We both have cz85's and enjoy them. We were sold on their reliability/durability.

She got the nickel plated version so we could tell them apart; I lost the coin toss 😳

Don't be so sure you lost.
Why things are seen -
Shape
Shadow
Shine
Silouette
Size
Spacing
Sound
Movement
Colour
Contrast
Texture
For those of you who like nice shiney, nickel-plated guns. Refer to number three on the list of why things are seen.

well, time for an update. received the norc 1911, and I must say, the fit and finish is actually quite good. I must have gotten one of the nice ones. I have yet to take it to the range, but ive taken it apart down to the bare screws and built it back up again, and I havnt found any obvious machine marks. I DID however, manage to put a nice little scratch on the fram while trying to figure out how the ambidextrous safety comes off. luckily it hides underneith the grips. I wasnt too worried about the finish as I plan on putting rounds through this till the slide melts. It was a nice suprise though I must say.

I will be taking it to the range soon. So far im impressed, but the true test will be on the range. a Heavy pistol for sure, and not for the feint of heart... But if I run out of ammo or it has a serious malfunction, I can always throw it at the bad guys.

Norinco's stuff started out with decent metallurgy and terrible machining, then it had mediocre metallurgy and decent machining. Now they are getting the hang of it. I'll bet it won't be a disappointing pistol to run, but remember to run about 500rds through it and THEN do your hollow point test. If you touch the feed ramp with anything besides gentle hand tools and emery cloth, you'll get what you deserve.

Oh and uh, show us your groups! 😀

I purchased a Ruger SR1911 for about 700 bucks and it is a really nice shooting pistola.
never had any trouble with it yet

well the results are in folks. sorry its taken me awhile to get around to it:

The Norinco 1911a1 sport model, blued, 7 rnd .45acp ($375)

Purchased from Marstar, the pistol is actually quite good.ive put about 500 rounds through it so far and it has performed well. The first 2 magazines worth had 2 stove pipe jams which had me concerned, but after that it was smooth sailing. I should mention that prior to taking it out I spent some time polishing the feed ramp as I had heard that sometimes the machine markings would cause issues with feeding. I didnt really see any machine marks on the ram, but I polished it anyways. Here is my review:

Accuracy: 4/5
Finish: 3/5
Durability: 4/5
Feeding: 5/5
Appearance: 4/5
Magazines: 4/5
Operation: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Accuracy: The gun is more accuracte then I am right out of the box. 1 inch groups at 15 meters and i am more then happy with it. 25 meters and it was a little difficult to keep groups within 5 inches, but I blame this on my abilities. Norinco has done a good job improving the sights on their sport model (as opposed to the standard g.i model sights which are pretty much non existant on all 1911s). They use a 3 dot sight alignment which gives you a pretty good sight picture within pistol range.

Finish: As expected, the finish on the pistol left something to be desired, but is certainly acceptable for a shooter. If you want nickle plated doo-dads and sexy looking grips, buy a kimber. There were one or two metal spurs that i smoothed out, but did not effect functionality. If you want something economical that witll punch holes in things... buy the norinco. The grips are almost a little too grippy, which isnt exactley a bad thing, but for those of you out there with soft hands, a day at the range will leave you wishing you wore gloves. There were some machine marks on the interior of the slide, but they were so negligable that a few minutes with sandpaper had them polished smooth.

Durability: For the most part, the gun seems very solid. However, the sport model comes with an extended mag release button... which somehow fell off after the first magazine, and is now lost to me. It is a small screw in application that drives into the original mag release, so there is still a button to press, which is more then large enough for me. The sights are stable and have not shifted even after 500 rounds, which is the one thing I was worried about, as the older model norincos had issues with the sights falling out or shifting during use. It seems they have fixed this issue with the new models.

Feeding: As I said before, after the first two magazines, I had no feeding issues what so ever. I expected a longer break in period, so you can imagine how pleased I was when after a day at the range the pistol continued to feed reliably. Spent cases were ejected in a controlled fashion every time, which as a reloader is important to me... who needs cases fliying in every direction so you cant find them at the end of the day! Even with 7 in the mag and one in the chamber (8 rounds) the gun performed flawlessly.

Appearance: Its a 1911, and it looks like a 1911. If it didnt have "made in china" stamped on the slide I could pass it off as a colt. The blueing is very thorough and gives the gun a great look in my opinion. I was planning on replacing the grips with a set of wilsons, but I like it as is, so I will probobly spend the money on extra magazines.

Magazines: mine came with 2 magazines, and I ordered an additional 2 to go with it. They are very plain jane in appearance (blued steel), but they feed reliably. Not sure how they will do in the long run, but for now they are working just fine. No need to shell out for wilsons or mcCormicks unless I planned on shooting it at a match.

Operation: Very smooth where firing, very quick to return on target. cases are extracted safeley and new rounds are chambered smoothly. Couldnt ask for anything more from a workhorse like this norinco. Only issue is that some of the magazines do not drop properly from the magazine well when released (if loaded). there are some rub marks on the magazine walls which makes me think there are some high points within the well itself (a project for another day).

Overall: IMHO, this is a great gun. I am extremely happy with it, especially for the price i got it at. the only issues that I have really had with it are occasionally the magazines will not drop properly, and require me to pull them out the rest of the way. This is definatley not a match worthy pistol out of the box, but is definatley an accuracte and reliable workhouse shooter. The other issues are purely cosmetic, which I really am not concerned about at all. I would definatley recommend this firearm to others. If you have the money for a Kimber or a Colt, then by all means throw your money away, but I can buy 4 of these for your one colt.