Bear Creek Arsenal Complete Uppers

[ported45]

Also just noticed this barrel is marked 5R; I ordered conventional rifling.

[1Shot]

I went to the range today and shot my BCA some more and it is shooting better every trip. I have it down to shooting 1" groups at 100 yards with the load it prefers and most others are 1 1/2" consistently. I guess it is just needing 100 rounds or so through it to slick up the bore before it starts shooting OK.

[drykilned]

My 18" stainless hbar in anderson upper receiver, 12.5" round free floated handguard, with the anderson lower off my 5.56 shot 3 3shot sub moa groups after only 2 rounds before. (1) get on paper at 25 yds and(2) make sure sight corrections got there for 100 yds. 140 grain speer, 28 grains cfe 123. By the way, barrel is bca from american classic. Waiting for my second magazine. Already lost the first one after i tuned it to feed correctly. Using the 140's to break it in. Left over from 6.5x55. Disappointing velocities at 2110fps.

Is the 5r rifling supposed to drop velocity?

[grayfox]

5R supposedly can add up to about 50 ft/sec give or take, but I don't recall seeing any objective data on that. I had one 18" barrel that was 40-50 ft/s faster than I thought it would be, but a couple others are right about where others report for that length.

[drykilned]

Thanks, grayfox, i plan on setting up next for the 123 sst as that is what i plan to use on deer. Will make more thorough check for velocity and accuracy then. Was just curious as i have never had a 5r rifle. (that is, of course, after i get my new magazine and get it to where it will feed and close bolt completely!)

by the way, my eyes and finger coordination play hell with using upper case/lower case changes so i always use upper case. Kudos to whoever designed this website to automatically correct that! First time i ever encountered this!

[NightFisher]

Yes there is a thread on extractor mod, as well as a johnny reloading youtube video. It is a somewhat common problem with 6.5 grendal. The tips of the extractor biting the brass. Easily fixed by pulling the extractor and lightly sanding the tips

I've seen that thread, not the problem I am seeing with the extractor. If you look at the picture the bolt on the left is one of the Monster Bolts from the group buy. The one on the right is the BCA bolt. What I am seeing is that the ramp that causes the extractor to ride over the rim of the case as the bolt closes does not appear to be out far enough.

IMG_4565.jpg

[grayfox]

NF, maybe it's my eyes but the extractor on the right seems a bit smaller than the Monster one on the left?
Why not pull them off and measure their dimensions, esp around the radius and head-piece. Also measure the gripping-gap (don't know the real name of that gripper-slot...)
If it's just an extractor problem, IIRC Precision Firearms and a few other places (maybe Brownells) have extractors you can order as a separate piece. They should specify to be a "6.5 Grendel" extractor, not just a 556 or whatever.
While they are apart clean the slot where they rest, also what is the status of the spring and o-ring. For extractors that have trouble sliding over the case bottom you can try taking off that o-ring (leave the spring in!) and cycle without it.
As a trouble shoot, you could also maybe also put the Monster extractor in place on the right (I would do this before taking out the o-ring, only trouble shoot one change at a time).

[NightFisher]

Pulled them apart and did some measurements. I thought the BCA Bolt would have a significantly deeper slot but while it was a bit deeper there was only 0.010" difference. The extractor is a lot different. It looks like they took a Dremel tool to it at some point, the gripping edge was cut back quite a bit and the chamfer on the forward edge was not angled as well as the extractor on the Monster bolt extractor. I think some of the problem came from what they did to the spring. No O-Ring but they had a small rubber "post" inserted inside the spring to increase the tension. This post was longer than the height of most o-rings I have seen here so it must have been putting a lot more pressure on the back of the extractor. I am done experimenting with this thing, the group buy Monster Bolt looks a lot better (fit and finish) and the one I have in my Grendel runs perfect so for $55 I will replace the whole bolt and move on. The BCA bolt with join a lot of other things I consider a POS at the bottom of the creek behind my house.

Hopefully I will be able to get this rifle shooting to see if the barrel is a keeper but I am afraid there will be more parts from Bear Creek Arsenal joining the hardware at the bottom of the creek.

[Sticks]

And most times its a joke when someone says their firearms were lost in a boating accident.

[NightFisher]

The coastal region is well suited for those boating accidents. This "creek" behind my house is a tidal creek that is about 150 yards wide, 5 feet deep (at high tide), with 4 feet of soft silt on the bottom. Anything thrown in there that doesn't float sinks to the bottom of that mud in a few days leaving no trace on the surface. Anything I really want to "disappear" can be carried offshore and dropped in 3,000 to 10,000 feet of water. Took them 70 years to find the Titanic, they will never find anything I can drop overboard there.

[IescapedCali]

My BCA bolt locked into battery against the no-go gauge. I replaced it with the GB monster bolt, and it passed the test. Going to cannibalize the bad bolt for parts I might need later, and go find the creek behind NIghtFisher’s house.

[The Adjuster]

[1Shot]

You better run and purchase a lottery ticket while your luck is still running hot. LOL Looks like you came up golden on the roll of the dice with BCA. I am still tinkering with loads for my BCA. Best so for is down to 1". I am hoping that it will get better the more I shoot it. I have lost exact shot count but know it is between 75 and 100 rounds down the bore so far. Hope to get back to the range soon if the weather will cooperate. Hear lately when it is warm enough and not raining and I can get the time to go the wind has blowing hard.

[Crracer712]

Sounds like you got the same upper I bought, mine shoots great too! Haven't tried any steel cased ammo, probably won't though.

[rickt300]

I finally figured I would just call them about a military discount. Got someone on the phone first try. They told me to email them a copy of my DD214 (retirees will know what this is). Got an email back like 5 minutes later stating the discount was added to my account (you have to create an account with them first). I placed an order for a 20" SS non fluted upper and the 10% discount showed up in my "cart". With this upper and an upgraded complete lower from PSA, I'll be all in at <$550.

I never felt good about sending a copy of my DD214 out to anyone. There was an American Legion that had someone use them as a basis for identity theft.