So I picked up this Norinco 1911....

Chuckman said:
This man used to be a member of the other forum, lived around Lexington if I recall. He was old and knew his 1911s. I don't know if he is still around.

What @wvsig said, drop-in parts, aren't.
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I think he is in his mid 60s. Yup.... crazy knowledge on 1911s... especially the Norincos. He has worked on a lot of them. He does a lot of work with Dog rescue in the Lexington community. Seems like a good guy. I dont know if he had/has a shop. Reading a lot of his old posts on the web it looks like he is highly respected. Some of his posts are pretty funny when people flat out start attacking him for putting out first hand experience working with 1911s......Ah the wonders of the internet. I suspect it was due to the frustration of people thinking they understand the system and then being informed of other factors that come into play.... its a psycological thing. People get all worked up when self doubt occurs and start lashing out at the messager in order to protect the ego. This happens all the time on the net and in the physical world. Its always important to keep the ego in check in order to move to the next level.

Anyways.... hopefully he still visits here and comes across this thread. I read his stuff for years over at THR. Pretty cool he lives in NC and has a passion for animal rescue.
 
tokarevfan said:
I think he is in his mid 60s. Yup.... crazy knowledge on 1911s... especially the Norincos. He has worked on a lot of them. He does a lot of work with Dog rescue in the Lexington community. Seems like a good guy. I dont know if he had/has a shop. Reading a lot of his old posts on the web it looks like he is highly respected. Some of his posts are pretty funny when people flat out start attacking him for putting out first hand experience working with 1911s......Ah the wonders of the internet. I suspect it was due to the frustration of people thinking they understand the system and then being informed of other factors that come into play.... its a psycological thing. People get all worked up when self doubt occurs and start lashing out at the messager in order to protect the ego. This happens all the time on the net and in the physical world. Its always important to keep the ego in check in order to move to the next level.

Anyways.... hopefully he still visits here and comes across this thread. I read his stuff for years over at THR. Pretty cool he lives in NC and has a passion for animal rescue.
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Yeah, that's him! When I started tinkering with 1911s on my own (versus having a unit armorer do it for me lol) he was so helpful...we probably talked 100 times over a couple years. He invited me down a couple times but it never worked out. My favorite quote of his: "1911s are machines. If they are built to spec it has to work. It's a machine, it doesn't have a choice." That man has forgotten more about the 1911 than I can ever know.
 
Chuckman said:
FWIW, the frame is very solid. It's a great frame with which to do a build. But 1911 builds are generally onerous and challenging, unless you have experience and the Kuhnhausen book.
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Yes... lots of people used to use them for base guns on custom builds. Most of the high end custom shops liked them.

Thats not really the avenue I was going for. I just want a no frills, highly durable milspec 1911. I will smooth things out and respring it. I dont plan on changing out the internals. I might go with a flatter FP stop for a little more slide deceleration (as browning designed) and a titanium FP (for safety) but nothing crazy. The pistol feels good in my hand as is. This whole barrel thing has thrown me for a loop. I may have been aware of it and simply forgot after not being involved in 1911s. Once I get this resolved I doubt I will have a whole lot of problems with it. I like the finish...Like the sights. The black Milspec plastic grips are sharp feel good. Trigger is fine. It doesnt seem to be picky on the cheaper milspec type magazines regardless of feedlip design (need to get some flat followers somewhere though). I will probably throw some traction tape on the front strap when I actually start shooting and carrying it.

I might want a more tricked out 1911 eventually but In that case I will just buy one already built for that. There are so many options these days its a little hard to pick one when you are new to 1911s. Which is why I just went with a traditional milspec Norinco. I did look a a Metro that was really nice.

Looking back I would have been better off buying that milspec SA metioned earlier in this thread had I known or remembered the barrel issue. It is what it is though. I think I will be happy once I get this barrel issue resolved.

Could be worse ...I almost bought an AMT. That would have been fun...Ha Ha. I still kind of want one. Second 1911 I ever shot was an AMT. Not sure if my dealer did anything to it or got a good one. It worked and was a nice pistol for what it was.

