NC parts for my new AR build.

hdrolling

hdrolling

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So after taking advantage of the Bear Creek Arsenal free barrel give away this Veterans day I decided to use some more of their products for my next build.

I didn't realize BCA was from right here in Sanford NC, about 40 miles from my house.

During the free barrel give away I picked their 16" SS 1/9 twist .223 Wyde barrel from the two choices with the carbine gas.

Today I ordered one of their Burnt bronze combo kits that includes a stripped upper and lower and a 15" Mloc hand guard already Cerakote.

I dug through my spare parts box and already had some parts:
Sionics BCG
Magpul SL-K butt stock
Magpul pistol grip
Magpul BUIS
Noveske low profile gas block
Vortex SPARC AR red dot
A2 bird cage flash hider
BCM PNT trigger
BCM trigger guard
mil spec charging handle

So I had to order some parts from Brownells today:
Geissele LPK
Upper parts kit
BCM buffer tube assembly
carbine gas tube
YHM Phantom 5C2 Flash Suppressor

So not including the parts I had extra I'll have $399 out of pocket invested in my new budget build, and I'll get to clear up some spare parts that have been needing a home.

bbceraset_1 by hd_rolling, on Flickr
 
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I never tried a 1/9 twist on a 556. I always wonder if it will shoot cheap 55 grain better than my 7 and 8's.
 
Your extra parts bin bode better than your barrel choice! No knock on BCA as I've never send any of their stuff or read reviews, but given what you can get a Faxon or BA for from Monmouth and such, hard to justify anything less IMO. Either way, going to be a sweet build!
 
JRHorne said:
Your extra parts bin bode better than your barrel choice! No knock on BCA as I've never send any of their stuff or read reviews, but given what you can get a Faxon or BA for from Monmouth and such, hard to justify anything less IMO. Either way, going to be a sweet build!
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So your saying I should have paid for a Faxon or BA instead of taking a FREE BCA barrel?
 
NKD said:
I never tried a 1/9 twist on a 556. I always wonder if it will shoot cheap 55 grain better than my 7 and 8's.
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I have a S&W sport II with 1/9 and it does okay with cheap wolf gold 55gr while playing around at the range, but if the barrel I recieved wasn't free I would not have bought another 1/9.
 
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hdrolling said:
So your saying I should have paid for a Faxon or BA instead of taking a FREE BCA barrel?
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No no no! I am just saying I wonder if the performance/longevity of the FREE barrel will justify the use of premium parts all around it. Maybe the BCA barrel should have been built with value parts? I know you had all those parts, but you paid for them one way or another!

It's like getting a Camaro with a track pack, all the right suspension, a stout manual transmission, and then saying you're opting for a 6 cylinder version because it needs to get real good gas mileage. If you DD the Camaro more than you race it, that's fine. But then I'd ask, why get all the track-oriented pieces?
 
JRHorne said:
No no no! I am just saying I wonder if the performance/longevity of the FREE barrel will justify the use of premium parts all around it. Maybe the BCA barrel should have been built with value parts? I know you had all those parts, but you paid for them one way or another!

It's like getting a Camaro with a track pack, all the right suspension, a stout manual transmission, and then saying you're opting for a 6 cylinder version because it needs to get real good gas mileage. If you DD the Camaro more than you race it, that's fine. But then I'd ask, why get all the track-oriented pieces?
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I see what your saying, in my defense the parts I'm putting on are the value parts compared to my other AR's.

The upper, lower and 15" hand guard already coated is a bundle BCA sells for $260, I paid $250 for all three with my military discount.
The sionics BCG was on sale for $99 a couple mounths ago.
All the parts I just bought at Brownells were $137 total shipped with my military discount and a free shipping code.
The SPARC AR red dot I bought on sale for $119
The BCM trigger and trigger guard where leftovers from a LPK that came with them.

To me this is a very budget build, the last Noveske AR I built topped $4000.

Also the BCA has very good reviews, they claim their barrels are good for 1 MOA at 100yds (with appropriate ammo).

I just thought it was neat building an AR from a local NC company that builds their parts in house.

I would say once I'm done building it will be about the same as a PSA parts build, normally I would never use or own any PSA parts (just my preference) but I wanted to show some NC pride.
 
Bear Creek is a reformation of Moore Machine, which was known for shoddy products. It’s still owned by the Moore family, but the products are getting better reviews. I’m hoping we’ve got a company that builds quality parts at a good price.
 
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Let us know how it shoots. I’m thinking about buying one of their 308 and 6.5 Grendel uppers, just have to save the money first. I had a MMC ar temporarily. Shot fine and never had any issues with it, when sandy hook happened I sold it for quite a bit more than I paid. My exes dad was a sales rep for them after they switched to Bear Creek Arsenal. He brought some barrels and stuff by the house one day to show me some of what they were making. I was impressed with the feel and it looked like quality stuff.
 
If you want to stay local in NC, you have Barnes, Arisaka, American Defense Manufacturing, and Delton. I am sure there are more, but that's everything you'd need for an NC based rifle.
 
