Norinco JW 15 vs Leupold medium rimfire mounts

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

I've got a Norinco .22RF JW15 and decided to upgrade the trusty aluminium rings to new Leupold 11mm medium ringmounts cat# 54231. They are beautiful, a work of art and quality manufacture. The objective always had quite a 5 or 10 mm of clearance, so I wasn't worried about height. They come with a non nonsense torx driver which does all the screws holding the mount to the action dovetail and the top half of the ring onto the base - very elegant and positive to use.

I went to lie down on the range to sight it in and - no ! The bolt wouldn't go in. The ocular was now too low and the bolt handle couldn't get past. Then I remembered (too late) that this is a known issue with the Brno rifles (now CZ), which the Norinco is a copy of. One guy offered me his CZ to shoot with and another offered me his Anschutz. But I was stubborn. I whipped off the scope and crushed two empty .22 cases flat for shims and next detail I was back on the mound. It was useless. Shots started 3" low at 25 yd at 7 O'clock After much winding they centered up a bit then shot off high, only ever grouping about 3" overall. Learning point 1. You can't use .22 cases as emergency shims.

Back home, I ground down pieces of a hacksaw blade to jack up the mounts half a mm. It looked like the bolt almost fitted.

Attachment 2861



Then I filed the scope until the bolt could fit past.

Attachment 2862


It's an old scope, a miroku 4x32 and I do have a spare one just the same. It took more filing than it looked to obtain the neccesary clearance. I wasn't sure how far I could go before I would hear "Hssssss..." Learning 2. It is possible to file a scope to let the bolt past. But whether it's wise ... Anyway a few days later, it was down to the other range to test it out.

25 m Winchester subsonic with silencer:

Attachment 2863

I soon discovered that the aluminium under the black anodising was very soft. (Learning 3) The bolt could clear the filed area but because there is some play in it, often it would touch the scope, bind, gall and scratch it. I just hope this doesn't eventually wear right through. Certainly the scope is not the same and you really wouldn't want to do this on a scope you'd paid much money for.

Attachment 2866

50m with powerpoint without silencer. I'm fortunate these two sorts of ammunition each shoot just where I want them without altering the sights.

Attachment 2864

This is as good as it ever groups but no better. My desperate gunsmithing had payed off.

Attachment 2865

Nek week, back at the indoor range: my first shots were 3" low then they crept up and in the end I adjusted up 4 MOA (1" at 25 yd) and had a reasonable shoot. Yeah. Obviously, the sights are unstable when transported in the car, despite the hard case. If it won't hold zero once then it's a total failure and good grouping within one session is no use for a hunting rifle. Learning 4.

Anyone want to buy a beautiful set of Leupold 22 ringmounts ?

get someone with a milling machine to take some material off the bolt handle (see mudgripz pics). I did it for my sons JW as we couldn't put the scope higher for him, he wouldn't be able to really see through the scope and have his cheek on the stock.

My JW scope is sitting on med rings so ok.

Gas and bend the handle?

how much for the rings?

Ah i know how it feel man, went through the same thing not long ago with my CZ, i went for higher rings as it was brand new and i just couldn't bring myself to hurt it in any way.

Even with a Norinco, I couldn't mod the bolt handle. Even that hasn't got a lot of metal to spare. It will be cheaper and tidier to get some higher rings. Meanwhile the old ally ones will go back on.

Good effort, I probably would have got a hammer and bent the handle. Never thought of using 22 shells.

ten points for trying. I like it when people are stubborn and make things work that are differcult or shouldnt work.
If you are looking to take a massive loss on the rings I could be interested too