Alright, so there have been a few of these reviews. Rabid fanboys have fanboi'd and rabid haters have hated. And here is another chance for another kerfuffle. I actually hesitate to call this a review. Let's call it a discussion about an experience.
Caveat: If you look at my post history, I have been pretty defensive for NEA. Some of you would call me NEA nut-hugger, finger f**ker, fanboi, or what have you. I promise you that I did so on the auspices that we are getting a Canadian AR manufacturer offering reasonably priced guns to all of their buddies of the North. I do still believe this is the case. I mean, I want to believe. Mulder? Skully?
Where the hell am I....Oh yeah...
That being said, I will give no quarter to NEA or any other manufacturer in the process of testing a product. I have video and pictures to go along with this write up so there is nothing left to question. Alright, you might have questions, but I should be able to answer those. Of course I have lots of questions of my own.
I'm also pretty much a newbie. That may be a good thing. Other newbies can read and be like "I know that feel bro." I will use terminology that is probably wrong, I certainly do in the videos. So bear with me.
I posted my out of the box impressions in some other thread. TLDR is that my rifle was tight, all of the parts work as they should, fit and finish is great, and it performed basic function tests without fail. Also, BCG was properly staked.
The subject as tested: NEA 15 PDW, Vortex Sparc, vertical grip. Pmags and LAR15 mags.
Testing conditions:
Clear, sunny skies. Negligible wind. The faint smell of wild grasses caressing my nose...wait, where was I again?
Ammo: AE .223 Tactical, 55gr. ~300 rounds down the pipe.
The Good.
I started my day doing a 50yd sight in with the Vortex Sparc red dot. It was my first time using a red dot style sight. Once I got used to it, I quite liked it.
I was only firing three round groups for the sight in procedure and the rifle worked flawlessly during this period. It probably took me about 30 rnds of dicking around to get it where I was somewhat happy with it.
Now, I am not a great shot, So the following groups probably suck, but I never claimed to be an elite marksman. In that respect, I can only comment so much on accuracy. I consider myself to be a "combat effective" shooter, meaning I can hit targets at pretty much any distance, I'm just not making sub-moa groups out of anything. And I might aim for a head shot on a zombie target and shoot its #### off, but whatever gets the job done, right? That would be a head shot on a male zombie anyway, but I digress.
50 yd. sight in targets. There are more than one group on a couple of the targets, but I'm sure you can tell which ones belong together. I also managed to keep my gnarly feet out of the photos. I didn't have a moose plaque to put down though.
I felt these were ok. Certainly enough to get me on paper to 100 yds. We need to remember this is a shorter range rifle anyway.
That being said, I have no pics of my 100yd/100m targets. I was on paper, but the groups were...well, let's not call them groups. The random smattering of holes had some distance between them. I was on paper with all of my shots. Perhaps with a magnifier I would have been tighter. The red dot on the spark covers a HUGE amount of paper at 100m.
The gun worked great...when it was working great. There were some major issues which I will get to, but for now let us be all cherubs and roses.
Again, when the rifle worked, it worked great. It kicked a little more than longer ARs do, but was manageable of course.
The trigger is heavy right now, but perhaps it will loosen up in time. I actually don't mind heavy triggers and I'm usually a #####, but some people would probably find this trigger to be a little too gritty with a pretty heavy pull. You can hear the trigger reset in the videos. I mean...it sounds heavy. When the trigger resets, it's like it is using a tiny little trigger fist to punch the back of your finger.
The rifle is loud! I'm pretty sure I'm the reason the two old farts sighting in their hunting rifle in the same dock as me moved to the next dock over. Once, I fired right before they did. I could tell I screwed the guy's shot up. He was mad and swore. Then they left.
I had the dock to myself for the remainder of my sight in time. So the NEA PDW is a fantastic Fudd repellent (some angry bastard is going to break into my house tonight and beat with the butt of his 12 foot long shot-gun if he can get it around the corner at the bottom of my stairs).
So happy sunshine...here are vids of the gun working great!
[youtube]69zpHf62Blo[/youtube]
Notice in this vid the very consistent ejection pattern of the brass. Only one round goes a different way.
[youtube]4oWJS-hxPdE[/youtube]
Now onto the bad.
Here is the big problem, and I am going to blame the victim a bit here. I am an AR noob. I'm pretty much a gun noob. So when I run into a recurring problem, I have no clue on what is causing it or how to fix it.
The gun had an early failure to feed when I went over to the 100m range. This was after the first batch of sight in rounds. By failure to feed in this case, I mean the round wasn't even grabbed out of the magazine and chambered.
I didn't think too much of it. I expected some failures as the gun broke in. But then they started happening a lot. And it went from no round being chambered to rounds half being chambered and the tops of the cases being dented in. After the first couple, I was all ok, no problem, probably growing pains. But then it started to happen more and more.
It was happening at a rate that became a major annoyance and now a source of concern. Like I said...noob. At first I thought it might be a magazine problem, but it was happening with both types of magazines. Maybe an ammo problem? Gun problem? I don't friggin' know.