JRHorne said:
If you want to stay local in NC, you have Barnes, Arisaka, American Defense Manufacturing, and Delton. I am sure there are more, but that's everything you'd need for an NC based rifle.
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Wow that's a great list of NC shops, I've only heard of ADM since I have one of their recon mounts on my Noveske 6.5 grendel. And none of these gave away 5000 rifle barrels on Veterans day as far as I know, I guess I'm not understanding the hate for BCA and why your trying to steer me away from parts I already ordered?

This is just going to be a range rifle, not deploying with it or using it as a duty rifle. I have two sons and one is getting my S&W sport II budget rifle, I wanted another budget rifle for my younger son.

I'm only out another $400 for this complete rifle and the boys get to help assemble it.

It's funny, when I built my last rifle I had some push back from members because I used a Faxon barrel. And it shoots fine.

Now I hope getting all this BCA stuff doesn't come back and bite me in the A$$.........
 
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hdrolling said:
Wow that's a great list of NC shops, I've only heard of ADM since I have one of their recon mounts on my Noveske 6.5 grendel. And none of these gave away 5000 rifle barrels on Veterans day as far as I know, I guess I'm not understanding the hate for BCA and why your trying to steer me away from parts I already ordered?

This is just going to be a range rifle, not deploying with it or using it as a duty rifle. I have two sons and one is getting my S&W sport II budget rifle, I wanted another budget rifle for my younger son.

I'm only out another $400 for this complete rifle and the boys get to help assemble it.

It's funny, when I built my last rifle I had some push back from members because I used a Faxon barrel. And it shoots fine.

Now I hope getting all this BCA stuff doesn't come back and bite me in the A$$.........
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You're clearly misreading my post, as I posted those manufacturers as a way of letting you know there were additional places to purchase any other parts you needed, or if instead of your Noveske/Magpul/etc parts you wanted a rifle almost completely made in NC.

Step back from the ledge, I am sure the rifle will go bang every time you pull the trigger and the BCA barrel will be great...

Also, I have multiple Faxon barrels now and if you pop over to M4C right now, there is a great thread on a 14.5" middy progressive barrel selection with MANY people recommending BA over BCM or Noveske or at least an equal say across the board.
 
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People bash BCA because of past quality issues, when they were Moore Machine Company. They had issues with chambers being out of spec was the biggest issue I’m aware of. I believe they have all of that remedied now, and you will be good to go. When I do my 6.5 Grendel it will be with the BCA upper and going on a lower from the small shop that had opened in Siler City. Their logo is a pic of Chatham county, it will also be a nc rifle.
 
NC really does have some nice gun-specific companies, and trainers, and training venues.

I admit I am leary of Bear Creek Arsenal because it used to be MMC, but the further away BCA gets, the better the reviews and the less indigestion there is.

Anecdotally my first AR was from a "NC-based" company, and it was a total, unreliable, unmistakable POS with an out of spec lower and reject parts.
 
JRHorne said:
if you pop over to M4C right now, there is a great thread on a 14.5" middy progressive barrel selection with MANY people recommending BA over BCM or Noveske or at least an equal say across the board.
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I get that there are plenty of great barrels out there for people looking to "buy" a new barrel, but the whole point of this build was that I received a free barrel. I wasn't in the market for a barrel and didn't intend to build my 6th rifle of the year, but since a free barrel was sent to me I'm using it.

No ledge here, but my main point of the tread is that I already have a barrel. After having the free barrel my main goal was to assemble it into a complete rifle as cheap as possible, and then use some more NC made parts since they were nice enough to give me a free part. If I hadn't already bought and paid for everything I needed to finish this rifle before I started this thread I would have looked into the other NC businesses you mentioned so thanks for that.

But as mentioned in the first post, everything needed to complete this build is bought and already being shipped to me. I'm not looking to spend any more and should have waited until after the first of the year before starting this project.
 
hdrolling said:
So your saying I should have paid for a Faxon or BA instead of taking a FREE BCA barrel?
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Time will tell... how does it shoot? The loudest complaint I have heard about BCA is "They used to be MMC" - nothing related to their current products. So seriously... how does it shoot?
 
Catfish said:
Time will tell... how does it shoot? The loudest complaint I have heard about BCA is "They used to be MMC" - nothing related to their current products. So seriously... how does it shoot?
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I ordered the parts on Wed and it's Fri so I don't have all the parts yet, soon to follow I hope! Using the free shipping through Brownells it shipped yesterday and is due to arrive Nov 27, I chose free over fast shipping.

My BCA parts have shipped so I'm waiting on a call from my FFL so I can pick them up, I'm not in a rush since I can't assemble without my Brownells order.
 
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I am on my third BCA barrel and I have not encountered a problem yet. They shoot just as well as any off the shelf mid tier rifle out there. They are by no means a match grade tube but they have not turned out to be junk either. I have less than a thousand rounds thru the oldest one so time will tell I guess..
 
That bronze is my favorite 'color'. FDE, olive, sand..never did much for me but I like that bronze. That'll look sharp with some black hardware.
I think you're doing a great idea for a build. You don't buy a Mercedes for your kids first car, and you don't give em a Noveske for their first rifle. You get them an 8 year old Camry that's plenty reliable and does everything they want, and they can put cheap gas in it and a ding is not gonna freak Dad out.
Besides, I would've killed for such a toy at his age, and having Dad help me put it together makes it a keeper forever..regardless of how shwanky it is or isn't.
The experience is far more valuable than the rifle.
 
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