Hungry was showing off a new NEA carbine at the CQB Clinic. It looked very nice and the price is right, too. My son ordered a pair of them. One in 14.5” and one in 10.5”.
The 14.5” arrived today. Thanks, SFRC. In the box was the ATT, 3 fired cases and the rifle. No owner’s manual. The forward assist had punched through the cardboard and was marked up a bit.
The rifle was well oiled. All it needs is a dry patch through the barrel and it is good to go. I will squirt some CLP into the bolt.
Observations: The finish is a soft phosphate (my guess) not paint. It is well done. No machine marks and treatment looks uniform. Any blotchiness in the pictures is the magic of photography.
I can only compare the rifle to some others I have had – SGW, Colt, Dimaco, Daniel Defense and Norinco.
The trigger is a typical AR15 trigger. A long let off. It is a bit gritty, as new triggers are, but much, much better than the Daniel Defense. The DD was so bad I could not get good test groups during load development. For the NEA I did what I usually do, by dry firing a few hundred times with some fine non-embedding lapping compound. This, and some moly grease smoothed it up a bit. I am sure it will smooth out with usage. It weighs 5.6 pounds, which makes it the lightest trigger out of the box I have seen.
The safety works smoothly.
I pulled out the bolt carrier and examined the peen marks. They are similar in style to Dimaco, but not quite as aggressive. NEA peen.
Dimaco peen.
Magpul mags insert smoothly and drop cleanly. It inlcudes a buffer tube plate with a hole to click on a sling. The buffer tube retaining ring is lightly peened. My Norc is not and it managed to come loose on me. Nice touch. I hope other critical parts are peened to lock them in place.
The shape of the action is a bit different than other ARs. The receiver is sort of hex shaped, instead or round, in the area around the bolt. The forward assist housing is rectangular rather than round. The trigger guard is one piece and larger than other guns. Looks like it would be easy to use with gloves on.
It has a floating barrel. This should help accuracy and make sure it holds zero. The barrel is a constant diameter. No cut out for a grenade launcher. This should make it a bit stiffer. On the weekend I will shoot the NEA and my Norinco with a variety of ammo to see how well it groups and what it likes.
The rail runs the length of the action and the forend, all on the same plane, so there are no challenges in placing mounts where you want them. Just behind the muzzle there are two big lumps on the forend to help prevent your hand sliding in front of the muzzle. The lumps include integral QD sling stud cavities. Very handy and a great idea.
For ammo testing I have installed a 20X target scope and will shoot at 100 yards off sandbags. I will shoot 62 gr military ball ammo, MFS cheapo 55 FMJ and handloads using 55 and 62 gr FMJ bullets, plus some match bullets. I will shoot my Norinco through the same ammo, for comparison.
The 14.5” arrived today. Thanks, SFRC. In the box was the ATT, 3 fired cases and the rifle. No owner’s manual. The forward assist had punched through the cardboard and was marked up a bit.
The rifle was well oiled. All it needs is a dry patch through the barrel and it is good to go. I will squirt some CLP into the bolt.
Observations: The finish is a soft phosphate (my guess) not paint. It is well done. No machine marks and treatment looks uniform. Any blotchiness in the pictures is the magic of photography.
I can only compare the rifle to some others I have had – SGW, Colt, Dimaco, Daniel Defense and Norinco.
The trigger is a typical AR15 trigger. A long let off. It is a bit gritty, as new triggers are, but much, much better than the Daniel Defense. The DD was so bad I could not get good test groups during load development. For the NEA I did what I usually do, by dry firing a few hundred times with some fine non-embedding lapping compound. This, and some moly grease smoothed it up a bit. I am sure it will smooth out with usage. It weighs 5.6 pounds, which makes it the lightest trigger out of the box I have seen.
The safety works smoothly.
I pulled out the bolt carrier and examined the peen marks. They are similar in style to Dimaco, but not quite as aggressive. NEA peen.
Dimaco peen.
Magpul mags insert smoothly and drop cleanly. It inlcudes a buffer tube plate with a hole to click on a sling. The buffer tube retaining ring is lightly peened. My Norc is not and it managed to come loose on me. Nice touch. I hope other critical parts are peened to lock them in place.
The shape of the action is a bit different than other ARs. The receiver is sort of hex shaped, instead or round, in the area around the bolt. The forward assist housing is rectangular rather than round. The trigger guard is one piece and larger than other guns. Looks like it would be easy to use with gloves on.
It has a floating barrel. This should help accuracy and make sure it holds zero. The barrel is a constant diameter. No cut out for a grenade launcher. This should make it a bit stiffer. On the weekend I will shoot the NEA and my Norinco with a variety of ammo to see how well it groups and what it likes.
The rail runs the length of the action and the forend, all on the same plane, so there are no challenges in placing mounts where you want them. Just behind the muzzle there are two big lumps on the forend to help prevent your hand sliding in front of the muzzle. The lumps include integral QD sling stud cavities. Very handy and a great idea.
For ammo testing I have installed a 20X target scope and will shoot at 100 yards off sandbags. I will shoot 62 gr military ball ammo, MFS cheapo 55 FMJ and handloads using 55 and 62 gr FMJ bullets, plus some match bullets. I will shoot my Norinco through the same ammo, for comparison.
Last edited:
