Scorpio EM332A

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Another Chinese .22 review on it's way; getting one for Father's Day:

 

[Servant68]

Never heard of those. Looking forward to it!

I shot my only .22 rifle last weekend. I bought it last Fall and mounted a scope and sighted it in, then haven't shot it since.

It's the Uberti Silver Boy. I got a great deal on it from Bud's Gun Shop and always wanted a lever-action .22. They were clearing them out for $319.

I forgot how light the trigger is; feels as light as the one on my Uberti 1885 Winchester competition rifle which is set at 2.5lbs.

The Silver Boy trigger is too light, IMO, for a plinking .22. And I removed the 3x9 scope since it just didn't look right for the rifle, and the factory sights need upgraded.

Can't decide if I'm going to replace the factory sights with nicer Williams sights, or find a smaller 4x scope that matches the rifle better.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Never heard of those. Looking forward to it!

I shot my only .22 rifle last weekend. I bought it last Fall and mounted a scope and sighted it in, then haven't shot it since.

It's the Uberti Silver Boy. I got a great deal on it from Bud's Gun Shop and always wanted a lever-action .22. They were clearing them out for $319.

I forgot how light the trigger is; feels as light as the one on my Uberti 1885 Winchester competition rifle which is set at 2.5lbs.

The Silver Boy trigger is too light, IMO, for a plinking .22. And I removed the 3x9 scope since it just didn't look right for the rifle, and the factory sights need upgraded.

Can't decide if I'm going to replace the factory sights with nicer Williams sights, or find a smaller 4x scope that matches the rifle better.

View attachment 199271

That is really a good looking gun. It sounds like a great price too. How do they stack up against the Henrys? One of the guys I work with won a Henry Golden Boy at our local Amish Charity Shoot! Lucky young lad! He hardly ever shoots it, as he has got so much time and money invested in a custom 1022 that he built himself.

 

[Servant68]

The action is butter smooth and it's a great shooter, but the Henry feels a little more substantial with a slight edge in quality going to the Henry. Plus, I love the octagon barrel available on the Henry...

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

I was expecting it on Monday, and it arrived yesterday.

While I love my JW15, this rifle is in a completely different league, and for only $10.00 more; the mags are $20.00 cheaper too!

Things that are just about perfect in my opinion:

1. Adjustable sights; sight picture clean and sharp.
2. Fit and finish; deep dark bluing and very even; metal to metal fit is top grade, internal machined surfaces, good +
3. Action very smooth, no need to spot it in or hone sharp edges.
4. Bolt easy to dissassemble/clean/reassemble
5. Trigger needs no, and I mean zero attention right from the box.
6. The ammout of steel in it is impressive; except for the mag-well.
7. Quality of the Injection Moulding on the stock is top quality also.
8. The cheek weld and eye alignment for the sights is perfect for me (same reason I bought the JW15; Savage and Marlin did not fit me very well).
9. Nice clean sling studs.
10. Rubbery butt-plate helps with stability.
11. Sharp, clean rifling (inside of barrel does indeed appear to be "rotary hammer forged").
12. Mags slide in easily with bolt open or closed, but lockup once inserted is positive, and the mags are tight; one of the best fitting mag setups I have ever seen on a .22.
13. Barrel is not a "bull" barrel but it is heavy, heavier than many other sporting .22s I have handled.
14. Bolt is what appears to be an exact copy of the Anschutz, as is pretty much the rest of the barreled action. Someone posted in another forum that these are built on the old Savage/Anschutz tooling that was sold to China; it looks very likely to me.

Things that are not quite perfect:

1. Mags, while good quality, have pretty chincy plastic bottom plates, but are easy to dissassemble for cleaning; not as easy to get the lock pin to align with the plate while reassembling.
2. Barreled action is very loose, fore and aft, in the stock, action requires bedding.
3. Parting lines, particularly those in the upper thumb hole were very sharp, but the hard plastic was easy to file with a fine half-round needle file. Top edges of the inletting were sharp also, as were the parting lines in and outside the trigger guard.
4. Butt-plate overhangs (is bigger than the stock) on one side, has a sharp edge, and could use some rework. (no fasteners visible, so I wonder if it is a friction fit into the but-stock; it is not moulded on).
5. Grip texture is a bit over-done, but very positive.
6. Mag-release is a bit short.
7. Bolt handle (as others have stated) is very tight to the stock; not a problem unless one may be trying to operate it with gloves on.
8. Fasteners for scope adjustment; one is slot, one is a poor quality Phillips (hopefully they are metric, or SAE so I can eventually change them out, as others have mentioned also that they are "soft", and they look it).
9. Sights could be higher visibility, but nothing a dab of paint won't fix.
10. Barrel Crown, or lack thereof, some photos showed match-grade crowning, however my rifle looks to have barely been touched with a countersink.

