Patchy Finish on NEA Barrel

Meh pay someone a g note more so your rifle will look pretty. Anyone using theirs in competition will know it will get dinged up and scratched up from day one so who cares. Mine is patchy but sure as heck it outshot a lot of the rifles at the last 3 gun comp
 
That looks worse then most of the NEA finish bbls ive seen in the past, but as nea said they are not worried about the finish, just how it works.
And on that note, unless the nitride is done incorrect or the item is dirty when it go,s to be treated( bunch of small black spots will show) how it looks will not effect how it works.
There are only a few forms of nitride/nitrate. Plasma, salt bath, gas and controlled gas nitride.
All but the last are not a very good idea for bbls, as they can not get the consistency needed to line a bore.
Most do not use Controled gas notride as it cost WAY to much!!
Also to remember that Plasma and Gas nitride are "treatments" not finishes.
So its normal to see spotty finished.
Salt bath nitride, aka Milonite,Tefiner etc.. used on some Noviskie, S&W and a few others, also Glock looks really nice, but is very hard ( sell almost never consistent) but looks really good.
But still more Consistent then CL bores.
If you are worried how you nea bbls is going to work, I would not, if you don't like how it looks.... well that's up to you.
bbb
 
why is everyone bashing on NEA, i have one of the original NEA that everyone said were garbage. 2000+ rounds later i have not had a single malfuction. i love my NEA!
 
I've always assumed the ARC+ name that NEA uses implies that they're using Gas Plasma (as this process utilizes an ionized gas and a discharge).

My barrel just has a uniform, slightly mottled grey appearance. I'm not sure what the outcome would be though if the part wasn't properly cleaned before being treated. Your's does look like crap, and I'd be a little ticked. Of course, my barrel was run through the lathe so fast, the surface finish is actually spirally...

All that being said, my $250 18" NEA barrel has shot super great from the day I installed it, and I mean, super great. Especially for the money. I'd have had to spend about double for a slight increase in accuracy.

I'd still be a little ticked though if I were you. We all have a pretty high expectation around here, and at the least expect our purchases to look good when we receive them. I do have to say S&J's barrels do look fantastic.
 
Wolverine has all kinds of Daniel Defense barrels in stock for $279. NEA, not such a great price for a piece of crap. People say they don't care how it looks, but just look at it like this. It costs EXACTLY the same to do the job right as it does to do a crappy job, so what does that tell you about the company. It says they just don't give a sh$t
 
That's the normal finish on the NEA AR barrels. They come out from molted grey/black to a silver/dark grey. They are nitrated not parkerized.

Oh come on Ryan. That looks like a 2 year old sprayed a metal rod with Krylon. At best. Nobody in his right mind will ever swallow this is a normal factory finish.
 
Oh I agree the finish is FUBAR on that barrel and it should go back.

But NEA is not the rubbish that people on this forum seem to make them out to be. Great products can come from them.

They are rubbish.

You know why they're not on these forums anymore? It wasn't shillgate, it's because they were tired of being called out for cutting corners and allowing products with failed QC to still be sold on the market. Their answer to threads pointing out QC flaws, use shills. Their answer to someone pointing out questionable assembly, stop showing pre-production pictures on CGN.

They behave in the worst kind of way, but there are people who support them just because they are Canadian.
 
It has been a while since we've had a good ol' NEA bashfest hasn't it! ;)

The mottled appearance of the OP's barrel is unsightly but as badboybeeson said, if you are worrying about how it will function, don't, and if you are worrying about appearance then send it back; I don't think anyone here would argue the fact that Ryan at SFRC will take care of you.
I've run +4K rounds through my NEA without so much as a hiccup but I've never removed my handguard so I don't really know what mine looks like...perhaps I should take the handguard off and inspect the barrel for inconsistent colouration!!!! Nah, I think I will just go shoot it instead. :)
 
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Omg lol

I just looked at the pic. I totally thought it was just going to be some minor splotch but I'm honestly baffled that someone thought it appropriate to actually send that to a customer.

I appreciate that it's probably purely cosmetic.........but boy, does it look awful.
 
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