Well, my second range trip with my Anvil Arms/NES M4 was an absolute hoot today! This pup runs like a top - with one exception and I've narrowed it down to an ammunition-related issue that I thought I'd share.
While the wait went on, (and on) for my NES AR, I started buying ammunition in 200-round batches. I would sit here and watch television - dreaming about the arrival of my M4 and loading mags. Each time I received a new batch of ammo, I loaded it into mags and marked the base plate with my daughters white Crayola, (she still hasn't noticed it's gone). On Monday, my first mag was Privi Partisan 5.56 - the M4 ate it up - what a joy this rifle is! Centurion "Military Contract" 5.56 was my second mag and I may as well have been running a bolt action rifle. The rifle would fire and eject the spent case, but there was not enough inertia to strip another round from the magazine. This occurred in two mags, (I switched round out to eliminate the possibility of a bad mag). The first was 26 of 30 and the second was 16 of 23.
Today using 60 rounds of classically underpowered Remington UMC I picked up at Dicks on the way to the range, I retested the Centurion against Speer Lawman .223, (Lake City), Privi Partisan and the UMC. The UMC ran flawlessly, as did the Privi and Speer. The Centurion, (loaded into a Colt mag), failed again in most of the first 6 pulls of the trigger. I finally dropped the mag, stripped the rounds, refilled with UMC and did a full mag dump - no problems.
Initially, I thought that because my rifle was new and the buffer and spring are heavy, that it was my rifle. It's clear now, that the ammo does not possess enough zippedy-do-da to cycle the bolt - at least not in an M4. This ammunition may indeed function in a rifle equipped with a lighter bolt, softer buffer, spring and a longer gas system, but I'd advise against it - even for training, in the M4.
This ammunition is marketed as "Military Contract", but word has it, that it's manufactured in Mexico. They also sell remanufactured ammunition, (this was not remanufactured) and thank God that I did not buy any of that, or even more of this - it was a good deal and obviously too good to be true, or at least reliable...My advice is to steer clear of Centurion - at least if you have an M4 which has different dynamics, tolerances and needs than a standard tubed AR-15....
Meanwhile....I LOVE this rifle! It's a friggin laser beam! Woot!
While the wait went on, (and on) for my NES AR, I started buying ammunition in 200-round batches. I would sit here and watch television - dreaming about the arrival of my M4 and loading mags. Each time I received a new batch of ammo, I loaded it into mags and marked the base plate with my daughters white Crayola, (she still hasn't noticed it's gone). On Monday, my first mag was Privi Partisan 5.56 - the M4 ate it up - what a joy this rifle is! Centurion "Military Contract" 5.56 was my second mag and I may as well have been running a bolt action rifle. The rifle would fire and eject the spent case, but there was not enough inertia to strip another round from the magazine. This occurred in two mags, (I switched round out to eliminate the possibility of a bad mag). The first was 26 of 30 and the second was 16 of 23.
Today using 60 rounds of classically underpowered Remington UMC I picked up at Dicks on the way to the range, I retested the Centurion against Speer Lawman .223, (Lake City), Privi Partisan and the UMC. The UMC ran flawlessly, as did the Privi and Speer. The Centurion, (loaded into a Colt mag), failed again in most of the first 6 pulls of the trigger. I finally dropped the mag, stripped the rounds, refilled with UMC and did a full mag dump - no problems.
Initially, I thought that because my rifle was new and the buffer and spring are heavy, that it was my rifle. It's clear now, that the ammo does not possess enough zippedy-do-da to cycle the bolt - at least not in an M4. This ammunition may indeed function in a rifle equipped with a lighter bolt, softer buffer, spring and a longer gas system, but I'd advise against it - even for training, in the M4.
This ammunition is marketed as "Military Contract", but word has it, that it's manufactured in Mexico. They also sell remanufactured ammunition, (this was not remanufactured) and thank God that I did not buy any of that, or even more of this - it was a good deal and obviously too good to be true, or at least reliable...My advice is to steer clear of Centurion - at least if you have an M4 which has different dynamics, tolerances and needs than a standard tubed AR-15....
Meanwhile....I LOVE this rifle! It's a friggin laser beam! Woot!