Accuracy wise I am not that concerned. If possible...sure....everyone likes more accuracy. My main wants were reliability and durability. I did not want a tight match fitted gun for my first 1911. Combat accuracy is good enough. The pistol will probably be more accurate than me for quite a while until I get efficient with it.

Right now I just want a working 1911 Ha Ha. They handle like a dream and carry really nice. I dont have a problem with carrying heavier firearms. It feels good knowing its there. Traditionally I carry full size double stock 9mms or 40s so 1911s feel pretty streamlined for me... slightly bigger than a Tokarev....nice and flat etc.
 
tokarevfan said:
Yes... lots of people used to use them for base guns on custom builds. Most of the high end custom shops liked them.

Thats not really the avenue I was going for. I just want a no frills, highly durable milspec 1911. I will smooth things out and respring it. I dont plan on changing out the internals. I might go with a flatter FP stop for a little more slide deceleration (as browning designed) and a titanium FP (for safety) but nothing crazy. The pistol feels good in my hand as is. This whole barrel thing has thrown me for a loop. I may have been aware of it and simply forgot after not being involved in 1911s. Once I get this resolved I doubt I will have a whole lot of problems with it. I like the finish...Like the sights. The black Milspec plastic grips are sharp feel good. Trigger is fine. It doesnt seem to be picky on the cheaper milspec type magazines regardless of feedlip design (need to get some flat followers somewhere though). I will probably throw some traction tape on the front strap when I actually start shooting and carrying it.

I might want a more tricked out 1911 eventually but In that case I will just buy one already built for that. There are so many options these days its a little hard to pick one when you are new to 1911s. Which is why I just went with a traditional milspec Norinco. I did look a a Metro that was really nice.

Looking back I would have been better off buying that milspec SA metioned earlier in this thread had I known or remembered the barrel issue. It is what it is though. I think I will be happy once I get this barrel issue resolved.

Could be worse ...I almost bought an AMT. That would have been fun...Ha Ha. I still kind of want one. Second 1911 I ever shot was an AMT. Not sure if my dealer did anything to it or got a good one. It worked and was a nice pistol for what it was.

Accuracy wise I am not that concerned. If possible...sure....everyone likes more accuracy. My main wants were reliability and durability. I did not want a tight match fitted gun for my first 1911. Combat accuracy is good enough. The pistol will probably be more accurate than me for quite a while until I get efficient with it.

Right now I just want a working 1911 Ha Ha. They handle like a dream and carry really nice. I dont have a problem with carrying heavier firearms. It feels good knowing its there. Traditionally I carry full size double stock 9mms or 40s so 1911s feel pretty streamlined for me... slightly bigger than a Tokarev....nice and flat etc.
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Well, go get 'er done!

RE: accuracy, there are race/competition guns, and there are combat guns. If you are not competing, 'combat accuracy' is plenty good enough.

RE: carrying, I carried a full-size steel 1911 for years, no prob. ISW holster. It can be done.
 
Chuckman said:
Yeah, that's him! When I started tinkering with 1911s on my own (versus having a unit armorer do it for me lol) he was so helpful...we probably talked 100 times over a couple years. He invited me down a couple times but it never worked out. My favorite quote of his: "1911s are machines. If they are built to spec it has to work. It's a machine, it doesn't have a choice." That man has forgotten more about the 1911 than I can ever know.
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I could probably contact him in five minutes but I dont want to bother him if he is trying to stay off the net. I am guessing he became tired of people argueing with him over simple facts when he was just trying to have intelligent conversation.... been there. Crazy thing is he is probably not far from me. I am in Alamance.

He knows a lot... One of his discussions about 15 years ago about adding weight to slides to slow down slide speed really helped me to understand a lot about delayed locking firearms across the board....good stuff. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/adding-weight-to-1911-slide.205664/
John should really write a book and pass this knowledge off. He seems like a humble guy .... rare these days.

