I'm starting to think Chinese rifles are underrated.

[kcub]

I recall back in the 60's hearing that the best most reliable full auto weapons were made by "those GD red Chinese".

My pre ban Polytech 84 semi 223 AK is very accurate and reliable. I have a pre ban Chinese SKS honour guard rifle that is beautiful, I've never shot it.

I saw a Chinese M14 semi and started reading up and seems most reviews are favourable with rumors they are made from very strong recycled railroad steel. Contrast that with Springfield whose prices keep going up even though quality keeps going down. If they cut any more corners they will roll.

Pity we can't get any more Chinese rifles. Or Russian.

 

[fourbore]

My take is the AK is reliable by design and spec. Not made for pretty.

I would image a Chinese worker/factory is just as capable of building to a spec as anyone else or cutting corners if the buyers wants cheep.

The ban does not bother me, I just wish we could get those USA made surplus guns like the M1 carbines back into this country.

At some point you have to have some policy at a national level for the employment and property of the people. It is just by accident that the liberals gave a boost to domestic firearms industry. At least we got that little bit of manufacturing remaining. Free trade maybe ok, but it has to be smart trade too. Not everyone can be a college grad, hi tech/professional worker. So, we still make guns- better than nothing.

 

[Mobuck]

Theoretically, if you assemble enough sets of random parts, sooner or later, you will come up with the optimum combination to produce a superior product. If YOU happen to become the owner of THAT specific product, YEAH!!!

 

[Jimro]

1, kinda hard to get anything full auto made after 1986 in the US.
2, the reputation will wear off pretty quickly once you realize that the sterling reputation for those Canadian Norinco M14s is built on a cottage industry of shops and smiths making them reliable....
3, "best" is always subjective with it comes to firearms.

Jimro

 

[T. O'Heir]

Recycled railroad steel isn't high grade steel. Needs to be wear resistant and flexible more than hard. No rail roads have ever been damaged or recycled to manufacture copies of American rifles.
However, where the Chinese copy came from(not that it matters, Stateside. Import banned by Clinton in 1995 anyway.) matters.
Norinco M305's are ok, but prices have gone way up and availability has gone way down too. The M305 that used to be $400ish is now $600ish plus.
Polytechs' QC was sporadic. Lot of the rumours about 'em having bad head space etc. was pure NIH propaganda though.
"...sterling reputation for those Canadian Norinco M14s..." Too many guys thinking they were buying a low cost M1A and not a cheaply made copy of an American sporting rifle.
Mind you, a lot of it had to do with our stupid gun laws. Part of which came from the ATF exporting their stupid ideas. Used to be you could buy a real semi'd M-14 with no fuss(paid $600 for mine)before our idiots copied the ATF's "Once an MG, always an MG" nonsense. AR's you cannot use for hunting and every other battle rifle is too evil.
"...3. "best" is always subjective with it comes to firearms...." Needed to be bigger. snicker. Russian stuff (and Chinese copies of Russian stuff) is now and always has been designed to be issued to illiterate conscripts who could be taught to use it as fast as possible. Accuracy was not required.

 

[Gunplummer]

I know junk when I see it. I remember when the M-14 copies came in. Ads started springing up all over referring to "New, correct, springs", "We will re-heat treat your op rods and receiver".
Who the heck pins barrels in a high power rifle? The Chinese do! Their AKs have pinned barrels and the trunnion blocks were not even heat treated. Started to see a lot of peened, mushroomed blocks. The ammo they produced looked about like black powder when fired. No, I don't think I have to reevaluate my opinion of that scrap. I do have a pretty nice chrome lined SKS barrel I picked up somewhere. It is spanned between two floor joists in my basement. I put my come-along on it to pull deer up and skin them. As far as I can tell, it has not bent yet, although it may be Russian manufacture.

 

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Really? Do say railroad rail.__ And here I always thought recycled Ho Chi Minh trail bicycle pig iron was used.

Import more clone battle field weaponry. Why? If the stuff they now export was any good those Chinese & Russians would assuredly keep it.

 

[ronl]

Never had any problems with the Chinese rifles I owned, including a couple of MAK-90's, Polytech AK, and a few SKS's. Never owned one of the m-14's, but heard the bolts were soft. Only thing I have left is a Norinco .45, and I can tell you it is a very good weapon.

 

[Slamfire]

I recall back in the 60's hearing that the best most reliable full auto weapons were made by "those GD red Chinese".

My pre ban Polytech 84 semi 223 AK is very accurate and reliable. I have a pre ban Chinese SKS honour guard rifle that is beautiful, I've never shot it.

I saw a Chinese M14 semi and started reading up and seems most reviews are favourable with rumors they are made from very strong recycled railroad steel. Contrast that with Springfield whose prices keep going up even though quality keeps going down. If they cut any more corners they will roll.

Whatever assessments you are repeating are based more on ignorance and racism than facts.

