The "new" Noveske?

[gatordev]

I haven't bought a Noveske product since before Mr. Noveske died...until recently. So this isn't meant to be a blast on the company, but an honest question on what's "normal" and whether I should worry about this...

I have a 2010-ish N4 upper that's been the cat's pajamas. It's been put on multiple lowers, including a 2010-ish blem lower (before they had "Chainsaw" products). The upper has fit on all the lowers I've tried without issues (Noveske, Spike's, JD Machine, Colt).

Due to a recent injury, I've had a new (2015) Chainsaw Gen 1 Noveske lower awaiting buildup to go on the upper mentioned before. Today I finally had a chance to put the parts together and see how it fit. First up, I noticed hammer pin holes were very tight. Normally I can take a SSA pin and push it most of the way in without much help (maybe a little tapping), but this lower seemed to be more tight than normal (similar experience for the trigger pin).

Then I tried to put the lower on the upper and I can't even get the rear take-down pin to go into the upper lug hole. It will go into the lower holes just fine without the upper, but once the upper is in there, it seems like the lower holes are drilled *just* a tad too high from spec. I can tap on the pin with a mallet and get it to go in, but there's no way I can get the take-down pin out without a mallet and a punch, no matter how much I push down on the upper.


So here's the question... I've always understood Chainsaw products to still be in spec, but just have blemishes. I'm completely fine with blemishes (there were many on my lower, but I don't really care). But it should still be in spec, right? ESPECIALLY with a Noveske upper, right?

Just trying to figure out if this is worth my time to pursue...Or maybe I'm just being a drama llama...though a llama should be able to breakdown an AR without the need of tools. Okay, maybe an above-average llama.