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Looks like you lucked out and got a good shooting barrel. Mine is shooting better the more I shoot it, it has over 100 rounds through it now. I got to shoot some of the 130 Sierra Game Kings with LVR 30.0, 30.5 & 30.9 grs and they all shot right around 1 1/2" for 5 shots @ 100. 30.9 was a little warm. I am going to experiment some around 30.5 grs. May change primer and seating depth and see if it helps. I may have to give the 123 ELD-M a try because it can still be used reliably on deer many are saying. I know the old Amax bullets worked great on deer in most any caliber.
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05-11-2018, 12:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2018, 11:41 AM by ported45.)
Got
another warranty BCA upper delivered yesterday. Using the same bullet (Nosler 120 BT with a Nosler recommended 2.245" COL) that I have used all along, the max COL for this chamber/throat is still only 2.222". Guess sending in the spec sheet didn't help afterall.
Strike 3!!!
However, fit and finish of this complete upper is the best so far, so I am going to load up some shorty Nosler 120 BT rounds and give it a whirl. I am also going to try some Nosler 129 ABLR because they will be able to be loaded to a COL of 2.274" for this chamber and is the bullet that I would like to deer hunt with if I can get acceptable accuracy with it.
In the end I may just have to get another barrel, but we shall see.
Followup post to this one farther down. Figuring that this thing had just been fired and shipped, I did no cleaning before I did the measuring. Seems to be better than I first thought.
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ported45 Wrote:Got another warranty BCA upper delivered yesterday. Using the same bullet (Nosler 120 BT with a Nosler recommended 2.245" COL) that I have used all along, the max COL for this chamber/throat is still only 2.222". Guess sending in the spec sheet didn't help afterall.
Strike 3!!!
However, fit and finish of this complete upper is the best so far, so I am going to load up some shorty Nosler 120 BT rounds and give it a whirl. I am also going to try some Nosler 129 ABLR because they will be able to be loaded to a COL of 2.274" for this chamber and is the bullet that I would like to deer hunt with if I can get acceptable accuracy with it.
In the end I may just have to get another barrel, but we shall see.
Alexander Arms has barrels for $195. I was going to get one of those for the BCA upper assuming my replacement would be junk as well, but I'm going to hold off for now and see if some handloads close up my groups.
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My son bought a BCA upper with a 22" barrel. I fitted it with a known good scope and mount and shot it today. Best I could get was a 4.5" group at 100 yards, not sure what he is going to do but from reading here I think his chances of getting a shooter from them is pretty poor. Kind of eyeballing that 20" barrel that Scrambo is selling.
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Shoot it at least 50 times and try something besides Hornady 123 SST ammo before you spend a bunch of money on another barrel. Many of the BCA barrels just need shooting to slick up the rough bore before they start to group better my research has turned up. It has been suggested that you lap the bore with JB bore paste with it applied to a tight patch giving the bore 50 passes to help clean up the roughness.
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It has nearly 100 rounds down it now. It may improve but I doubt it will ever be better than 2MOA... Not what I want out of this rifle.
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Well, the third upper seems to have an appropriate throat at least. First measuring did not turn out well, so I gave it a good cleaning and tried to measure again. The Nosler 120 BT just does have a light scuff ring around it when loaded to 2.250" and when seated at recommended 2.245" does not touch the compound throat or rifling at all. I was lead to believe that they had the Grendel 2 throat that was completely parallel, but there is a complete ring around the bullet ogive and not just rifling scuffs on it. Maybe when I requested a SAAMI throat that they actually put one in it.
Now to just get some free time to give it a test run.
The only thing that is not to order spec is the receiver is no longer BCA branded and has no branding marks whatsoever, but at this point I don't care about that. It fits my lower very well; no wiggle at all.
As a side note, the three steel Wolf cases that came with the upper have three different extractor marks on the rim and only one has a dent in the body of the case. I do NOT believe that two of these were test-fired in this upper if, in fact, any of the three were. I am thinking that they crack off three rounds and just pick up three empties and put in a baggie.
