To NEA or not?

With what's been made available to us in the recent years cheap names like norinco and NEA are becoming obsolete. You can get a new S&W AR for under a grand and a Colt for on or just above a grand. For a third or less more cost you get light years ahead in quality, reliability and durability.
I'd love to support a Canadian company like NEA but as far as I'm concerned they tarnished their name beyond repair.
This coming from a guy trying to sell a norc on the EE.
 
I have a 1st Gen NEA. 10.5" set up for CQB. I have 500 or so rounds through it so far with zero malfunctions. I baby it a bit, making sure it's cleaned after every range trip and I run it with Frog Lube. I've only shot it out to 100 yards (Redfield red dot sight) so far but it has proved to be amazingly accurate (55g FMJ w/cannelure over 25g Varget). So my experience has been very positive.
 
I'm always wary about products or manufacturers who cite their awsome "warrantee"...

A good product doesn't need to rely on warranty to sell...
It doesn't require warrantee because it doesn't break.
 
I think NEA is great for the niche market.... X39/non-res 308/300blk BECAUSE thier warrenty support is there, break an x39 bolt on. PSA and see how far you get...

that being said still waiting for spare bolt/firing pin I ordered from canammo to be shipped (direct from NEA)..... So opinions may vary but it's seems the warrenty work is quick but the parts are slow as snot. (Been 3/4 of a year now)

As far as 223 guns, remember they came in a time when ar15's where still $1600-$2400.... That segment of the market has brought prices down so much as to make NEA irrelevant in the market now, the claim to fame when they came to market was a sub $1k gun with freefloat tube, at the time it wAs great.... But now a colt 6920 can be had for half the price it used to be and now if you want Canadian made you buy colt canada.
 
Every rifle/manufacturer is a gamble, statistically be it NEA, Colt or KAC.
NEA probably puts out some good rifles, and KAC probably puts out some that have issues.
However, the odds of getting a goobered KAC are significantly lower than ahem, less established makers using mystery sourced parts.
Not saying you have to splurge on a KAC, but makers like Colt, DD, BCM, etc. have solid QC/QA and at a reasonable price.
 
Still alive said:
Then I would suggest in order:
CC, ATRS, Motiuk ( even though I don't know much about these guys except you don't hear a lot of bad things about them!), Dominion Arms ( even though these aren't Canadian made) then NEA.
To make things really easy, just buy Colt Canada. If you want Canadian, you won't find anything better regardless of price.
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I second the Motiuk choice . They now sell complete rifles too.
I built my personal "Patrol Carbine" model with a special order (custom engraving) Motiuk lower , & pieced the rest together with a Colt A2 upper receiver & a 14" M4 barrel , A1 stock & pistol grip
The auto position on the selector is for show only ;)
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I would never buy an NEA product even if they did get all the bugs out of them .
Their past customer service record reported here in many old threads was enough to put me off supporting them .
 
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Have had few nea, not a problem with them. It makes me wonder with all the failed units ( esp gen2), how many of them were ill-maintain?

I had an AAc that blew up in my face.....had an DD that was effectively bolt action. Not bashing those and not shilling NEA, but agreed with some of the posters above, there are always bad apples with all manufacturers.
 
I have two Gen 1 NEA's, a 10.5 slick side and a 14.5 that I built from used parts sourced on EE. Cost to build each was approx $700 prior to miculek muzzle brakes and red dots / optics being installed.

Both have between 3-4K thru them, and both went approx 2.5K without cleaning. No stoppages to date. The 14.5 is sub MOA in 223 wylde

Can't wait for the NEA 25 to come out.
 
sky52 said:
Have had few nea, not a problem with them. It makes me wonder with all the failed units ( esp gen2), how many of them were ill-maintain?

I had an AAc that blew up in my face.....had an DD that was effectively bolt action. Not bashing those and not shilling NEA, but agreed with some of the posters above, there are always bad apples with all manufacturers.
Click to expand...

I have seen first hand (friend) a well maintained and new NEA exhibit all the reported issues, you name it, and also after two attempts of sent in for repair it improved from firing random two rounds burst to three rounds burst.
The warranty was honoured as expected. Maybe later gens are better?
 
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