BCA Side Charging Upper for a hunting rifle -- Opinions please

[Michael-95037]

Hey everyone, new guy here. Sorry if this has been asked before, but... I'm thinking of building a new 6.5 Grendel hunting rifle using a BCA side charging upper and BCG, then mating it to a Wilson Combat 18" barrel. This will sit on top of an 80% lower I finished a few years back with a recently added 3.5 lb. Rise Armament trigger. Does anyone here have any experience with the BCA side charging upper? Any other side charging uppers I should be looking at? I'd like this rifle to be able to produce 1 MOA at 250 yards (not a problem for me with my Ruger 6.5 Creedmoor). I'm thinking side-charging because I have a hell of a time charging my 5.56x45 with a decent size scope (4-16x50mm) on it. All opinions are welcome.

Thanks,
Michael

[drewthebrave]

I built my 11.5" 5.56 pistol with a BCA side-charging upper. I haven't run it hard yet, but it has worked well so far. I did have to grind down the anti-rotation tabs on the ALG rail to make it fit. It only took about 5-10 minutes of filing a little bit at a time.

I've read stories of the charging handle coming loose, so I have loc-tite on mine. But if you want to remove the BCG, you'll have to remove the handle. Might be tough to field strip if needed.

The side charger definitely keeps your hand away from the scope if that's your primary concern.

Edit: wouldn't let me post a photo. Here's the link to mine: http://imgur.com/gallery/XoHh1Mw

[BLUE72CAMARO]

Interested in this as well as I am building a hunting rig myself and have decided I would rather have a side charger because I plan on putting an infared or thermal optic on it for night hunting coyotes. The other setup I have been eyeballing is the young manufacturing side charge and bcg which is pretty much the same design but is quite a bit pricier than the BCA group though but also probably a step up in quality. There are also several non reciprocating uppers out there that have the charging handle on the left hand side but I think I would prefer mine on the right as that is common with all my other semi auto guns.

[LtDan]

I have 6 side charger bca uppers 3 grendels, 1 valkyrie, 2 556's all work great

[Michael-95037]

Thanks for the replies.

LtDan & Drew -- How good is the finish on these uppers? What lowers are you mating these with? How's the fit with the lower? The pictures look nice, but I've never seen one first hand.

For the $120 price, I'm probably going to order one. That is if they're ever back in stock. I don't think much of the of the results I've seen from BCA barrels, but with a Wilson Combat barrel on this upper, I'm hoping for another tack driver.

Blue -- I've seen some others (AR-Stoner, Young Mfg., Sanders Armory, Aero Precision), but they are all significantly more $$$. I'm also thinking I want a right side charger. I'm not a tacti-cool guy, I'm a hunter, and the right side charger is much more familiar to me.

[drewthebrave]

The finish is fine, nothing special. I have it mated to a lower from a local shop that has an anodized finish comparable to my Aero Precision parts. The BCA finish matches in color pretty well, but it has a little more "texture" than my other parts that I can compare it to (Aero, ALG, BCM, local machine shop).

It's not gonna win any beauty contests, but I wouldn't call it a bad finish.

[LtDan]

I order just the receiver and the BCG make my own barrel nut and handguard most of these are not gassed guns but essentially straight pull action rifles. I mainly just bench shoot and in Commiefornia too many issues with AR's in Semi. The finish is OK I really don't care about that all of my lowers are 80's and some are left plain, no finish. I do spend my money on triggers.

[pinetreebbs]

I love mine, just put some removable thread sealant on the charging handle fastener threads. It should be good to go for a hunting trip, but I've had them loosen during an extended range trip. A spare handle and fastener in your field bag will probably cause it never to loosen.

[sqeezeatrigger]

Hey everyone, new guy here. Sorry if this has been asked before, but... I'm thinking of building a new 6.5 Grendel hunting rifle using a BCA side charging upper and BCG, then mating it to a Wilson Combat 18" barrel. This will sit on top of an 80% lower I finished a few years back with a recently added 3.5 lb. Rise Armament trigger. Does anyone here have any experience with the BCA side charging upper? Any other side charging uppers I should be looking at? I'd like this rifle to be able to produce 1 MOA at 250 yards (not a problem for me with my Ruger 6.5 Creedmoor). I'm thinking side-charging because I have a hell of a time charging my 5.56x45 with a decent size scope (4-16x50mm) on it. All opinions are welcome.

Thanks,
Michael

My first side charger (6.5 grendel) is Mega side charging upper with Young Manufacturing carrier and Alexander bolt. Alexander barrel,Noveske lower and Giessle SSA-E trigger. Pricey but a sweet shooter. Then is my economy side charger with the BCA upper/bc and Voodoo bolt in 5.45x39 with Larue trigger. Inexpensive but a blast to shoot! No problems with the BCA upper at all. You will like the side charging aspect. Good Luck!

[FLshooter]