I'm very curious as to why the handguards are like that. I know a lot of people dismiss it as being that Norinco is crap and not made to any correct spec, etc etc.
But as far as I've seen, that's the one part of the gun that is 'different'.
I've seen the drawings for M4 barrels and the tolerance for the distance between the barrel extension and the gas block shoulder has a +.060" tolerance on that dimension. On one AR barrel I have, this distance is almost right at the +.06" and my handguards practically drop in and have a reasonable amount of movement. On another I have, the dimension is maybe +.01" and you need two people and a team of dogs to get it in place.
Is it at all possible that 'standard north american spec' companies go middle of the road (+.03") and maybe the Norincos are making it as close to the low end as possible which is making it that much harder to get the handguards in?
Not that I'm trying to defend Norinco if they are just plain out of spec but it seems odd that every other part of the gun seems to match up except the handguards.
Can anyone who has a Norc M4 and a NA AR measure the distance between the barrel extension and gas block shoulder and see how much, if any, difference there is?
*added* or is it just the handguard cap that is the issue?