NEA/BLC 102 Reliability

Great summary.

Interesting that it didn't like Hirtenberger. I chugged through 100 rounds of it today with some friends, it didn't have a single issue and I was guessing it was shooting 2-3 MOA. I had all my Federal 168 GMM and Hornady 168 Amax at home and didn't have time to run back and grab for some real accuracy testing.

I swapped on my Lantac Dragon and it performed much better than the factory brake, it's almost 223 soft! There were two 120lb-ish girls there and they were doing 5 round mag dumps and keeping it on target. I took some video, I'll post it when I get the chance. Also really need to get my trigger in there, the factory one is breaking in a little is isn't so stagey but it's definitely not helping accuracy. Freaking slow UPS was supposed to drop it off 2 days ago :(
 
Travis Bickle said:
I finally got to fire one today and handle it in depth thanks to an awesome member offering to bring his out on a range trip :D
Rifle was an NEA 102 black with an upgraded trigger and a 10 power scope on her.
Here's my unbiased impressions and observations:

1. It's very reliable. Shooting fast or controlled groups, the gun cycles nice and hard and stacks the brass in the same spot about 6 feet away to the 2 o'clock.
2. It's well made. It's beefy and solid all around. Nothing on it feels flimsy or cheap. It's built like a tank. There are rough machining spots but it's on places that don't matter one shred ie the inside of the rear area of the bolt carrier for one example and the outer profile of the barrel; who cares. It's well machined wherever it actually counts.
3. It doesn't like any type of actual military spec 7.62mm NATO ball ammo it claims to be chambered for. My M14 with iron sights shoots more accurately at 100m than a 102 with a 10 power scope mounted on it shooting actual 7.62mm NATO.
4. It shoots commercial and handloaded .308 Win very well. It's more accurate than I am capable of shooting it for sure. 10 rounds inside of a 2" circle accurate easily and I'm an above average shot at best especially with a scope.
5. I only used unmodified XCR-M 10 rnd pistol mags but it fed 100% reliably with zero issues.
6. The barrel is probably a lot thicker than it needs to be for the accuracy of the gun. That being said the balance of the rifle is actually very good. I was expecting it to be very front heavy but it balances nicely just ahead of the magwell.
7. Recoil is completely negligible. Nothing more or less than an M14. Very manageable even from kneeling. I'm not a big guy. 5'8" and around 150 lbs.

It's an impressive rifle. Not just an "impressive rifle for the price". It is actually a very well made piece of equipment. Especially if you can get one with the LEO/Mil discount around the $1600 mark. Probably the best thing to come out in our firearms market in a long long time.

I've handled a Modern Hunter from the first run that came out a ways back. I know guys get their panties twisted in a knot over the comparisons but the 102 pretty much did everything the MH did at around 1/3rd the price. The only thing the NEA 102 didn't do better was have butter smooth ###y machining in places where it doesn't even matter one shred anyhow. If that's the difference between a $4K rifle and a $1600 rifle then that's a no brainer in my opinion. The 102 hands down. Guns don't need to look pretty as long as they are tough and shoot well which the 102 does very well.
Aside from it not accurately shoot Norc/Hirt/any kind of actual 7.62mm NATO which it is supposedly chambered for, I'm pretty damned impressed with it. Bravo NEA![/B]
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Thanks for the great write up. I'm hoping it was just the particular rifle you used that didn't like the Hirtenberger and that the one I receive handles it similar to Jay's as I've stocked up on the stuff.

Bombsquad68 said:
Great summary.

Interesting that it didn't like Hirtenberger. I chugged through 100 rounds of it today with some friends, it didn't have a single issue and I was guessing it was shooting 2-3 MOA. I had all my Federal 168 GMM and Hornady 168 Amax at home and didn't have time to run back and grab for some real accuracy testing.

I swapped on my Lantac Dragon and it performed much better than the factory brake, it's almost 223 soft! There were two 120lb-ish girls there and they were doing 5 round mag dumps and keeping it on target. I took some video, I'll post it when I get the chance. Also really need to get my trigger in there, the factory one is breaking in a little is isn't so stagey but it's definitely not helping accuracy. Freaking slow UPS was supposed to drop it off 2 days ago :(
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Looking forward to that video. :)
 
HirvGotti said:
Thanks for the great write up. I'm hoping it was just the particular rifle you used that didn't like the Hirtenberger and that the one I receive handles it similar to Jay's as I've stocked up on the stuff.



Looking forward to that video. :)
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Aye.
It's not to say that it didn't function with it. It cycled through the 7.62mm NATO with no issues whatsoever.
It just didn't shoot it very accurately for some reason.
I had my Norc M305 which is basically a standard Norc but all the work done ie shimmed/unitized gas, indexed barrel, smoothed trigger and marine tex bedded in a USGI walnut with a NM rear sight assy as a control comparison.