Hopefully he is doing well and chimes in at some point. Weather is decent today so he may be working with the animals. I need to get off this silly computer today at some point and take my rascals for a hike. I still have this 1911 stuff rattling around in my head so here I am.
 
Pat l is who did my work . However he passed away in 2010. I do not know a local who is working regular hours. I am not what I consider a expert however built my first one in 69 so have been at it while. We can meet or talk on phone. Whatever you feel okay with. It is fun I just think you need a little more information. There are basic things and very advanced I think a better understanding which is which will help you proceed. D H
 
Chuckman said:
Well, go get 'er done!

RE: accuracy, there are race/competition guns, and there are combat guns. If you are not competing, 'combat accuracy' is plenty good enough.

RE: carrying, I carried a full-size steel 1911 for years, no prob. ISW holster. It can be done.
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No I dont compete. I am too shy for that. I am pretty quiet introverted unless you get me talking about firearms. We are having a support the Police rally here in Alamance that I plan on going to.... thats pretty radical for me....but its time. Even joining this forum... being its local....is kind of outside my comfort zone. We homeschool so our entire family is kind of introverted Ha Ha.
 
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tokarevfan said:
No I dont compete. I am too shy for that.
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Do it!! I did, and it's fun.
I'm pretty much an introvert, unless I hang around with the gun guys on here.

Go do a match, you won't be sorry!
 
tokarevfan said:
No I dont compete. I am too shy for that. I am pretty quiet introverted unless you get me talking about firearms. We are having a support the Police rally here in Alamance that I plan on going to.... thats pretty radical for me....but its time. Even joining this forum... being its local....is kind of outside my comfort zone. We homeschool so our entire family is kind of introverted Ha Ha.
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Several of us here homeschool, and we're not all that introverted lol. Well, welcome to the forum. It's a treasure trove of invaluable information and memes that will send you to hell.
 
awd51$ said:
Pat l is who did my work . However he passed away in 2010. I do not know a local who is working regular hours. I am not what I consider a expert however built my first one in 69 so have been at it while. We can meet or talk on phone. Whatever you feel okay with. It is fun I just think you need a little more information. There are basic things and very advanced I think a better understanding which is which will help you proceed. D H
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Hey... an oldtimer (thats good!). Sounds like you have been around. Yup... you are 100% correct. I am a greenhorn on this particular platform. Most of my understanding comes from tweeking tokarevs which while similar....have many differences.

Pat? that may be right...was he the owner out by the Airport? Carried a little snubby on his hip when in the shop. Thats a shame he passed. He was a fairly young guy. Last time I was out there he gave me a bunch of old gun books for my library. Just a heck of a guy. Since moving to Alamance I have not been out to Greensboro much. I dont enjoy the city life....too loud... too busy. Burlington is becoming a bit hard to handle in the last 10 years or so.
 
Millie said:
Do it!! I did, and it's fun.
I'm pretty much an introvert, unless I hang around with the gun guys on here.

Go do a match, you won't be sorry!
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My club CCGC has them all the time. I try to go out early in the mornings to avoid the rush. Once we started having kids quiet time is kind of priceless. Problem is my eight year old loves shooting so he is always tagging along ha ha. Its all good though. Nice bonding time at the range. As they get older I am sure I will socialize more. Everyone out there I have met has been very nice. One fellow offered his 454 to me to shoot....KABOOOM! Nice gun. Very generous guy...also rare these days.

I may eventually try competition. I am pretty hard core when I commit so I am careful. Right now I try to do things that I can do with my boys....hence the whole longboarding thing. Kind of funny how all that has happened. It will be a miracle if I dont get killed. So far faith in God has done me well. I wont do it without my cross on.

