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+--- Thread: 20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper (/showthread.php?tid=18638)
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Gary - 05-02-2019
Bought a .224 Valkyrie upper from BCA and could not make it shoot with heavy bullets so I emailed them for a return for a refund authorization and explained what was going on. Two days later I received a return postage form followed up by a phone call. When BCA received the upper they sent an email explaining my credit card would be credited within 4 or 5 work days and was followed up by a phone call. Three days later i checked my credit card on line and BCA had credited my account. Best customer service ever. Even better than Precision Firearms. Too bad they can't make uppers like Precision Firearms. ;-)
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-02-2019
Gary Wrote:Bought a .224 Valkyrie upper from BCA and could not make it shoot with heavy bullets so I emailed them for a return for a refund authorization and explained what was going on. Two days later I received a return postage form followed up by a phone call. When BCA received the upper they sent an email explaining my credit card would be credited within 4 or 5 work days and was followed up by a phone call. Three days later i checked my credit card on line and BCA had credited my account. Best customer service ever. Even better than Precision Firearms. Too bad they can't make uppers like Precision Firearms. ;-)
It's a relatively safe bet buying from BCA - you'll be satisfied or they will either try very hard to fix it or return your money. (But there is the loss of time and money on ammo that is wasted on an upper that doesn't shoot straight if that is what you end up with.) That's why I took the risk. Was hoping for the best, but still not satisfied yet. I get the next round upper back today. Hope to get to range this weekend.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Jimla - 05-02-2019
Hollis Wrote:Keep me posted about your new set up. Did you just replace the barrel or did you get an entire new upper with the Faxon barrel?
I have a Range Report for my BCA replacement:
http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?19765-AT3-FF-ML-20-Inch-Faxon-6-5-Grendel-Upper-Range-Result
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Gary - 05-02-2019
Hollis Wrote:It's a relatively safe bet buying from BCA - you'll be satisfied or they will either try very hard to fix it or return your money. But there is the loss of time and money on ammo that is wasting on an upper that doesn't shoot straight if that is what you end up with. That's why I took the risk. Was hoping for the best, but still not satisfied yet. I get the next round upper back today. Hope to get to range this weekend.I was surprised how fast and efficient customer service is at BCA. And you are so right about time and ammo costs of trying to get a rifle to shoot right. I could get some 77 grain to shoot around 3/4" but the 88, 90 and 95's would not group worth a darn. And shooting heavy bullets are what a 224 Valkyrie is all about. Good luck at the range.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Stolivar - 05-03-2019
3 shot group 123 ELD 50 yards. Sorry can't get back to the 100 yard one till after the weekend.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-04-2019
Got the second-round swap-out back from BCA. Nina - from BCA customer service - bent over backwards to make me happy. They ended up swapping out the Nitrided barrel with a stainless steel, since - although based on small sample group - it seems to me that those who are happy with BCA barrels are those with SS.
She's a beaut! and I was just hoping it shoots as good as it looks.
![[Image: 65GrendelSS.GIF]](http://martinsen.com/65grendel/65GrendelSS.GIF)
I did a quick bore sight and zero with Wolf 100 gr (3 shots and it was there), did some break-in with multiple bore cleanings with copper remover, and then shot a quick group at around 70 yards with Hornady Black 123 gr. (I am at the ranch and am here to shoot metal targets - I'll do grouping at 100 yards next time I'm at the range.)
![[Image: 65GrendelGroupSS.GIF]](http://martinsen.com/65grendel/65GrendelGroupSS.GIF)
I immediately setup my steel targets and had an absolute blast shooting this thing out to 450 yards (that's as far as I can go at the ranch - for now...). Targets seemed impossible to miss. It was great! This is what I was hoping for!
![[Image: 65GrentalMetalTargets310yds.GIF]](http://martinsen.com/65grendel/65GrentalMetalTargets310yds.GIF)
(The big target was various shots at distances from 200 to 310 yards. At 310, I had everything fined tuned and shot the 10" target on right.)
So, now I am now an official member of the 6.5 Grendel Fanatics Club!
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Michael-95037 - 05-04-2019
Great happy ending....
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-04-2019
Stolivar Wrote:3 shot group 123 ELD 50 yards. Sorry can't get back to the 100 yard one till after the weekend.
Nice, Stolivar. Keep us posted! Looks like we both hit the BCA lotto this time around!
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Jimla - 05-04-2019
Good to hear, not only one but two examples of people getting functional barrels back! Maybe they fixed their production line problems.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-04-2019
Jimla Wrote:Good to hear, not only one but two examples of people getting functional barrels back! Maybe they fixed their production line problems.
I'm still thinking that the probability of getting a good shooter from BCA is high with stainless steel and low with nitrided. Does anyone have more data on this that agrees or disagrees with my theory?
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Jimla - 05-04-2019
Hollis Wrote:I'm still thinking that the probability of getting a good shooter from BCA is high with stainless steel and low with nitrided. Does anyone have more data on this that agrees or disagrees with my theory?