Shooting will come in time (too busy at the moment), but my list of imperfections is small and minor compared to the virtues listed.

I am very pleased with what I see so far!

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

The action is butter smooth and it's a great shooter, but the Henry feels a little more substantial with a slight edge in quality going to the Henry. Plus, I love the octagon barrel available on the Henry...

How are they priced in the US; up here in Canada, it looks like the Henry is about $200.00 more. That is a substantial difference.

 

[Servant68]

I was just in my local gun shop yesterday buying some powder and picked up the Henry and gave it a closer look.

It was listed at $499. I paid $319 for my Uberti, but, that was a super sale and prices on gunbroker.com range from $380 to $499.

I think the Henry is slightly better after looking at it in the LGS. but not $100 or more better. I found nicer sights for mine for around $30, and that was really my only major complaint.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

I was expecting it on Monday, and it arrived yesterday.

While I love my JW15, this rifle is in a completely different league, and for only $10.00 more; the mags are $20.00 cheaper too!

Things that are just about perfect in my opinion:

1. Adjustable sights; sight picture clean and sharp.
2. Fit and finish; deep dark bluing and very even; metal to metal fit is top grade, internal machined surfaces, good +
3. Action very smooth, no need to spot it in or hone sharp edges.
4. Bolt easy to dissassemble/clean/reassemble
5. Trigger needs no, and I mean zero attention right from the box.
6. The ammout of steel in it is impressive; except for the mag-well.
7. Quality of the Injection Moulding on the stock is top quality also.
8. The cheek weld and eye alignment for the sights is perfect for me (same reason I bought the JW15; Savage and Marlin did not fit me very well).
9. Nice clean sling studs.
10. Rubbery butt-plate helps with stability.
11. Sharp, clean rifling (inside of barrel does indeed appear to be "rotary hammer forged").
12. Mags slide in easily with bolt open or closed, but lockup once inserted is positive, and the mags are tight; one of the best fitting mag setups I have ever seen on a .22.
13. Barrel is not a "bull" barrel but it is heavy, heavier than many other sporting .22s I have handled.
14. Bolt is what appears to be an exact copy of the Anschutz, as is pretty much the rest of the barreled action. Someone posted in another forum that these are built on the old Savage/Anschutz tooling that was sold to China; it looks very likely to me.

Things that are not quite perfect:

1. Mags, while good quality, have pretty chincy plastic bottom plates, but are easy to dissassemble for cleaning; not as easy to get the lock pin to align with the plate while reassembling.
2. Barreled action is very loose, fore and aft, in the stock, action requires bedding.
3. Parting lines, particularly those in the upper thumb hole were very sharp, but the hard plastic was easy to file with a fine half-round needle file. Top edges of the inletting were sharp also, as were the parting lines in and outside the trigger guard.
4. Butt-plate overhangs (is bigger than the stock) on one side, has a sharp edge, and could use some rework. (no fasteners visible, so I wonder if it is a friction fit into the but-stock; it is not moulded on).
5. Grip texture is a bit over-done, but very positive.
6. Mag-release is a bit short.
7. Bolt handle (as others have stated) is very tight to the stock; not a problem unless one may be trying to operate it with gloves on.
8. Fasteners for scope adjustment; one is slot, one is a poor quality Phillips (hopefully they are metric, or SAE so I can eventually change them out, as others have mentioned also that they are "soft", and they look it).
9. Sights could be higher visibility, but nothing a dab of paint won't fix.
10. Barrel Crown, or lack thereof, some photos showed match-grade crowning, however my rifle looks to have barely been touched with a countersink.

Shooting will come in time (too busy at the moment), but my list of imperfections is small and minor compared to the virtues listed.

I am very pleased with what I see so far!

I actually got out shooting today and did a comparison between the Scorpio and the Norinco. From a bench rest, the Scorpio is way more accurate, but shooting free-hand; the Norinco beat it out; however, the Scorpio had way less variation by brand of ammo than the Norinco; but the norinco fed Winchester 555 with zero issues and the Scorpio just did not want to feed the somewhat flatter nose on the Winchester. BTW, my old Winchester pump does not like the Winchester ammo either; very hard feeding.

I have to crunch numbers, and shoot some more. Regarding freehand, the shorter sight radius on the Scorpio may have something to do with the reduced accuracy. I'm thinking, if the trend continues, the sights may be coming off the Scorpio, and a scope going on. The superior rear sight on the Scorpio may be going on the Norinco.