Well, my fears were somewhat confirmed today. Gonna do some more tinkering before I give up but initial groups are sub par. This is my third trip to the range with this upper. Broke in the upper in previous two trips with lots of cleanings between shots. These are the 30-50th shots through the barrel. 27.6 gr - 28.2 gr of Tac under 123 gr SSTs. Not sure how to throw pics up on here, but groups were 2.3-3.6 MOA. Gonna try a better muzzle break than the flash hider than comes on it and some and some Noslers next trip, but looks like I definitely should have went with the group buy barrel as all suggested on here.
I was down in S FL just before Christmas. Had some time to kill so I went to a gunshow advertised at the Palm Beach fairgrounds. It was a great show, new faces & sales from the places I visit in WI. I was in the market for a Grendel upper, one guy had a new 18 BCA for about $370 or so. I looked it over, asked some questions, then stepped aside to do some research in my phone. The reviews I saw were negative to mixed.
I passed then ordered a PSA Grendel upper. Not saying PSA is all great, mine seems to be fine after I got the gas block figured out. Im still in the earlier stages with loads & such.
Yes, maybe you can try some ammo experimentation to help accuracy.
No I havent tried any other factory ammo yet. I have other 6.5 bullets on the bench though that I will load up and test soon. As I said I still have some testing to do, but I was really hoping for a little better accuracy out of the factory SST's that everyone seems to be so fond of. Just seems to me that if they are shooting them this bad, its not a good sign for any combo. But, maybe the noslers of barnes will pair better. Time will tell. As far as the muzzle device goes, that is a good idea as well I will test with the flash hider, a helius tactical compensator, and no muzzle device and see if there are noticeable accuracy differences amongst the same load.
Figured out how to attach pics. Just couldnt do it from my phone. Dont mind the POI's as I was making adjustments to the scopes. But you can see the not so great groups. It seemed that the top left group was trying to group, but the bottom center group of 4 was another group with the same load shot right after the top left group.
01-02-2019, 05:19 PM (This post was last modified: 01-02-2019, 05:27 PM by bj139.)
Take a close look in the muzzle end with magnification and light. You may be able to see things which are just not right.
If there is noticeable scoring BCA should take it back. I sent two barrels back and they sent me 1 MOA ones.
Before barrel. 7.62x39
After barrel. 7.62x39 This one shoots MOA with steel jacketed Tula ammo so it is GTG even with the minor gouges.
well getting the lighting and focus right on a phone camera on the rifling was a PITA... but these are some of the best ones that I got. It doesn't look awful to me, certainly not as bad as your first one. [ATTACH=CONFIG]13464[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]13465[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]13466[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]13467[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]13468[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]13469[/ATTACH]
My first barrel shot about 8MOA. I went to my camera in macro mode for the second photo. The first barrel was cell phone camera.
Your barrel doesn't look too bad. I would use some JB paste. Krieger recommends it so it can't be too bad to use. Check his website for directions.
It really cleans up the barrels good. I use it on brand new barrels to get a good look.
It is hard to see very well on a dirty barrel.
OP - also please note that BJ139 was lighting the inside of his barrel from the breach end, thereby allowing the camera to get a good range of exposure. I suggest putting a penlight of something equally small in the open breach and take the photo with the room lighting lowered. Your results should be much improved.
If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
Kjbaumann Wrote:Well, my fears were somewhat confirmed today. Gonna do some more tinkering before I give up but initial groups are sub par. This is my third trip to the range with this upper. Broke in the upper in previous two trips with lots of cleanings between shots. These are the 30-50th shots through the barrel. 27.6 gr - 28.2 gr of Tac under 123 gr SST’s. Not sure how to throw pics up on here, but groups were 2.3-3.6 MOA. Gonna try a better muzzle break than the flash hider than comes on it and some and some Nosler’s next trip, but looks like I definitely should have went with the group buy barrel as all suggested on here.
How much money would you say you have into this barrel now, including gas to the range, range fees, ammo, and the barrel itself?
NRA Basic, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, RSO
CCW, CQM, DM, Long Range Rifle Instructor
6.5 Grendel Reloading Handbooks & chamber brushes can be found here:
LRRPF52 Wrote:How much money would you say you have into this barrel now, including gas to the range, range fees, ammo, and the barrel itself?
Exactly what I was going to say. I got flamed by someone for relating my experience trying to warn people about my experience with BCA that cost me probably somewhere around $600 when you count up all the trouble, gas, ammo, time etc. I did end up getting one that would shoot under MOA with handloads but from the cost involved I could have bought a top notch outfit and saved money. At least the OP's is shooting groups about half the size of my first BCA upper did. I suggest to the OP that you try another bullet. Neither of my rifle, one BCA barrel and other Oden Works will shoot the Hornady 123 SST bullet very well either in factory or handloads. The Oden shoots it better then the BCA but still 1 1/2 to 2". BCA 2 to 3" at best. Both shoot 120 Sierra Pro Hunter and Speer Gold Dot sub MOA. Oden 1/2" or better, BCA average 3/4". I shoot IMR 8208.
Keef Wrote:Do we have to factor in the cost of the vehicle and insurance in these calculations?
No. LOL. you'd pay that anyway whether you're shooting or not.
I'm guessing you're being funny.
I'm with 1Shot and '52, folks should be forewarned then if they choose to roll the dice so be it, it's their money. that being said OP may have something that might work out....
Or just chalk it up to learning -- once bitten -- this is a hard way to go about grendels but some folks (me included) have to learn on their own. I've moved on from those guys.
Kj, hope it works out for ya, but either way in the future you might want to look a bit higher up on the quality ladder.
"Down the floor, out the door, Go Brandon Go!!!!!"
Goodness easy fellas. I realize that the BCA's are not liked around here I'm simply sharing my experience so that others who are in the market for barrels/uppers have another review to base their decision off of. This upper was a Christmas present so I didn't exactly get to choose a match grade barrel. I am aware that getting a good BCA barrel is a crapshoot. Some are .5 MOA and most are 2 MOA plus. If I can't get anything to group with this barrel I will also report back on BCA's customer service and if they back their "MOA Guarantee".
As for lighting, I did take some picture with light from the chamber end of the barrel... they did not turn out as well for me. If there are others that are genuinely interested in seeing the rifling in my barrel, I will spend some more time trying to get a better picture. But I can see with my eyes that the rifling is not as bad as bj's first barrel, and likely close the quality of his second. There are some tooling marks, but not scoring or anything alarming.
1Shot I am liking the looks and reviews of the Speer Gold Dot's. I would like to give them a try. Why is almost every vendor I check out of stock of them?? Is it best to get them directly off of Speer's website as it seems you can order from there?
I would get them where ever they are in stock. Play with the seating depth. I got the best accuracy out of the BCA barrel loading it out as long as possible that will still work in a ASC/ArStoner magazine which is much longer than will work through the Elander mag. Don't have the COAL data close at hand right now.
![[Image: 31205853128_34f86155dd_c.jpg]](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1974/31205853128_34f86155dd_c.jpg)
![[Image: 43459027330_0c066e49f4_c.jpg]](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1976/43459027330_0c066e49f4_c.jpg)