Maybe I should put some crucifix grips on this Norinco! Keep the demons away...... once I get the barrel issue resolved. Its obvious that whoever fitted the barrel was a pawn of satan.
 
tokarevfan said:
Problem is my eight year old loves shooting so he is always tagging along ha ha.
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Nice that they're getting into it so young.
I was 62 when I began to get serious about shooting, and I'm very into it now. And I'm a huge 1911 fan!:D
 
You are thinking about someone else. Pat was in Randleman area. Guy by airport went to teach. Larry has a shop at his house but is sick. There is a local school. Pat went there and taught some. I really think a little shooting maybe a drop in barrel will fix you up unless you get the bug. DH
 
Chuckman said:
Several of us here homeschool, and we're not all that introverted lol. Well, welcome to the forum. It's a treasure trove of invaluable information and memes that will send you to hell.
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I guess I should have said Independantly homeschool. We are VERY conservative....VERY private. Our families are many states away so we are on our own down here. Kids are both southerners but I am kind of a mutt. Grew up mostly in Texas.....Born in Michigan. NC has been home for around 20 years. We dont plan on leaving unless they start going after homeschoolers. If that happens we will have to run.... probably to Mars. I basically wont leave Alamance because of our Sherriff. Hell of a guy.
 
awd51$ said:
You are thinking about someone else. Pat was in Randleman area. Guy by airport went to teach. Larry has a shop at his house but is sick. There is a local school. Pat went there and taught some. I really think a little shooting maybe a drop in barrel will fix you up unless you get the bug. DH
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If I shoot this pistol as is its not going to be good. The barrel is not making contact with the frame in the VIS area. Its binging at the slide stop. From what I can tell with my limited knowledge its either

Link is too short
VIS is cut too far back
Barrel lug is too far forward

of course this can bring up all kinds of other issues but thats basically what I am seeing.

Looking at drop in barrels. Nothing fancy. Thought about a cheap ROTO but I am thinking a Remsport would be a better option. Not sure if they need to be reamed out though. Probabley depends on my particular pistol. It would be nice If I could just drop in an old colt or SA barrel but seems like it would be a crap shoot in terms of fitting and I hate to just start buying barrels that wont fit. I think John talked about SA barrels being an acceptable fit to the Norincos but after reading about the lugs in the slide being slightly off my spidey senses started going off again. Plus I have not seen a source for SA 1911 barrels anywhere. Lots of 1911 barrels for sale out there on Ebay and Gunbroker but not a whole lot in terms of what they are coming from.

Last thing I want to do is drop in a hard barrel with a bad fit that will damage the slide lugs. At least with the Norinco Barrel the slide lugs dont get damaged. If I could fit the factory barrel so its safe until I can put a decent barrel in it that would be good enough for now. I do want to shoot this pistol a lot but with ammo being the way it is thats not in the cards right now. I am sitting on around 1,300 rounds of 230FMJ. I get a little nervous when I get below 1,000 rounds on a particular cartridge. I figure test fire and enough to get comfortable and I will just carry it. I am not virgin to shooting 1911s....just working on them. If we manage to keep our country and not implode I could see myself shooting around 200 rounds a week on average if/when the ammo supply becomes stable.
 
So I have to ask:
what happens if you take a round file and remove material from the bottom hole in the link until it stops binding? Elongate the hole a bit.

It won't affect lockup since the link doesn't play a role in that
it should *help* timing since a short link is dropping the barrel a tad early
It might reduce integrity of the link but a few 0.000's should be all it takes.

Seems it might actually work better that way, but nobody does it. They swap links until one fits. I'm missing something.

@tokarevfan Where are you? I have Kuhnhaussen shop manuals V1 and 2 you can study if you like.
 
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Millie said:
Nice that they're getting into it so young.
I was 62 when I began to get serious about shooting, and I'm very into it now. And I'm a huge 1911 fan!:D
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I was 9 when I started but it was air pistols and shotguns so he has the jump on me. I bought him a cricket at 7. He loves shooting 25acp pistols. We kind of skipped over the whole airgun thing. That was deliberate... He knows guns are not toys. I didnt really ever let him have toy guns as an infant..... also deliberate. I was trying to skip the whole "bad habit" reform thing. So far it has worked. He is very safe around firearms for his age. Dont get me wrong....he is a kids and kids are do stupid things.... but he doesnt snoop or "play" with them like toys. He is allowed to handle any gun of mine he wants as long as he asks. We have spent many times tearing them apart and me teaching them how they work, parts identification etc.

