Morini v Pardini Rapid Fire Pistols

[Peter Lovett]

I have searched the forum but cannot see whether this comparison has been made before. If so please point me in the direction.

I currently shoot a Morini CM 22 M pistol and am contemplating purchasing a specialist rapid fire pistol, either a Morini or Pardini. In Australia the latter is significantly more expensive than the former. Now, as I am not nor will ever likely be competing at a national level I am wondering whether the Morini will meet my needs.

What I am seeking is information from people who have actually used either pistol and their respective views. I know the majority of world class competitors today are using the Pardini pistol and there may be a variety of reasons for that apart from their undeniable quality. But are they worth paying the extra?

[j-team]

Pardini all day long. No-one at the top level of RF is using a Morini.

Pardini reliability is second to none. Mine is 19 years old and still going well.

[Peter Lovett]

Pardini all day long. No-one at the top level of RF is using a Morini.

Pardini reliability is second to none. Mine is 19 years old and still going well.

Thank you j-team. Good recommendation that it is still going well at 19 years.

I had some problems with my Morini, which was second-hand when I purchased it but I believe that it was due to being left cocked in the dealers safe for over a year. The Morini cannot be discharged by holding the trigger while letting the slide forward. It can only be discharged by depressing the trigger which can catch people out of they don't realise that. The hammer and recoil spring had to be replaced and the firing pin reshaped and then all was good.

[crankythunder]

Hey Peter:

I will second J team with the Pardini Reliability. I purchased mine in 2013, a SP New Bullseye Edition which I think is only available in North America.

Anyways, I purchase between 10,000 and 20,000 rounds a year and figure I have somewhere around 150,000 rounds through the pistol.

I have only had two problems with the pistol:

1) The plastic magazine base plate broke when I dropped a full magazine on the concrete floor.

2) The firing pin froze up at about 40,000 rounds because I did not clean it out. I clean it every 30,000 rounds now and have not had a problem.

Even though I have a number of replacement springs, extractor, pins, etc that I got when I purchased it to begin with, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that it is 100% original. Furthermore, I have not experienced a alibi that could not be attributed to lousy low powered ammunition. (I use CCI standard velocity which is a lot more economical here in the states when compared to the european ammo as recommended by Pardini. the CCI SV is about half the price).

I have no Idea about the Morini pistol, not sure I have ever seen a semi automatic one in the flesh. I am sure it is a good pistol but I highly recommend the Pardini.

Regards,
Crankster

[Gwhite]

Pardinis are OK, if you get a good one. I've dealt with about 10 or 12 of them of various vintages. The college team I help coach bought five, and four of them were lemons, due to an ill conceived change to the bolt design. It took a long time (admittedly with a pandemic in the middle) to convince Pardini to replace the bolts.

In terms of other reliability issues, they overstress the extractor springs, and they will weaken with time and need replacing. The old green buffers last a very long time, but eventually they will harden and you will get jams. The newer O-ring buffer design tends to wear, and that will probably require more frequent maintenance.

Personally, I shoot my Benelli and my MatchGun better, but those have their own issues...

[Peter Lovett]

Thank you all for the information. The matter is still under consideration as I am in no haste to part with the money required for either. It doesn't hurt that the Australian importer only has Pardini at the moment.

[JamesH]

From what I have seen Morinis are quite finicky on ammo, and they have some adjustments like variable hammer springs which allow you to mess things up further.

Pardini firing pins do break, and you must keep the sear well lubricated with moly grease or they will wear out, develop steps.
Its quite easy to jam the second stage spring if you adjust it, so don't adjust it.
There did seem to be a bad batch during covid which had feeding problems.
Apart from that they are generally reliable.

[Peter Lovett]

From what I have seen Morinis are quite finicky on ammo, and they have some adjustments like variable hammer springs which allow you to mess things up further.

Pardini firing pins do break, and you must keep the sear well lubricated with moly grease or they will wear out, develop steps.
Its quite easy to jam the second stage spring if you adjust it, so don't adjust it.
There did seem to be a bad batch during covid which had feeding problems.
Apart from that they are generally reliable.

Thanks for the info James. My present Morini does not like cheap ammunition in that it fouls more quickly requiring frequent cleaning. I was advised by one of the local gunsmiths to only feed it with quality ammunition which I have mostly attempted to do. A batch of CCI did lead to some failures to properly feed. When I disassembled the pistol the area around the chamber was filthy.

[Gwhite]

Peter: I don't know if you can get Norma TAC-22 ammo, but in the US, it's relatively inexpensive. It's loaded by RWS (even has their headstamp), and shoots well in all the pistols I've tried it in.

[deadeyedick]

Considering that you already have a Morini CM 22 M I would not consider buying a RF version of either brand unless you are planning on replacing the CM22.
The performance difference between the standard and RF is an insignificant advantage for most shooters.
I would save the money.....my personal opinion.

[Ramon OP]

Why are you considering this ?

If you just want a new toy, go ahea, treat yourself! :)

If you shoot a lot of 5 target rapid fire pistol, how's the Morini not suiting your needs?

I would definitely try to find one to test before buying. And now that you are at it, test the Walther SSP too. Pardini used to be much cheaper than Walther and that's why many of us bought them. Also because as there are so many I thought it would be easier to find spares and get it repaired.

For the feeding issues, how often do you strip clean the gun? Gunk can lead to trouble , specially in resorts.

Sometimes the resort needs ammo that taps a bit stronger (I've had a shooter that went from expensive to cheap ammo because of this).

Rifle ammo will not fully develop its pressure before leaving the pistol and this can also be a source of issues (not applicable to CCI).

I don't have feeding issues with my Pardini SP New (.22lr) , but the Pardini HP (.32 S&W) has been a nightmare.

[Peter Lovett]

Considering that you already have a Morini CM 22 M I would not consider buying a RF version of either brand unless you are planning on replacing the CM22.
The performance difference between the standard and RF is an insignificant advantage for most shooters.
I would save the money.....my personal opinion.

The more I think about it the more I am coming to that conclusion. In watching the ISSF channel videos on YouTube I notice that the barrel jump on recoil is very small, something which is a bit more pronounced with the CM22 M despite the barrel weights used. That may be my technique problem but working on that will be cheaper than a new pistol.

[Peter Lovett]

Why are you considering this ?

If you just want a new toy, go ahea, treat yourself! :)

If you shoot a lot of 5 target rapid fire pistol, how's the Morini not suiting your needs?

I would definitely try to find one to test before buying. And now that you are at it, test the Walther SSP too. Pardini used to be much cheaper than Walther and that's why many of us bought them. Also because as there are so many I thought it would be easier to find spares and get it repaired.

For the feeding issues, how often do you strip clean the gun? Gunk can lead to trouble , specially in resorts.

Sometimes the resort needs ammo that taps a bit stronger (I've had a shooter that went from expensive to cheap ammo because of this).

Rifle ammo will not fully develop its pressure before leaving the pistol and this can also be a source of issues (not applicable to CCI).

I don't have feeding issues with my Pardini SP New (.22lr) , but the Pardini HP (.32 S&W) has been a nightmare.

Thanks for the info Ramon. The Morini manual recommends cleaning every 500 rounds or thereabouts and I do keep a record of how many rounds I have put through the pistol in total and since last cleaning.

[JamesH]

For rapid fire the Pardini RF is a noticeable improvement over the SP.

Then the question is why use the SP for anything at all?

I bought both, mainly because I was tired of adjusting the sights between SP and RF.
I suppose the SP is a little more stable, I weight the SP more which is probably most of it.