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Old January 16, 2018, 09:28 AM   #1
Kvon2
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Bear Creek Arsenal...Pleasantly Surprised!

So I've been wanting an AR chambered in 7.62x39 for a while now mad after seeing these on sale by BCA for $400 I finally gave in. I took it out to the range for three first timer this past weekend and I have to admit, I'm really impressed.

I've heard mixed reviews on BCA but this thing functioned flawlessly through about 200 rounds and was shooting about 2 inch groups at 50 yards with a cheap truglo red dot and tulammo.

The rifles fit and finish is solid, The only rattle is in three adjustable stock which is normal and I plan on replacing anyways.

I will say the trigger, which is just a standard mil spec, is about as gritty as I've ever felt. Still shot well and for $400 I'll have room in the budget to replacer the trigger later.

Very satisfied!
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Old January 16, 2018, 09:31 AM   #2
zipspyder
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I purchased one of their ruskie AR's over a year ago. It fires every time and consistently. I replaced the trigger and updated a couple springs and now it's even more accurate. Couldn't be happier.
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Old January 16, 2018, 09:55 AM   #3
stagpanther
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I wonder if their's and PSA barrels are made at the same place--my AR47 upper I got from PSA is similarly very pleasing in performance--with my handloads and a 4x scope I can get the same results at 100yds.
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Old January 16, 2018, 10:23 AM   #4
brasscollector
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I have a few BCA barrels and the last couple uppers I've put together have been 90% BCA. All the barrels are proven performers IME. The uppers haven't been run very much yet but so far they've been 100% functional.
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Old January 16, 2018, 06:39 PM   #5
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I missed their $41 Xmas barrel sale... still kicking myself.
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Old January 16, 2018, 08:33 PM   #6
Hdonly
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Just bought a Bear Creek 7.62x39 upper complete for $199. Fit my Anderson lower perfectly. Got out for a few minutes yesterday and fired 30 rounds of tulammo. Had two failues to feed. I am positive it is the Promag magazine. Just ordered a C Products 10 rounder to see. Bouncing spraypaint cans all around at 30 yards. I like it so far.
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Old January 16, 2018, 08:59 PM   #7
Kvon2
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@Hdonly,

That's the same upper that came with my complete rifle. I ordered 2 C products mags and they both ran perfectly. Hopefully it fixes the issue!
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Old January 16, 2018, 09:33 PM   #8
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No problems feeding any of 3 different 7.62x39 AR's while using C-Prod mags.
Re: BCA uppers. I made a spur of the moment purchase of a BCA 6.5 Grendel upper. It's functional for the most part but still a wee bit stiff which continued shooting may remedy. Accuracy wise, it's marginal with WOLF FMJ(1 1/2-2") but acceptable with Hornady 123 (both SST and ELD) with groups in the 1" range.
This may improve with continued shooting(I'm hoping anyway) as I'd like to see something closer to 1/2-3/4" in order to utilize the longer range capabilities of the 6.5G.
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Old January 17, 2018, 09:59 AM   #9
angel71rs
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My BCA 7.62x39 AR was reliable from the get go with the Bears and Wolf, but had about 20% fail to fire with the Golden Tiger, about 10% FTF with Uly 8M3. An enhanced firing pin pretty much took care of problem with the 8M3, still had occasional FTF with the GT.

Didn't really want to make the trigger heavier, but I have a ton of GT, so went ahead and installed a Wolff extra power hammer spring to try and get it reliable with it too. As long as I was in there, smoothed trigger contact surfaces with 400 sandpaper, then polished with 1000. Ended up ~ 1 lb heavier on my trigger scale, but since it was much smoother, felt better than it did out of the box. Could not feel the extra lb, so happy with result.

It's been 100% since then, no indication of punctured primers with the foreign ammo, don't know if it would be an issue with US made stuff. Gets really dirty after 100 or so rounds, bolt movement gets stiff with crud, but it stays reliable. Direct impingement and rooskie ammo makes for mud that's for sure. I might try seeing how many rounds it can go before it starts to have problems cycling on a future range trip.

Bullet tips hit front of ASC mags when hand cycling. Left convenient copper marks on mags to show how far to cut for clearance with die grinder. C Product mags already came with plenty of clearance.

