Bear Creek Arsenal

With my limited experience with them, they are cheap for a reason. Doesn't mean they won't function or be accurate. Just means top end quality in materials or craftsmanship isn't there.
Just not something i would depend on to save my life if i were a door kicker or use as a competitive shooter.
 
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I've got a slew of them and the only problems I've had were getting barrels that had bad crowns. when I call to return something like that they don't ask me any questions they just replace it after they receive it back. I had one bolt carrier that was machined a little large at the rear of it where the rear of the bolt passes through and has to seal off gas. It created a cycling issue other than that they've been great and as stated I've got a bunch of them. I've got a lot of friends that have them too and I don't think they've had any complaints. I think Bear Creek's pre-covid pricing is as much a reflection of how overpriced the market was as much as a reflection of maybe them cutting corners a bit. On any complete upper the other piece of advice I would give you is to check the barrel is torque properly.
My 16-in blackout shoots very well with 110 grain VMAX.
We use nothing but the Bear Creek side charging uppers and ambidextrous uppers for our hunting rifles. To me they make the rear charging style obsolete for hunting. For home defense I don't know probably not much difference the only downside I can see is the charging handle hitting something and jamming the gun in an under pressure situation shooting through doorways etc but I try not to have to do much of that LOL.
With all this good said about the side chargers the one sitting beside my bed next to my 870 is still a rear charger.
There is absolutely no reason to be afraid of the Bear Creek side charging setup. The one positive thing about having a few issues is that you learn a whole lot about what it takes to make one work. I personally wouldn't buy any more at their current prices but if they ever get back down to that $250 area I'm sure I will end up with more.
 
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i own a couple of them, and between family and friends we probably have 10 right now in various calibers - 450 bushmaster, 223, 9mm, 350 legend, 458 socom.

for the price, its hard to beat. that said - sometimes a QC issue gets by, but their CS dept makes it right.

for example.. cousin bought a 223 side charger. when it arrived the screw that holds the bolt in at the rear of the receiver was bent. you could not install it on an upper because of its shape (its flat on one side to rest on the buffer tube loop) we're talking like a 3/8" thumb screw. so it had to have been dropped at the factory and then packed that way. two emails, a picture and he had a shipping label. the replacement upper arrived about 12 days after he sent his back to them.
 
bca could stand to take a few lessons from psa on how to package the uppers for shipping.

i have received several uppers from them that have had the side charge handle poking through the thin foam and cardboard.

psa has double boxed every upper i have ever got from them. foam is thicker also.
 
Yellowhammer you might have seen this post...

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3209599

I had some cosmetic flaws with my 2nd 243 BCA 20” upper but all is good now with it. I finally took the upper out a month ago a launched a few rounds through it for a function test. Never accuracy tested it yet. To many other projects in front of it.

When they are back to normal price from a couple of months ago ($219 to $380) their hard to beat imo.

I bought rear charging uppers. To many complaints of the side charging handles coming loose and falling off while shooting.
 
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After further review I saw that the side charge upper from Bear Creek was 6.6 pounds. I am looking for something lighter since I will be putting a suppressor on it and hopefully a thermal at some point. I went with the Palmetto State at only 3.7 pounds.
 
Yellowhammer the BCA’s are heavy. Can you do me a favor and weight your Palmetto state upper to see if it’s really 3.7 pounds? Im curious how close or far off they are from advertised weight. BCA had my upper listed at 4 pounds and it was 6 1/2 pounds when I called to have their in house tech weigh it. Both side charger and rear charging 20” 243 uppers weigh exactly the same at 6 1/2 pounds according to the BCA tech that weighed them.
 
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Quote:Can you do me a favor and weight your Palmetto state upper to see if it’s really 3.7 pounds?

The psa upper arrive today. It weighed 3.5 pounds on my digital scale minus the bcg and charging handle. It weighed 6.3 pounds complete with lower and bcg and charging handle and a collapsible stock. So, even with suppressor and thermal should be a fairly light rig.
 
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I’ll have to try one of theirs next. Let me know how it shoots. I can tell you both my 243 BCAs are reliable tac drivers. If you haven’t bought a one piece scope mount check out the worn xskel in my post above. You can Torque them tighter then just about any mount out. Rock solid and usually under a $100 on eBay. I just looked if you can deal with blue or camo them yourself they’re only 69 bucks.
 
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I bought a AR 7.62x39 from Them last December $368.00 out the door. Shoots WOLF 123 HP 1 1/8 groups at 100 yards. I would NOT take $900.00 for it now No complaints. MD
 
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Originally Posted By: NDAR15MANI bought a AR 7.62x39 from Them last December $368.00 out the door. Shoots WOLF 123 HP 1 1/8 groups at 100 yards. I would NOT take $900.00 for it now No complaints. MD

Do they have a MOA guarantee like BCA?
 
No guarantee MOA. It’s the luck of the draw. But I have heard they will make it right if you are not Happy with the group your gun is shooting.
I don’t have first hand knowledge of this since I was very very happy with my gun. At $368.00 pre virus price I should have bought a whole Railroad car at that price. MD
 
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I'm with you. It was $289 with free shipping in March for my 20" complete 243 20" upper from BCA. They are around $550 and out of stock now. Second one I've bought from them. First one I bought was around $329 from them at the time. First range trip it shot 6 different ladder tests sub MOA. They were from .3” to .6” on average. It’s a real tac driver.
 
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