Picked both up a little while ago and they VERY nice.  No forging flash and the color is a nice medium charcoal gray. They are so nice, I will pick up a second set when they become available again.  I wont even bother with the Brownells..

I still have to check for tightness but the fit seems spot on eyeballing it.

Edit:

Rock solid lock up. Zero play between upper and lower. NDS hit a home run on these puppies.

Edit2: NDA upper and lower on the top. Brownells on the bottom

Tried the NDA upper on the Brownells lower and there is a lot of play between them.



Edit3: NDA upper on the Brownells lower. You can see the green tint compared to the NDA Charcoal gray. Both are dry and void of oil.

Humble brag thread

I didn't think that they were ever available unless you wanted to wait six to eight months on a pre-order

Good to hear.  I’ll be getting mine soon.  Ordered Feb. last year.

Unfortunately if you want the best reproduction out there.

You're not wrong

The NDS lower wont even begin to close on an LM replacement upper, but the Brownells is way loose. I gunkoted the upper years ago and its a good match...

Doesn't the 603 have a half fenced lower?

The” early” 603s had a partial fence. “Late” ones had a full fence starting in about 1967 I believe.

Is the rear takedown pin stud on the upper too wide after coating?

From NDS website;

"A WORD ABOUT THE FIT OF OUR LOWER RECEIVERS:

OUR LOWERS ARE MACHINED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY HAVE A TIGHTER FIT TO MOST UPPERS.

WE RUN ON THE HIGH SIDE OF THE TOLERANCE,  WE DID THIS ON PURPOSE.

99% OF THE TIME IT RESULTS IN A GREAT FIT WITH NO WIGGLE BETWEEN THE UPPER AND LOWER.

SOMETIMES THIS MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS WITH SOME SURPLUS UPPERS OUT THERE.

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT THIS MAY BE AN ISSUE FOR YOU, PLEASE PURCHASE ONE OF OUR RETRO UPPERS AT THE SAME TIME, AND WE WILL HAND SELECT THEM FOR FIT AT NO EXTRA CHARGE.

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A STRIPPED UPPER YOU WANT TO USE ON ONE OF OUR LOWERS:

YOU CAN SEND IT IN (AT YOUR EXPENSE) AND WE WILL MATCH IT FOR BEST FIT IT TO THE LOWER YOU ARE PURCHASING FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

WE JUST WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY!"

It's what they do.

I'm back on the NDS waiting list for another upper/lower combo. I dont like the idea of fitting one lower to a surplus upper. Might as well have them a matched set from the get go.  Might use the LM replacement upper for an Israeli "mut" build later on.

I remember back in the 1980’s that Sendra, Pac West Arms (PWA), and Olympic Arms offered “matched sets”, where the factory would custom-fit an upper and lower receiver together. Those early AR manufacturers also produced receivers with a “tighter tolerance” than Colt, which limited interchangeability, but made for really tight fitting parts. Some people confused this “tighter tolerance” for the receivers being “out of spec.”, but that probably wasn’t the case.

The usual formula to create the tight receiver fit was to machine the lower receiver with a taller than normal upper deck height. This, in essence unnecessarily made the upper deck of the lower receiver into a “critical dimension”, subject to potential, variable interference with an upper receiver. On a Colt lower receiver, only the spacing between the take down and pivot pins forms the critical dimension for upper/lower receiver fitment. Colt just kept the upper deck of the lower away from the lower deck of the upper, if ya know what I mean.

Unfortunately, over the years, many of these early aftermarket AR lowers have been modified to have a mil-spec deck height, to allow for the use of unmodified upper receivers. I guess that some people prefer “standard” over “custom”, but that is their choice.

Just called NoDak and paid for the receiver set I’ve had on backordered with them.  I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting for it to arrive!  I almost cancelled the order when Brownell’s announced they’d be making complete rifles.  Glad I didn’t now that I’ve seen the color of their receivers.

It is a pale shade of Christmas green

Really though, the machining on the Brownells is top notch.
Its just very loose on the LM upper...but thats probably the uppers
fault.  I need to test a few uppers and see if that is the case.

I've seen that on NDS's site before, just curious where it was contacting.

I’m betting that the upper is contacting the lower right behind the pivot pin, due to the lower receiver’s top deck being too high, and/or the hole for the pivot pin is located too low, relative to the receiver’s top deck.