Bear Creek Arsenal Glock 22 40-9mm conversion barrel review

[LiveLife]

Didn't want to sidetrack the other thread that discussed both Bear Creek Arsenal rifle and pistol barrels so starting a new thread to focus on 40-9mm conversion barrel.

During Black Friday, thanks to member funklord12, I ordered 2 BCA conversion barrels for $42.99 and free shipping (It's still $42.99) - https://www.bearcreekarsenal.com/bc...-9mm-conversion-barrel-stainless-steel-finish



I received the conversion barrels today and did some checking. BCA barrel has 1:16 twist rate, same as Lone Wolf barrel, which is what most aftermarket match barrels run (Wilson Combat recently changed their barrel twist rate from 1:10 to 1:16). BTW, KKM has 1:20 twist rate and Tactical Kinetics has 1:10 twist rate.



Using my subjective reloaded round hand "feel", I noticed BCA chambers felt slightly tighter than KKM chamber (on par with newest Lone Wolf barrel chamber which is tightest 9mm chamber I have seen. Yes, the one that has almost no leade and I need to load rounds shorter) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...g-oal-col-for-reference.848462/#post-11068321

Both conversion barrels "dropped in" the slide with reliable slide function.



As shown above, BCA barrel came reamed (like my older Lone Wolf barrels).

The following dummy rounds I had on my bench dropped in the barrel freely with a "plonk" and spun without hitting the rifling and fed reliably from the magazines (factory Glock and Magpul 9mm magazines):

• RMR 124 gr FMJ RN @ 1.175"
  
• RMR 124 gr FMJ FP Match Winner @ 1.070"
• Speer 124 gr Gold Dot HP @ 1.125"
• Hornady 124 gr HAP @ 1.085"
• MBC 124 gr Hi-Tek coated RN @ 1.050"
• MBC 147 gr Lead FP @ 1.125"

I will do a comparison range test when I get a break in the rain.

 

[barnetmill]

relative to twist the original 9x19 Luger and most military twists are like closer to 1 in 10 inches that is way faster than most would think necessary to stabilize any bullet that one could conceivably use. My guess it might help with penetration. The PO8 luger was adopted when horses were very much part of warfare and a guess on my part penetration was important that would include killing a horse and shooting through heavy winter clothing.
I am not sure what the is ideal twist.

 

[fxvr5]

Some measurements might be useful, such as the width of the hood, length of hood, barrel diameter at the front lockup area - and of the Glock OEM barrel, too.

It would be of interest to see how their tolerances match with the Glock OEM barrel. I have a couple aftermarket barrels for a Glock 19 and their tolerance are very close to the OEM barrel.

 

[Grayrock]

Is one able to use the 22 magazines with 9mm ammo? If not, what magazine would one use?

 

[Robbins290]

Grayrock, you can use a glock 17 mag. Tho i have never has issued using a stock 40 S&W mag with 9mm in a conversion barrel.

 

[LiveLife]

Is one able to use the 22 magazines with 9mm ammo? If not, what magazine would one use?

Older generations of Glock 22 magazines or magazines with worn spring/mag follower/lips may not reliably feed 9mm rounds.

As Robbins290 posted, I found most newer generations of G22 magazines worked with 9mm so I tell people to try their G22 magazine first before buying G17 magazine.

Some measurements might be useful, such as the width of the hood, length of hood, barrel diameter at the front lockup area - and of the Glock OEM barrel, too.

• Measurements: hood length, hood width, barrel diameter
• Glock: 1.218", 0.427", 0.590"
• BCA: 1.217", 0.427", 0.590"
  
• KKM: 1.218", 0.423", 0.590"
• Lone Wolf: 1.217", 0.427", 0.590"
• Tactical Kinetics: 1.214", 0.427", 0.589"

 

[fxvr5]

Measurements: hood length, hood width, barrel diameter

• Glock: 1.218", 0.427", 0.590"
• BCA: 1.217", 0.427", 0.590"
  
• KKM: 1.218", 0.423", 0.590"
• Lone Wolf: 1.217", 0.427", 0.590"
• Tactical Kinetics: 1.214", 0.427", 0.589"

Interesting. Thanks.

None of them offer a better fit that the OEM barrel. That won't help their accuracy.

 

[LiveLife]

But they are all "drop in"

I am planning to do a comparison range test if rain stays away.

 

[1KPerDay]

Interesting. Thanks.

None of them offer a better fit that the OEM barrel. That won't help their accuracy.

Unless it does.

 

[fxvr5]

Unless it does.

Even the best barrel won't produce good groups if it has a sloppy fit. When a barrel has a sloppy fit, and that includes even a few thousandths of an inch, it can be pointed in a slightly different spot for each shot. That degrades accuracy.

That's why such extreme care is taken when building guns for precision, like bullseye guns. Ideally, one wants a barrel that fits tight in the slide and with the bushing, the bushing to fit tight in the slide, the slide to fit tight to the frame, and the barrel's feet to fit tight to the slide stop (in a 1911). The point is to get it to put the barrel in the same spot for every shot. And the chamber has to be 'tight' as well, so that each cartridge sits in the same relative spot for every shot. Tight tolerances mean less slop. That's the secret to repeatable precision. That's why a lot of labor goes into building bullseye guns. It takes a lot of time to hand-fit the critical parts.

Then comes the fun of finding out what the barrel will shoot the best.

 

[1KPerDay]

Sometimes the unexpected happens if you actually test things.

 

[fxvr5]

Sometimes the unexpected happens if you actually test things.

Rigorous testing is consistent with what I posted. Ask bullseye shooters and bullseye gunsmiths.

Random, small groups with small round counts are meaningless because they happen by chance. Focusing on the smallest group of several groups fired (with the same ammo) is sampling bias because that is the group size that is farthest from the dispersion of all the shots combined, and all the shots combined is the best representative of how a gun shoots that ammo. https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2019/9/25/accuracy-testing-shortcomings-of-the-five-shot-group/

 

[1KPerDay]

Sounds great thanks