The NEA 102 put 10 rounds of 7.62mm NATO (old C21 ball ammo) in about an 8" circle at 100 meters with a 10 power scope on it.
My M14 shoots 10 rounds of the same ammo into about a 5-6" circle at 100 meters consistently all day long with the iron sights.

I was able to shoot 2" groups with the NEA 102 at 100m prone off a bag with the 10 power scope using friends bulk loaded mix match handloads (again I'm no sniper here either but I was not taking my time or trying very hard at all). It's a very accurate rifle and very consistent. No fliers. The groups are 10 rounds all consistent in a clear concise pattern.
I'm heavily torn now on the 7.62mm NATO thing. I still have a lot of surplus Norc, Hirt and South African stuff sitting around I use in my M14 and was hoping it would shoot it as well as my M14 if not better.

My friend also stated that it had even worse results than old C21 when he tested it with the old South African 7.62mm NATO :(
But with good factory ammo or handloads the thing is clearly capable of shooting lazers all day long keeping in mind this is essentially an AR10, semi auto, rack grade, mass produced rifle we're talking about.
Quite impressed overall!
 
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Well, sounds like it definitely has potential but the NEA QC doesn't sound like they are doing a great job. Strange how certain rifles won't function well with certain types of ammo but others that should be nearly identical have no issues.
I'm glad I didn't get all excited and buy one from the first batch, I don't typically have the best luck so I'm sure I would have gotten one of the Friday afternoon rifles and not the Wednesday rifle.
 
cr5 said:
Well, sounds like it definitely has potential but the NEA QC doesn't sound like they are doing a great job. Strange how certain rifles won't function well with certain types of ammo but others that should be nearly identical have no issues.
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Surprise Surprise. It already seems to be the same old song and dance.
I'm not bashing by any means because I'll eventually get one too but I only want it as a platform to build off of. I know not everything is gunna fit but I am hoping there will be some common parts compatibility to make things go a little easier for me. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to find one of the Friday afternoon specials cheap enough on the EE. I'd be happy with that
 
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Out yesterday evening, scope re-mounted (much better), and a pile of Norinco copper wash surplus.

Flawless performance, for the rounds I got off before light started disappearing. Had made some crush washers, and new muzzle brake is now solid. Was only shooting short range, as my goal was simply to get back on target after optics re-mount. Very interested to see how longer range will go with the Norinco, tonight; since the groups I was shooting were from prone and kneeling, and were impressively tight. That really doesn't mean much until I get out to my other spot, to get 100 and 200.

I do very much enjoy being able to find all my casings in a small little area, right beside me when done firing. Funny to compare as I also re-mounted an optic on one of my SKS, so was dialing it back to paper - casings all over he!! in typical SKS fashion, lol.
 
Right out if the box with supplied IMI mag shot 60 rounds of FNM Ball with 2 stove pipes in the first 2 mag loads then no issues after that. Right at the end of the shoot one issue did developed, bolt will not hold back without assisting the release button, seems a bit sticky most likely needs a clean and lube. Will do that today after a few coffees lol. As far as accuracy I dropped a Leupold 2-7 on it and quickly Shot 4"- 5" ish groups at about 70 yards. Will work on that a bit more of course Overall, very impressed so far
 
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BCL / NEA - 102 first range outing
First range outing today with this.

The rifle was field stripped cleaned, lubed, a 3Lb timney trigger installed, as was an old Harris Bipod using a Magpul M-Lok bipod mount.

Rifle was boresighted using one of those cheap cartridge laser things and was surprisingly almost exactly on at 50M. Shot precisely one inch high.

Glass used was a used Bushnell Elite Tactical 5-15 x 42 i purchased on EE mounted with a new Burris PEPR QD cantilever mount. All groups were fired at 10X.

Mags used were one IMI and two P-Mags.

All groups were shot seated using the Harris bipod with weak hand supporting the butt.

Bore was sprayed with G-96 between each group with a boresnake run through it before the next group.

Ammo used:

A. American Eagle 150gr FMJ BT
B. PPU 145gr FMJ BT

Locations was the TSE indoors at 50M. I fired two fouling shots to check zero before shooting for groups.

Results:

1. Reliability.

A. P-Mags: Rifle was flawless with P-Mags with no FTF, FTE or any issue whatsoever.
B. IMI Mags: Rifle had one FTF on charging with the first round on first use. This may have been my fault as in I may have shortstroked the charging lever. Other than that no issues whatsoever, although the IMI Mag does wiggle a tiny little bit once inserted. P-Mags do not.

2. Accuracy:
A. AE 150gr FMJ BT:
I.) First four groups the rifle consistently shot between 1/2 to 3/4" 5 round groups from the first box of ammo.
II.) Next four groups the rifle consistently shot between 1" to 2" 5 round groups. This was due to vertical stringing as the lateral dispersion was between 1/2" to 3/4". I thought the mount or rings might have come loose so I checked them and this was not the case. Likely my breathing.
Recoil with the AE was negligible.

B. PPU 145gr FMJ BT (Partisan Privy I beleive)
I.) All groups sucked. I fired 4 groups of 5 rounds. The groups were consistently between 1 1/2" and 2". It felt like I could feel a different recoil pulse between some of the rounds. Recoil was noticeably stiff with this ammo. Unfortunately the box did not have any specifications so I have no idea what Muzzle Velocity was.

3. Impression:
I think this rifle has real potential for both paper punching and hunting.
It was very reliable and soft shooting.
I am now on the hunt for some other ammo to try out before I start reloading for it.

I can't figure out how to post pics but if anyone wants a pic of the first target I can email it.

I have no regrets purchasing this rifle and think with the right ammunition it will easily be a sub-MOA gun.
 
I had one mag run flawlessly today for me out of three. The others had one ejection issue per mag. Significantly better than prior but still not a reliable functioning rifle yet 100+ rounds in.

I'm no expert but feel like its overgassed, no real pressure signs being shown on any cases. Some primer flow into firing pin but minor IMO, primers are not flattened much at all.
I've removed the rubber helper from the extractor and added as much preload to the ejector as I could.

The fired cases slip into a Lyman case gauge after firing which leads me to believe the chamber is on the tighter side.

Feeding into the chamber sans a fired case being in the way has been flawless. Every projectile I've thrown at it, it chambers with ease.
I guess I'll load up some powderpuff versions of what I've been trying to see if pressures can be reduced and cycling improves...?

On the hunt for some tungsten buffer weights and an .875" adjustable gas block if anyone has some kicking around to sell.
 
tiriaq said:
IVI ball does not have a reputation for great accuracy.
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It can print 10 rounds in 6" circles at 100 meters with my Norc M305 with basic tuning done to it and a NM rear sight assy.
I wouldn't say it's inaccurate by any means for old 70's FMJ ball ammunition.
I've never shot it with a scoped M14. That being said the M14 design and barrel was literally designed to shoot the cartridge.
 
Receipt said:
On the hunt for some tungsten buffer weights and an .875" adjustable gas block if anyone has some kicking around to sell.
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i think your going find canadian dealers were caught short with 875 gas blocks.... best bet is brownells
www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=Adjustable+Gas+Block+.875&ksubmit=y
 
Only issue to date Is with norinco green box failing to chamber I have run fmj, hp, lead tip all with no problem. Only factory ammo other than the norinco was Winchester silver box.
 
Shot a total of 65 rounds today and had 7 malfunctions. 31 rounds of handloaded 150 fmj and full length sized brass with 5 malfunctions. 34 rounds of handloaded 155/168 match bullets and full length sized new brass with 2 malfunctions. Most common was stove pipe with another round trying to chamber, followed by not picking up last round. Not very impressive. These were loaded fairly long (2.800") but they all fit in the mags. Gonna try shortening them a bit and also have some .308 factory hunting ammo to try.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the consistency from rifle to rifle seems to be less than uniform as far as reliability and accuracy goes.
I'm also going to go out on a limb speaking from personal experience to state that the rifle is very accurate as long as you aren't shooting actual 7.62mm which the rifle is apparently chambered for.
Just personal observations after shooting one and reading range reviews on CGN.
 
Betty-Lou said:
Shot a total of 65 rounds today and had 7 malfunctions. 31 rounds of handloaded 150 fmj and full length sized brass with 5 malfunctions. 34 rounds of handloaded 155/168 match bullets and full length sized new brass with 2 malfunctions. Most common was stove pipe with another round trying to chamber, followed by not picking up last round. Not very impressive. These were loaded fairly long (2.800") but they all fit in the mags. Gonna try shortening them a bit and also have some .308 factory hunting ammo to try.
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Being a DI rifle, you're going to have to play around with your charge some more. Sounds like not enough gas; give your load more powder. How was the recoil? Hammering hard or not at all.

As well I don't think bullet seating is going to solve your problem.

I think adjustable gas blocks will be a essential upgrade for handloaders
 
Yes, still have lots to do. Recoil felt good, didn't seem hard or soft. 43.0 Varget is the max load listed for service rifle .308. Brass was ejecting at about 2 o'clock, gonna have to look into that more and see where it should be but it was fairly consistent.
 
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