This is the major issue here. I'm thinking that perhaps the NEA 15 is not a good gun for a newbie. Ok, I'm not a newbie to ARs per se, but I am a newbie to AR problems. I never had problems with the Norc AR. Never, not one. Why would I expect to have these problems with this fine piece of North American equipment?
So this is where it kind of falls apart for me. If the gun behaved consistently as it did in the first videos, I would be completely positive. But I can't be. Failures are not fun and I am not sure how to diagnose the issue.
Now maybe someone will chime in here and be like "oh you so stoopid, this is the problem," which is great. I'd rather feel like an idiot and have the problem fixed than feel like an idiot anyway and not have it fixed.
These vids supplement the FTFeeds. I didn't take vid of the entire day (I was at the range for like 7 hours), but these were the ones I caught. There were about 20 FTFeeds of the damaged-case nature and 10-15 of no rounds being chambered at all.
This one has the FTFs culled from a 14 minute video. Pay no mind to me climbing all over the rifle to clear the stoppages. The one that I bang on the table actually had dented cartridge half chambered. I was afraid it was going to get stuck...but you know, f**k it. I got it out.
[youtube]qSWwIOAtIs4[/youtube]
And this one is on the action range where I muse idiotically about what the problem might be. Bad language warning. I was starting to get aggravated.
[youtube]6BP3oCIqi04[/youtube]
Here are some of the damaged cartridges. Notice how consistent the damage is.
Here are pictures of the internals after the range day today. They don't tell me anything, but maybe someone will notice something and chime in.
It's like I'm wearing a sock made of hair...
This is the only weird thing I noticed. The hammer seems to be striking...uh, that piece there. Not sure what it is. There is a deep gouge on it that matched to the back of the hammer. Couple of views:
Final word. Potential.
Potentially the problem is a non-issue. Potentially there is a real problem. Potentially I will learn how to fix it. Potentially the rifle will yet prove itself to be as good as I really want it to be.
When it works, it feels and handles great. When it doesn't, I want to kick un-neutered kittens in the harbl.
I can't really recommend or not recommend the rifle. My experience is my experience, but it is framed in a limited knowledge base. People can take what they want from it, I'm not here to opine. I am very disappointed, but I am probably the creator of my own misfortune here. I read about all the other issues people were having and still jumped in, right?
I am going to begin AR15 research about problems and issues, but I really have no inclination to learn the ins and outs of them all at once. It is knowledge I prefer to gain over time. Ah well...I stepped in it, I'm going to have to step out of it.
Fake edit: Short stroking?
Caveat: If you look at my post history, I have been pretty defensive for NEA. Some of you would call me NEA nut-hugger, finger f**ker, fanboi, or what have you. I promise you that I did so on the auspices that we are getting a Canadian AR manufacturer offering reasonably priced guns to all of their buddies of the North. I do still believe this is the case. I mean, I want to believe. Mulder? Skully?
Where the hell am I....Oh yeah...
That being said, I will give no quarter to NEA or any other manufacturer in the process of testing a product. I have video and pictures to go along with this write up so there is nothing left to question. Alright, you might have questions, but I should be able to answer those. Of course I have lots of questions of my own.
I'm also pretty much a newbie. That may be a good thing. Other newbies can read and be like "I know that feel bro." I will use terminology that is probably wrong, I certainly do in the videos. So bear with me.
I posted my out of the box impressions in some other thread. TLDR is that my rifle was tight, all of the parts work as they should, fit and finish is great, and it performed basic function tests without fail. Also, BCG was properly staked.
The subject as tested: NEA 15 PDW, Vortex Sparc, vertical grip. Pmags and LAR15 mags.
Testing conditions:
Clear, sunny skies. Negligible wind. The faint smell of wild grasses caressing my nose...wait, where was I again?
Ammo: AE .223 Tactical, 55gr. ~300 rounds down the pipe.
The Good.
I started my day doing a 50yd sight in with the Vortex Sparc red dot. It was my first time using a red dot style sight. Once I got used to it, I quite liked it.
I was only firing three round groups for the sight in procedure and the rifle worked flawlessly during this period. It probably took me about 30 rnds of dicking around to get it where I was somewhat happy with it.
Now, I am not a great shot, So the following groups probably suck, but I never claimed to be an elite marksman. In that respect, I can only comment so much on accuracy. I consider myself to be a "combat effective" shooter, meaning I can hit targets at pretty much any distance, I'm just not making sub-moa groups out of anything. And I might aim for a head shot on a zombie target and shoot its #### off, but whatever gets the job done, right? That would be a head shot on a male zombie anyway, but I digress.
50 yd. sight in targets. There are more than one group on a couple of the targets, but I'm sure you can tell which ones belong together. I also managed to keep my gnarly feet out of the photos. I didn't have a moose plaque to put down though.
I felt these were ok. Certainly enough to get me on paper to 100 yds. We need to remember this is a shorter range rifle anyway.
That being said, I have no pics of my 100yd/100m targets. I was on paper, but the groups were...well, let's not call them groups. The random smattering of holes had some distance between them. I was on paper with all of my shots. Perhaps with a magnifier I would have been tighter. The red dot on the spark covers a HUGE amount of paper at 100m.
