Bear Creek Arsenal

I had a 22 Nosler that shot 8" groups nicely. In over 40 groups shot three were under 1.5". I have pics of them if anyone wanted proof. One thing that is consistent that I see about the net is that they are really good about swapping out crappy products which tells me they have way to much experience in that to make me buy with confidence.

On a plus note for the company I did buy two side charger uppers last year and am looking forward to building another 20 Practical on one of them.

Greg
 
No. Buy BCA side chargers without barrels. No since wasting money on something I won't trust. I don't shoot many garden variety chambers they sell.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: GLShooterNo. Buy BCA side chargers without barrels. No since wasting money on something I won't trust. I don't shoot many garden variety chambers they sell.

Greg

if there's any for sale - which there haven't been in months and months.

i just did a similar thing - bought a side charging grendel upper so that i could rip the barrel off and stuff a ARC barrel in there.

i didnt even have the arc barrel yet, but prices were really just starting to go up, side charging uppers were unobtanium & there was a sale for complete Grendel uppers.

so it made for a convenient platform to build from especailly since all it would require was a barrel, proper length gas tube and a new gas block. i would already have the BCG, upper & handguard. i also had an AGB on hand.

and it leaves me with a melonite barrel/gb/gas tube/flash hider assembly that i can sell complete and unfired at some point. it'll find a home eventually.
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My other BCA 243 is a tac driver. I don’t mind waiting for it since I ordered last March and I finally shot it a few weeks ago to find out the barrel wasn’t going to pass my standards. I only paid $299.00 with free shipping for it so I sure didn’t want a refund because I would never replace it for that price. They hebe the, listed for $648 and I can bet you they won’t be back down to the $299 price in 2021...or probably ever since Biden took office. Be prepared to spend a good amount of money for ARs for next four years and trying to find them in stock. I need this upper abs another AR like a hole in the head so I have zero issues with waiting. I’m sure they will get it figured out with a new barrel and it will shoot light out like my other 243 BCA 22” upper.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotbca actually manufactures the barrels they use? i'd be surprised.

i dont think they're making the blanks, but they're cutting chambers, profiling, and the threading/receiver extension stuff.


im fairly positive they're midway's AR-STONER private labeling company for barrels and complete uppers. if you watch the sales lists at BCA, the availability for midway is nearly identical... especially when they get in the relatively uncommon stuff - melonite 5r grendel uppers, or fluted stainless barreled uppers at a specific length... that kinda thing.. basically you can see it clear as day every time BCA makes a run of stuff thats not 16" m4 profile parkerized uppers lol
 
I went ahead and bought an upper with the gen 2 bolt and handle, looks to be a way better design than the round threaded stud, I have 2 of the original style and the one on my 223 stays tight but my grendel one always works loose, even with lock tight, I think the gen 2 solved all that
 
Just posted this in another thread, figured worth sharing here too....

Stay away from Bear Creek. Between a buddy of mine and me, we ordered 6 uppers last year. Only 2 have fired consistently, 4 have been sent back for repair/replacement or refund. Ya sure they "stand behind their product" but having to ship back an upper 3 times (one example) just to get one that fires right is beyond annoying. Wasted ammo, days at the range, trips to post office, etc.
 
Originally Posted By: HogThumperOriginally Posted By: hylanderThat to me looks like a lot of carbon fouling from a lot of firing
With a flash hider or brake, if so that is normal.

It may look like it, but that is not what it is.


This crown science is sometimes a real head scratcher. I’ve seen some tests where the guy was cutting down a barrel 1” at a time and then shooting the rifle to show the bullet speeds as he went shorter, and still getting good groups with the barrel just basically hacked off. Is the issue when the crown is damaged so much that it effects the rifling inside the barrel? It seems once the bullet is free, the gas comes behind it. There was a guy on another forum who would hacksaw his barrel to the length, and then shoot it and have a nice group. I think it was a guy named bigstick on 24 hour campfire.
 
I received an email today from BCA asking if I would accept a 22” stainless fluted 243 upper for the 20” upper that didn’t pass MOA testing and has been there since January. The email said there was no ETA on 243 tooling. Basically it was the same information I was emailed back in February and just asked again if I would accept a different upper. I called as soon as they opened to talk to the person who emailed me to explain I have talked with someone else months ago and have emails stating to keep my upper till it would be replaced with the same EXACT same model when the new tooling arrived. The gal who emailed me was in a meeting and just got out on the end of my 20 minute rant with a customer service representative. I was told I’d get a call back from her in 10 minutes. About 45 minutes later she called and told me she was new in the warranty department. She called a little late because she looked all over the warehouse and found four 20” 243 barrels(uppers) on a top shelf, in a dark corner, in the back room of the warehouse. The barrels had been there the whole time. She said they would test all four barrels tomorrow and the tightest grouping upper would be returned to me providing it passes the MOA test. I was told I’d get a call back tomorrow with an update after the barrels are all tested. Fingers crossed the four they have aren’t junk as well.
 
