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You remember the No Stock Needed or NSN, the thingy that was supposed to make AR-15 pistols more controllable and enjoyable? The thing I just got to review? Well, turns out the device is being shelved and the inventor is refunding the pre-orders. We’ve also been asked to return the demo version to NSN home base. Rumor has it there’s a newer better version in the works, but we’ll have to wait and see what this guy comes up with. The question of the moment, though, is what I thought of the original version. And well…

Its not something I’d put on one my guns. Then again I’m about to send out a Form 1 to make an SBR, so I might not be the prime market for one of these things.

The #1 issue I had with it was the way it moves your jaw about. That’s especially of concern because there are no nerves designed in your body to tell you whether that specific motion (slapping your jaw around) hurts. The best your body can do is tell the nearest nerves, which aren’t really in the same place. And the actual pain and can be deceiving (called referred pain, and a pain in the ass with abdominal trauma where there are similarly no nerves). So I have no idea if this thing was hurting me because I couldn’t feel it.

Issue #2 was the inability to fold the chin rests away. It’s permanently fixed, meaning that trying to transport this thing in a case was…interesting. It could never lay completely flat without taking off the buffer tube, so standard hard cases were out of the question.

Even so, and even with the flaming pig muzzle device (which makes the recoil even worse) it wasn’t completely uncomfortable. Sure it felt strange, but if you only used this device for you home defense gun, I think it would work well. Handy for when you need to operate in tight conditions. It’s definitely not an everyday range toy, but definitely not useless either.

The biggest reason I liked this thing, though, was that it represents some outside-the-box thinking on the part of the inventor. Just like the Franklin Armory XO-26b, the NSN is a contraption that thumbs its nose at the law and gives shooters more options when it comes to the kind of gun they want. Needless to say I’ll be waiting to see what else this guy comes up with.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. I’m amazed this didn’t catch on. Maybe it would have worked, if instead of your chin taking the the recoil, it was absorbed by the ‘ol adam’s apple.

  2. Even so, and even with the flaming pig muzzle device (which makes the recoil even worse) it wasn’t completely uncomfortable.

    I thought that thing (a linear compensator, right?) was supposed to reduce recoil somehow?

    • It’s not a comp in the strict sense. It increases gas blowback to ensure that there is enough gas directed to the gas tube for cycling. Kind of like the one on the krinkov. Also no muzzle blast is directed to the side so it sounds more quiet to you.

  3. It was a baaaaaaad idea. I bet the inventor/investor figured out, through comments in forums like this, the tremendous liability they would face with jaw injuries.

  4. +1 for thinking outside the box. -10 for going this far outside the box. If you’re going to restrict this thing to home defense only then an ar15 pistol would work as well.

  5. I think the biggest downfall of the NSN was the price. No one is really gonna buy it for $250+, for a tiny device that may or may not hurt the shooter. It looked and sounds great as an idea, but in real life it might not be. I definitely wouldn’t have bought one for my AR pistol.
    I guess we’ll see what the inventor comes up with instead. Maybe a revised folding version that is cheaper?

    • I agree. I would never pay 250 for this. Granted I am in a state where I can SBR a gun for cheaper. But if I was not, this would not cross my mind as something I would put on my gun.

  6. As I said on their Facebook page, the “legal” page on their website talks about the differences between pistols and rifles, but doesn’t say if they have submitted this device to the BATFE for approval. As an example, the SlideFire comes with a letter from the BATFE stating that it is legal, so that when you are hassled by your local LEO about having a “machine gun,” you can back up that you aren’t breaking the law. Personally, I have no interest in the NSN, but if I did, I’d want such a letter (stating that the NSN is, in fact, not a stock – which I suspect it actually is) to come with it so that my local LEO didn’t throw me in the slammer for having a SBR without a tax stamp.

    Not to mention the price issue. Sure, many don’t know that the SBR tax stamp is “only” $200, but for those that do, how in the world would anyone think that $250 is a good price for the NSN? That’s like the SlideFire being more expensive than a pre NFA legal machine gun. It would make no sense to buy a “fake” machine gun (SlideFire) for more than a real one, just like it makes no sense to buy a “fake” SBR for more than a real one.

  7. To put some answer as to why someone might be willing to pay that much when an SBR stamp is $200: look at MI machine guns are legal, silencers are legal (following BATF rules) SBR, SBS? nope not at all. As for product design, I don’t see the point. At least for me the recoil from my ar pistol is so damn light that I wouldn’t dream of bothering with it. I shoot the thing, with a cheek weld to the bare buffer tube exactly the way it shows. No issue.

    Might my next build: 50 beowolf pistol be too hard to handle? Maybe but this thing wouldnt help. Maybe if we are lucky the next version will rest against the Forehead, that way you can tell who has one from the mark on their head

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