NEA Problems

Have you had problems with your NEA?

  • I had an NEA and it never had any problems

    Votes: 149 34.7%

  • I had an NEA and it had minor problems

    Votes: 80 18.6%

  • I had an NEA and it had major problems

    Votes: 94 21.9%

  • My buddy had/I know someone with an NEA and it had problems

    Votes: 106 24.7%
  • Total voters
    429
My NEA-15 had a few minor issues with reliability. Nothing broke per se, but it didn't cycle nearly as well as either my Armalite or norinco at the time.

I also found the front of the magwell had very sharp edges that would scratch or dig into my wrists, and the takedown pins felt like you were pushing them through sand they were so gritty.... I shot it a few times and sold it as quick as I could. (it was a gen 1)
 
Stripped upper out of spec


Center of bolt blew out in 3 rounds.

Also had a barrel and the crown was visibly cut off square.
 
Anyone remember the NEA swiss arm lower fiasco?
The shillgate
Out of spec lower
Sketchy barrel
questionnable quality control
Badly staked gas key
defective bolt carrier
defective muzzle brake (remember the poor guy posting pictures of his target with every hits being keyholes lol)
Mismatching upper and lower anodizing
small parts issues (trigger and forward assist)
And who the heck anodize in grey?!?
 
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Put together an 14.5" 223 wylde NEA 15 Parts gun from different sources. All parts were used.

Lower parts kit is not NEA but pretty much everything else is.

Fit between upper and lower is excellent.

Gun is very accurate (1/4" at 50 meters with right ammo and if I do my part) and zero problems after approximately 2500 rounds from me. I have not cleaned it once. No idea of actual round count as all parts were used.

For an over all investment of around $500 (not including sights and red dot) and some time to put it together I am extremely pleased with this build.

Guess I am one of the lucky ones.

Marc
 
I built my NEA shooter at the factory and took it across the country for a demo (teacher gun and shooter gun). Even competed with it at the ORA CQB matches while showcasing it. That rifle was donated at the ORA championships in October of 2014 to a great shooter and CQB'er in the ORA. :)

It never let me down! Mind you I would only have myself to blame! :eek:

Cheers and keep helping the nooobs out there! :wave:

Barney
 
You should have left out the I know someone and limited it to I had a problem or I didn't. I've heard of so many problems every Canadian citizen would need to have an NEA part or rifle. Some of the comments make me shake my head too. There are obviously some problems and just about everyone clearly states they go a long way to try and fix them. I've held a few and shot a few, Barney's for example. One thing is for certain, they don't look as bad as some of the bandwagon crew would have you believe. Made with a die grinder was one comment...obviously he's never done much work with a die grinder...that or he's making #### up.

How about some first hand accounts of catastrophic failures. They have sold quite a few over the last couple of years, judging by the comments I read there must be dozens.

I plan on buying one when I get the coin for two reasons, they're affordable, and Canadian.
 
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-[Crosshair]- said:
My Spike's Tactical upper and lower didn't match, either. Same thing with my BCM. I don't think you understand how the anodizing process works.
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You are right, I know nothing about anodizing. But I've seen TONS of builds and the difference is minimal. The NEA upper is purple-ish and their lower is gray.

Why?
 
Antoine22 said:
You are right, I know nothing about anodizing. But I've seen TONS of builds and the difference is minimal. The NEA upper is purple-ish and their lower is gray.

Why?
Click to expand...

It will basically vary by batch and how you do it (there are different methods to anodize aluminum parts). If you want a matching upper and lower the very best thing to do would be to do them at the same time and some factors come into play when it comes to the colour. My Spike's upper also has a purple hue but it's just a colour - it doesn't matter to me as long the finish is applied. I understand that some people like having matching parts. Some companies are very good at being very consistent with the process and thus have matching colours for their parts. A lot of companies also send their parts to be finished by third-party companies in batches at different times so the colours may vary.
 
aiwa said:
I figure there's some value in heresay. I have neither owned an NEA nor known someone that did. Leaving out the 'I know', I get 61%, as of this posting, owners reporting problems. Crazy.
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To be fair you should have added an option like "I know someone with an NEA and it works fine" to balance the poll. This poll is weighted to be negative since you only allow for one type of hearsay.
 
-[Crosshair]- said:
It will basically vary by batch and how you do it (there are different methods to anodize aluminum parts). If you want a matching upper and lower the very best thing to do would be to do them at the same time and some factors come into play when it comes to the colour. My Spike's upper also has a purple hue but it's just a colour - it doesn't matter to me as long the finish is applied. I understand that some people like having matching parts. Some companies are very good at being very consistent with the process and thus have matching colours for their parts. A lot of companies also send their parts to be finished by third-party companies in batches at different times so the colours may vary.
Click to expand...

I know that you can get a slight difference of shade between two different brands. It's weird that all the manufacturers know how to do it right except NEA.
 
Hitzy said:
Center of bolt blew out in 3 rounds.
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I had the exact same thing happen to me. I don't think NEA made the bolts sold with their rifles though.

NEA sent me a new bolt, haven't tried it.

I selected "I had minor issues" in the poll as it pertains to the entire BCG that came with the rifle. Had numerous FTF issues that I was blaming on load development. Bought a DD bolt and have not had one issue since, including the same test loads giving the old one fits.
 
aiwa said:
I figure there's some value in heresay. I have neither owned an NEA nor known someone that did. Leaving out the 'I know', I get 61%, as of this posting, owners reporting problems. Crazy.
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Not much value in "heresay", especially the way the question is worded.... everyone in the black and green rifles can say "they know someone with problems"....I know Hitzy had problems...I know Deagle had problems. I know one of the guys I shoot with regularily had a defective bolt so if I report that and he reports that what value is there in that information?
 
Runningfool said:
Not much value in "heresay", especially the way the question is worded.... everyone in the black and green rifles can say "they know someone with problems"....I know Hitzy had problems...I know Deagle had problems. I know one of the guys I shoot with regularily had a defective bolt so if I report that and he reports that what value is there in that information?
Click to expand...

Exactly...now toss in the second or third hand reports that get reported as "a friends problem", likely embellished somewhat (a very likely outcome), and the poll gets seriously skewed.
 
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