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Posted: 4/19/2008 10:02:14 AM EDT
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I posted this on another forum but I'd thought I'd pass this along to anyone here that is interested...... I've been seeing a lot of threads about AR15 quality and wanted to give people the heads up on a new rifle company out of Oregon. I do a lot of t&e for my department and got invited to a demo for Next Generation Arms. The owner claimed to have reduced recoil by 50 or 60%, system runs dry so fouling is reduced considerably. When I heard the claims I was skeptical, it's an AR, how much recoil is there to begin with and if it's direct gas it's still gonna be a pain to clean. I went to the demo and was very suprised. The owner is a guy named Nathan and he lives and breathes the AR platform. He comes from an engineering background and has developed a series of ceramic coatings for the exterior and interior components. He had 4-5000 rounds through a demo rifle and said the only cleaning he did to it was occassionally wipe off the bolt with a rag. No oil is necessary after break in so it doesn't attract the grit and crap we are used to. The coatings are good for some ungodly amount of hours in a certain percentage brine solution.....I really wasn't paying enough attention when he was talking about this portion, I don't leave my gun lying on the beach but I guess you could. His rifles come standard with an enidine buffer and a Primary Weapon Systems flash suppressor / muzzle break. I picked up one of the demo rifles, a full auto shorty and noted it had a 3x ACOG on it. Our target was only about 30-40' feet away and I have found the ACOG's kinda suck at these ranges but it was his ammo and I wasn't gonna say no. The muzzle didn't move and I was able to watch all 28 rounds impact through the scope at that short range. I relaxed my stance and shot it full auto from an errect "rifleman" stance and the result was the same. I even tried it one handed and it was still impressive. We pulled the bolt carrier after a few mags and it was cool to the touch and exceptionally clean. Bolt and firing pin had a small amount of grime on it after about 400 rnds and it wiped off with a rag. Nathan machines his own lowers from blanks and they are beefed up in some areas but not so you notice the weight gain. The magwell is machined so even if you monopod on your mag when prone, it won't change the angle enough to cause you issues with feeding. He installs KNS anti rotational pins in all his rifles and the bolt groups have perma pins instead of cotter keys from them as well. The extractor is also uprated and the defender "D" ring is installed. Brass ejection is so consistent you could have put a bucket a few feet from the shooter and caught 75% of the brass. The receivers were very tight. Overall I was impressed with the guns. His base model has all of these features and he is offering it at about $1300 as a flat top with a LMT style A2 rear sight. He claims he doesn't mark up accessories, you pay what he pays. I'm not sure but the ceramics come in several colors, OD, FDE the usual cool guy stuff. I don't think he chages more for the different colors either so it saves money on krylon or duracoat. The only issue I had with his guns is he uses some CAA furniture on some of the lower end models. The grip actually felt good but the stocks felt a little cheesy. On the upper end guns he uses VLTOR and Magpul. If you were to buy an off the shelf rifle with the upgraded pins and extractor, hydraulic buffer and PWS brake it would add a lot to it. IMO for around $1300 it's one of the best deals going and he offers a lifetime gaurantee. Dude even covers shipping if you have a problem I believe. Two of our deputies have already bought them and delivery was fast. I haven't had a chance to ring one out for accuracy yet but will post up when I do. And no, I'm not on the payroll..... |
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