11-21-2022, 10:31 PM
BCA can be fine, but given their lower levels of quality control it is a bit of a gamble. The 20" upper I bought from them is quite accurate, but it is very heavy and the extractor was crap right out of the box (replaced it with one sold by Alexander Arms). That said, feed it stuff it likes and it makes tiny groups. The heavy barrel also takes quite a few shots to heat up, so if you are shooting a lot it is nice since it doesn't show change in POI after a few shots like the lighter barrels can.
For hunting, I think 18" is the sweet spot for barrel length if you are contemplating longer shots. 16" is dandy if you don't think you will shoot deer beyond 300 yards or so.
I would actually strongly suggest you buy or build the upper separate from the lower. The lower doesn't really need anything special beyond a good trigger (larue 2 stage are great for the money) and whatever sort of stock you find useful. The upper is where the accuracy usually comes from. By far, the barrel is what matters there. If you just want to buy one off the shelf, I would buy an upper and bolt together. Palmetto State Armory makes nice stuff and their 18 and 20 inch uppers should do what you want for the least amount of money and low likelihood of problems. Depending on your budget, you could go considerably up from there. Building also isn't that hard. I decided to build an upper simply to learn more about how they work. It was fairly easy and done in an afternoon. I used a 16" daniels defense barrel and otherwise used sort of generic parts (I blew my budget on the high end barrel). I haven't had a chance to wring it out yet, but accuracy looks very promising and it functioned flawlessly from the first shot.
For hunting, I think 18" is the sweet spot for barrel length if you are contemplating longer shots. 16" is dandy if you don't think you will shoot deer beyond 300 yards or so.
I would actually strongly suggest you buy or build the upper separate from the lower. The lower doesn't really need anything special beyond a good trigger (larue 2 stage are great for the money) and whatever sort of stock you find useful. The upper is where the accuracy usually comes from. By far, the barrel is what matters there. If you just want to buy one off the shelf, I would buy an upper and bolt together. Palmetto State Armory makes nice stuff and their 18 and 20 inch uppers should do what you want for the least amount of money and low likelihood of problems. Depending on your budget, you could go considerably up from there. Building also isn't that hard. I decided to build an upper simply to learn more about how they work. It was fairly easy and done in an afternoon. I used a 16" daniels defense barrel and otherwise used sort of generic parts (I blew my budget on the high end barrel). I haven't had a chance to wring it out yet, but accuracy looks very promising and it functioned flawlessly from the first shot.