Those videos, the guys all dressed up cant even figure out how to clear their stoppage. Fail on NEA and them.
Honestly, some of those videos don't look like NEA was at fault at all.
One of them looked like a over-pressure round (cheap milsurp ammo) that blew so high pressure the barrel's locking recess sheared off. I don't think it's fair to pin that on NEA based on a youtube video. The world is full of guys blaming the gun instead of the $.08/rd 50 year old ammo or their hand-loads.
The next video was a guy dumping mag after mag or 7.62/39 with no stoppages - not sure what the point here was? The video was called "NEA Failure 2" and in fairness, I got bored and clicked ahead a few times, but I didn't see anything fail in the video?! Maybe it was sarcastically named?
Next we see a mall ninja doing "CQB", though mostly he looks to be standing still with way too much junk hung on his rifle. The first round does not go off and he cannot clear his rifle. No commentary offered. We don't know what calibre, what ammo, whether the gun is all NEA or if it's a build using their upper/lower. I've had plenty of stoppages in real colts. Big deal. Maybe he has a crappy rifle, but one stoppage caught on film doesn't say anything useful. Do a youtube search for AR stoppage - lots of non-NEA videos come up.
Now we have an "AR Failures 2" video. I thought this one was the worst of the videos and looks like a bad NEA rifle. Sh!t happens, they have made some poor guns at times. Hard to tell what generation that gun is, whether it's a parts gun, or a retailed complete product. Intermittent function can be a real PITA. Hopefully NEA helped them get it solved.
Now we see another "CQB" video where the operator looks like he's never held an AR before, does not know where to put his magazine, or how to do clearance drills. Should be called "Newbie mall ninja can't operate an AR".
Next we see some view shot (looks like?) somewhere in asia. Gun seems to work but has 3 FTFs the operator clears. We have no idea what ammo he's using or if his mags are crappy. Nothing to conclude here IMHO.
Next up is a bolt failure. Probably a Gen 1 rifle? It's old news that early NEA bolts were sometimes crappy. but then, we don;t even know from the video if that is an NEA bolt in the NEA upper.
Next we have a video where the rifle work but the bolt hold open does not. Sounds like a problem that can be fixed with a $2 part. (i.e. new bolt hold open).
next up is a no-talking vid showing different BCG's, some of which fit in a rifle and some of which do not. I can't tell who made what BCG or whether this is showing an NEA product that does work compared to another BCG, or the opposite? It would have been nice if there was a verbal track to explain what we are supposed to be outraged about?
Finally, we have someone whose stock won't stay open. We don't even know if the rifle is NEA. It looks like it is not. The stock is purported to be NEA and we have no idea if it's installed correctly or what. Some closeups of what isn't working might have shed more light.
Al this to say, it's not news that NEA stuff was poorly thought of when it first came out, and there was lots of evidence that things were wrong at the time. I keep seeing this crap re-cycled over and over.
I'd like to see proof that current stuff is crap instead of the same recycled videos from years ago that really don't say very much. Colt made some AWFUL M16's at the very start - the US ARMY almost dropped the platform. Nobody still says "don't buy colt, their early rifles jammed in the jungles of Vietnam".
Early DPMS and Bushmaster guns had a really bad rap too. Nobody trashes them much anymore.
Is NEA stuff still garbage? I don't know. But how long can someone hold an ever-lasting grudge for not liking a product they bought 5+ years ago? Seems unhealthily obsessive to me.
YMMV.
And no, I'm not a shill and have no connection to NEA. I don't even own an NEA. I did have one of their 7.5" uppers for a while. It went bang until I got bored and sold it. Too loud and impracticable for my purposes.
