Guns & Outdoors Forum

Was cleaning out one of my safes and reorganizing stuff when I came across an old Norinco JW15. Unlike my 'go to' 22, which is a JW15 with a 20" barrel, this one has a 16" tube. It was given to me about 30 yrs ago as part payment of a loan I gave to a mate.
Because the weather over here has been crap, I decided to give the rifle a birthday, so I stripped it down and gave it a good clean. After stripping the stock I took the Dremel to it and opened up the barrel channel so that I can slide a banknote all the way up to the action screw.
On checking the trigger, I found one of the springs was that stiff that the trigger pull was about 25lb......took apart a Bic pen, cut the pen spring shorter and fitted it as a temporary measure. ( I actually cut a little too much off the spring and if you cycle the bolt too hard/fast, the bolt will come out of the action. Will find another spring for it later, but it did lighten the trigger from the factory one. Banged the stock quite hard on the concrete floor 5-6 times to see if the trigger would go off....it didnt, so I figured it will do until I find a better spring.)

While I had the action off the stock, I refinished it using a mix of linseed and furniture oil ( thats all I had handy)
Soaked the trigger and barreled action in gun oil overnight, then scrubbed it with 0000 steel wool to get the crud off it and some minor surface rust.
I could see it needed a good clean, so I took a bronze brush too it and gave it a scrub. It did clean some of the crud out but I decided it wasnt good enough.........so I plugged the end of the barrel, poured some rimfire copper remover down the barrel and left it overnight. Gave it a good scrub the following day and it came out like new.

Put it all back together again and looked around for a scope to put on it. Found a 4x28 scope that came off my SKS when I was forced to hand it in due to the Govt ban on semi autos, found a set of rings which fitted the dovetail and scope and mounted it up. A quick boresight and it was ready for the range.

Picked a fine day when I went to check/feed the horses and threw the rifle in the truck with some Winchester/CCI subs and an old parker hale suppressor that fitted the barrel thread.
Se a target up at 25m to get it on paper which I did after the 1st shot.....adjusted the scope and moved the target out to 50m. There was a 5 to 10 knot swirling wind at the location but I managed to get the following 2 5 shot groups.
Bottom left was the 1st shot at 50m.......adjusted it up and right and shot the group on the bottom right..... was using the hood of the Suzuki and my pack as a rest....which wasnt ideal.

Made another adjustment and shot the group on the top left.......then the wind increased so I stopped shooting. Need to put a few more rounds through it, then wait for a windless day on the range so I can use the bench etc....

So here are a couple of pics of the rifle ....bear in mind, the JW15 is a chinese copy of a BRNO....to such an extent that the bolts and magazines are interchangeable... Apologies for the blurry pic....was trying to hold my phone with one hand while I held the rifle upright with the other hand... With a few more shots to foul the barrel and a proper rest at the range, I have high hopes that it will perform just as well as the 20" barreled Norinco.

Had it sitting on the bench when BH called in.......his first words were, "When did you get the BRNO?"
It wasnt till he picked it up that he realized it was another chinese 'Knock off'.......

Nice. I was in the market for one of those when I bought my BRNO-2500/ CZ ultralux (28.75" or 73cm bbl)
I've found lower extreme spreads with longer bbls, with 22LR, So I'll be surprised if it shoots as good or better than its 20" stablemate.

That stock came out nice, can’t complain about the way it shoots, give it another try off a proper bench and less wind

NICE! We had those come through in my gun shop days of the early 1990's. The memory is jumbled, but I think the ONLY reason I didn't end up with one was a CZ 452 purchased at an employee discount price of about $150 at about that time. I think I could have had one for around fifty bucks - unfortunately, I was making heavy investments in .308 Sierra Matchkings at the time.

As I recall, chromed lined barrels and an exterior polish that looked like it was done with 40 grit on a belt sander. . .but a WAY more solid rifle than any of the entry options from Marlin, Savage, etc... at the time.

Funny how you can't find hardly ANYTHING in the U.S. that wasn't made in China these days, but we can't seem to import any of their firearms with rifling. Thanks Clinton!

I've had several (less than five) of those .22 rifles. Two were very accurate, and at least one was awful. I bedded the stock and it did a little better but not by much. A MR. Kang or King bought up a bunch, gave them a blue job and replaced the stock with good straight walnut. I bought one of those, too, and it was accurate and good lookin.

Had a friend who worked in a gun range three or four years later. He was thumbing through some firearms marketing brochures and saw five of these much improved rifles for sale for $75 each. I bought three and he bought two.

I was able to sell mine for a good profit.

Good job! I love these kinds of threads. Anytime an old gun, especially an old .22, comes back to life an Angel gets his wings

I really like that, it you did well. I'm an old abused gun junky, I wish you had some before pics.

Back when, those Chino rifles had a white wood stock. It was hardwood but as white as a sheet of paper. I think the Red Chinese got the word and started staining them. They were $75 back then.

Gene L wrote: ↑Sat Jun 14, 2025 9:50 pm Back when, those Chino rifles had a white wood stock. It was hardwood but as white as a sheet of paper. I think the Red Chinese got the word and started staining them. They were $75 back then.

I paid $75nzd for my first one back about 45-50 years ago.....lost count of the number of rounds through it...Wasnt uncommon to put up to 1000 rds per week through it doing pest destruction on possums/rabbits etc...

They are a copy of the Brno rifle. Hence the Chino. The only thing on them not steel is the Butt plate.