Bear Creek Arsenal AR uppers?

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They did have some teething problems at first but seem to have gotten them fixed. People looking for inexpensive uppers have for the most part been happy with Bear Creak. You will always get some that will bad mouth anything that cost less that what they personally bought. The bad mouthing seems to be worse when it comes to AR's and 1911s.
 
I have a free floated one in 7.62x39 that has been fantastic so far. I'm very impressed for the price.

Granted I dont get out to shoot it that much. I've put about 200 rounds through it. Im excited to see how it will do for deer this next season
 
I have one in 450 Bushmaster. Its been reliable and more than hunting accurate. I'm not an AR guy so I wouldn't know the difference between a Bear Creek and a noveske upper. It works, thats good enough for me.
 
Ordered a 450 Bushmaster upper (for grandson) then I researched it closer and began seeing all kinds of negative things with the BBB. Got a sick feeling to my stomach, was too late to cancel the order. Got the upper delivered today by UPS and was pleased to find it's not the catastrophe others had painted. Lower pin alignment with the upper was perfect, nice tight fit. Just got back from the range with it and it performed great. Find no fault with it at all. Still puzzled how they can sell them for so much less than the other 500 web sites out there. ($245)

Big thumbs up! :thumbup:

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Six rounds open sights, lower hole was first shot before adjusting sights.
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Ive had a few of them. The first was well enough made but rough around the edges.
The second and third are more recent, and surprisingly nice for the cost.

I ripped them apart, and reassembled everything just because its something i do. So ive seen and felt all the individual parts, and at least on my uppers, the worst i found were some mill marks in the receivers, and the barrel nuts are on ridiculously tight.
Barrels are even relatively smooth from what i can see.
 
I’ve got a 20” HB-fluted 6.5Grendel upper. I only paid $192.00 shipped. I’ve shot several 3-shot under moa groups. 5-shot moa have been fewer, but have occurred. I’m pleased!

I also bought two Glock barrels for a G22. The 9mm barrel is decent. Got it to shoot cast 9’s. Better than a Glock barrel and good for a drop-in Fit barrel.
The .40S&W replacement barrel is nothing short of fantastic! Accuracy is better than ANY other Glock I’ve shot. Factory .40 barrel is -maybe 5” at 25yds. The BCA barrel is sub 2” at 25yds. One 6-shot group went 1.25” with Lee 175gr Cast over 4.3gr of Bullseye.

I’m a fan of BCA. My only complaint about my 6.5 barrel is it’s too heavy to hunt with... think- crew served AR!
means I’m waiting for a 20” A2 profile 6.5 bbl.

BTW, the .40 barrel cost $43 shipped! $47 for 9mm bbl.
 
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GooseGestapo said:
I’ve got a 20” HB-fluted 6.5Grendel upper. I only paid $192.00 shipped. I’ve shot several 3-shot under moa groups. 5-shot moa have been fewer, but have occurred. I’m pleased!

I also bought two Glock barrels for a G22. The 9mm barrel is decent. Got it to shoot cast 9’s. Better than a Glock barrel and good for a drop-in Fit barrel.
The .40S&W replacement barrel is nothing short of fantastic! Accuracy is better than ANY other Glock I’ve shot. Factory .40 barrel is -maybe 5” at 25yds. The BCA barrel is sub 2” at 25yds. One 6-shot group went 1.25” with Lee 175gr Cast over 4.3gr of Bullseye.

I’m a fan of BCA. My only complaint about my 6.5 barrel is it’s too heavy to hunt with... think- crew served AR!
means I’m waiting for a 20” A2 profile 6.5 bbl.

BTW, the .40 barrel cost $43 shipped! $47 for 9mm bbl.
Click to expand...
yeah mines a 20" unfluted, and weighs something like 12lbs with my midas scope and carbine lower.
I had a 20" "pencil" barrel that made a fantastic hunting rifle.
 
I have hands-on experience with 3 (pistol and rifle) BCA uppers. One had a broken extractor on the first shot, handled via warranty to my satisfaction.

All perform just as I expected them to, and if I were building or spec'ing another, I would again turn to BCA or PSA.
 
I have a couple and a friend and his son has a few, so far no problems, I removed the barrel to lap the receiver and found very little needed truing, I've been looking at their site and the sale prices are higher than I remember as I was wanting to purchase another in 450bm or 458.
 
I've heard both good and bad about BCA products. Some say they are an excellent deal while others complain of various issues.

As a cheap way to try out .300AAC, I bought a BCA 8.5" upper complete with BCG for $184 shipped.

I've only had it out once with ~100 rounds through it, but so far I am happy with it.

Fit and finish is decent and it had no issues but it doesn't seem to be exceptionally accurate.

For under $200, it is acceptable (3-4 moa) considering it's only 8.5" long.

I also have two of their stripped side charging uppers with BCGs but haven't had a chance to build them yet.

The fit and finish look good but I have heard of issues with the charging handle coming loose if it isn't Loctited on.
 
vkeith said:
I've heard both good and bad about BCA products. Some say they are an excellent deal while others complain of various issues.

As a cheap way to try out .300AAC, I bought a BCA 8.5" upper complete with BCG for $184 shipped.

I've only had it out once with ~100 rounds through it, but so far I am happy with it.

Fit and finish is decent and it had no issues but it doesn't seem to be exceptionally accurate.

For under $200, it is acceptable (3-4 moa) considering it's only 8.5" long.

I also have two of their stripped side charging uppers with BCGs but haven't had a chance to build them yet.

The fit and finish look good but I have heard of issues with the charging handle coming loose if it isn't Loctited on.
Click to expand...
The charging handles are soft steel and The bolts dont have a shoulder, so yes they come loose.
I chec the stock one after every range trip. I made a stumpier one from an old bow sightlight for my .350 upper and it dosent seem to come loose as bad, but i still check it every time.
 
I have a 350 Legend upper that did not come from BCA but it used BCA barrel,bolt,and receiver. That thing showed to be acceptably accurate 1.5moa or better at 100 yards but it was terribly unreliable. I didn't try any CS routes so with some judicious feed ramp grinding and polishing, along with a good chamfer and polish on the mouth of the barrel it now feeds 100% reliably.

IMO BCA needs to look at their barrel chamfer and feed ramp shape if they want to send out a reliable 350 Legend upper. For the money spent and if you don't mind possibly having to tweak things some the BCA is a good bet.
 
I got a BCA 10.5" 223 Wylde side charging upper 2 months ago. A little rough (chatter in the upper and burrs on the handrail machining) but overall I liked the setup. I shot Tula steel and Federal 64gr Power Shok at 40 yards to sight it in. The Tula shot 20 MOA and the Federal about 8 MOA. It was my only day at the range I was able to get all of quarantine so I was not happy.

I sent it in a few weeks back. They are very slow to answer any emails or their phone right now so I didn't even know if they received it back for 2 weeks. I hope to be really happy with the repair. I really like the side-charging concept.

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Update: BCA got back to me that they can't the upper to shoot well enough at the factory and are looking to refund me (they haven't yet). Pretty bummed with this whole transaction. Lost my only range day since Covid hit and now I'm looking for another upper...
 
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