Bear Creek Arsenal Uppers....6MM Arc

champ198

champ198

Active member
was doing a little searching around the last few days and would like to get a 6mmARC upper and give it a go for whitetail this year.
Found the Bear Creek Arsenal website and looking at their uppers i like the idea of the side charging upper.
But have also heard mixed reviews on their uppers.
Also have heard that they are the supplier for the Midway USA "AR Stoner" brand.
I Have a good friend who has a bunch of ARs and quite a few with the AR Stoner uppers and they shoot great.

But I have read on here that the Bear Creek uppers are not really great and have quite a few crown issues on the barrel.

So what are some of your opinions on the Bear Creek stuff. Have you used an upper and it shot fine?
Or are you one of the ones that got a bad one?
 
Bear Creek is like the UTG of the AR world. There are several quality products that come out of their factories... but most of the time, they're pretty mediocre, and lackluster. Same with Faxon and other high production outfits. Radical Arms in Houston has been plagued with this badge of honor for the past few years also. These are just examples of how companies enter the market, low pricing, get big, and cannot give enough attention to quality control that they end up with significant levels of returns or warranty work.

The issue is they try to enter into a saturated market with the lowest price possible... and nothing cheap is ever Prime quality.

As far as Midway USA's "AR STONER" brand, they source from multiple contractors over the course of operation... they have a set of standards that has to be adhered to, as well as price point as well. Satern was once one of those companies supplying barrels for years. It changes as the market changes.

If I were wanting to set up a rifle chambered in 6mmARC, to obtain the potential that the cartridge has to offer, I'd not skimp on the barrel. The upper receivers are going to be the next important thing to that barrel. If you do not want to build one, reach out to any of the sponsors here, or look around in your region, too. Lots of hobbyists here, and seven some "builders" that do this commercially that might have some sources for semi-custom or assembled options that the search engines are not showing you too.
 
I have several BCA uppers. As mentioned above, you get what you pay for. Some are great shooters some not so much.
Atleast if its not a great shooter, you have a side charger you rebarrel.
 
I just bought a bca 243 upper I’m waiting for the lower to get here. It should be here Friday. I went with the rear charger with the forward assist. I’ve been tinkering with ar15’s since the late 1900’s very late but still the 1900’s :) I could not get myself to get a side charger even though I thought it was pretty cool. I’ve had too many times while hunting where I’ve needed to pull the bolt out and wipe things down or troubleshoot a problem in the field.
 
I will give you my opinion of bear creek. I have built 6-8 ar's in 450bm using their uppers 16in and 18in with the side charging uppers for deer hunting in Iowa and the only issue is with a couple of the 16in needing to reset the gas blocks due to the slightly out of line and wouldn't cycle right. I also built one 762x39, 223 and 22LR with side charging and have only had an issue with the 22lr that i had to pull it apart and really run it wet and clean the chamber really well for the 1st 200 rounds to get it to function right. Are they cheap? Yes. but going into it knowing that I was surprised at how well they grouped. Were they 1/4moa. NO. But all shot 3/4 moa or better. So take it for what it is worth.
 
deaddogwalkin said:
I will give you my opinion of bear creek. I have built 6-8 ar's in 450bm using their uppers 16in and 18in with the side charging uppers for deer hunting in Iowa and the only issue is with a couple of the 16in needing to reset the gas blocks due to the slightly out of line and wouldn't cycle right. I also built one 762x39, 223 and 22LR with side charging and have only had an issue with the 22lr that i had to pull it apart and really run it wet and clean the chamber really well for the 1st 200 rounds to get it to function right. Are they cheap? Yes. but going into it knowing that I was surprised at how well they grouped. Were they 1/4moa. NO. But all shot 3/4 moa or better. So take it for what it is worth.
Click to expand...
all are 3/4 moa or better? thats a huge statement, no offense but id like to know under what conditions and distances.
 
I personally don't have any BCA stuff, but I have done a lot of looking into them over the past few years. It seems like their now is better than stuff of yesteryear.
 
My only experience with them and my handloads:

BCA .243 Barrel Nut Wrench

Bought a BCA .243 Win for a guest gun since I read some decent accuracy reports on it even though it has 1:8T. After fire forming some brass and bumping the shoulders back .003-.004, I started load work up using H4350 and 87 V-max. Anyway, groups are all over the place 2-4" so I started checking...
www.predatormasters.com
 
I recently purchased a BCA 223 Wyde complete upper(I have in the past assembled uppers myself) mainly because I wanted a billet side charger. Basically I couldn't purchase parts separately and assemble for the sale price. I also figured if it didn't shoot I could swap barrels if the side charger was a game changer for winter hunts. I used a bore scope to check the barrel/chamber(ordered on Friday, arrived the next Tuesday), that barrel is one of the nicest appearing (very few visible machine marks) including minimal burrs around the gas port. So far I have ran 25 gr of H335 with Hornady 55 gr sp varmint and Sierra 55 BK, both have repeated groups under 3/4" at 100 yards(bench with bags) suppressed. And both bullets shot to same poi. I still working out a simple system for a brass catcher to use with the side charger(most brass catchers aren't large enough for the handle travel). The side charger will be way more handy in the winter, especially with a thermal scope extending past the rear of the receiver. Currently I used a dremel tool to cut a slot in a brass catcher I purchased from Amazon (25.00) but I have to chamber a round and than mount the brass catcher. Not ideal for hunting. If I leave as is (223) I could just not worry about loosing brass. If I put a 20p barrel on it, I would want to catch brass. Extremely happy so far.
 
I have a 223 Wylde side charger by them with an 18" stainless fluted barrel. I haven't shot it a lot yet, and haven't tried working up a special loading for it, but with my regular hunting load of 50 vmax over Xterminator powder, it groups under 1" and closer to .75". It is still in the break-in process, but I like it. It is slightly over gassed and ejecting at about 2 O'clock, but I'll switch out the block for an adjustable at some point when the weather gets cooler.
 


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