NEA upper and non NEA lower fitment

Repro77

Repro77

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Ok, at the risk of getting into a bash NEA thread, here's my issue.

I have an NEA 10.5 upper, that NEA just replaced the railed handguard to the new style, as the old one was loose and wiggled.

So, I get it back, and its rock solid now. Tried it on my NEA lower, no probs.

Then, I tried it on the following lowers: Colt, Bushmaster, and DPMS.
It would not let me get the front pivot pin in, at all. Why? Well, the rail is jammed right up against the front pivot hole lug(?).

I thought, "why does it work on NEA lowers, but no one elses? Well, on NEA lowers, it appears to me there is less diameter of material around the pivot hole (on the lower), allowing their upper to fit. Make sense?

Is this a "known issue", or something unique to my particular rifle? I'll try to post a pic, but the light is an issue now....
 
I have an NEA upper/lower and another upper built with a Daniel Defense upper and it's a tight fit at the rear takedown pin but it does work and is getting better the more times I open and close it.
I've never tried any other lowers on my NEA upper. I may give it a try tomorrow (I'm at work tonight) with one of my other lowers and will post if there are problems.
 
Nice. I have to dremel my brand new handguard/upper to make it fit with other lowers.

Way to go, NEA. I used to defend these guys, but I'm done. Its a very nice,solid upper now with the new rail, but with this issue of not fitting on other lowers is a problem. Why would they do such a thing?
 
badboybeeson said:
Just um b0lt the handguard amd m0ve it 1 mm f0ward and re tighten
Click to expand...

Dont think that will work as I put the new style handgaurd on my NEA 15 as well . Once it is all the way to the rear it rotates into position and it didnt seem to have any room for adjustment forward.
 
chalkriver said:
Dont think that will work as I put the new style handgaurd on my NEA 15 as well . Once it is all the way to the rear it rotates into position and it didnt seem to have any room for adjustment forward.
Click to expand...

Yep, plus it would look like crap with a gap in the top rail. I suppose a little grinding will be in order. Its close, so shouldn't be too much.
 
Repro77 said:
Ok, at the risk of getting into a bash NEA thread, here's my issue.

I have an NEA 10.5 upper, that NEA just replaced the railed handguard to the new style, as the old one was loose and wiggled.

So, I get it back, and its rock solid now. Tried it on my NEA lower, no probs.

Then, I tried it on the following lowers: Colt, Bushmaster, and DPMS.
It would not let me get the front pivot pin in, at all. Why? Well, the rail is jammed right up against the front pivot hole lug(?).

I thought, "why does it work on NEA lowers, but no one elses? Well, on NEA lowers, it appears to me there is less diameter of material around the pivot hole (on the lower), allowing their upper to fit. Make sense?

Is this a "known issue", or something unique to my particular rifle? I'll try to post a pic, but the light is an issue now....
Click to expand...

You have a couple of choices. you can only use it on the NEA lower, or you can relieve the hand guard until it clears the other lowers. Personally I would relieve the hand guard providing that you are not talking about a lot of metal. NEA stuff is an animal all it's own. Sometimes it fits other AR parts and sometimes not.
 
mg4201 said:
You have a couple of choices. you can only use it on the NEA lower, or you can relieve the hand guard until it clears the other lowers. Personally I would relieve the hand guard providing that you are not talking about a lot of metal. NEA stuff is an animal all it's own. Sometimes it fits other AR parts and sometimes not.
Click to expand...

Ya, its *almost* there...I mean, maybe a mil or two.

But still, why? Why make your lower with different specs (obviously to fit the upper?) than any other manufacturer? The "ears" of the pivot pin holes are of less a thickness than regular lowers, and I tried Colt, Bushmaster and DPMS. Its visibly slimmer, if you will. I'll take a pic tonite when I get home. I thought the hole was out of spec, but no, a spare pin I had went in fine.

Nope, the pin will not align with the hole on the upper. Nice.
 
Repro77 said:
Ya, its *almost* there...I mean, maybe a mil or two.

But still, why? Why make your lower with different specs (obviously to fit the upper?) than any other manufacturer? The "ears" of the pivot pin holes are of less a thickness than regular lowers, and I tried Colt, Bushmaster and DPMS. Its visibly slimmer, if you will. I'll take a pic tonite when I get home. I thought the hole was out of spec, but no, a spare pin I had went in fine.

Nope, the pin will not align with the hole on the upper. Nice.
Click to expand...

I can't say why they did that. I make things for a living and I have no idea why they do some of the things that they do. If you decide to relieve the guard use a new coarse file and then a new fine file. Aluma hide will darken the exposed area. Be aware that NEA may complain if you mod the handguard and then send it for warranty. So maybe making them fix it would be better?.
 
Ran into this issue when I tried to fit an NEA upper to my old Olympic arms lower. Wouldn't fit for the exact reason you discovered. Ended up ordering an NEA stripped lower which fit perfectly. Oddly enough, the NEA upper also fits my Les Baer lower perfectly.
 
Here is the difference on the lower pivot pin holes. NEA on the right, Colt on the left. This is why their upper will fit on their lower, and not Colt/DPMS/Bushmaster, et al.

Hfmnpl.jpg


Why would they do this??
 
Repro77 said:
Here is the difference on the lower pivot pin holes. NEA on the right, Colt on the left. This is why their upper will fit on their lower, and not Colt/DPMS/Bushmaster, et al.

Hfmnpl.jpg


Why would they do this??
Click to expand...

They just have no clue what they're doing, that's why.
 
I have a recent NEA 10.5" upper (on an NEA lower) that fits no problem on all my other lowers, DD, DPMS and PWS. I'd just relieve the hand guard if that's all it needs and go shoot.
 
The NEA hand guard should have 2 bolts at the receiver end that you may be able to loosen and move the handguard forward a thou or 2 to work. Mine looks pretty snugged up to the receiver, but the bolts are there and may help out.
 
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