I don't remember with which mags, but sometimes the followers would stick when I tried to push a few rounds up and down the mag with my thumbs to check for smooth movement where they curve. Saw a youtube vid where a guy tapped along the spine of the mags lightly with a hammer to fix the problem. Did it to my sticky mags, fixed. All my mags worked fine at the range after these tweeks.

I put a Limbsaver on the collapsible stock, really helps tame the felt recoil, much better than my AKs. Feels almost like a 5.56 AR.

Didn't scope it, so can't speak as to absolute accuracy, but seems accurate enough with red dot and MBUS I put on it shooting at a chest size steel at 175 yds offhand. I'm keeping an eagle eye on the bolt lugs, so far not a hint of failure.
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Old January 18, 2018, 03:26 AM   #10
50 shooter
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I encourage everyone to buy from BCA, last year on veterans day they gave away 5000 of their barrels to any veteran! Needless to say I got one and will be picking up another of their side charging uppers, which are very nice. When I talked to them on the phone the customer service lady was very nice and confirmed my order and everything that went with it.

I'm using one of their side charging uppers for my 7mm Valkyrie project. Some of you might have seen it in the general rifle forum when I posted it. I bumped it up if anyone wants to see it.

Again, buy BCA and enjoy a great product from a great company!
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Old January 18, 2018, 10:33 AM   #11
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"I missed their $41 Xmas barrel sale... still kicking myself."
Maybe you should be patting yourself on the back. I just mounted a $50(delivered) barrel (brand name withheld)last week and it's so rough I can barely push a cleaning patch through.
When the weather warms up a bit, I've got 2x ammo cans full of reject bullet reloads that I'm going to run down the tube and see if it gets better or worse.
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Old January 18, 2018, 05:09 PM   #12
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There are many complaints that rust in the bore and chamber at the AR15 forum
https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/Be...er/121-718119/
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Old January 19, 2018, 08:32 AM   #13
Hdonly
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I had heard about the rust after I ordered mine. When I got it though, it was clean and shiny. Curious how many are rusty.
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Old January 19, 2018, 08:56 AM   #14
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To be clear on this they had a small batch of rusted barrels, which were not stored correctly that were sold over the holiday sale. Just contact them to see what can be done. I don't even know what this means: "it's so rough I can barely push a cleaning patch through."? Was it top rust, corrosion, etc...did you check the bore afterwards?
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Old January 21, 2018, 07:03 AM   #15
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My buddy bought two Bear Creek barrels. Fit and finish one one was perfect, the other not so much. We installed the better one and he sold the other.

The accuracy is okay up to 50 yards, beyond that, it starts to lose its accuracy. This was going to be a hunting rifle so we may replace the barrel. Otherwise, it's a plinker.
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Old January 21, 2018, 08:05 AM   #16
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"I don't even know what this means: "it's so rough I can barely push a cleaning patch through."? Was it top rust, corrosion, etc...did you check the bore afterwards?"

It means the BORE IS ROUGH as in poorly finished. Not pitted but apparently has significant chatter or scaling during the rifling process. Check the barrel afterwards?? I can see light from end to end and it's sort of shiny inside.
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Old January 21, 2018, 09:14 AM   #17
zipspyder
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Quote:
It means the BORE IS ROUGH as in poorly finished. Not pitted but apparently has significant chatter or scaling during the rifling process. Check the barrel afterwards?? I can see light from end to end and it's sort of shiny inside.
So you didn't use a bore scope? Have you shot it yet? I wonder if it's bad enough for them to replace...
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Old January 27, 2018, 08:54 PM   #18
Mobuck
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" I just mounted a $50(delivered) barrel (brand name withheld)last week and it's so rough I can barely push a cleaning patch through.
When the weather warms up a bit, I've got 2x ammo cans full of reject bullet reloads that I'm going to run down the tube and see if it gets better or worse."

Update on this excerpt from my previous post: After less than 40 rounds this "rough as a cob" bore is throwing close to MOA groups with bargain basement reloaded ammo and a 1-3x optic. I'm more than surprised.
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Old January 30, 2018, 10:40 AM   #19
625TC
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Don't you just love it when things happen like that
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Old January 30, 2018, 03:36 PM   #20
Hdonly
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Finally got my 10rd CPD magazine in. Looks like it will be nice enough weather to shoot it again tomorrow.

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