Now... do I trust him with loaded weapons.....no ..... absolutely not. He is a kid and has to learn to control things like emotion....energy etc. I watch him like a hawk when he has a firearm....loaded at the range or not. He is well on his way though. This Norinco will actually be his when he is ready many years from now. They all will be. I dont need the money... I have been frugal so long its just a way of life for me now. I like a simple and quiet life. This Norinco will stay in the family forever once its dialed in.
 
Barsto barrels , get the semi fit, Pat would help me but most dropped in, they will fit the barrel for a modest charge. Used to be $50. That was when they were in Ca. I think they moved to South Dakota. Storm lake was good but I think Remington got them and they just went belly up again. I generally put 500rds thru gun note reliability and accuracy before I start changing stuff. Saves in the long run. DH
 
Catfish said:
So I have to ask:
what happens if you take a round file and remove material from the bottom hole in the link until it stops binding? Elongate the hole a bit.

It won't affect lockup since the link doesn't play a role in that
it should *help* timing since a short link is dropping the barrel a tad early
It might reduce integrity of the link but a few 0.000's should be all it takes.

Seems it might actually work better that way, but nobody does it. They swap links until one fits. I'm missing something.

@tokarevfan Where are you? I have Kuhnhaussen shop manuals V1 and 2 you can study if you like.
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Thought about what you are suggesting . I would guess that the link is case hardened so it might weaken the link...might not. Could end up stretching it out in short order to the point where the barrel and slide lugs dont clear and you start having peening....I think its refered to as "flanging". Stetched out enough and the barrel lugs might just sheer off along with damaging the slide lugs....Gun is locked up in some sort of fused mess that requires Thors Hammer to disassemble. Slide lugs get damaged and its probably done unless you can weld up the lugs and recut them.

Looking at the way the vertical lockup works its going to raise the barrel when in battery... which there is room for....again..."I Think". With the slide disassembled.... if I push the barrel up all the way I can still see the primer though the FP hole. So why not just go with filing out the link or putting a longer link on...

Here is where I am a little concerned. If I take the frame and slide and push the barrel all the way back to VIS contact there is a slight overhang where the barrel meets the feedramp. Not a lot but enough to catch my fingernail. Thats could be stoned or lightly filed down. I am not sure what all this does to timing though in reguards to increased vertical lockup. It "seems" like it would be fine but what the hell do I know Ha Ha. Might end up locking up the gun after a few rounds. I am pretty sure there is supposed to be a very small gap between the concave barrel channel on the frame and the barrel upon VIS contact. I believe John said it was about the thickness of an onion skin. What happens if its making contact.... No idea. I would think you might end up cracking the Lug where it meats the lower portion of the chamber. Again... I am just theorizing here.

1911s..... sheesh. This is why it took me so long to go down this rabbit hole and actually take the plunge. Its a tricky design. Brilliant....but tricky. Its kind of amazing there are so many different calibers that can work in it.... even things like 10mm and 460 rowland.
 
awd51$ said:
Barsto barrels , get the semi fit, Pat would help me but most dropped in, they will fit the barrel for a modest charge. Used to be $50. That was when they were in Ca. I think they moved to South Dakota. Storm lake was good but I think Remington got them and they just went belly up again. I generally put 500rds thru gun note reliability and accuracy before I start changing stuff. Saves in the long run. DH
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Typically thats what I do. I dont really get into major customizing. No way I am running 500 rounds through this Norinco as is. I will check out Bar Sto. Did you put these in a milspec gun?

just looked... $240. If I go that route its getting sent out to fusion. Trying to avoid that. I dont think I am good enough to take advantage of match grade accuracy so its probably overkill.

Storm lake was one I was looking at as well so I will probably stay away from them. I am thinking remsport might be my best bet outside of finding a milspec take off. I dont see myself ordering anything until I get mt head around how all this works though. I might if I had a 1911 expert locally who knew what they were doing. Everyone I have looked into are glocksmiths or AR experts. That doesnt really help me. I kind of need an old guy with some wisdom and experience.

