Bolt-Action Rimfire

26-28 Norinco:gun_js09
19/5/09
2:19 PM
Page 26
N I C K H A RV E Y
J O H N RO B I N S O N
The Chinese-made boltaction Norinco JW-15A .22
LR won’t win a beauty contest
but, it’s a bargain-basement
gun, strictly utilitarian, robust
and reliable.
Norinco JW-15A and JW15E
Bolt-Action Rimfire
mong the more economical
rimfire models, the Norinco
JW-15A has one thing going
for it that sets it apart from its
competition – it’s basically a
copy of the Czech CZ
ZKM452 – well sort of – since
most parts are not interchangeable. The Chinese chose a good rifle to copy; the CZ still
fondly referred to by the Aussie shooting
fraternity as the “Brno” has long enjoyed an
envious reputation for not only its rugged traditional construction but excellent accuracy.
The Norinco is homely looking. The stock
is plain, some kind of hardwood stained to
resemble walnut, and un-checkered. The
classic design with rounded forend and
straight comb handles well. Stock furniture
is a pair of fixed 32mm sling swivels, a plastic butt-plate and grip cap. The barreled
action is held in the stock by a pair of screws
situated at the front and rear of the magazine well. The steel trigger guard assembly
remains attached to the stock by a wood
screw through the rear of the trigger guard.
The tubular steel receiver is grooved for
scope mounts and while reasonably smooth
on the outside, internal surfaces are not as well
finished. The upper surfaces of the magazine
well on which the bolt rides, combined with
The timber stocked Norinco JW15A.
A
uneven surfaces on the cutaway front portion
of the bolt make it a bit gritty to operate.
The stamped trigger guard is oversized, presumably for use with gloves in colder climates.
The trigger is nothing like the adjustable
Model 70 type found on the ZKM452, but the
usual simple rimfire design which has the sear
hinged at the front and tensioned with tiny
coil spring, while the trigger blade is pinned
JULY / SEPTEMBER 2009
26
GUNS AUSTRALIA
at the back of the sear. As the trigger is pulled
to the rear, a screw at the top rear of the trigger blade makes contact with the receiver
bottom. Continuing to pull the trigger pivots the sear out of engagement with the firing
pin, allowing that part to be propelled forward under spring pressure. The trigger is
pulled back to allow removal of the bolt.
The bolt cocks on the uplift. The root of
26-28 Norinco:gun_js09
19/5/09
2:20 PM
Page 27
LEFT: The
Norinco JW15
trigger is a
military style
design with
limited tuning
options.
LEFT: The JW15E is a much better looking
outfit with the addition of its well designed
polymer stock. Two groups shot at 50 metres
with the JW15E with Eley Club target
ammunition. The top group is 5 shots and the
best on the day. The bottom group is 10 shots.
the bolt handle and a lug on the opposite side
of the bolt sleeve form dual locking lugs. Twin
extractors are located on either side of the
bolt face, and a fixed ejector protruding from
the bottom of the receiver is an integral part
of the magazine well. A wing-type safety on
the rear of the bolt is pushed forward for
“SAFE” and points straight out to the side
when the rifle is ready to fire. When the
serrated tab is rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise, the firing pin is blocked and the
bolt handle locked down.
The 600mm barrel is medium weight for a
rimfire and the muzzle is threaded for a muffler. A knurled cap screwed onto the muzzle
acts as a thread protector. Open sights comprise a simple “U”-notch rear with a ladder
for elevation adjustment. The sight is drifted
to either side for windage. The blade front
sight is mounted on a ramp and protected by
a hood.
On removing the stock the inletting was
quite rough and the inletted area inletting
AC C U R AC Y R E S U LT S N O R I N C O J W-1 5 A
Ten consecutive 5-shot groups at 50 yards, fired from benchrest
.22 LR Cartridge
Highland RX Solid
Highland RX H.P
Highland RX Subsonic
Highland RX Target
Velocity
(fps)
1185
1245
1020
1130
Smallest
(mm)
20
25
28
20
Largest
(mm)
28
30
32
26
Average
(mm)
25.4
28.6
28.6
23.4
YOU’D BE SUR
SURPRISED
RPRISED
WHERE YOU FIND
F
US
A
ward winning T
rail Boss is now
w available in Australia.
Award
Trail
Boasting superior burn, flow and safety characteristics,
c
Trail
Trrail Boss is the result
off six
i years off development
d
l
t and
d advanced
d
d design
d i technology.
ttechnology
h l . A key
k breakthrough
b
kth
h
for the Australian spor
sporting
ting shooters market,
marrket, Trail
Trail Boss provides
superior performance
performance and enhances use
user
er safety.
safetyy. With
With Trail
Trrail
Boss, standard pistol loads fill 50-100% of case
capacity,, so the likelihood of double charging
capacity
charg
ging and
unsafe pressures is dramatically reduced
reduced.
d. And
unlike conventional fast burning pistol propellants,
pro
opellants,
higher case loads ensure that it is virtually
vir tually
unaffected
unaf
fected by propellant position. Winner
Winnerr of
the prestigious SASS W
Woolly
oolly New Product
Produc
ct of
the Y
Year
e
ear award, Trail
Trail Boss is now available
availab
ble in
Australia.
