Well, I have meant to do a M4gery comparison for a long long time. Originally, I was planning to have the STAG and the LMT together. Unfortunately, I need to buy something so the STAG was let go before this is completed. During the wait to build up my piggy account, the Noveske N4 became available so I snatched one up. I also have an original LE6920 with me…….so here it goes!
First of all, I am an extremely conscious AR consumer. I firmly believe that there is no reason why guns could not be like gadgets purchased at Costco- ie, they should come from the factory in boxes under the original wrappers, and it should work out in the box. If you can buy a laptop off BestBuy without a scratched up monitor, then AR15 should not come up with a missing chunk of anodization from the bag. This is a common problem with gun manufacturers, and to certain extent the way the firearms business was operated traditionally.
Before acceptance into my storage area, I did a thorough visual check on the uppers. One thing I did first with any new upper I got is to put a surefire down the muzzle to inspect the crown condition. Here you can tell whether the upper had been excessively test fired or have been taken out for a joy ride by the dealers for too long. I inspected all muzzles of the three samples I had and passed them before final acceptance.
BARREL
STAG’s barrel are made by Shaw. It is advertised as chromelined “Machine gun graded” steel. It has a grey parkerization. I looked down the muzzle crown and it did appear to be chromelined – great. I was too lazy to break out my caliber to measure the barrel profile but it appears to my naked eyes they are of the correct M4 profile. Here is my only complain about STAG/CMT – those mofos are very crazy about putting preservatives into their barrels. On the other hand, Shaw gets a very nice way to mark their barrels. The barrel is marked STAG MP 1/7 5.56 NATO based on my memory. The FSB appears to be forged and is F marked. It is fastened to the barrel by two tapered pins. The taper pin job looks very good, but I did not take them out to see where they hit the barrel.
LMT barrels are rumoured to be made by Rock Creek, but it is only confirmed for the MRP. My guess is that they want to pick the contractor of the month if they have to. The barrel has a blacker anodization than STAG and is marked MP 5.56 NATO 1/7 CB. It is advertised as chromelined and appears so. The profile looks M4 enough to me, and I had a KAC RAS installed on a 10.5 so I have no reason to believe LMT would make something else. I could not find any official information of what steel they use, but it is in general believed to be “machine gun grade steel of the 4150 variety”. The FSB appears to be forged, with no F marking, and they are fastened by two straight pins. The job looks decent but there are shavings left around the hole on one side of the FSB. They were parkerized – which indicated that LMT parkerized the barrel after the installation of the FSB. This is consistent with that LMT barrels do not have parkerization under FSBs.
Top LMT Bottom Noveske
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The Noveske N4 barrels are advertised as manufactured from hammer forged M249 blanks. The finish reminds me of that of C8 barrels, which is very smooth. The barrel profile is not M4, and it is very nicely roll marked MP 1/7 5.56 NATO. The FSB is F marked and appears to be forged, which is also fastened to the barrel by two tapered pins. The pin job is decent, but one pin is popping out a little bit more than the other. It is not a big deal really. I have not taken the FSB out so I cannot comment where the pins are hitting the barrel.
BARREL ALIGNMENT
All three barrels appear to align properly. The gas tubes all look straight, and all the M4 style feed ramps line up with the receiver cuts perfectly. My impression is that STAG did the best feed ramp job.
Delta rings are usually small items- one comment is that STAG’s delta rings are losing anodization before it left the box. These guys need to pay attention to what their contractors are doing with anodization – for example, proper cleaning beforehand. On the other hand, the STAG comes with a Colt style side sling adaptor which LMT and Noveske are both lacking.
BOLT CARRIER GROUP
STAG came with a closed back semi automatic group. The gas key had a rather passive staking job at the factory. Fortunately, Armeast enhanced it with a second staking. In general, CMT bolts are not proofed and peel shot, but they are MPed. based on my conversation with STAG a year ago. Armeast also did the black insert and o-ring upgrade before it was shipped me.
LMT staking job is great – nothing to add. As we all are aware, LMT bolts deviate from Colt and the rest of the people in the area behind the bolt lugs. Their bolts are supposed to be proofed, MPed and peel shot but I could not find offical reference to it. Extractor comes with black insert and o-ring
Noveske staking job is great – nothing to add. It comes with a full circle FA carrier and the bolt is the Colt/CMT original design. It is advertised as MPed, proofed and peel shot. Extractor comes with black insert and o-ring. It appears to my eyes and I highly suspect that by looking at the components, that Noveske purchase the carrier form LMT and the bolt from CMT.
UPPER RECEIVER
STAG does good jobs with their upper receivers dimension-wise. Based on my examination of the inside of the receiver and the edges of the forging, STAG comes out slightly behind both LMT and Noveske in anodization.
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LMT is good in general – it cuts corner by skipping chamfering on the front receiver lug. On the other hand, the factory applied a film of dry lube to the inside of the receiver which I think it is consistent with Colt factory practice.
Top LMT Bottom Noveske
Noveske apparently uses the same raw forging as LMT but it is definitely finished by someone else. In my opinion Noveske has slightly more creep on the thin edges with their rail than LMT. On the other hand, they took the time to smooth out the sharp edges which LMT doesn't care.
Top LMT Bottom Noveske
Small pic of the STAG...oops
Overall impression:
The STAG M4 is overall very good, it skips a few steps with the bolt group and the finish ( which many do not care)is alright but not the most beautiful. Their stuff is functional. They save the money on bolt testing and give you a proper FSB attachment.
THe LMT M4 is very good too but their FSB attachment method takes a hit. The money they save on the FSB they use it to proof their bolt supposedly.