Too bad about Larry. I hope he recovers..... almost drove out there last weekend. My current dealer is a painter/class3 and doesnt really know the ins and outs of 1911s. He is more of a glock guy. Good friend I trust and is great if gun paint is your thing but not really helpful for me right now. Plus he is so busy building his business (young guy) I hate to bother him much. Before him I was driving into Eden where Smokey Hyler was my dealer but he was in really bad shape. Another fantastic guy... probably retired now... hope him and his wife are doing well also. Miss that old timer.
 
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tokarevfan said:
Looking at the way the vertical lockup works its going to raise the barrel when in battery...
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Not sure what you mean. Thats only true if the link is too long and is to be avoided.
 
Catfish said:
Not sure what you mean. Thats only true if the link is too long and is to be avoided.
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thats why I am not sure just slapping another link on is the right way to go. If the barrel or frame is too far out of spec I might be able to fit the lower lug contact but mess up the timing on the upper barrel to slide fit.

However... If I cant fix it with a longer link I am thinking that the barrel is not salvageable.... So I am willing to give it a shot. My only reservation is playing around with things like lockup and timing and then doing a test fire without really understanding the the effects of changing to a longer link.

I figure... get this barrel to work if possible and use it for a while. Then find a replacement and use what I have learned to deal with that.
 
Pat Linthicum worked at the gun store that used to be in Archdale before he succumbed to cancer.

John Travis is a wee bit older than me, an' we're still Spring Chickens!
Matter of fact, I can whup any man that cain't whup me!
An' John Travis can whup any Two Men that cain't whup him!

I'll bet a bran' new penny that he's followin' this an' smilin' at all this technical talk...
 
I miss Pat a lot and it has been ten years sense he passed. That was about the time I had to put up my 1911 for an issue Glock. Retired now and have been playing with guns Pat built 25 years ago. They still work well. DH
 
MacEntyre said:
Pat Linthicum worked at the gun store that used to be in Archdale before he succumbed to cancer.

John Travis is a wee bit older than me, an' we're still Spring Chickens!
Matter of fact, I can whup any man that cain't whup me!
An' John Travis can whup any Two Men that cain't whup him!

I'll bet a bran' new penny that he's followin' this an' smilin' at all this technical talk...
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I Hope so. I hope he is just having a grand ole time laughing at my ignorance trying to understand the 1911, useing a sample of one that is most likely defective....Ha Ha.

I am starting to think the easiest solution might be to file off the barrel lugs, sleeve the barrel for 380acp and turn this chicom puppy into some sort of nightmare twisted blowback. I shot a 9x18 tokarev Norinco 213 once set up like that many years ago. It was actually really nice. The owner pulled it right from the pages of Pistolsmithing by Nonte. It was experimental but it worked 100% when We shot it.

I dont actually want to go that route though.
 
Why not see if you cant track down one of the oldschool military "replacement barrels" and see if you cant get that Norinco running that way? Using one of those should be a pretty safe bet since the Nornico is a USGI clone, and it would certainly keep with the "no frills" attitude.

You obviously like the gun...why not make it work?


John Travis, aka "1911Tuner", Always was one of my favorite posters on the Highroad. I learned so much reading his posts. I hope he is doing well...
 
Joshua Desolo said:
Why not see if you cant track down one of the oldschool military "replacement barrels" and see if you cant get that Norinco running that way? Using one of those should be a pretty safe bet since the Nornico is a USGI clone, and it would certainly keep with the "no frills" attitude.

You obviously like the gun...why not make it work?


John Travis, aka "1911Tuner", Always was one of my favorite posters on the Highroad. I learned so much reading his posts. I hope he is doing well...
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I am looking at a few. John said once springfield barrel where very close. I am just a little reluctant to gamble a $100 or so that a barrel will just magically drop in and fit correctly. If this Norinco is too far off it might not be possible without a hand fit barrel.

Trying to avoid haveing 3 or 4 1911 barrels sitting in a drawer. That slide lug difference gets me concerned.

