Norinco JW 25-A

Regular readers of my reviews will be well-aware of my love for guns of the American West, in particular single action revolvers and lever action rifles, with five of the latter residing in my safe at the moment. But I am also a bit of a fan of bolt action military rifles, although my experience with them is limited, and recently decided to renew my acquaintance with the Enfield models, by purchasing a nice SMLE from Henry Krank.

While applying for the variation for this rifle I also added a .22LR bolt action to my ticket, with the intention of acquiring one of these little Chines numbers at the same time. I am already familiar with this rifle, having imported and sold several a few years ago, so I knew a little bit about the quality and value of the product. It was a nice surprise therefore to find one in good condition on the second hand rack on a visit to Pudsey, and after a few minutes’ negotiation it was coming home with me.

As well as this little rifle I also sold a number of the Norinco lever action models in .22LR and their copy of the Winchester 1897 shotgun. This latter piece was of reasonable quality and well-priced but the lever gun was a cheap and cheerful – more cheap than cheerful – and would never have found its way into my gun cabinet, even though I’m a lever gun fan. This bolt action model, however, I always found to be nicely finished and worked well; it’s as if they were made in a different factory.

Classic War Horse

The Mauser K98k is deemed by many to be one of the most attractive of the military bolt actions rifles, and I cannot really argue with that sentiment. With this scaled-down version – around three-quarter size – Norinco have captured the aesthetics of the World War Two veteran very well, although purists and those with an expert eye will no doubt pick faults. But it’s close enough to attract those not so critical, among which I count myself.

The stock is likely beech rather than walnut but is nicely finished in a deep brown gloss, with good clean edges, although the visible cutouts are a little rough, and the wood to metal fit is very nice. All of the metal parts are black, apart from the security bar discs in the butt, which are left in the white. There is a bayonet lug on the underside of the barrel but I am unsure as to whether this is purely cosmetic or whether a bayonet can be sourced to fit.

Academic really, as I doubt that many gun clubs have bayonet practice! The cleaning rod is certainly just for show, as it is only 12-inches long. The rear barrel band has the loop on the side for attaching a sling and the stock is cut in the manner of the originals, with a cut-out on the right side for the strap’s buckle – a nice touch. The front sight is a triangular blade on a raised base with a sloping serrated rear edge. This base forms part of a ring which is fitted over the barrel and secured by a small pin. When supplied new the front sight has a removable hood, missing on this example as it would have interfered with the view through the scope. The rear sight, fitted in front of the breech, is a bar, graduated from 25 to 200, which is elevated by a sliding fore/aft spring loaded button. There appears to be no lateral adjustment to either sight. The top of the receiver is milled for the addition of a scope and a previous owner had opted to fit a set of high mounts and a budget BSA scope to this rifle. The 40mm object lens is the largest that could be fitted without removing the rear sight bar. Had I purchased a new rifle I would probably not have gone down this route but the scope was so well set up that I decided to leave it in place.

Best Of Both Worlds

Those more knowledgeable than myself indicate that the action in this rifle is based on the Brno CZ452 rifle, so if the Chinese have done their homework and got the quality control in order it should be a good performer. I can certainly vouch for the fact that they get top marks on both accounts, as the gun has performed admirably over the short time I have had it. The rifle is cocked by merely raising and lowering the bolt handle with no forward or aft movement, and an indicator shows whether the gun is or is not cocked. Obviously the bolt has to go through its full fore and aft travel to eject a spent case and load the next cartridge. The safety is a lever on top of the bolt and pushing it forward to the ‘ON’ position, covers a small red dot, which indicates the ‘OFF’ position. The rifle is supplied with a detachable 5-shot magazine and this can be supplemented with the standard CZ452 5- or 10-shot models. While some will prefer the extra capacity of the larger magazine I feel its protrusion from the stock will somewhat spoil the lines of the rifle.

I have no way of knowing how many rounds this rifle has had through it or whether or not any ‘rough’ edges have been smoothed down with use, but operation at this time is very slick and everything works exactly as it should. Ejection and feed are very clean and positive and the rifle showed no preference in these departments among the several brands of ammunition used, although the CCI did just shade the others on performance. Shooting off-hand at 25-metres I could easily get 10 shots into the area of a 10p piece and I believe that can be reduced dramatically with the use of rests. The empty magazine falls clear into your hand with the minimum of effort on its catch. Trigger pull measured a fraction over five-pounds.

Conclusion

This is never going to be an out and out target rifle but can provide some very satisfying fun at relatively small cost. It is also feasible that should you wish to use this rifle as a rabbit gun, removing the small pin that holds it in place, the front sight can be taken off allowing you to have the barrel cut for a moderator.

I’m really taken with this little gun and can see it being a regular accompaniment every time I visit the range in the foreseeable future. So next time you are in the market for an addition to your gun cabinet, remember to check out the second hand stock at your local gun shop, you might just hit lucky. If you want to buy new however, Henry Krank’s have new JW 25-As in stock and at £345 they’re good value for money.

PRICE: £345.00
CONTACT: Henry Krank www.henrykrank.com