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So, how many rounds down the tube before you sent them back Hibs? Just curious as I have 3 of them in the rotation and they all shoot fine... my grendel shoots well under 1" groups after I put a couple hundred rounds down the tube... Initially it shot like garbage, but now it's great, when I do my part. I can honestly say that with the 3 in my rotation I have yet to have one fail to fire, fail to eject, or do anything else that could even be close to considering a failure...

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to call you out or anything. I've just seen a TON of posts from guys who are upset that their $350 complete BCA upper doesn't shoot as well as a $1500 AR does right out of the box...

On another note, my first BCA upper was a 6.5grendel... didn't matter what kind of factory ammo I ran through it, it shot like crud. After putting a couple hundred rounds through it, I started doing load development for it, and now it shoots great... It's a cheap upper, no ifs ands or buts about it, But, having realistic expectations is a must when purchasing from BCA...
 
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Originally Posted By: LittleAndySo, how many rounds down the tube before you sent them back Hibs? Just curious as I have 3 of them in the rotation and they all shoot fine... my grendel shoots well under 1" groups after I put a couple hundred rounds down the tube... Initially it shot like garbage, but now it's great, when I do my part. I can honestly say that with the 3 in my rotation I have yet to have one fail to fire, fail to eject, or do anything else that could even be close to considering a failure...

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to call you out or anything. I've just seen a TON of posts from guys who are upset that their $350 complete BCA upper doesn't shoot as well as a $1500 AR does right out of the box...

On another note, my first BCA upper was a 6.5grendel... didn't matter what kind of factory ammo I ran through it, it shot like crud. After putting a couple hundred rounds through it, I started doing load development for it, and now it shoots great... It's a cheap upper, no ifs ands or buts about it, But, having realistic expectations is a must when purchasing from BCA...

Guess if I bought a side charging 5.56 “ behind the front door security gun” that wasn’t going to have an optic on it I would not be caring. I bought mine to install an optic on and shoot predators at long range.

My first one shot great right out of the box. You can check old posts here. This last one I put a good 40 plus test groups through and did get sub MOA from 3 of the loads that would not repeat MOA. It never shot good right out of the box. I sent it in in to BCA and it didn’t pass MOA testing there either. BCA told me their tooling was worn out when my barrel was cut. They said it was pretty “ruff” in side...what ever that terminology meant. Guess I got spoiled from the first tac driving BCA/AR Stoner upper. They still didn’t get a chance to test the 4 barrels on Friday so hopefully today I will get a call with good news that one of them passed MOA testing and I will get a replacement upper back after patiently waiting 5 months.

 
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Originally Posted By: LittleAndySo, how many rounds down the tube before you sent them back Hibs? Just curious as I have 3 of them in the rotation and they all shoot fine... my grendel shoots well under 1" groups after I put a couple hundred rounds down the tube... Initially it shot like garbage, but now it's great, when I do my part. I can honestly say that with the 3 in my rotation I have yet to have one fail to fire, fail to eject, or do anything else that could even be close to considering a failure...

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to call you out or anything. I've just seen a TON of posts from guys who are upset that their $350 complete BCA upper doesn't shoot as well as a $1500 AR does right out of the box...

On another note, my first BCA upper was a 6.5grendel... didn't matter what kind of factory ammo I ran through it, it shot like crud. After putting a couple hundred rounds through it, I started doing load development for it, and now it shoots great... It's a cheap upper, no ifs ands or buts about it, But, having realistic expectations is a must when purchasing from BCA...

I'm not talking about "bad MOA"... I'm talking about uppers that had massive failures right out of the box.

Example 1: 7.62x39 upper. After firing about 30 rounds went into a failure to cycle. As in, would only fire one round then have a failure. Sent it back, BCA stated the gas block and gas tube were f'ed up. They fixed and sent back.

Example 2: 300Blackout upper. Would not cycle, period, tried 4 different factory loads. One round bang, failure. Sent back to BCA, they said they fixed it and sent it back to me. Take it out and it's exact same problem. I don't think they even touched it to be honest. Sent it back again and told them I want just another 7.62x39 upper.

Now... we have two more 7.62x39 uppers that we have fired probably 400 rounds out of each with zero issue. But all said and done, I would rather spend my money somewhere else considering all the hassle we've had to get "good" ones.
 
I'm still waiting for answer. The story changes every day. I was told they would fire all four barrels Friday and would call me. Never got a call. Monday went by and nothing. I emailed today and was told they would fire one of the uppers to test the barrel and if it did not pass moa testing they would grab another to test. I re emailed and told them to follow through with the original promise made last thursday to test all 4 and send me the best shooting one...as long as it passes MOA testing. I thought it was a reasonable request since my upper has been there since December and they had 4 replacement uppers there the WHOLE TIME! I was told that they would test them in the next couple of days. The story keeps changing day by day and still no upper.
 
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They were great until their prices went up lol. They were real awesome when they had 99 dollar side charging upper combos. I've had my share of issues with their products granted I have quite a few but it helps to be a bit of AR mechanic if you deal with them much.
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I got very familiarized with what makes at AR tick or not tick after buying a bunch of their stuff.
 
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