My first Rimfire

Many of us have probably first held a .22LR bolt action, perhaps a semi auto rifle for our first time shooting and as I have said before on other pages and posts, this is definitely the most common way to 'break the ice' when it comes to introducing non shooters to the sport or recreational activity of shooting.

Here I bring you my story of my first Firearm and the proceeding tales until my break from recreational shooting and firearm ownership;

My first was a Norinco JW15, a Chinese copy of the Brno 1.
I remember it semi-clearly stumbling across the advert in a junk mail type of brochure you get folded in the middle of your local newspaper, it was from one of our biggest Department Stores and this one had a gun shop department.
It was the Christmas season brochure, I really cannot recall the year but it was probably 1996 / '97 and somewhere I spotted the JW15 .22LR Bolt Action going for I think around 400 Bucks, I ended up begging and it became my present! Licenced in my Father's name of course and a month after approval we got the papers and went through to the shop to collect & purchase a couple boxes of ammo. & the salesman managed to convince us we needed a cleaning kit etc.



Norinco JW15 .22LR Bolt Action

The picture left shows the exact same one with the black painted fore-end, except mine came with a 5 shot mag instead of a 10 shot as in the picture










I don't think I actually have any pictures of my old rifle unfortunately, so these were 'excavated' from the cloud!

Owning a Norinco JW15:
For the price paid vs what I knew rifles (even in .22LR or Air rifles) were already costing back then made this deal a definite 'Go-getter' you cannot get such a deal in this day and age and these rifles are pretty damn accurate too!
The first impression was pretty bad, the box it came in was quite tatty and the rifle was pretty much just dunked in a thick-ish oil preservative and placed in a plastic sleeve before boxing, so unboxing was a bit of a 'new experience' you could say. Getting a cloth and wiping it off tirelessly all around (it did take a few days to break in the feel and be sure no more of that oil remained), you just kept reminding yourself what price you paid for this and that was that!
Positives were a good well working 5 shot mag, the barrel was factory threaded for a Moderator (Silencer) with a screw on thread cover when you are not using a moderator.

The action worked fine except upon firing, the bolt would click down slightly but this never affected performance or handling etc. Magazine always worked well (CZ Magazines work in these rifles so purchase spare CZ mag's and don't try to get Norinco copies - but the one supplied was okay)
The stock could have had a bit more effort made into the finish and better quality varnish / laminate but again, the price is the reason I guess and you could always after getting more serious into the sport, just get a nice replacement stock that suits you - the barrel and action are keepers!
Edit / Insert: I realised one of the main details that I left out is that quite regularly, the round being pushed into the chamber would get slightly shaved, thereby affecting accuracy, as a result I have edited my rating of this rifle (mentioned below further on).

.22LR Round

Accuracy: As I said this was my first firearm, I had no one instruct me on zeroing etc. and I bought a really cheap Tasco scope that even an air rifle shooter would chuck out (you had to use a coin or screw driver to elevate etc) I only did target shooting twice at 82' (25 meters) range a couple times to attempt to zero, I managed groupings of 0.98'' (25mm) and unfortunately they were always at 9 o'clock about 0.39'' (10mm) away from the Bull! To this day I cannot say why, it can only have been the scope as no matter what I did, that's the best I could get it.
Back then I didn't know that Subsonic ammunition has better accuracy vs Standard, High and Hyper velocity so I was zeroing with all of the above, mixing batches and so on.



Overall Condition: I'm going to give the rifle a 6/10 in overall condition and quality, losing a few points due to the swivel screws being skew and the fore iron sight ring being quite buckled on it's little rail insert and also the stock being the negatives. I was thinking of giving it a 6/10, then remembered the accuracy so decided to give it a 6.5/10 overall and said before this Edit, that I felt the rifle did not deserve a 7/10 in my books, however I have left out another unfortunately negative detail which was that the rounds would get slightly (and sometimes heavily) shaved when the bolt pushed them into the chamber - as a result I will give it a 6/10 overall but if you want to target shoot you may want to give it a miss.


Norinco JW15 with Shortened Barrel, Scope and Bipod - Note how these accessories really change the general look of the rifle

Conclusion: For a first rifle, or a second one to have a spare for tag along friends when you go out plinking, small game hunting - again, this is a definite Go-Getter! You cannot go wrong if you can still find these moderately priced
I have seen these advertised now as JW-15a brand new and sometimes the name 'Puma' is included instead of Norinco - I hear that it is still Norinco that builds them though and these JW-15a's are available in synthetic stocks and wood, have yet to find out what else has changed if any? The only JW15's like my old one I have been able to find online are second hand owned, I cannot find new.
Word on the net says that the new Pumas are quite regular visitors in the gunsmith workshops so I would personally check around, join a forum or two and try locate owners who can advise weather to get them, don't take my word for it ... it's just some things I read a few month's back - always remember a second hand .22LR is still a good investment as .22 Ammunition is not jacketed so the barrel only has had lead running through it therefore not much wear on the rifling.

to be continued ....