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Forum Index > Rifles general discussion > surprised by a norinco bush ranger

surprised by a norinco bush ranger

09 Jun 2015
@ 06:05 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

hi guys
i offered to help sort out some issues on my mates bush ranger 7.62x39. now these things are rough and cheap in every way but thought i would do what i could to help the feeding issues never going to be a great shooter.
some lovely cheap features on this rifle they use a grub screw to to stop bolt shroud from unscrewing

recoil lugs are welded on
the metal plate goes into the receiver then magazine box bolt on it so there no machining needed inside receiver
stock is milled right through and plate added on bottom i even believe the barrel might be pressed on???
but this is what really surprised the hell out of me a fully adjustable trigger. its kinder like picking up a supermodel in a lada, it just seems out of place

Replies

09 Jun 2015
@ 09:32 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
Hi Thomas. Feeding issues are very common in this rifle, can take some fiddling for sure.

In the past, when mig welds have been very proud and with spatter, I grind and polish the welds so that the rifle can be properly bedded (yes- sadly i have tricked up Norincos in the past).

The design is somewhat reminiscent of the Yemington 788 with rear locking lugs. On the Norinco, the bolt body can bind when cycling The trouble is, if you polish the bolt body too much, the bolt will have end play and the thrust under recoil will not be concentric. So if polishing, you have to start with a fine polish and buff the bolt body to a high luster without removing too much material.

After mucking around with all of the above, you can end up with a reasonable close range / youth rifle. But, that does not mean to say that the system has sound metallurgy. Fortunately, the 7.62x39 is a very low powered cartridge. Certainly no worse or better than the .300 Blackout which all the kiddies love to play with at the moment.


09 Jun 2015
@ 11:33 pm (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
hi nathan
i found the lugs were grabbing the square corners on receiver as you tried to cycle bolt so i lightly filed them



i did use some grinding paste but done minor amount of polishing as i didnt want to loose any more tolerance then there already was.

the barrel is horrendous on this one chatter marks hole way down it and metal feels brittle.
no point bedding it as the owner is a mongrel pig hunter at the best of times, the caliber suits what he does shots under 100m mainly over bailing dogs but did tell him to get a baikal single shot in same caliber a far better option in my opinion but this gun came up cheap.
i hope no one brought you one of these wanting you to make it a tack driver
10 Jun 2015
@ 02:46 am (GMT)

Dan Keene

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
Hi Thomas. These rifles break the extractor and you cannot get replacements so watch out! I have a few old broken rifles here so if you need any bits I may be able to help you out. Cheers.
10 Jun 2015
@ 08:51 pm (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
thank you for that dan appreciated knowing my luck if will be extractor that breaks. hopefully if it does he just buys a howa or something similar.
you haven't tried to make an extractor for one? cheers
10 Jun 2015
@ 09:03 pm (GMT)

Dan Keene

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
Hi Thomas. No I have not tried to make an extractor for one. Getting one laser cut would be the way to go. No idea of the cost though. Cheers.
10 Jun 2015
@ 10:36 pm (GMT)

chris murphy

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
can you please put up a pic of the extractor. Ive made a couple of extractors for semi shot guns before i may be able to whizz one up if needed
11 Jun 2015
@ 12:18 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
hi chris im sure enough time with a file it would be possible is there a certain steel you use?
11 Jun 2015
@ 01:16 am (GMT)

chris murphy

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
depends on shape size etc but you need HS steel ive used old saw blades and old leaf springs. just keep heat down when cutting/grinding so not to wreck tensile strength
11 Jun 2015
@ 09:08 pm (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
with barrel taken off shorter/threaded and a gunworks Spartan on her it is a pleasure to use...7.1grn of trailboss behind a 151 cast is subsonic cat sneeze.
11 Jun 2015
@ 11:01 pm (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
I use 125grn .308 Nosler ballistic tips in mine and it sits 2 1/2-3" groups at 100 with 4x scope..all this cartridge nees as its not ethical to use much past 150yards so being a tack driver isnt needed.
hares are in trouble out that far and the couple of deer and pigs weve shot with it havent complained.
never had a feeding issue but it is hard to close bolt if single feed,just need to be firm and it works fine.
a work horse not a show pony.
12 Jun 2015
@ 02:04 am (GMT)

chris murphy

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
Ive just bedded and worked a CZ 7.62 for a chap got 123grn Z-Max grouping .75 I was pleasantly surprised.
12 Jun 2015
@ 06:20 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
4 times the cost price SHOULD get you a better group too!!!!!!
If I got all anul about loading for her and maybe even tried some more .311 projectiles it wouldnt surprise me a great deal to get better groups...but its not needed for the purpose this rifle is used for...bush range scrub bashing or hacking around farm in hands of young fella when we older grey beards have longer range capable rifles as well. just a fun gun to use that does the job.
14 Jun 2015
@ 12:24 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
so i took chris's advice i went down pick a part and walked out with a whole rear leaf spring off an eb falcon wagon.

