Bear Creek Arsenal ?

[Tisto]

The son of one of my friends wants to build an AR platformed rifle for hunting varmints and predators. His budget is limited, so no Daniel Defense type parts, but he still wants a rifle that will shoot reasonably well. He already has a lower receiver ready to go. We looked at buying all the parts to assemble an upper, and it's getting pricey. He found a complete upper at Bear Creek Arsenal that has all the features he wants and it comes with a BCG and CH for far less than we could build one.

My only experience with BCA is with a 20'' SS 1- 8 5R barrel from them that I built into an upper of mine. It shoots well, although the .223 Wylde chamber is tight. Their website, however, advises that the .223 Wylde chambers are held to minimum dimensions. I have no complaints on the quality of this barrel.

The complete upper he is looking at uses the same 20" SS 1-8 5R barrel and .223 Wylde chamber.

Here's the rub: there are a TON of bad reviews and complaints about BCA. Most of the complaints seem to be about customer service, and not so much about the product itself.

So, does anyone have any input on this ? Should he go ahead and order the upper or what ? If not, who else has a suitable product that won't break the bank ?

 

[Edwardteach72]

BCA is absolutely bottom tier garbage


***edit*** sorry not even going to beat around the bush about it, or even try and sugar coat it

 

[ArmedCorgi]

Maybe look at Palmetto or Del-Ton?

 

[RooftopKorean]

Is it worse than Anderson??? Lol.

 

[turbobike]

Try Carolina Barrel Company…decent stuff better quality than BCA

AR15-Overstock

Find deals on AR15-Overstock, build your own AR15 Pistol Kit, or customize with an AR15 Micro or ARP. Shop quality parts and accessories now

www.cbcpfa.com

 

[Edwardteach72]

Is it worse than Anderson??? Lol.

Actually yea it might be

 

[GOPerfect]

In the past, I have purchased two of their barrels. I am not unhappy with them.

Not sure what makes then so bad, a few co-workers have used them with no issues. I would like to know what about them people (some) do not like.

 

[GOPerfect]

BCA is absolutely bottom tier garbage


***edit*** sorry not even going to beat around the bush about it, or even try and sugar coat it

Why? Learning as I go....

 

[Edwardteach72]

Why? Learning as I go....

Monkeys would be better at quality control than who they employ at BCA.

Let's just say a while back the company put out a promotional video (they agreed to it made it themselves reviewed it then posted it for everyone to see)

In the video they showed their lead builder (they dude they pay the most because he is the #1 guy they have at building)

He didn't do a single thing correctly, had no torque wrenches and just hand fit stuff, didn't use any grease in areas that require it, and hand tightened all the parts and didn't stake anything that needed staking or check any of the fit or tolerances (even a simple go no go gage).


There is a reason why their complete uppers sell for less than even the lowest acceptable companies handguards sell for.


Yes there are some times where a roll mark will add a few extra bucks to the end product.. then there is a reason why it cost X $ from other companies (even budget options) for the same features that BCA claims to be giving but at 1/3 the price.


Oh and most of the time their Gas ports aren't even drilled to the right size or even location or well at all

 

[GOPerfect]

Monkeys would be better at quality control than who they employ at BCA.

Let's just say a while back the company put out a promotional video (they agreed to it made it themselves reviewed it then posted it for everyone to see)

In the video they showed their lead builder (they dude they pay the most because he is the #1 guy they have at building)

He didn't do a single thing correctly, had no torque wrenches and just hand fit stuff, didn't use any grease in areas that require it, and hand tightened all the parts and didn't stake anything that needed staking or check any of the fit or tolerances (even a simple go no go gage).


There is a reason why their complete uppers sell for less than even the lowest acceptable companies handguards sell for.


Yes there are some times where a roll mark will add a few extra bucks to the end product.. then there is a reason why it cost X $ from other companies (even budget options) for the same features that BCA claims to be giving but at 1/3 the price.


Oh and most of the time their Gas ports aren't even drilled to the right size or even location or well at all

Maybe I got lucky. My Zombie AR uses one of their barrels and so far, no issues at all. Everything fir perfectly and works as expected.

But, Thanks for your review, I will keep it in mind down the road.

 

[redtail]

I have one of their barrels in 450 bm, it was cheap and it shoots very well.
That being said the gas port was undersized from the factory and needed to be opened up a bit for function.
.02

 

[Edwardteach72]

I have one of their barrels in 450 bm, it was cheap and it shoots very well.
That being said the gas port was undersized from the factory and needed to be opened up a bit for function.
.02

If you follow any big bore ar forums or groups (fb and such) you will see that 99% of people that have a BCA barrel in 450 or 458 have this issue (not exaggerating)

 

[kev74]

I've got two of their uppers. One in 7.62x39 and one in 6.5 Grendel.

