Norinco JW-15

About the Norinco JW-15

The Norinco JW-15 is a Chinese .22 Long Rifle bolt-action rifle, a simplified copy of the Czech Brno Model 2 sporting rifle. Produced by Norinco from around 1980, it uses a heavy steel receiver, a bolt with dual rear locking lugs, and a detachable box magazine. Norinco applied cost-saving 'value engineering' to the original Brno design, including a simpler trigger guard and a trigger mechanism closer to a Mauser 98 than the CZ 452. Widely exported as an inexpensive plinking and small-game hunting rifle, it has been sold under the JW-15 and JW-15A designations, with the magazine-fed JW-15A being the most common variant on export markets.

The JW-15 traces its design to the Czech Brno Model 2, a refined sporting rifle whose tooling and rights made their way to China in the 1960s. Norinco's no-frills reproduction became one of the most widely traded budget .22 rifles of the late 20th century, valued for its solid steel build despite simplified internals.

Norinco JW-15 specifications

A direct lineage from the Brno Model 2; design rights were reportedly transferred from Czechoslovakia to China in the 1960s. Some rifles were imported into the United States by Interarms in the 1990s. The JW-23 is the .22 WMR (Magnum) chambering and the JW-25 is a Mauser KKW-pattern training/hunting variant.