Hey all!

I just got a brand new A4 Rock River Arms upper, and it arrived today!  I have no reason to believe it isn't genuine, but I am wondering if this is any way I can tell for sure (I did not buy this directly from RRA).  I see no markings on this, and I have taken the handguards off and see nothing on the barrel.  The only thing I see is on the front sight tower, and it says FO 1 1 (and there is some symbol I can't make out between the two ones).

The front sight tower appears to be cast as well... is this normal for an RRA upper?

Again, the upper looks great and I have no reason to believe it isn't genuine RRA, but am just wondering how one could tell if they have an RRA product if there are no markings (or maybe I'm just missing something).  Thanks!

There is no way to tell if it's RR. The only marks that appear on anyone's uppers are the ID of the forges that turn out the raw forging, and since all the major makers use the same 2 or three forges, those markings are useless for brand ID. On the flat top uppers, you won't even usually get the forge mark, since they're  on the boss just ahead of the rear sight. Thus, you'll have the mark on the top of the A2 type upper, and on the detachable handle/sight of the M4 type, but not on the body.

Are you sure the front sight base is a casting?  Forged will have a seam, about an eighth of an inch accross, on the front and rear surface. Cast will have a much thinner seam in the same area. My own RR barrel came w/a forged piece.

The RR barrels I've seen are also totally unmarked, tho someone posted here recently that there is now some sort of marking toward the rear of the chrome lined M4 types. Haven't seen it myself though.

My RRA upper is void of any marking as well. It does have the FO1 [circle with RO] 1, on the front post site, so it should be a genuine RRA. It also has the forged front site.

If its an RRA chrome lined pre-ban M4 barrel, it will have "N C 9" underneath the barrel nut on it.

The only way to see this is to remove the barrel from the upper.

N C 9 = Nato Chamber, Chromelined, 1/9 Twist

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the responses.

Shamayim, my front sight post sounds like it's forged based on your description (approx. 1/8" seam on front and back surface of tower).  The primary reason I thought it was cast was because of the seam (shows how much I know).

Anyway, thanks again for the responses.  The upper looks great and I got it for a great price ($355 complete with bolt carrier, charging handle, detachable carry handle, and OD green M4 style handguards).  For some reason the charging handle came without the latch, latch spring, and latch roll pin, but it should only cost me about $3.00 for that stuff, so I won't complain! I'm going to build this on an Eagle Arms lower, so it should hopefully be a pretty good combination (this will be my first AR), although I have noticed the colors on the Eagle lower are slightly different than the RRA upper.  Oh well... I guess it just makes my rifle a little more "unique."

RR  uppers use to be marked made in Taiwan, but sale sucked, so they removed the made in Taiwan, just to keep RR owner guessing. [:D]

TG [:D] lol

Texans sure do tell tall tales [:D]