The Noveske N4 has the most expensive MSRP in the US so they hit all the points. I cannot really find any fault with it. However, it is not a M4 profile, so if you want a p erfect M4 clone and have to mount a M203 you are out of luck.
First of all, I am an extremely conscious AR consumer. I firmly believe that there is no reason why guns could not be like gadgets purchased at Costco- ie, they should come from the factory in boxes under the original wrappers, and it should work out in the box. If you can buy a laptop off BestBuy without a scratched up monitor, then AR15 should not come up with a missing chunk of anodization from the bag. This is a common problem with gun manufacturers, and to certain extent the way the firearms business was operated traditionally.
Before acceptance into my storage area, I did a thorough visual check on the uppers. One thing I did first with any new upper I got is to put a surefire down the muzzle to inspect the crown condition. Here you can tell whether the upper had been excessively test fired or have been taken out for a joy ride by the dealers for too long. I inspected all muzzles of the three samples I had and passed them before final acceptance.
BARREL
STAG’s barrel are made by Shaw. It is advertised as chromelined “Machine gun graded” steel. It has a grey parkerization. I looked down the muzzle crown and it did appear to be chromelined – great. I was too lazy to break out my caliber to measure the barrel profile but it appears to my naked eyes they are of the correct M4 profile. Here is my only complain about STAG/CMT – those mofos are very crazy about putting preservatives into their barrels. On the other hand, Shaw gets a very nice way to mark their barrels. The barrel is marked STAG MP 1/7 5.56 NATO based on my memory. The FSB appears to be forged and is F marked. It is fastened to the barrel by two tapered pins. The taper pin job looks very good, but I did not take them out to see where they hit the barrel.
LMT barrels are rumoured to be made by Rock Creek, but it is only confirmed for the MRP. My guess is that they want to pick the contractor of the month if they have to. The barrel has a blacker anodization than STAG and is marked MP 5.56 NATO 1/7 CB. It is advertised as chromelined and appears so. The profile looks M4 enough to me, and I had a KAC RAS installed on a 10.5 so I have no reason to believe LMT would make something else. I could not find any official information of what steel they use, but it is in general believed to be “machine gun grade steel of the 4150 variety”. The FSB appears to be forged, with no F marking, and they are fastened by two straight pins. The job looks decent but there are shavings left around the hole on one side of the FSB. They were parkerized – which indicated that LMT parkerized the barrel after the installation of the FSB. This is consistent with that LMT barrels do not have parkerization under FSBs.
Top LMT Bottom Noveske
The Noveske N4 barrels are advertised as manufactured from hammer forged M249 blanks. The finish reminds me of that of C8 barrels, which is very smooth. The barrel profile is not M4, and it is very nicely roll marked MP 1/7 5.56 NATO. The FSB is F marked and appears to be forged, which is also fastened to the barrel by two tapered pins. The pin job is decent, but one pin is popping out a little bit more than the other. It is not a big deal really. I have not taken the FSB out so I cannot comment where the pins are hitting the barrel.
BARREL ALIGNMENT
All three barrels appear to align properly. The gas tubes all look straight, and all the M4 style feed ramps line up with the receiver cuts perfectly. My impression is that STAG did the best feed ramp job.
Delta rings are usually small items- one comment is that STAG’s delta rings are losing anodization before it left the box. These guys need to pay attention to what their contractors are doing with anodization – for example, proper cleaning beforehand. On the other hand, the STAG comes with a Colt style side sling adaptor which LMT and Noveske are both lacking.
BOLT CARRIER GROUP
STAG came with a closed back semi automatic group. The gas key had a rather passive staking job at the factory. Fortunately, Armeast enhanced it with a second staking. In general, CMT bolts are not proofed and peel shot, but they are MPed. based on my conversation with STAG a year ago. Armeast also did the black insert and o-ring upgrade before it was shipped me.
LMT staking job is great – nothing to add. As we all are aware, LMT bolts deviate from Colt and the rest of the people in the area behind the bolt lugs. Their bolts are supposed to be proofed, MPed and peel shot but I could not find offical reference to it. Extractor comes with black insert and o-ring
Noveske staking job is great – nothing to add. It comes with a full circle FA carrier and the bolt is the Colt/CMT original design. It is advertised as MPed, proofed and peel shot. Extractor comes with black insert and o-ring. It appears to my eyes and I highly suspect that by looking at the components, that Noveske purchase the carrier form LMT and the bolt from CMT.
UPPER RECEIVER
STAG does good jobs with their upper receivers dimension-wise. Based on my examination of the inside of the receiver and the edges of the forging, STAG comes out slightly behind both LMT and Noveske in anodization.
LMT is good in general – it cuts corner by skipping chamfering on the front receiver lug. On the other hand, the factory applied a film of dry lube to the inside of the receiver which I think it is consistent with Colt factory practice.
Top LMT Bottom Noveske
Noveske apparently uses the same raw forging as LMT but it is definitely finished by someone else. In my opinion Noveske has slightly more creep on the thin edges with their rail than LMT. On the other hand, they took the time to smooth out the sharp edges which LMT doesn't care.
Top LMT Bottom Noveske
Small pic of the STAG...oops
Overall impression:
The STAG M4 is overall very good, it skips a few steps with the bolt group and the finish ( which many do not care)is alright but not the most beautiful. Their stuff is functional. They save the money on bolt testing and give you a proper FSB attachment.
THe LMT M4 is very good too but their FSB attachment method takes a hit. The money they save on the FSB they use it to proof their bolt supposedly.
The Noveske N4 has the most expensive MSRP in the US so they hit all the points. I cannot really find any fault with it. However, it is not a M4 profile, so if you want a p erfect M4 clone and have to mount a M203 you are out of luck.
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