I noticed that a lot of people have been curious about this "new" Canadian AR platform. So I cooked up a review for the members of CGN to enjoy.
Let us begin.
On January 20th 2012 (My Birthday
) I decided to pre-order an NEA-15 CQB with a vortex strikefire from SFRC. At the time Ryan and his staff was expecting to receive the rifles at the end of January...after 3 months of waiting...I received my rifle on April 27th.
At first I was kind of nervous over all of the bad comment about the rifles (bad staking, heavy trigger pull, bla bla bla) I was still very happy to see the mailman pull in the yard.
THE UNBOXING
The rifle came in a very plain box. Regular brown cardboard, no markings. Nothing special about it, the first thing I noticed is how light the package was. I even thought that it was something else at first.
When I opened the box it was packaged very simply, no packing peanuts, no styrofoam, just a few pieces of foam but it held the rifle very well in place.
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that there was no manual or warranty card (and no poker chip?) in the box. But all of those can be found a NEA's website.
THE EXTERNALS
Okay I got to admit it...when I picked up my new acquisition...I JIZZED MY PANTS!!! The external quality of the NEA-15 CQB far exceeded my expectations not to mention that the darn thing is really light. (about 4 to 5 lbs.) The gun looked black but not quite...its a bizarre flat finish that seems to shift from grey to black in different lighting conditions. But it looked nice I had no complain.
The free float hand-guard was a bit loose at first, but to fix this issue all I had to do is tighten the 4 Allan screws that holds the hand-guard to the barrel nut. Also there is a hole on each side of the rails for a QD swivel attachment.
The receiver is very well made, no shavings, no pointy edges. The front of the mag-well is flared, trigger guard is large enough to use with gloves. The only downside is that the trigger guard is one piece with the receiver and can't be changed to something else. The etching of the gryphon is really nice and deep, same with the lettering on the other side. The dust cover won't keep closed though...maybe its just mine.
The grip and butt-stock of the rifle is pretty standard. There is no wiggle and they line up perfectly. No complain there since the kool-aid furniture will replace it soon.
The top rail of the rifle is marked with numbers to make it easier to find the last spot your scope was installed! But the rail under and the two on the sides are blank. Also the bull barrel is pretty thick yet it does not seem to add too much weight to it. Nothing special about the flash hider, just a generic A2 style.
This pretty much covers the first part of my review. Tomorrow I will add an internal parts review and a range report. But for now...I'm off to bed.
Enjoy!
PART 2
THE BCG
The infamous and mysterious NEA BCG! Well its a bolt group. Its quality isn't bad considering the price of the rifle. On mine the chisel staking technique was used for staking the gas key. To me its seems fine but to some people it might not. (seems to be a matter of opinion more than anything else)
I don't have much else to add to the internals. Only time can tell of its quality. I'll just skip to the range report! And then skip back to the internals after.
THE RANGE REPORT
Cold day at the range today. North western winds of 15 km/h and +4. I set up my Birchwood Casey's Shoot N C targets. And the range's trusty little red wooden rest!
I was using MFS 62GR soft points (crappy ammo) and of course the Vortex Strikefire that came with the gun. I set up my Shoot N C target at 100 meters. And zeroed in the red dot.
After zeroing in this is what it gave me for a 5 rounds grouping. (note that the dot in vortex strike fire is like 5MOA at 100yards)
I tried again with a new sheet but came with the same result.
Next time I hit the range I'll try with a 3-9 power scope just to see if it helps the grouping. And I'll grab a box of Federal Gold Match 69gr BTHP.
I'll post the results later.
I went to the range a second time and tried some 55Gr. American Eagle tactical at 50 meters and got pretty decent groupings out of 10.5" barrel.
Now the questions everybody has. Jams? FTE? and other malfunctions?
I shot about 120 rounds...I had about 2 FTE. No jams, and I had 2 double taps. Now the reason this happened is that the pin holding the trigger group started to slide out of the receiver (That’s no good!!!) Eventually it reached the point where it was only holding on one side.
I pushed the pin back in and it fixed the problem. But every 30 rounds or so I had to push it back in. That’s a problem that will need solving.
The shell deflector is now all scratched up so I guess its doing its job.
And for some reason my dust cover can now be closed. I guess it fixed itself?
The trigger pull is fine on mine. Its about 6lbs give or take which is reasonable for a semi automatic firearm.
OH LOOK!!!The screws didn't even move after a day at the range!!!
Bolt head doesn't show any unusual signs of wear either.
Their is a lot of friction between the hammer and the bolt though. I wonder if it will cause premature wear?
THE CONCLUSION
The NEA-15 rifles are very nice on the outside and are visually appealing. But in term of reliability, I would have to say that I wouldn't trust my life to that rifle. In the same price range there is far better performing AR's out of the box period. Although I didn't get the worst of the bunch, its seems that most NEA rifles has bugs that made it past the quality control process. I do not regret buying one, but if I would have to buy another AR I'd go for a CORE15.
I'm sure that I'll eventually work out the bugs to make a solid performer out of my AR. But a "work in progress" is what you get when you buy one at the moment. I urge the Canadian population to keep supporting NEA for the sheer fact that one day they will take their places among the top AR manufacturers.
I see a bright future ahead for NEA, but unless they learn to navigate through this "storm" they're facing. I doubt that the Canadian shooters will embrace their product as I did.
The NEA gets a mark of 7/10.
Hope you enjoyed my review.
UPDATE
This is the final product. I dressed her up with FAB Defense furniture.
