Noveske Chainsaw Build
It feels like it's been years since my last post. In the last few months I've moved out of the great Northwest and resettled in the middle of the country. I assembled the rifle in my last few days before the move and I've had minimal trigger time since (read about 200-300 rds). I'll give you a snapshot of my initial impressions, and update it once I get to a suitable range in the area.
I chose the SWFA 1x4-24 Scope for this rifle, I've had it on several other rifles and I just can't say enough good things about this scope. The weight of the scope balances well on the rifle and I enjoy carrying this gun a lot more than my Robinson XCR's while scoped. I was initially running 30rd P-Mags, but I've since switched to the 20rd P-Mags, I like the lower profile and reduced weight, and I find that 20rds is plenty for my shooting style... and 20 rounds helps to keep me from dumping mags as quickly while firing...
I stuck with the Mag-Pull standard furniture, I really debated putting the more expensive furniture options on this rifle, but I couldn't see any stellar benefits over the standard offerings, YMMV. I did add the BAD lever as well as the Noveske branded Raptor charging handle and Noveske QD end plate. I really like the Raptor charging handle, it's expensive, but it's well built, solid and functional. I've got the BCM Gunfighter on my other rifle, and after using both I prefer the Raptor by a slim margin.
I had a previously used Battle Comp 2.0 compensator from another rifle sitting in the safe, so I installed it rather than buying something new. I've used to the Battle Comp on several rifles and I like it's muzzle rise mitigation as well as the flash reduction. It performed really well on this Noveske, my muzzle rise is quite minimal, and it is pleasant to shoot for both the shooter and other folks beside me on the range.
The VLTOR A-5 recoil buffer system was an outstanding purchase. You get a really manageable recoil that cycles reliably every time. I don't have a lot of rounds down range with this rifle yet, but I've yet to have a FTF or FTE with this gun (This includes both moving and stationary courses of fire). This buffer system is well worth the money, and does exactly what it's designed to do. I noticed a marked difference between my standard M-4 style rifle and the Noveske, the felt recoil is very smooth and controlled. So much so that I had very little trouble performing double taps on target through the optic at magnification.
Note: the A-5 System is not magic, do not buy this recoil buffer expecting your rifle to fire as seen in movies, the internet, or in video games, you will be disappointed. Proper shooting stance, and practice will do much more for recoil mitigation in my opinion. In order for your rifle to cycle reliably in the worst of conditions you need the recoil buffer to do it's job, and that means you'll feel some of the inertia as the empty casing is removed from the chamber, ejected and a new round striped from the magazine and loaded into the chamber. The A-5 dampens this recoil, it is properly weighted to allow the recoil buffer to cycle completely without slamming into the rear of the rifle while extracting the round, or slam into the front of the rifle while inserting a new round into the chamber. The other specialized recoil buffers that greatly reduce felt recoil, and make the rifle feel like shooting a .22LR are great for competition or the range, but should be evaluated for real world use. You can think of the concept in simplified terms of a scale, on one end you have felt recoil, and on the other you have reliable cycling. In most cases (but not all, and this is very simplified) the lower the felt recoil, the lower the reliability of completing a cycle, the higher the felt recoil, the higher the reliability of completing a cycle. You must balance between the two, and often times you when you have a highly reliable cycling rifle, you can smooth the felt recoil of the rifle somewhat, without sacrificing reliable cycling. This is what the A-5 does, it smooths the cycle and reduces the amount of slamming forward and back that the user experiences each time the rifle cycles, it isn't a magical pill for eliminating felt recoil.
My initial requirement for this project was a rifle that was a simple, reliable, lightweight and accurate. The Noveske fits the bill quite well, the NSR handguard has a very low profile and the rifle points well and feels balanced in the hand.
I gave the Noveske lightweight stainless barrel a rattle can black coat of paint to prevent rust. It isn't the prettiest or most durable of coatings but this rifle is meant to be used, and I just don't care that much about how the barrel looks on the outside... with barrels, it's the inside that counts. The Noveske stainless barrels are well know for their accuracy, and this one is no exception. The rifle is capable of some very consistent accuracy, and even with mil-surp ammo I can get some commendable groupings.
Note: I've read online that stainless barrels only last about half as long as a chrome lined barrel does... I see very little real substantiated proof to this claim and I also don't see the average shooter shooting even close to the amount of ammo required to shoot a barrel out (Somewhere around 15,000-30,000 rounds is the claim). I'm not worried about ever wearing my barrel out, and IF I was, I'd first need to buy about $8000+ worth of .223... if I can afford to shoot that much ammo regularly... I can afford an extra barrel...or even an extra gun.
The Mag-well is a bit tight for my P-Mags and just right for my aluminum mags, this will loosen up over time and I'm pleased with the fit and function of the Noveske parts. This gun is a pleasure to shoot, it's almost boring in how reliably it functions. The felt recoil and muzzle rise are easily manageable for fast follow-up shots and acquisition of follow-on targets. It's difficult not to perform mag-dumps, or rapid fire sessions with this gun, it shoots so smoothly that you want to open it up and let it run. During the break-in process I got bored with punching the same hole in the paper target over an over again, and I did perform a back to back mag dump to break up the monotony and test how hot the NSR handguard would get. I'm happy to report that the rifle never missed a beat, it digested the two mags without trouble, I was able to stay on target the entire time and the handguard got as warm as something that had been left out in the sun on a summer afternoon.
In conclusion: The Noveske rifle is everything it claims to be. I really enjoy shooting and carrying this rifle, and it certainly turns some heads when shooting at the range. Depending on your shooting style and experience, this may not be the gun for you, I spent somewhere around 3k (Not including the optic and mount) to build this rifle. There are cheaper and more readily available AR-15 platforms that make much more sense for the average shooter, but if you want the pleasure of shooting a top of the line rifle, and you want to build it from the ground up, you wont be disappointed if you spend the money here. I liked building this one so much that I'm already planning my next build....