All of the three 4150 nitrided barrels that I had problems was caused by bad chambers, all shorter then they should be, if it was made out stainless or 4150 it would have been the same. Common belief is stainless is better for making match grade barrel in the high end world, but they are using the highest quality material. BCA barrels cost about the same for stainless or 4150, which may mean they are using lowest grade stainless and average grade nitrided. When I was reading all of the BCA forum posts I saw no pattern of either being better than the other.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-08-2019
I have one more thing to add regarding accuracy of my BCA Grendel. I was at the ranch for two days and had a blast shooting my Grendel at various distances the first day as described above. The next day, I shot my .243 and it was also a barrel of fun with incredible (from my perspective) accuracy shooting a Remington 770 with Fusion ammo.
Late in the afternoon, I was getting pretty tired (I walked at least 10 miles!) and decided to call it quits. I put up my .243 but an idea popped up in my head. My goal for shooting isn't to be able to shoot paper target with 3 very tight holes. I want to be able to repeatedly hit targets at various distances with excellent accuracy. Ideally, I would be able take a cold bore rifle, quickly estimate the distance to desired target and determine the solution needed and then stick a round in the bore and hit exactly where I am aiming.
I was feeling pretty confident after all the great shooting and wanted to try my luck. I was set up for shooting at 405 yards (where I left off with my .243) and thought I'd see what I could do with a shot from cold bore at 405 yards (I hadn't shot my Grendel since the day before). I had my targets just painted with a small orange dot in the middle to give me an exact spot to aim for. I pulled out the Grendel and loaded it with a Hornady black round, peeked at my data in my shooting log book from the day before and determine the solution at that distance. I aimed carefully and let it go. I heard a solid ding from the metal, but I couldn't tell for sure where the shot went. It sounded like a solid hit and it appeared that the lead splatter was dead center, but I wasn't sure if it was the orange dot I had sprayed or the lead I was seeing at the center of the target. So I decided to get another Hornady Black round and I shifted my aim over to the 10" target and carefully aimed at its orange dot (this one had the orange dot slightly off center, but I was still aiming right at that spot). The same thing happened, but this time I was certain that I was seeing the lead splatter covering the orange.
![[Image: Grendel400BE.JPG]](http://martinsen.com/65grendel/Grendel400BE.JPG)
After that, I decided to call it a day!
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - CaptnC - 05-09-2019
Sweet! I shoot my 20" BCA at 400 yards pretty regularly. Next range trip I want to try it at 600yds!
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-09-2019
CaptnC Wrote:Sweet! I shoot my 20" BCA at 400 yards pretty regularly. Next range trip I want to try it at 600yds!
I had no problems out to 450 yards. Then the only problem was I ran out of land! Need to find spot to stretch it out further. I am ecstatic that I can shoot this accurately with factory ammo using my AR-15. That was what I was hoping to do with this BCA Grendel upper and it came through.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - ErikS - 05-11-2019
Mine shoots to 600 with no issues. Here is my pop shooting my 16 at 500. [video=youtube_share;IcXF3EyKLOA]https://youtu.be/IcXF3EyKLOA[/video]
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-11-2019
ErikS Wrote:Mine shoots to 600 with no issues. Here is my pop shooting my 16 at 500. [video=youtube_share;IcXF3EyKLOA]https://youtu.be/IcXF3EyKLOA[/video]
Nice! It's hard to miss with this! I'll be sharing some videos shortly once I can finish editing.
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - CaptnC - 05-13-2019
Last Friday was rain out for for work. School districts are full of stupid smart people, but took advantage of the free day off. Called the range, they said they were open so I headed over there!
No rain but plenty of standing water...nearly over my boots.
I took 4 AR's two 7.62x39 and two Grendel's 18 and 24.
Short story; took the 24 to 400 after getting a good zero at 200yds. I just swapped out the upper for a Gibbz G4 left side charge.
400yds was easy. They 8" lollypop took a beating, then off to 600yds. I dialed 4.1 mils which was perfect for elevation but the 15mph gusting to 20mph was a bit tricky.
Wind was at 11 o'clock, range faces due north. So the gusty winds coming over and around the back stops had me missing to the right. So I ended up with 4 hits out of 10 shots at the 8" lollypop at 600yds. The 18" human silhouette was big enough the 4" of drift from the wind was no issue. Not fantastic, but ok considering the conditions.
Tried to video the hits through my spotting scope, but the wind was bouncing it around so much you could not really tell if I was hitting or not. I seen impacts easily through the scope. Maybe next time!
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Bevo - 05-13-2019
CaptnC Wrote:Last Friday was rain out for for work. School districts are full of stupid smart people, but took advantage of the free day off. Called the range, they said they were open so I headed over there!
I'm not far from you...what range?
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - CaptnC - 05-13-2019
American Shooting Center
I bet we live very close to each other...I have a Katy address, but we are in the cyfair school district
I shoot there about every other week! They keep telling me I need to spring for the annual membership! I will have to after I retire in 7 months. I'd like to go every week!
20" Bear Creek Arsenal 6.5 Grendel Upper - Hollis - 05-13-2019
The ASC there in Katy is a good place but gets VERY wet after rains. I had to swim (almost) to targets the first time I went there. I quickly learned that I need to bring high boots if I go out there if it has rained recently.
Are you using metal targets at distance there? I'm wanting to do that if allowed.