The gun worked great...when it was working great. There were some major issues which I will get to, but for now let us be all cherubs and roses.
Again, when the rifle worked, it worked great. It kicked a little more than longer ARs do, but was manageable of course.
The trigger is heavy right now, but perhaps it will loosen up in time. I actually don't mind heavy triggers and I'm usually a #####, but some people would probably find this trigger to be a little too gritty with a pretty heavy pull. You can hear the trigger reset in the videos. I mean...it sounds heavy. When the trigger resets, it's like it is using a tiny little trigger fist to punch the back of your finger.
The rifle is loud! I'm pretty sure I'm the reason the two old farts sighting in their hunting rifle in the same dock as me moved to the next dock over. Once, I fired right before they did. I could tell I screwed the guy's shot up. He was mad and swore. Then they left.
I had the dock to myself for the remainder of my sight in time. So the NEA PDW is a fantastic Fudd repellent (some angry bastard is going to break into my house tonight and beat with the butt of his 12 foot long shot-gun if he can get it around the corner at the bottom of my stairs).
So happy sunshine...here are vids of the gun working great!
[youtube]69zpHf62Blo[/youtube]
Notice in this vid the very consistent ejection pattern of the brass. Only one round goes a different way.
[youtube]4oWJS-hxPdE[/youtube]
Now onto the bad.
Here is the big problem, and I am going to blame the victim a bit here. I am an AR noob. I'm pretty much a gun noob. So when I run into a recurring problem, I have no clue on what is causing it or how to fix it.
The gun had an early failure to feed when I went over to the 100m range. This was after the first batch of sight in rounds. By failure to feed in this case, I mean the round wasn't even grabbed out of the magazine and chambered.
I didn't think too much of it. I expected some failures as the gun broke in. But then they started happening a lot. And it went from no round being chambered to rounds half being chambered and the tops of the cases being dented in. After the first couple, I was all ok, no problem, probably growing pains. But then it started to happen more and more.
It was happening at a rate that became a major annoyance and now a source of concern. Like I said...noob. At first I thought it might be a magazine problem, but it was happening with both types of magazines. Maybe an ammo problem? Gun problem? I don't friggin' know.
This is the major issue here. I'm thinking that perhaps the NEA 15 is not a good gun for a newbie. Ok, I'm not a newbie to ARs per se, but I am a newbie to AR problems. I never had problems with the Norc AR. Never, not one. Why would I expect to have these problems with this fine piece of North American equipment?
So this is where it kind of falls apart for me. If the gun behaved consistently as it did in the first videos, I would be completely positive. But I can't be. Failures are not fun and I am not sure how to diagnose the issue.
Now maybe someone will chime in here and be like "oh you so stoopid, this is the problem," which is great. I'd rather feel like an idiot and have the problem fixed than feel like an idiot anyway and not have it fixed.
These vids supplement the FTFeeds. I didn't take vid of the entire day (I was at the range for like 7 hours), but these were the ones I caught. There were about 20 FTFeeds of the damaged-case nature and 10-15 of no rounds being chambered at all.
This one has the FTFs culled from a 14 minute video. Pay no mind to me climbing all over the rifle to clear the stoppages. The one that I bang on the table actually had dented cartridge half chambered. I was afraid it was going to get stuck...but you know, f**k it. I got it out.
[youtube]qSWwIOAtIs4[/youtube]
And this one is on the action range where I muse idiotically about what the problem might be. Bad language warning. I was starting to get aggravated.
[youtube]6BP3oCIqi04[/youtube]
Here are some of the damaged cartridges. Notice how consistent the damage is.
Here are pictures of the internals after the range day today. They don't tell me anything, but maybe someone will notice something and chime in.
It's like I'm wearing a sock made of hair...
This is the only weird thing I noticed. The hammer seems to be striking...uh, that piece there. Not sure what it is. There is a deep gouge on it that matched to the back of the hammer. Couple of views:
Final word. Potential.
Potentially the problem is a non-issue. Potentially there is a real problem. Potentially I will learn how to fix it. Potentially the rifle will yet prove itself to be as good as I really want it to be.
When it works, it feels and handles great. When it doesn't, I want to kick un-neutered kittens in the harbl.
I can't really recommend or not recommend the rifle. My experience is my experience, but it is framed in a limited knowledge base. People can take what they want from it, I'm not here to opine. I am very disappointed, but I am probably the creator of my own misfortune here. I read about all the other issues people were having and still jumped in, right?
I am going to begin AR15 research about problems and issues, but I really have no inclination to learn the ins and outs of them all at once. It is knowledge I prefer to gain over time. Ah well...I stepped in it, I'm going to have to step out of it.
Fake edit: Short stroking?
Last edited:
My friends NEA was having the same FTF issue his first time out. First 5 rounds no problem then all of a sudden it became a bolt gun only firing 1 shot and then nothing on the second. He received a new bcg and has fired 20 rounds without issue so far. We'll have to confirm the issue's are gone with a lot more rounds through it because it seemed to be working great for you in the beginning.