Both shoot very well and function as they should.

I'm not in Seal Team Delta and don't play in sandboxes, so they suit my needs well. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

 

[Tisto]

Maybe I got lucky. My Zombie AR uses one of their barrels and so far, no issues at all. Everything fir perfectly and works as expected.

But, Thanks for your review, I will keep it in mind down the road.

I guess I got lucky too ? The barrel I have shoots sub-moa with good ammo and had no issues with the gas port. Although the chamber is min-spec, there are no headspace issues. However, the barrel is the only BCA part in that upper.

Try Carolina Barrel Company…decent stuff better quality than BCA

AR15-Overstock

Find deals on AR15-Overstock, build your own AR15 Pistol Kit, or customize with an AR15 Micro or ARP. Shop quality parts and accessories now

www.cbcpfa.com

This may be an option. Thanks for the recommendation. I've never heard of these guys before.

Someone else mentioned DelTon and Palmetto. I'm pretty sure he looked at their offerings and couldn't find what he wanted. He's looking for a hunting rifle, not so much a range toy. His main interests are it's accuracy, hence his interest in the long 5R barrel and the Wylde chamber. If $$ wasn't an issue, I would just build him one, but that doesn't appear to be an option...yet.


In all fairness, I have bought barrels from companies well known for their quality that had issues. Some of you may remember the problems I had with a Wilson Combat build.

 

[Jem45472]

I sold a brand new bca 556 to someone who had issues with it. Possible mag related, but it sounded more like being under gassed to me. I never heard back from him, so not sure what was up, other than it would only fire one shot at a time.

 

[ArmedCorgi]

I sold a brand new bca 556 to someone who had issues with it. Possible mag related, but it sounded more like being under gassed to me. I never heard back from him, so not sure what was up, other than it would only fire one shot at a time.

What kind of gas block did it have? If it wasn't secured right, it could have walked and not be lined up with the gas port.

 

[RooftopKorean]

I bought a 458 upper on Gunbroker a while back from some guy Alex based in Long Island.

All the issues I had with it sounds familiar now. It only fired one round and wouldnt cycle. Eventually, I found that the hole in the gas block was too small. I ended up replacing the upper with one from Precision Firearms.

I wonder if that guy was selling BCA stuff as his own.

I guess it's a crap shoot with their quality control. My friend bought a BCA lower in .223 wylde for his first AR build and its been going strong for 3 years now.

I personally like the AR-stoner line (MidwayUSA brand??) for my budget builds.

 

[RooftopKorean]

Also, I can't support PSA mainly because of how easily they caved into that animal Leticia James threats. They are also way too slow with the order processing and shipping.

 

[FP1201]

Price wise they're tough to beat.
They were offering complete Rifles for $349.99 Bear Creek Arsenal ?
We've bought, installed, and worked on enough to know that work MAY be required to make them fully Serviceable.
Customer Service was great when they fired up, became shitty, and now seems to be where it should be. (keep problems like growing pains, covid, attrition, etc. in mind)
I do like their Side Charging uppers, they even make a Left Handed one...
My Complaints: I bought an AR-10 in .308 and the fucker would not cycle, the Barrel was FILTHY and obviously fired A LOT, which was unacceptable for a "new" Product: went back, but they would not or seeming could not grasp the FACT they had sent me something previously used (customer return they flipped?)
Also in the AR10 line has been 6.5CM that was an ass-ache where cartridges were getting damaged and had failure to cycle/eject: opened the gas port and avoided Winchester White Box Ammo and haven't heard any complaints from the Customer since...Oh, and changed from a Mag-Pul Magazine to a Dura-Mag and the feeding issue went away; This is NOT to disparage Mag-Pul as I like their magazines best of all, but they aren't everything, and have had zero issues/complaints with the Dura-Mag's

 

[jimc]

I have a BCA side charge upper in .223 Wylde and I'm very happy with it. It's pretty accurate and has been very reliable.

 

[Tisto]

Try Carolina Barrel Company…decent stuff better quality than BCA

AR15-Overstock

Find deals on AR15-Overstock, build your own AR15 Pistol Kit, or customize with an AR15 Micro or ARP. Shop quality parts and accessories now

www.cbcpfa.com

I did a bit of looking today, and it seems that CBC has a ton of complaints registered with the BBB. I must have read through 20 of them. It doesn't sound like he should do business with these guys either.