Quote Originally Posted by GriffonSec View Post
Expect an in depth update after this weekend soon. Ran in to quite a few issues this weekend on both New Frontier 45s this weekend.
Spoiler Alert !!

Okay ... as stated, we ran a couple of NFA (New Frontier Armory) C45 AR45 Pistols pretty hard this past week. We shot Thursday through Saturday and put better than a thousand rounds through the pair. This consisted of Winchester White Box, Federal small primer ball, Federal large primer ball, Blazer aluminum ball, Remington green box ball, Remington UMC ball, Remington 230g JHP, 200g SWC reloads (two sets – mine with 5.5g W231 and Geoff’s with 5.2g W231), and 230 LRN reloads with 5.3g W231.

First, the good news. Both have HiperFire EDT Heavy Gunner triggers and there were zero MALF's that were trigger related. These are standard AR15 hammer, trigger, disconnector sets ... not drop in complete assemblies like CMC, Timney, Wilson Combat, etc.

Both C45’s have a Sig Romeo-5 RDS. We started out verifying the 25 yard zero on each unit, and chronographing each of the loads mentioned above. We also chrono’ed some of the loads against a 5” Les Baer for velocity comparisons.

After that session, we wanted a trajectory pattern, shots fired at 25 / 50 / 75 / and 100 yards. It is very fortuitous that this decision was made, as a problem was discovered.

The barrel extensions on both units are not installed perfectly square to the upper receiver.

On my C45, with a 25 yard zero, it printed 1.5 inches right at 50 yards, 3 inches right at 75 yards, and 6 inches right at 100 yards. These measurements are consistent with MOA which led to the conclusion that the assembly is not “perfect”.

On the second C45, again with a 25 yard zero, it printed 2 inches right at 50 yards, 4 inches right at 75 yards, and 8 inches right at 100 yards.

Unfortunately, the second C45 also changed elevation at 50 / 75 / and 100 yards in a manner not consistent with bullet drop … the POI was higher at each of those ranges. This barrel is not only “cocked” left to right, but up and down as well.

We then re-zeroed the second unit at 50 yards, and the 25 yard POI moved the same amount to the left. This cross-check, while not actually necessary, was to verify our conclusion that the assembly was not correct.

Both C45 units failed to reliably feed the Remington hollow-point ammunition. This was the only bullet configuration that had FTF issues. In all fairness, GriffonSec’s Colt 9mm AR would not feed 9mm JHP ammunition reliably either. These are not ramped barrels.

While the only issue, at this time, with my C45 is the improperly installed barrel, the second unit also had other issues. It would not lock the bolt on an empty magazine. As we had purchased various “spares” from NFA, we replaced the bar that toggles the bolt catch. It worked for a few magazines, and then it began to fail as well. That particular unit had also been returned to NFA soon after initial purchase because the ejector would not function properly. It was repaired and returned.

There is an issue with the ejector in that it will bump the magazine if inserted vigorously. The ejector centers over the left side of the metal liner in a Glock magazine and can produce a very small bend in the back left corner of that liner. The fix is to remove a (very) small amount of the underside of the ejector. We had also purchased spare ejectors.

I contacted NFA and spoke with their gunsmith. I went over the details of our testing and he agreed with our conclusion, and stated the units should be returned for “repair”.

I received an email confirmation of my conversation with the NFA gunsmith with an RMA attachment. I will be shipping the upper receiver assembly (sans Romeo) this week.

I will update this thread when I receive the “repaired” upper. Not sure when I will be able to do the detailed multiple-range testing again. It may not be until the spring shoot at GriffonSec’s.

At the end of the testing, with both units zeroed at 25 yards, we set up a dueling tree (6 inch plates) and ran some mano a mano competition. Have to say … it was a blast! Both units were accurate – they shot one hole groups at 25 yards (about 1.5 to 2 inches). They will ring steel as fast as you can trigger and move the dot.

Conclusions, I think the C45 design concept may have a couple of weak areas, but am very disappointed in the assembly of the unit(s). Same issue(s) on two units purchased a couple of months apart is not a good sign in my opinion. Properly assembled and tested, these could be a fun range toy, and with ball ammunition, could be an acceptable HD AR pistol.