Got my hands on the new dedicated upper from Nordic Components today.  Hoping to spend a decent amount of time behind the trigger in the next couple weeks so I can provide a decent review, but I make no promises with duck season approaching  At any rate, some pics:





16" upper with my Burris MTAC in Larue mount on my Lancer lower.



View in the upper with bolt removed.  Forgot to snap a picture of the bolt assembly, but I'll take one in the next day or two.

Seems to be a well made upper, and I like the handguard.  Looking forward to getting a chance to shoot it soon.

How the hell did you manage that? I gave up on them after more than a year of waiting.

Forgot to add...that is one great looking' rifle!

I know some folks in the company.  According to the pre-order page on the website, though, they're going to begin shipping on 1OCT, so they aren't far off.

1.  Why did they make this?  What was so compelling about the redesign that they needed to change the NC22 they were making?  (which is awesome)

2.  Does the upper have anything proprietary about it - other than the slickside and small exit hole?  As in - can you drop this into another standard upper receiver (something the NC22 would not do.)

3.  Does this use standard AR charging handles, or is it some proprietary handle like the NC22 used?  I HATE that I cannot use the Raptor on my NC22.

4.  Does this use a standard barrel nut design like the NC22, and can take any standard AR handguard?

5.  Does this upper work with any trigger, hook or rounded, two stage match, whatever, like the NC22 did?

6.  Will this upper work with the Redi-Mag magazine adapters, which allowed you to use a S&W M&P 15-22 magazine.  The NC22 was not compatible with this configuration.

Sorry for not responding sooner.

There's a lot of that info and other info in the instruction manual.

To directly address your questions -- the upper is essentially a standard upper, but modified with the smaller ejection port.  Everything will swap over to a standard upper if you chose to do so.  Proprietary handle on this as well (which is my major gripe about the design), though it does use standard latch hardware, so you can at least add a larger latch.  Standard barrel nut.

The trigger situation is hit or miss -- the firing pin channel is higher in the bolt than a standard AR, and Nordic advises not using any FCG with a hammer with an angled strike face, as it may cause damage to the firing pin.

Not sure on the Redi-Mags, as they aren't a product I've used, but I'll try to get some info on that for you.

I don't really know the exact motivations behind going to this over the NC22.  I know the NC22 had a LOT of teething issues and, while those issues to my knowledge had been worked out satisfactorily, I suspect it may have just been to produce something that wasn't sharing that heritage.

Had a few minutes at the range on Sunday with the upper on top of my Arfcom lower with Geissele SD-C trigger.  I didn't have enough time to do any sort of significant accuracy testing, so I aimed more for gauging the reliability.

With the upper completely dry, I ran 150 rounds of Federal Champion (blue box) through it, split between a 10 round BDM mag (which is what the upper ships with), two 25 round BDM mags, and a 50 round BDM drum.  The only failure I encountered was a failure to fire, which appeared to be due to ammunition, as the round had a solid firing pin strike and fired upon being loaded again.

I'm looking forward to having some time (hopefully later this week or over the weekend) to do some legitimate accuracy testing and get some results.

Nordic's website shows this 22 upper in stock for $499.

Yeah, they started shipping on either the 30th of September or first of this month.

Didn't get a chance to get out shooting this weekend.  Hoping to slip away early one day this week.

Please let us know how it runs.  I am very interested in this upper.

Thanks

I do like that Handguard. I assume it is made by NC themselves? Wander if they sell those separate and they will work on any standard upper receiver?

Nice looking rig.

It is manufactured by Nordic and should work on a standard upper (I haven't measured the ID to see how much gas block clearance one would have), but they don't appear to be available separately.

Blew off another 300 rounds of Federal Automatch yesterday without any issues.  I experimented with applying pressure to the 25-round magazines while shooting and didn't experience any stoppages while applying front or rear pressure or while monopodding (if that's not a word, it is now).

The Burris MTAC isn't remotely well suited to precision groups, but I have a Vortex 4-16 on the way that I'll throw on to do some accuracy testing.

Well kinda a mute point if they do not sell that handguard seperately, but gas block clearance would not be a issue as it would go on a .22 upper anyway.

Yes -- wasn't sure if you were referring to a .22 built on a standard receiver or a "standard" AR.  They do make their small diameter handguard for the AR22 kit, but it lacks the top rail.

Interesting that they did a total redesign dropping the old one.  I have the older NC22 upper and I never got it to run or got the accuracy other guys got.  Mine went back, they changed a spring and recrowned the gun and said it was fixed.  

It's still a jammer at least 20% of the time and very unimpressive in the accuracy department.  My CMMG dedicated upper outshoots it all day long and doesn't jam unless it's an ammo issue.  I forgot, I was told if I wanted accuracy I should try single loading directly to the chamber so the round wasn't damaged in chambering.

That sucks.  Mine is my favorite .22 ever, and is so reliable it gets boring constantly loading mags.  My huge complaint is only that I cant use the S&W mag adapter with their old system... and S&W mags are so much better and easier to load than Black Dog.  The S&W mags actually work, but they can rock in place and might lead to malfs. (I haven't had one yet)

Interesting.  I suppose there's a degree of merit to that in theory, at least in terms of observing absolutely accuracy.  I've cycled probably 50 rounds or so through this one without noting any damage, FWIW.

I bought mine in the 20" rifle version w/o handguards and put on a DCM type free float to be a highpower rifle trainer.  Without the accuracy it didn't work out.  Well that and having to break position a lot to clear the empty case that was either rechambered or caught sideways over the top of the chambering round.  I used CCI SV, CCI Blazer, and Fed Auto match mostly.  

I like the new styling in the OP.

Yeah, that definitely defeats the purpose in that case.

As mentioned, I've been shooting Automatch and Champion through this so far with good luck.  I'm a big fan of CCI Blazer, so it'll definitely get fed some of that, and I've also got some Fiocchi, CCI SV, RWS Match, and Rem Green Tag set aside for it.  Just waiting for my glass to get here.