The Norinco NP22 and NP34 are Chinese-made Sig P226 and P228 (respectively) clones. But instead of costing $1000, they cost around $300. You can’t expect them to be as nice as a SIG for that price but are they any good at all?
Long story short: they’re rough out of the box (and very oily) but you can put Sig parts and/or elbow grease into your Norc if you want to improve it.
Basic Operations
The NP34 and NP22 are DA/SA guns: which means they can be fired from single action or double action. Single action is when the hammer is cocked back and you get a shorter trigger pull, double action cocks the hammer as well so it’s a heavier trigger pull. The only safety on these pistols is to de-cock the action using the decocker or by manually thumbing the hammer down if you’re a caveman. The long double action trigger pull is considered “safe enough”. Once you draw the pistol, your first shot will be double action and the rest will be single action.
Trigger pulls: most Norc NP22 and NP34’s have pretty heavy double action. My factory fresh model DA/SA pull was 12/5lbs while my worked over model with more Sig parts in it was 10/4. DA on the factory Norc was pretty gritty while the SA was nice and sharp in both.
The frame is aluminum, so the pistol will be slightly heavier than many polymer framed pistols like Glocks, M&P’s, etc. As with most Sigs, the bore height is very high compared with the top web of your hand so you’ll see more “fliperosity” (science term) when shooting an NP22 or NP34 over a Glock. That minor difference matters if you’re shooting IPSC or another competitive pistol sport. For a comparison on pistol bore axis height, check out this article.
The slide release is right where my right thumb wants to sit which causes the slide to go forward on empty mags for me. This is an issue but you can overcome it with training. I’d have to get used to keeping my thumb just bit further away from the frame. On the plus side, it’s extremely easy to hit the slide release once you’ve gassed the gun up with a fresh mag and controls on the Norc NP22 and NP34 are great if you have short thumbs/fingers.
Some people report that they hit the mag release accidentally while gripping the gun. I didn’t have that problem.
There isn’t much of a taper on the magwell but thankfully, the mags are a bit more tapered than many other pistol mags so they’re somewhat forgiving to jam in compared with some pistols. The NP34’s magwell is kinda recessed below the grip sides; I’m not a fan. The included Norc mags are pretty easy to load rounds in to.
Disassembly
Basic takedown is very easy. Just pull the slide back, rotate the disassembly lever, rack the slide forward, and it comes off like any other pistol. Recoil springs are not captive but they’re super easy to remove and re-install.
Some parts of the rest of the disassembly are easy while the rest show the age of the overall design. You know you’re not handling a new design when the guts are laid out like this.
NP22 vs NP34
The NP34 is the compact version, while the NP22 is the full size version. As such, the grip is a bit shorter (so are the mags) and the slide/barrel are a bit shorter on the NP34 too. This means that those major parts are not cross compatible between the pistols; you can’t stick an NP22 barrel in an NP34 and vice versa. Nor can you put an NP34 slide on an NP22 or the other way around.
You CAN stick an NP22 mag in an NP34 (it’ll stick out a bit from the bottom), but you cannot stick an NP34 mag in an NP22. My NP34 mags had an extra dimple from the front to limit rounds and unfortunately that made on of the mags a very tight fit on 10 rounds and hard to insert on a closed slide. If I cared, I could modify that dimple and fix it I guess.
If you’re in a free country, the NP22 will hold 15 rounds of 9mm in the magazine while the NP34 will hold 13. Here in Canada, they both hold 10. The dimple on the floorplate that holds the mag base on is too small and rounded. That means that if you ram in your mag hard and forward, you’ll rip the baseplate off and “yard sale” your rounds all over the place.
Mec Gar mags for the P226 worked fine in my NP22, were very reasonably priced, and are much nicer than the Norc mags. Some other users have reported needing to relieve the mag cutout a bit on some mags.
Between the two, I’d rather shoot the NP22. The slightly longer grip is easier for my medium/large hands to get a grip on and the slightly longer slide would be just a touch more practically accurate, and P226 parts are easier to find than 228/229 parts.
On the NP34, the grip is shorter and you’ll pinch the fuck out of your pinky finger on a fast reload unless you get used to moving your pinky out of the way. If you’ve got medium/small size hands, this point will be moot for you.
There is also the less popular NP58, which is in .40 cal.
My NP22 is 1.7lbs empty with no mag, while my NP34 is 1.6lbs. For reference, my CZ Shadow 2 with add-on magwell is 2.76 lbs, my Norc 1911 with red dot and magwell is 2.52 lbs, and my Tara TM9 is 1.49lbs.
NP22/NP34 Issues
Out of the box, the double action trigger pull is very heavy. Dry fire the heck out of it in front of the TV to take out some of the grittiness. or do some of the trigger pull mods below in the upgrades area.
Factory grips aren’t super grippy. Replace or add on skateboard grip tape.
Generally, gun controls and many surfaces are going to be rough out of the box.
NP22 and NP34 Upgrades and Sig compatibility
Caveat: you should be mechanically handy and pretty comfortable with gun mods to do any of the below. You could cause an unsafe condition with the wrong combo of parts.
SRT (Short Reset Trigger) kit installs into the Norcs and makes a HUGE difference in the trigger. Very highly recommended.
Sig spring kits can work to help reduce the trigger pull: reduced hammer spring power or replace with Sig parts, or Wolf Springs. You can also replace the Norc hammer and sear with Sig ones, but you need to know what you’re doing and minor fitting may be required.
Sig grips (but not grip screws), firing pin, many catches, controls, and internals will work with minor fitting/filling.
The slides are not compatible, the Norc sights are weird size and are very difficult to remove.
More info on compatibility here.
Is the Norinco NP22 or NP34 worth it?
In the $300 pistol category, there are a few striker fired guns, but the NP22 and NP34 are some of the few DA/SA guns available. With Sig compatibility on some parts, there are many possible upgrades and enhancements available, plus holsters and mag pouches though they’re too tall to fit many holsters like the Safariland GLS 579 without being uncomfortably rammed in
If you just want a cheap $300 pistol that’ll “just work” out of the box and you don’t want to fuck around with it, get the Girsan MC28 (review here) instead. If you want to shoot IPSC, I guess the Norcs Sig clones can be used but you’d really be better served buying a used CZ Shadow 1. If you really like the look of the Sig 226/228 series but can’t nearly afford even a used one, the Norcs can be a gateway gun to get you into the Sig style of pistols without the Sig cost.