Enjoy the gun ####.
Let us begin.
On January 20th 2012 (My Birthday
) I decided to pre-order an NEA-15 CQB with a vortex strikefire from SFRC. At the time Ryan and his staff was expecting to receive the rifles at the end of January...after 3 months of waiting...I received my rifle on April 27th.At first I was kind of nervous over all of the bad comment about the rifles (bad staking, heavy trigger pull, bla bla bla) I was still very happy to see the mailman pull in the yard.
THE UNBOXING
The rifle came in a very plain box. Regular brown cardboard, no markings. Nothing special about it, the first thing I noticed is how light the package was. I even thought that it was something else at first.
When I opened the box it was packaged very simply, no packing peanuts, no styrofoam, just a few pieces of foam but it held the rifle very well in place.
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that there was no manual or warranty card (and no poker chip?
) in the box. But all of those can be found a NEA's website.
THE EXTERNALS
Okay I got to admit it...when I picked up my new acquisition...I JIZZED MY PANTS!!!
The external quality of the NEA-15 CQB far exceeded my expectations not to mention that the darn thing is really light. (about 4 to 5 lbs.) The gun looked black but not quite...its a bizarre flat finish that seems to shift from grey to black in different lighting conditions. But it looked nice I had no complain.
The free float hand-guard was a bit loose at first, but to fix this issue all I had to do is tighten the 4 Allan screws that holds the hand-guard to the barrel nut. Also there is a hole on each side of the rails for a QD swivel attachment.
The receiver is very well made, no shavings, no pointy edges. The front of the mag-well is flared, trigger guard is large enough to use with gloves. The only downside is that the trigger guard is one piece with the receiver and can't be changed to something else. The etching of the gryphon is really nice and deep, same with the lettering on the other side. The dust cover won't keep closed though...maybe its just mine.
The grip and butt-stock of the rifle is pretty standard. There is no wiggle and they line up perfectly. No complain there since the kool-aid furniture will replace it soon.
The top rail of the rifle is marked with numbers to make it easier to find the last spot your scope was installed!
But the rail under and the two on the sides are blank. Also the bull barrel is pretty thick yet it does not seem to add too much weight to it. Nothing special about the flash hider, just a generic A2 style.
This pretty much covers the first part of my review. Tomorrow I will add an internal parts review and a range report. But for now...I'm off to bed.
Enjoy!
PART 2
THE BCG
The infamous and mysterious NEA BCG! Well its a bolt group. Its quality isn't bad considering the price of the rifle. On mine the chisel staking technique was used for staking the gas key. To me its seems fine but to some people it might not. (seems to be a matter of opinion more than anything else)
I don't have much else to add to the internals. Only time can tell of its quality. I'll just skip to the range report!
And then skip back to the internals after.THE RANGE REPORT
Cold day at the range today. North western winds of 15 km/h and +4. I set up my Birchwood Casey's Shoot N C targets. And the range's trusty little red wooden rest!
I was using MFS 62GR soft points (crappy ammo) and of course the Vortex Strikefire that came with the gun. I set up my Shoot N C target at 100 meters. And zeroed in the red dot.
After zeroing in this is what it gave me for a 5 rounds grouping. (note that the dot in vortex strike fire is like 5MOA at 100yards
)
I tried again with a new sheet but came with the same result.
Next time I hit the range I'll try with a 3-9 power scope just to see if it helps the grouping. And I'll grab a box of Federal Gold Match 69gr BTHP.
I'll post the results later.
I went to the range a second time and tried some 55Gr. American Eagle tactical at 50 meters and got pretty decent groupings out of 10.5" barrel.
Now the questions everybody has. Jams? FTE? and other malfunctions?
I shot about 120 rounds...I had about 2 FTE. No jams, and I had 2 double taps. Now the reason this happened is that the pin holding the trigger group started to slide out of the receiver (That’s no good!!!
) Eventually it reached the point where it was only holding on one side.
I pushed the pin back in and it fixed the problem. But every 30 rounds or so I had to push it back in. That’s a problem that will need solving.
The shell deflector is now all scratched up so I guess its doing its job.
And for some reason my dust cover can now be closed. I guess it fixed itself?
The trigger pull is fine on mine. Its about 6lbs give or take which is reasonable for a semi automatic firearm.
OH LOOK!!!The screws didn't even move after a day at the range!!!
Bolt head doesn't show any unusual signs of wear either.
Their is a lot of friction between the hammer and the bolt though. I wonder if it will cause premature wear?
THE CONCLUSION
The NEA-15 rifles are very nice on the outside and are visually appealing. But in term of reliability, I would have to say that I wouldn't trust my life to that rifle. In the same price range there is far better performing AR's out of the box period. Although I didn't get the worst of the bunch, its seems that most NEA rifles has bugs that made it past the quality control process. I do not regret buying one, but if I would have to buy another AR I'd go for a CORE15.
I'm sure that I'll eventually work out the bugs to make a solid performer out of my AR. But a "work in progress" is what you get when you buy one at the moment. I urge the Canadian population to keep supporting NEA for the sheer fact that one day they will take their places among the top AR manufacturers.
I see a bright future ahead for NEA, but unless they learn to navigate through this "storm" they're facing. I doubt that the Canadian shooters will embrace their product as I did.
The NEA gets a mark of 7/10.
Hope you enjoyed my review.
UPDATE
This is the final product. I dressed her up with FAB Defense furniture.
Enjoy the gun ####.
Last edited:
