Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Printable Version

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Printable Version

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Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LOTO - 12-17-2018

I'm new to 6.5 Grendel and wanted to jump in at the lower price range for a build and my complete upper from Bear Creek Arsenal upper with 20" SS barrel came in today (Monday). I emailed BC with a couple of questions on Thursday morning and they promptly responded so I ordered online that same morning and received a tracking number within an hour and my upper was picked up by UPS that afternoon....it actually arrived at my local UPS hub on Friday evening but no deliveries until today....that was crazy fast shipping. I've seen good and bad reviews for BCA and the jury is still out on how it will run but for customer service and shipping I would have to give Bear Creek an A+++ so far.

My upper looks great and it dropped right in a DD and PSA lower...I have a new PSA Magpul FDE CTR Edition complete lower that hopefully will be here this week and 2 ASC 12 round magazines that should be in also. My gun fund is pretty low right now so optics will have to wait for awhile.

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Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - RobUrban - 12-17-2018

Hopefully it shoots! I have a BCA 16 inch that has shot just over an inch at 100 yards. I also had an extractor break within like the first 100 rounds and emailed BCA and they send me a new one no questions asked. Hopefully you have a good experience as well! They sent me a free barrel in 556 for providing them 10 emails and was delivered on Tuesday. Haven't got a chance to see how it shoots. look forward to seeing how she shoots.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Sticks - 12-18-2018

Their CS is top notch. Their barrels on the other hand...Good luck. Mostly BCA negative result users on this site, not just hearsay, so the odds of it being a good one are not good...

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LOTO - 12-18-2018

Sticks Wrote:Their CS is top notch. Their barrels on the other hand...Good luck. Mostly BCA negative result users on this site, not just hearsay, so the odds of it being a good one are not good...

I have read quite a few bad reviews and when I do have my 6.5 assembled and fired I'll be sure and give my honest opinion...I have a 100 yard range with plates at my house and hopefully I'll need to stretch it out a bit soon. My range is about 50' from my shop/office so easy to take a quick stress reliever

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Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Sticks - 12-18-2018

Bite me. I'd kill to be able to step outside and do simple initial load development before I need to verify at 300. Save a lot of money in lead and powder, never mind time and gas. My options are an hour 45 away.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Keef - 12-18-2018

Many people have great results with BCA. Most of the negative BCA is the same people over and over again. Shoot it and see what happens. If it doesn't shoot they will send you another one!

When a $400 barrel shots 1.5moa all you hear is "with load development it will be good" With a BCA shooting 1.5moa all you hear is its a tomato stake and you should have spent $400. lol

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LOTO - 12-18-2018

Sticks Wrote:Bite me. I'd kill to be able to step outside and do simple initial load development before I need to verify at 300. Save a lot of money in lead and powder, never mind time and gas. My options are an hour 45 away.

LOL....it took me 40 years of hard work to move up to this property..I built our home and shop 5 years ago on 30 acres.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LOTO - 12-18-2018

Keef Wrote:Many people have great results with BCA. Most of the negative BCA is the same people over and over again. Shoot it and see what happens. If it doesn't shoot they will send you another one!

When a $400 barrel shots 1.5moa all you hear is "with load development it will be good" With a BCA shooting 1.5moa all you hear is its a tomato stake and you should have spent $400. lol

As a new forum member I will just say that I am glad you said that and not me Smile

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - 1Shot - 12-18-2018

All I can say is first time out use a LARGE target. BCA may have gotten their act together with quality control by now but a year ago they were putting out some pretty bad Grendel barrels and their customer service was pretty bad in my experience. I will add that I was told when I finally, took three weeks, got to talk to the warrantee person that she as well as others had been out sick with the flu. The barrel that came on my upper was a 20" and every shot was a flier. Groups averaged between 5 and 6 inches at 100 with Hornady 123 SST ammo. Looked inside the bird cage at the crown on the barrel and it looked like someone had used a side grinder to do the crown. Once I was issued a shipping label it only took a week to get it back but I only live about 300 miles from BCA. Same ammo shot 1 1/2 to 2 inches with the replacement. It took between 60 and 70 rounds down the tube to get the barrel to settle down and stop throwing one flier out of a 5 shot group. Once it settled down it is a solid 3/4" 5 shot shooter at 100 yards with the loads it likes but factory or any load with Hornady 123 SST is not a bullet it likes. 120 Sierra Pro Hunter and Speer Gold Dot shoots great. Hope you got a shooter.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Keef - 12-18-2018

"Once it settled down it is a solid 3/4" 5 shot shooter at 100 yard"

So you got an upper for somewhere between $219(current sale price) and $390 that functions properly and shoots 3/4moa and you still tell everyone how bad it is every chance you get Smile

That's one way to live I guess Wink

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - bj139 - 12-18-2018

Keef Wrote:"Once it settled down it is a solid 3/4" 5 shot shooter at 100 yard"

So you got an upper for somewhere between $219(current sale price) and $390 that functions properly and shoots 3/4moa and you still tell everyone how bad it is every chance you get That's one way to live I guess

That could have been the nicest tomato stake out in the garden. Big Grin

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - 1Shot - 12-19-2018

"So you got an upper for somewhere between $219(current sale price) and $390 that functions properly and shoots 3/4moa and you still tell everyone how bad it is every chance you get That's one way to live I guess"

With everything I had to go through and all the money I had to spend on ammo and components for hand loads and running to the range a bunch of times along with spending over a month to actually get the upper so it would shoot. Plus all the frustration and jumping through hoops etc. You bet I am going to tell everyone what I had to go through to warn them they could face the same thing. With all the expense of it all I could have put together a real top quality no hassle shooter cheaper which is exactly what I did. 18" Owen Works barrel group that has shot right from the git go.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Keef - 12-19-2018

10-4, its healthy to have a calling in life Smile

I'm so thankful that like the OP I can walk out the door and shoot. I just don't have as comfortable of a chair though!!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4847/32496139278_824ecabdf0_b.jpg

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LRRPF52 - 12-19-2018

Keef Wrote:Many people have great results with BCA. Most of the negative BCA is the same people over and over again. Shoot it and see what happens. If it doesn't shoot they will send you another one!

When a $400 barrel shots 1.5moa all you hear is "with load development it will be good" With a BCA shooting 1.5moa all you hear is its a tomato stake and you should have spent $400. lol

It's not just a few people who have had negative experiences, which is the norm with a volume-based approach to any market at those price points.

There are a lot of people on other forums who have had the same types of problems, and this should come as no surprise to anyone who looks at the numbers and knows what it costs to employ modern Total Quality Management processes on firearms parts.

There are companies who base their business model entirely on volume, with the intent from the start to handle QC issues with returns, rather than get in front of it from the start. That's not the route I would ever recommend to anyone when it comes to barrels, bolts, and extractors and one of the main reasons I shrink my trusted parts source list when I see this.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LRRPF52 - 12-19-2018

1Shot Wrote:"So you got an upper for somewhere between $219(current sale price) and $390 that functions properly and shoots 3/4moa and you still tell everyone how bad it is every chance you get That's one way to live I guess"

With everything I had to go through and all the money I had to spend on ammo and components for hand loads and running to the range a bunch of times along with spending over a month to actually get the upper so it would shoot. Plus all the frustration and jumping through hoops etc. You bet I am going to tell everyone what I had to go through to warn them they could face the same thing. With all the expense of it all I could have put together a real top quality no hassle shooter cheaper which is exactly what I did. 18" Owen Works barrel group that has shot right from the git go.

1shot: If you were to add up all of the costs that it took you to get to the point where you are at with that barrel, what would the sum be?

Every time I've seen this happen, the costs add up to more than a drop-in Lilja barrel, which reinforces the statement: "Only wealthy men can afford cheap things."

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - grayfox - 12-19-2018

+1. WIth the group buys, faxon and BA and PF type mfrs there are also some middle-road economical but still pretty good ones out there also. Don't go for the bottom of the barrel or you will wind up in that same place.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - 1Shot - 12-19-2018

1shot: If you were to add up all of the costs that it took you to get to the point where you are at with that barrel, what would the sum be?

Every time I've seen this happen, the costs add up to more than a drop-in Lilja barrel, which reinforces the statement: "Only wealthy men can afford cheap things."

A good estimation would be at least $600 and that does not include the frustration or my time spent trying three different scopes mounting go the range to see it is was the scope or the rifle that caused it to spray shots dismounting the scopes. I know I shot 10 boxes of Hornady 123 SST ammo as well as at least another 100 rounds of hand loads before finally getting it to settle down and shoot. It sure does pay you to just cry once and spend the bucks to get high quality because lots of times it actually saves you money.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Keef - 12-19-2018

1Shot Wrote:A good estimation would be at least $600 and that does not include the frustration or my time spent trying three different scopes mounting go the range to see it is was the scope or the rifle that caused it to spray shots dismounting the scopes. I know I shot 10 boxes of Hornady 123 SST ammo as well as at least another 100 rounds of hand loads before finally getting it to settle down and shoot. It sure does pay you to just cry once and spend the bucks to get high quality because lots of times it actually saves you money.

:confused: Why would you start with SST? Were your hand loads SST also?

To anyone starting down the Grendel Journey. I would recommend starting with factory Hornady Black 123 EDL-M. In my experience(and from online reading) it seems to be the most commonly accurate round from Grendel barrels.

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - LOTO - 12-19-2018

Since this thread is going so well I might as well add that I am considering a Monstrum scope for optics ��

Bear Creek Arsenel Upper - Keef - 12-19-2018

I am sorry I veered your thread WAY off course!