“...the new IMR TrailBoss
TrrailBoss smokeless
smokeless pro
propellant
opellant is
the first truly significant improvement in smokeless
handgun powders in about a centur
century.
ry. It is
s that radical. Also, I will go out on a limb
here and predict TrailBoss
TrrailBoss will make all other
o
fast burning smokeless powders
obsolete for use in large capacity cartridges
car trid
dges originally designed for black powder.”
powderr.”
.
- Mike V
Venturino,
enturino, GUNS magazine, October
Octob
ber 2005.
Thales Australia’s
Australia’s ADI smokeless
s powders
- shoot with the best.
The world is safer with
h Thales
www.thalesgroup.com.au
www
.thalesgroup.com.au
JULY / SEPTEMBER 2009
27
GUNS AUSTRALIA
26-28 Norinco:gun_js09
19/5/09
2:20 PM
Page 28
SPECS
Norinco JW-15A and JW15E
M AC H A N I S M T Y P E
bolt-action rifle with dual locking lugs
RIGHT: The JW15 bolt action is
a direct copy of the original Brno
Model One.
BELOW: The Norinco JW15 is all
steel construction and is held in
the stock with two action screw.
CALIBRE
.22 Long Rifle
OV E R A L L L E N GT H
105mm
B A R R E L L E N GT H
600mm
WEIGHT
BELOW: The new polymer
stock on the JW15E is very
well made and also of classic
design and is much more
precise with respect to
bedding than the timber
version.
2.5 kg
M AG A Z I N E C A PAC I T Y
5
TRIGGER
two-stage, 3.175kg pull
SIGHTS
blade front, ladder adjustable rear
S TO C K
Chinese hardwood; length of pull,
349mm; drop at heel, 63.5mm;
drop at comb 38mm or Black polymer.
L I K E LY P R I C E
$ Shop around
TRADE ENQUIRIES
Highland Sports
Website:
www.highlandsports.com.au
has been painted over with some kind of thick,
brown-coloured stain which was patchy.
For testing the rifle was equipped with a
Nikko Gold Crown 3-9x42 scope. The Norinco was sighted-in 12mm high at 25 yards
and fired for accuracy with Highland RX
ammunition. The accuracy results are shown
in the table accompanying this article.
The trigger has some take-up and a lot of
overtravel. While the overtravel can be eliminated to some extent by use of the screw at
the rear of the trigger, the let-off has a fiar
amount of creep. The magazine is made of
heavy steel rather than pressed tin like some
other cheap guns, so the magazine should not
suffer the kind of lip deformation that plagues
many rimfire rifles. But after this one malfunctioned a couple of times, it was replaced
with another which solved the problem.
The Norinco JW-15A is lacking when it
comes to quality and fit and finish, but it’s a
rough-and-ready utility .22 for plinking and
small game hunting, intended as a tool rather
than a showpiece for the gunroom. It’s as accurate as rifles costing nearly twice as much and
certainly rates inclusion into the Bargain Buy
category. Selling for such a low price, it will do
a workman-like job for any task to which the
.22 Long Rifle is suited.
The JW15E
by John Robinson
For various reasons, publication of Nick’s
review of the JW15A Norinco was delayed,
and this turned out be a good thing, as a
more recent manifestation of the JW15
arrived at my door as an accessory from
Highland Sports. This was as a rifle on which
to put one of the new model Nikko Stirling
Mountmaster scopes for a product review.
The rifle was a JW15E, which is basically
identical to the A Model reviewed above,
with the addition of a new polymer stock in
place of the timber version that attracted
some criticism.
The Norinco JW15 is a copy of the Brno
Model 1, and shares many of the Brno’s
good features such as dual locking lugs on
the bolt. Unfortunately, the Model One,
unlike the Model 2, has a fairly basic military style trigger instead of the adjustable
and crisp trigger of the Model 2.
For this reason, it is not possible to get a
crisp and creep free trigger on the Norinco,
as minimal sear engagement on a single
stage trigger is potentially unsafe. For those
keen enough, it is possible to upgrade the
trigger system (with the help of a gunsmith)
to a Model 2 system, but significant modifications are required to make this work.
The main feature of the JW15E is its polymer stock. It is very well made and addresses
any criticisms that arise from the timber versions, as can be seen in the photographs.
JULY / SEPTEMBER 2009
28
GUNS AUSTRALIA
In Highland Sports latest (March 2009)
product catalogue, only the polymer stocked
version of the JW15 is listed. In addition,
the polymer stocks can be purchased separately at a very reasonable price (under
$100) if an after-market upgrade is required.
The JW15E was fitted with a new Mountmaster 3-9x40 AO scope and shot off the
bench at 50 metres. Accuracy was quite
acceptable for a rifle in this price range, and
its functioning was 100%. Some of the
groups are shown in the photos and those
shot by Nick are listed in the table.
I have a custom-made Brno Model 2
outfit used for target shooting, and this
proved a little recalcitrant with respect to
feeding through the Brno’s steel magazine.
It has therefore been used with a plastic
magazine that comes with the later model
CZ/Brno rifles.
Out of interest, I tried the Norinco magazine in the custom gun and it worked perfectly.
As Nick stated, the Norinco magazines are
very heavily constructed and like the rest of
the rifle, are well suited to hard work.
The cost of the Norinco JW15E remains
unchanged, and there are some good package deals available that include a
Mountmaster scope and mounts that almost
work out at the cost of the basic rifle. It is
worth shopping around for a JW15E package
deal if you are looking for a rugged rimfire.