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How long does it usually take for them to put rifles back in stock? I have a buddy that has been waiting for a side charger 20” for 3weeks.
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I have to agree, they are a bit rough and need to be shot or lapped. Mine started coming around after 30-40 rounds through it.
BCA has not had 6.5 uppers or barrels in stock on their site in a few months but they still seem to be available on Primary Arms' site.
#shareyourspare
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Smokehouse_83 Wrote:How long does it usually take for them to put rifles back in stock? I have a buddy that has been waiting for a side charger 20” for 3weeks.
It took them three weeks to send me the second upper without any attempt to fix the first one that fit my lower PERFECTLY but was just a little shy on the throat length. Tell him to cancel the order if possible and go take a look at Hardened Arms. I have a 5.56 and .300 BLK that were accurate out of the box!! And their 6.5 is not a bunch more than the BCA. That is what I wish I had done; stick with what was working for me!!!!
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ErikS Wrote:I have to agree, they are a bit rough and need to be shot or lapped. Mine started coming around after 30-40 rounds through it.
BCA has not had 6.5 uppers or barrels in stock on their site in a few months but they still seem to be available on Primary Arms' site.
I think that they have them in stock, but they are holding them to take care of all the warranty work!!
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ported45 Wrote:Tell him to cancel the order if possible
Good advice there...
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He wants a side charger or I would of told him to look elsewhere. Isn’t there another company that sells BCA’s side charger receiver? We would buy just the receiver and build an upper with a better barrel if they would at least stock those.
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Smokehouse_83 Wrote:He wants a side charger or I would of told him to look elsewhere. Isn’t there another company that sells BCA’s side charger receiver? We would buy just the receiver and build an upper with a better barrel if they would at least stock those.
I've read that the AR Stoner brand Midway sells are made by BCA. Their side-charge receiver looks just like my BCA but costs $240 in .223/5.56.
With the Vet discount my entire BCA upper was $301 so I don't want to pay $240 for just the receiver.
I love my BCA side-charger and this situation frustrates me too. I ordered my upper in October and got it within 10 days but since then I've never seen that receiver in stock...I want to build one in .223.
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He got to looking around at side chargers and found Sanders Armory. Looks like they are pretty much a rebadged BCA that costs 200 more bucks. Anybody delt with them?
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Have you tried Gibbz Arms ?
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That Sanders looks good and is not exactly the same as the BCA so probably isn't made by them.
The Gibbz is really cool but doesn't include the BCG for that $250 and I don't care for the handle on the left side.
Brownell's shows a few more that are really expensive.
That's what's so frustrating about this...the BCA is a good, forged receiver and all I want or need. All the others cost a lot more and for my use probably won't work any better.
I'm going to start bugging BCA with emails and phone calls, asking when they'll be back in stock.
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He got sick of waiting and ordered a Faxon barrel yesterday. Will the BCA bolt on the side charger work with the Faxon barrel? Cause he is gonna order one and build an upper. Told him welp you will have a better shooter for sure.
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Smokehouse_83 Wrote:He got sick of waiting and ordered a Faxon barrel yesterday. Will the BCA bolt on the side charger work with the Faxon barrel? Cause he is gonna order one and build an upper. Told him well you will have a better shooter for sure.
Funny how we're in parallel here. I ordered a new Faxon barrel and it arrived Saturday.
My BCA upper is the side-charge receiver, 20" barrel and the 15" hand rail. I took it apart and discovered I don't have the right wrench for the barrel nut so I'm leaving shortly for the gunsmith who can swap the barrels for me.
I tried my BCA bolt by hand and it fits perfectly into the Faxon barrel extension.
I'm also glad that the BCA gas block is an amazing fit on the new barrel. It couldn't be better; I doubt there is much more than one thousanth clearance. I just checked and (with calipers) the barrel is 0.750" and the gb 0.7505". Perfect.
Once I've got the BCA short-throated barrel off I'll contact them about exchanging it.
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Really it's too bad that BCA seems to have gone down the rabbit hole as initially they seemed to be showing great promise at extremely affordable rates.
