustration on anybody. Well, I might be able to think of a few people I could wish that kind of frustration on, but I probably shouldn't.

 

[Ulwembu]

Maybe this sounds wrong but I do wonder if the problems are coming fro the factory or as a result of the changes that are required before the gun is allowed to be sold in the shop. Mine came straight out of the box from China (detour through Germany). It's completely original Norinco. Nothing welded by other parties.

 

[MarkV]

Maybe this sounds wrong but I do wonder if the problems are coming fro the factory or as a result of the changes that are required before the gun is allowed to be sold in the shop. Mine came straight out of the box from China (detour through Germany). It's completely original Norinco. Nothing welded by other parties.

can't be imported without factory changes prior... so it comes out of the box from china as is. if you get a bad one it will be a bad one. you can't polish a turd; it'll never shine and you just get crap all over yourself if you try.

i would never trust my life to a norinco 320 beyond using it as a club. if folks think a firearm that doesn't shoot occasionally is okay; well, that's their business.