Love the gun. Its not going anywhere. I really dont want to send it out. I get kind of nervous when guns leave my possession to go through the mail. I think I did it only once when I sent out a bunch of SKS barreled actions to get chopped down to paratroopers. I would be cool with leaving the gun with a gunsmith who knew what they were doing and was trust worthy but there doesnt seem to be anyone local that works on these and understand whats involved. I know one gunsmith who is pretty green... around 25 years old. He is a great kid but pretty limited on 1911s. He is more of a glocksmith parts changer.

I had to fight a bit to get this Norinco 1911. A little bit of drama... dealer was not getting my emails through Gunbroker and relisted it thinking I backed out.... money and FFL were already on its way (sent it the day after the auction). Nothing shady from the dealer....they were very nice. Just some breakdown in the gunbroker messaging system. Normally I would have just let it go... dont like drama.... being that this was my first 1911 I wasnt willing to let it go. This is not the first Norinco 1911 I have bid on. I probably lost 3 or 4 to bidding wars... which I dont do typically.
 
MacEntyre said:
Pat Linthicum worked at the gun store that used to be in Archdale before he succumbed to cancer.
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Pat was a good friend. I met him when I was in my teens. The shop was in Sophia back then.
Right next to H&M grocery. I miss him, great guy.
 
Crazy Carl said:
@John Travis may be just taking a break from the 'net. Maybe a member knows how to reach out to him offline? Hope he is in good health.
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I might have scared him off. Probably thinks I am a stalker by now.

That or he is saying.....OH GOD ......Please not another Norinco!

He is probably busy with dogs. Lots of people getting dogs right now. Even we are waiting on a puppy for the kids. I have had multiple dogs my whole life. Both of ours died in my arms a couple years after the kids were born. So its been around 8 years. The kids are old enough now though. They are responsible for picking up the dog poop though. I will make the food.
 
:D

9 out of 10 stock Norincos I've handled had barrels that stopped on the links. It was always due to the lower lug being located too far forward.

It can stretch or break the link or pull the lower lug off the barrel....or if not too severe...can have no adverse effects for a long time. It won't hurt the slidestop.

Swapping links haphazardly to correct for this is a fool's errand. All you'll serve to do is delay the barrel linkdown which can open a whole new can of worms. Elongating the hole by removing material from the bottom effectively makes the link longer, with the same results.

The upper lug deformation can come from a couple of things. If the deformation is straight line with only about the top half of the lug being set back so that the lugs take on a stair-stepped appearance, you may have one of the early ones with out of spec aggregate frame and slide issues that didn't provide enough vertical lug engagement. Those posed a problem that had a complicated cure. A quick fix...if it can be called that...is to use a hard fit barrel with an oversized lower lug that will get the barrel all the way into the slide. The drawback to that approach is that the barrel will be angled down at the muzzle to a greater degree, causing gun to shoot about 8 inches low at 25 yards. Not a major problem if you plan to use a taller rear sight...or new sights...or you don't mind filing your front sight down to a nubbin.

If you can borrow a known good ordnance spec barrel...one that didn't require fitting...and get it into the gun, you can use it to check vertical lug engagement.

Use a suitable spacer between the breechface and the rear face of thebarrel hood and ride the slide home. The top of the barrel will bear against the underside of the first slide lug. Carefully measure the distance between the top of the barrel and the top of the slide. Do it 3 times to be sure you're measuring accurately. Then, remove the spacer and do it again and subtract. Then, measure the barrel's upper lug depth at the first lug wall...the one that doesn't have a slot behind it. If you don't see at the very least 80% of the lug engaging vertically...and 95 is better...you've got one of the early bad ones and the proper cure will be complicated, labor intensive, and expensive unless you do it yourself. I've fixed a few of those. I don't recommend it for a hobby gunsmith.

And thanks for all the good words. I've been busy with dogs. I had too many dogs 10 dogs ago. My eyes have also started to fail me, so I'm not able to do a lot of the close work any more.

Hope this was some help.
 
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