after many hours cutting with a hack saw and filing i ended up with this that seems to work so hopefully i can swing be reloaders this week and get a deal

14 Jun 2015
@ 05:06 am (GMT)

chris murphy

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
Great stuff Thomas get a few of them out of that spring
15 Jun 2015
@ 03:49 am (GMT)

Dan Keene

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
Hey Thomas. Top job! Well done. Cheers, Dan.
15 Jun 2015
@ 08:52 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
cheers guys thanks for compliments.
if anyone one in nz needs a bit of leaf spring steel just let me know
15 Jun 2015
@ 10:26 am (GMT)

Warwick Marflitt

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
The laser cutting guy's can probably cut them out of the spring for you. I guess it would depend on how much heat will effect the temper of the spring steel? I'm sure you can put it into a oven tray full of powdered carbon and heat it to keep it's spring temper? Or heat it and quench into oil. Find an old black smith and they'll know what to do!
15 Jun 2015
@ 08:32 pm (GMT)

Nathan Foster

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
It pays to be a bit careful when heating treating spring steel as it gets brittle very easily. After heat treatment, it is very important to polish the part (for visual clarity), then reheat to a straw colour, then air cool.

As a curiosity, I have had good results with common duplex (2205) stainless steel case hardened in casenit. This is not a traditional route but I have found it works well for making extractors and at times, other parts. Without casenit, this steel is not ideal for any gun parts.
18 Jun 2015
@ 08:05 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
hopefully this one extractor will be all i need ( the spring was from a ford so should be well built ) find the talks on here about different steels interesting but its bit advance for me but only one way to learn.

managed to stop by reloaders this week and see Dan
pulling out around 5 different box's from the back room containing norinco's we then went through them trying to find a decent one,
some were in bad ways ( there was one that looked good except the muzzle was almost rusted shut might be an interesting gun to have closer look at) some with few parts missing etc.
found a good one but had to grab bolt and mag release from another one but left with a nice rifle at a price even an indian wouldn't of haggle with.

magazine's were another issues as at a guess these were sold off to try recoup some cost. found one with missing spring plus plate that sits inside mag which locks the bottom on, im still humming and harring wither to try and make a spring for it but have brought a new mag for in the mean time.

this gun looks a lot better made then the one i was working which makes me believe the original was one of the 2nd grade ones that were sold cheaper.



i got some cheap scope rings sitting in the parts bin that ill use.
i might lapped them as they probably will need it plus its another thing to learn.
do you guys use a proper lapping bar or can you get away with a standard steel bar the right size and use something valve grinding paste.

cheers tom
19 Jun 2015
@ 05:02 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
do your self a big favour and make a 3 shot magazine for her....
they carry a heap better as dont jut out so far.also please learn from my mistake and triple check the scope bases as mine came loose.
21 Jun 2015
@ 07:41 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
cheers mike thats a good idea.
what projectiles are you running in yours?
21 Jun 2015
@ 07:52 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
.308 cal 125grn ballistic tips
150grn old school silvertips
and Tokoroa trademe cast lead specials (at subsonic just because its fun)
19 Jul 2015
@ 08:49 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
so finally manage to shoot the norinco briefly, so thought i would do an update as dan been asking me about it.
so it wasn't exactly a range session it was a quick stop at the end of a road on doc land on my travels,



like i said it was quick it was 5 shots standing at 30metres (need practice by looks) gun worked without fault and looks like a lot of potential.

ill do another update when i can do a proper test.

mike those cast bullets from tokoroa, are they from robert walker?
19 Jul 2015
@ 09:32 am (GMT)

Mike Davis

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
They surely are...good bugga from all accounts too!!!!
that group says "dead bambi" to me LMAO
19 Jul 2015
@ 09:41 am (GMT)

Thomas Kitchen

Re: surprised by a norinco bush ranger
i got 50 of his 303 cast bullet sitting there waiting on some trail boss so i can have a play was wondering if i could run them in the 7.62x39 but may not stabilize think they 215grain. nice guy to deal with.
the funny thing is that was bore sighted looking out my garage 10 min before i left home, not bad eh ha ha.
looking forwards to putting it on the bench and see how it really goes.
 

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