Monday, July 16, 2007 Rama: A nineteen-eleven from Norinwhat? By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
HERE is a question a guy using the handle Chrisloie posted on the www.kamagonggun.org forum. The website is run by Kamagong Gun Club Inc. and is fairly active. It hasn’t been updated much in a while though.
He (could be a she, I’m not sure) goes: I ordered a standard Norinco 1911A1 at Royal Interarms. It’s my first handgun. I would like to ask if it’s a reliable weapon in terms of practical shooting. Are its parts durable even if un-enhanced? I got it at a promo price of P14,000.
A lot of writers would say that a buyer can never go wrong with a nineteen-eleven. And, for the most part, they are right.
I say for the most part because not all nineteen-elevens in the market today are good buys.
Don’t get me wrong, the firearm design is sound. It has proven itself functional many times over. In fact, the gun is still in active government service use 96 years and four months since its March 1911 debut with the US Army Ordnance Department.
Beyond that, the gun is simply beautiful.
And with all angles and curves placed exactly right, John Moses Browning’s masterpiece is also one of the most ergonomically designed handguns to hit the market. It fits the average-sized hands snug like a bug in a rug.
Even those with hands either too small or too big can’t complain. The nineteen-eleven is the most customizable firearm in the market. It doesn’t matter if your name is Lemuel Gulliver or Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, there’s always a Hogue or a Pachmayer that fits your needs.
My reservation is because there are gun makers and then there are very good gun makers.
Fortunately for you Chrisloie, Norinco is a very good gun maker. This Chinese conglomerate uses superbly strong metal and, as proof of it, I have yet to see or encounter somebody that has seen a Norinco nineteen-eleven break.
Norinco’s first set of nineteen-elevens were, and the critics agree, a wee bit on the rough side. But it worked and worked quite well.
Norinco then introduced their enhanced version. It came with a lowered and flared ejection port, a beavertail grip safety, an enlarged removable magazine release button and a lightened hammer.
About the only think unsatisfactory about the product is the pair of sights the company installed.
The front blade and the notch on the rear end are so small that Norinco seemed to have considered installing them as an afterthought in the first release and didn’t bother to improve them in the enhanced version.
But throw in a little bit of range time and one can get good groups despite the sights.
Thus, I’d say yes, Chrisloie, you’ve got yourself a reliable weapon.
But to the question of whether an un-enhanced gun would do well in practical shooting I’d have to ask what you mean when you say practical.
If you mean sporting competitions, I’m sorry. Your gun was not designed for that. For starters, your gun’s trigger pull will be hard that you can’t do controlled pairs as fast as you would want to.
But if by practical you meant a gun that is responsive to your self defense needs, I’d say yes.
A lot of shooters in Kamagong own un-enhanced GI models or factory-enhanced units and use them in the club’s defensive handgun matches.
You have to do you part and get some range time and instruction, though.
And on the issue of getting the gun worked over right away, I’d advice that you hold off until the gun can no longer keep up with your level of skill. It won’t break off on you.