Vietnam war Chi Com weapons worked but I would not have a high opinion of the metallurgy of their weapons. Current Chinese metallurgy is quite good, a bud had a ion vapor test of his Chinese M14 receiver and it was a good alloy steel. In our opinion, it was a better alloy steel than the GI mil spec 8620.

 

[P71pilot]

I think they are actually overrated. I avoid and will not own Chinese firearms. Based on knives and other things I have owned being Chinese I believe the use low grade or less than optimally treated steels in everything. As a general they are about high production, and low worker pay.

 

[JJ45]

I have two SKS Carbines. Russian 54' Tula and Chicom 65' Factory 26......

Both are all matching, military issue that I was able to "hand pick" at local gun shops after running the gamut of a few and learning what to look for....

The Chinese is a little more accurate, not by much but definitely is. It certainly gives up nothing in terms of mechanical strength and construction to the Russian. I think anyone examining both weapons side by side would tend to agree.

Both are solid semi-auto weapons and if I had to choose it would be a coin flip... the Russian is a little "classier" looking but I kinda like the spike bayonet of the Chinese as opposed to the Russian knife blade.

 

[Hawg]

The Chinese make some good stuff. They use 5100 tool steel, not railroad track. I have a Norinco 97 Winchester clone that I've had for 7 or 8 years and I wouldn't trade it for a real 97 Winchester. People always want to find fault with Chinese products. They do make some cheap crap but Americans want cheap so they supply it. Their guns are (from my experience with the 97 and a Norinco 1911)very well made and the steel they use is stronger than the steel used by any American manufacturer.

 

[gyvel]

Rumor "has it" that the Norinco M14s were an overrun of rifles made for Philippine Communist guerillas, such as the NPA and for Moro ILF and MNLF muslim insurgents, along with .308 ammo that had bogus British headstamps but was steel cased.

The alleged idea was that these insurgents would be seen with what passed for American or British armaments.

(The acronym for Moro Islamic Liberation Front is apparently recognized as a nasty word as M I L F got censored.)

 

[CLC]

Lol. Not many people actually owning Chinese guns in this thread?

I have a Chinese SKS that is worn thin but shoots aces. I also have a Norinco 1891 shotgun copy thing thats a piece of trash, a friend bought a Norinco Ithica thing at the same time that had small pieces fall off. In my shotguns defense it is a low numbered gun.

 

[gyvel]

Lol. Not many people actually owning Chinese guns in this thread?

Not necessarily; Got several Norinco SKSs, a few Norinco Makarovs, and a few Norinco Tokarevs, plus an original Vietnam era Type 54 Tokarev, plus an 870 copy. All work quite well.

 

[kozak6]

Lol. Not many people actually owning Chinese guns in this thread?

In all fairness, only Chinese SKS's and shotguns are easy to come by. And even then, AR's and AK's don't cost much more than SKS's.

Everything else is uncommon. And, there's a pretty good chance it will be expensive, like the Chinese 1911's and M14's.

I got a Chinese SKS I've been meaning to take to the range, but the finish and metalwork look excellent.

 

[JJ45]

There will be a difference between something intended to be issued to the People's Liberation Army and sold as surplus such as military SKS carbines, etc. and modern firearms intended for the US civilian market.

All those Russian and Chinese refurbished weapons, SKS, Mosin Nagants, Captured K98s, etc. were kept in storage so they could be issued to foreign communist insurgent movements or partisans in the home country if needed... they are almost all serviceable and ready to go....

Guys wonder why there is heavy shellac and frustrating amounts of cosmoline on some of them and that's the reason. So they would only have to be cleaned up and issued to whoever...I wonder how many REAL AK47s, etc. the Russians and Chinese have socked away now, instead of the above relics?

Most of the relic types (Mosins, SKS, ETC.)are over 1/2 a century old and history has passed them by so they are sold to US gun nuts like me as collectors items or shooting weapons but modern mfgered Chinese weapons aren't meant to be as sturdy or well built, obviously to be economically feasible.

 

[CLC]

With all do respect, my sks doesn't look like it been stored in cosmoline for some time and in fact all matching SKS/M44's are worth a good deal more. It is two different markets but I hear good things about the Norinco SKS/AK's that are intended for the civilian market.

 

[Jimro]

I've owned a few Chinese, Russian, Romanian, Czech, and German surplus firearms (not including my brief affair with the Lee Enfield family).

They all pretty much go bang every time, they are all pretty much accurate enough to be used as a primary infantry weapon, they are all generally simple enough for conscripts to master.

Back in the day I didn't shoot ARs because I was poor, didn't know much about how to shoot long range well, and couldn't afford to just waste ammo. Now I'm not so poor, so I shoot ARs as my preferred competition rifle, but I'm still not rich enough to just waste ammo for fun.

For a cheap gun to abuse with rapid fire of cheap ammo, it's hard to beat an SKS or AK pattern rifle. Doesn't mean it's "the best" unless that's what "the best" means to you.

Jimro

 

[peggysue]

Issues I noticed with the Chine Norinco was how they were built in little factories and street shops. There was a little variation between the rifles. Unlike the Russian block guns. Yep I have one.