So how do the NEA Ar's shoot

I have an NEA barrel in front of me right now. I don't have an S&J to compare it to today, but I have used a couple S&J barrels a couple months back for a build I did for someone.

The S&J barrels looked to use the same nitro-carb process as Rauch used on VZ58's, I believe the brand name if Tennifer processing. Glocks also use this on their slides.

The NEA barrel is CLEARLY not Tennifer. It may be a nitriding process, but it is NOT nitro-carburization. The barrels come out looking stainless steel grey and prior to cleaning them with an oily rag they look rather mottled, probably from the nitrating solution dripping off them in an uncontrolled fashion after the process. I will be posting a review as I build the bbl onto a gun (7.5" pistol barrel) and will provide a range assessment as well.
 
Barrel

Claven,

Interesting to hear your impression of the NEA barrel. I am currently sourcing a couple of barrels for my latest builds, so this is of some interest to me.

You say definitely not NC? This is different to what they have on their site: "Our barrels are finished with our proprietary ARC+ treatment; an advanced form of Nitrocarburizing."

Also, after the oil dries/rubs off the barrel, do the "blemishes" (for want of a better term) return, or are they gone permanently?

Regards.

Mark
 
... There are many different forms of nitrocarburizing. Tennifer is a fairly common process often used in the automobile industry. Tennifer would not be considered an advanced form of nitriding, in fact it is one of the oldest. It has it's own issues which didn't fit with the goals of our product.
 
Claven2 said:
Great, directly competing AR15 barrel modifyers fighting it out about who's got a better product.

IBTL.

Seriously though, neither NEA nor BBB "make barrels". They machine blanks to fit an AR15 and then process finish them. There is a difference and not all blanks are equal either.

As for BBB showing up and chucking sh!t in an NEA thread - bad form. Unless NEA is doing the same in your threads, which I haven't noticed, you are risking losing my respect.
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Well said; I couldn't agree more...
 
MWL said:
You say definitely not NC? This is different to what they have on their site: "Our barrels are finished with our proprietary ARC+ treatment; an advanced form of Nitrocarburizing."

Also, after the oil dries/rubs off the barrel, do the "blemishes" (for want of a better term) return, or are they gone permanently?
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1) It might be NC, but not the type most people think of (Tennifer). The barrel end up looking matte stainless with the NEA process, not black or dark grey. If I had to guess, I would imagine NEA is using either salt bath ferritic nitrocarburizing or plasma-assisted ferritic nitrocarburizing. Both give this sort of grey finish and would provide the desired properties. They are also wet processes that would leave the pre-cleaning mottled appearance seen on NEA barrels. Plasma is a pricier method but is a more precise process.

2) On my example, the barrel was uniform after rubbing with an oily rag - except for the barrel extension - it stayed mottled, probably due to it being a different alloy or being the part that collected drips when drying? Not an issue really as it's hidden when assembled.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I may wait and see what the 18" barrels look like, but at this stage, I am leaning towards a couple of ATRS barrels turned to my specs.

A little more expensive, but will probably be closer to what I am looking at building.

Regards.

Mark
 
MWL said:
Thanks for the reply.

I may wait and see what the 18" barrels look like, but at this stage, I am leaning towards a couple of ATRS barrels turned to my specs.

A little more expensive, but will probably be closer to what I am looking at building.

Regards.

Mark
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ATRS makes a nice product, but their match barrels are overkill for non-competitive target shooting in my opinion. It depends what you want to use your AR for.
 
Well, I have enough other ARs, from 11.5" to 16", so this time I'm building a couple of what I will call Compact DMRs.

I want to see how far I can accurately throw those 5.56mm pills. I used to shoot 600 to 1200 yards at Bisley with bigger stuff, so I want to see what I can do with something smaller.

Something along the lines that Trident is doing on M4C, but with handloads.

Regards.

Mark
 
I sure hope that tritium takes the pdw to the osts van isle course. I want waynesixgun to give me a fullfinger bang it and give me details lol
 
I got a chance to shoot Tritium's NEA carbine today. He was kind enough to let me put several mags through it during a drill. I was impressed with it. Smoothing shooting and accurate, much better than my 10.25". It ran perfect all day, no issues.
 
