Originally Posted by shootem
Originally Posted by antelope_sniper
Originally Posted by shootem
So what parts on a full BCA upper are the biggest kink in reliability? Everything? BCG? Hand guard? If you had one and wanted to make it reliable to your standards would that be possible?


Shoot,

The most frequent issues I've seen, and seen reported, revolve around the most important parts, the barrel and bolt, specifically improperly cut chambers, rough chambers, bad head spacing, and improper heat treating of the bolts.

This is why BCA's the most debated brand on the internet. Some people get lucky and have no issues with these major parts. A large percentage don't shoot 'em enough to realize they have problems. Those who do have problems, and properly diagnose them are into them for a new barrel, BCG components, or both, hence, Tyrone's numbers above.

I have a Midway "Stoner" upper (it's complete blasphemous to put his name on this collection of parts), that's rumored to be made buy, or at least contain parts from BCA. The BGC looks identical to the BCA one's I've seen. It's a 16" barrel with carbine gas, so I wasn't surprised when it was over gassed out of the gate. For the first 100 rounds it seemed fine, but I don't think it made it past 200 before it it started have ejection and extraction issues. The extractor tears the rim off the case, so it's not a small issue, probably barrel related, and give me a good excuse to replace the barrel with something from Criterion. The bolt is still within spec, but it hasn't seen 500 rounds yet, and with the current ammo situation, I'll spend my primers in better ways. This barrel will join an Anderson barrel in the Bin of Shame.

But I know the risks when I bought it. As I recall it was a really good sale which made for a reasonable risk/reward ratio, but after subtracting out the price of the bad barrel, and assuming the BCG doesn't disappoint, I will still have over paid for the usable parts, but I'll get that back in experience (or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself. wink )


I'm asking because I have a dog in the fight. Just bought a pistol upper with carbine gas system from them. Side charging. Never had an AR before. Pinned it to an Aero Precision full lower and everything's tight but that's just what I can see. Since it's a side charger I'm not sure how easy it'll be to upgrade the BCG but I'm asking out of ignorance. If there's a reasonable way to preempt a bolt issue I'd be interested. Really like the side charging concept, biggest reason I went BCA. Barrel shouldn't be much trouble or overly expensive. But not being familiar, how do I begin to recognize over gassing before case rims start tearing? 20 foot ejection distance? If I go to another barrel should I look at adjustable gassing? And a new barrel is possible because I really wanted a 12 or 12 1/2" rather than the 10 1/2" I got.


Shoot,

Most of the significant BCG issues seem to be with the bolt itself. Like many manufacturers, BCA bolts are made of 9310 and NOT Carpenter 158. Although on paper 9310 is a good material, it's not near as forgiving on the heat treatment process. Under treat them and the bolts with be soft and stretchy. Over treat them and they become brittle and crack. It's likely radical has similar issues, or maybe even used BCA bolts, hence the sub-200 round count snapped bolts that Blue witnessed. The best thing you can do is tear them apart every couple hundred rounds, or every time you clean your rifle and check the bolt for cracks and egging. Check your pivot pin for unusual and premature wear patterns. Check hole fit to insure it's tight an has no unusual movement. Check the pivot pin hole with your calipers to insure it remains round and uniform.

As for gassing, mine has a 16" barrel and carbine length gas. The vast majority of uppers so configured, especially from low end manufacturers, are over gassed from the factory. Now since your is a pistol upper and your dwell time will be significantly shorter, it's less likely you'll have a similar issue. Of course, if BCA over drilled the gas port "to make it run better", it's still possible.

As for diagnosis, watch your ejection. A properly gassed gun with a properly functioning extractor and ejector should throw the brass at 4 o'clock. If it's throwing it forward of that, something suboptimal. The typical solution is more spring, and/or more weight. I like to run with a Sprinco co. Blue spring, and an H1 buffer, so a little more spring, and a little more weight. On average this works well, but is not required or any of my carbine length pistol builds, so you may be fine. After you've been building AR for a while, you tend to keep different buffer weights and springs on hand for tuning. Another solution for an over gassed upper is an adjustable gas block, but I'm not going to throw that kind of money at this upper.

But your first step is to shoot it and see what happens. You might be one of the lucky one and everything may function flawlessly for your purposes. If not, come back and post about it. There will be plenty of advise waiting.

You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.

You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell