Any Suprises?

[Amin Parker]

Hi all

Like all of us here, i buy the best. I will research every brand and model for reliablity and once narrowed down, i will find the weapons and shoot and handle them before i part with my cash. Does not mean that i have not met bad ones.

A few years ago when i first started reloading i bought a Norinco 213 in order to test ammo before i put them anywhere near my favourite pieces. Even though i was very careful i heard too many horror stories.

I remember collecting the pistol from the gun shop. I was almost ashamed and hid it from the other customers so no one world see. Took it home, stripped, cleaned and inspected as usual. Other than it being very rough, i didnt see anything that alarmed me.

At the range i loaded it up and shot 2 mags full at the back stop, no target before i started my practice with my other 9mm pistols. I did this everytime i went to the range. I realised very quickly that this pistol was firing without a single malfunction for around 150 rounds.

Thats when things started getting interesting. I decided to put it through its paces for reliability and bought a 12 shot extended mag. I even decided to use a target to rest accuracy.

The results were not just suprising, it was startling. I had no idea that this pistol, that was so cheap and crude had the ability to put so many brand name pistols to shame when it came to reliability.

This is not the best pistol in the world, not even close. Im merely pointing out how suprised i am at the reliability of this pistol that i basicaly bought to be a safety measure to my other guns.

Anyone else ever been pleasantly surprised by a brand or model that you expected very little from?

Ps, i am no longer a brand snob ( i try not to be )

 

[demigod]

My Norinco 1911 was always more reliable than any of the Colt or Springfields I owned.

I shot intermediate handgun with it if I remember correctly. But like every other 1911, it started acting up with the unexplained malfs and such. But a very good $230 1911.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

A Taurus PT-22 that I bought for my wife, since her RA destroyed hands couldn't handle anything better or even manipulate a slide on a small auto. I figured the tip-up barrel would afford her the option to simply drop in the cartridge, close the barrel and fire. Alas, even it's simple design proved too much for her hands and I was left with a tiny .22LR. Simply put, the gun is a blast. It has never failed, and since it is the lowly .22LR, I use only hot HPs like the Remington Yellow Jackets, a round Taurus specifically warns against due to it's TC design not being reliable in the gun. It has had nearly a steady diet of YJs since it's purchase, and it has fired every one with aplomb. As a "grab and go" gun for the woods and such, it is without peer in my collection and I'll never let it go. I am one of the few that got not just a good one, but a great one. My only other Taurus was not a keeper and was sold post haste. I consider myself not a Taurus lover or hater but open-minded.

 

[O'Dell]

I'm not surprised. I bought one of these pistols 20+ years ago, and it performed flawlessly. I hadn't shot it recently, so when a friend ask me about an inexpensive, dependable 9mm for a home defense, I sold it to him for what I paid for it - $129.95.

 

[rsxr22]

i was very surprised by the STI Spartan 9mm i just bought. I was very skeptical about buying a $609 1911 and i could not believe how good of a gun it is. It has better slide to frame fit than any Kimber i have ever owned and better than the Springer Loaded models too which are all more expensive. Also had a superior trigger to just about any stock, production 1911 i own.