I seen and shot one today at the local range .. The rifle was 100% reliable but the owner was trying to zero his flip up iron sights with no luck, the windage on his rear iron was maxed out to the right and it was still shooting to far left like 4 inches at 50m .. the hand guard was on tight , did not seem to have any movement. The barrel did not seem centred in the hand guard so I'm guessing somethings out of spec .. I'm more of a function over form guy but i was not really liking the greyish finish and the hand guard seemed to be a lighter shade from the rest .. the other things i noticed was the the very heavy trigger , by far the worst AR trigger i ever tried, it made my Norc AR trigger seem like match grade. Also the castle nut was not staked and finger tight by the end of the shooting . These seem like small teething problems that should be worked out as production goes on.. Im looking to buy another AR and was waiting to see one of these in person , well I'm going to wait longer till they work out the bugs , But i might just buy a CORE 15 or build my own for the about same price of the NEA .
 
Bcviking said:
I seen and shot one today at the local range .. The rifle was 100% reliable but the owner was trying to zero his flip up iron sights with no luck, the windage on his rear iron was maxed out to the right and it was still shooting to far left like 4 inches at 50m .. the hand guard was on tight , did not seem to have any movement. The barrel did not seem centred in the hand guard so I'm guessing somethings out of spec .. I'm more of a function over form guy but i was not really liking the greyish finish and the hand guard seemed to be a lighter shade from the rest .. the other things i noticed was the the very heavy trigger , by far the worst AR trigger i ever tried, it made my Norc AR trigger seem like match grade. Also the castle nut was not staked and finger tight by the end of the shooting . These seem like small teething problems that should be worked out as production goes on.. Im looking to buy another AR and was waiting to see one of these in person , well I'm going to wait longer till they work out the bugs , But i might just buy a CORE 15 or build my own for the about same price of the NEA
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.. Actually, as of yesterday all rifles have new springs. Staff spent all weekend with the guns in stock that were shipping and pulled/replaced them all. Rifles shipping as of tomorrow have a much reduced trigger pull. We had hoped that the GI springs we picked up would have broken faster than they did.

As for BCVikings friend, please have him contact us for a rail replacement. There were a few that made it out that shouldn't have and we've tracked almost all of those people down for swap outs.
 
North Eastern Arms said:
.. Actually, as of yesterday all rifles have new springs. Staff spent all weekend with the guns in stock that were shipping and pulled/replaced them all. Rifles shipping as of tomorrow have a much reduced trigger pull. We had hoped that the GI springs we picked up would have broken faster than they did.

As for BCVikings friend, please have him contact us for a rail replacement. There were a few that made it out that shouldn't have and we've tracked almost all of those people down for swap outs.
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I still haven't had a chance to shoot mine yet, but have been playing with it, and the trigger is REALLY heavy.

How hard is it to change the springs, and do you know roughly what kind of weight the trigger breaks at after the new springs?
 
DaveC said:
I still haven't had a chance to shoot mine yet, but have been playing with it, and the trigger is REALLY heavy.

How hard is it to change the springs, and do you know roughly what kind of weight the trigger breaks at after the new springs?
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Shoot me a PM or email and I'll walk you through a simple fix.
 
Thanks to Gun Nutz for this forum. I received my new NEA 15, 14.5 carbine. I noticed that the quad rail system shifts a full quarter inch to the right at the front end, and with very little force, it also drops down a quarter inch in the front. However tightening the 4 screws resolved the issue. An experienced operator, unlike me, would have resolved that, now I know better.

That said, I like NEA, supporting the home team feels right, the price was fair, and this is a new company. I look forward to dealing with them and from what I've read here that should be a pleasure. Thanks again for this forum, I was living in a cave too.
 
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BigBeaverBoomStix said:
Thanks to Gun Nutz for this forum. I picked up my new NEA 14, 14.5 carbine, 3 days ago from Target. After cranking on their NEA Crusader muzzle brake, to my horror, the whole forward rail hand guard system shifted a full quarter inch to the right at the front end, and with very little pressure, it also drops down a quarter inch in the front. So the iron sights I bought will always be compromised by this "wiggle" in the front. I couldn't believe it, it just seems like such a basic design flaw, that I now have to deal with, on my first AR too.

That said, I like NEA, supporting the home team feels right, the price was fair, and this is a new company. I look forward to dealing with them to fix this and from what I've read here that should be a pleasure. Thanks again for this forum, I was living in a cave too.
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Sounds like you got a bad quad rail. You need to call them and ask for it to be swapped out.
 
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I just ordered the last 14.5"/12" NEA15 from Target. Hopefully the rail is okay... But I'll probably have to swap the trigger spring.

What should I look for when it shows up if I need a new quadrail? From the sounds of it, I may need a replacement... I'll also fire you a PM when it shows up for the spring fix.
 
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