Bear creek arsonal uppers. Good?

Coalcracker said:

Looking at this. Better price than PSA.
7.62x39 16" Parkerized Heavy|Spiral Flash SCH (bearcreekarsenal.com)

Click to expand...

Coal, I have BCA uppers in a few varieties in 5.56, 223 Wylde, 350 Legend, and 7.62 X 39. ALL are very accurate.

Now, in all AR's of 7.62 x 39 cal there is a possibility of light Primer strikes. Eventually you will see this. The fix is to buy an "Improved" firing pin for this caliber. Or, a heavier hammer spring if you need to.

A lot of foreign made ammo has hard primers. It varies a lot. Russian ammo has been the main problems I ran into.
So I bought an improved firing pin. Problems seemingly gone.

Also, this Belom ammo coming in is good stuff. Brass cases and copper plated fmj bullets. Belom makes Police and Military ammo mostly. A part of PPU in Serbia. Good pricing.

IowaShooter said:

The BCA uppers now come with the improved firing pin (at least it said they do when I ordered the BCA upper recently)

will I be able to tell when it arrives and I take the BCG apart and look at the firing pin?

Click to expand...

I doubt it. Difference is only a bit in taper and a couple 1000' different. Main thing causing this from time to time is the ammo you are shooting. Tula still had some problems with the improved pin I bought. Finally shot it up. Red Army from
Century Arms is another one with hard primers at times.

I just shoot the light primers again and they usually fire well. I have a lot of the steel case to shoot up. But most I will shoot in my AK or a few SKS. I am going with the Belom X39 now because I gave up reloading. Getting old as you know.

IowaShooter said:

Ok- just got the email... Mine has now shipped too.

First one with a range report wins!

Click to expand...

@Coalcracker
Oh No ya don't. I wanna see and hear about both of your experiences.

Edit: Let me know what brands of ammo you used first time out.

This ammo review is pretty much what I have seen from the three brands.

Coalcracker said:

Im glad i have my MP 15. PSA did not ship my lower yet. At least i can use the lower from the SW. This is posted on PSA'S Site.
Due to pending legislation and until further legal notice, PSA will prioritize & ship All Orders to Washington State.
*This excludes PSA Partnered Fulfilled Items.

Click to expand...

My last three lowers have come from here. Work fine for me. They do have a "MIM" hammer. No problem as that is what is in the S&W.

Coalcracker said:

I put a buckmasters on mine. I have it on the SW lower for now. My 10 round mags are straight. Hope it don't cause feed issues. The 20's i got are curved.

Click to expand...

All of my 10 rounds are also straight. I don't think they have a curve until after 10 rounds.

Coalcracker said:

I just patched mine. Carbon came out. I looked down the bore i could see the carbon with just a light. So i put some Hoppes elite in. Left it sit for 30 mins. Blue came out too. I hope i didn't get a return. If they test fired. I would think they would clean it.

Click to expand...

Quite a few companies test fire an upper before shipping. Not uncommon for me to see with uppers at times. Over the years I have seen a number of cases like that. Some times they throw in an empty casing. But not very often.

The blue you call it is a Parkerized finish on the barrel. First few rounds seem to clean the excess off of the lands a bit.

Were those your reloads? You may need to try a few different recipes to see what it likes best.

Coalcracker said:

Yes reloads. Im planning on playing with loads too. Im going to run some of my unique loads in at as a straight pull bolt. I should have tried that today. I was running them in my RAR. I had the AR loaded with CFE Black.

Click to expand...

What is the diameter of the bullets you are using ? Also, you need to know the Bore Groove and Bore Dia. for each rifle. Makes a big difference if you are off on this. 7.62 bullets are available in.308, .310, .311, and .312.

Coalcracker said:

Im running Berry's .311 123 grain. I looked at the data.I have 2 other powders on hand. IMR 4198 and H335. I'll slug the bore then. If .308 i have 120 grain on hand. My RAR shoots good with both bullets. But i was concerned about gas cutting running .308 in it.

Click to expand...

I doubt either barrel is at .308. H4198 should be a good one as is the one you have now. I read on an older AR forum that BCA in 2018, I think it was, had a barrel dia of .312. .311-.312 is the norm for this caliber in rifles. You may just have to shoot a lot more rounds to break it in right.

Hmmmm

Coalcracker said:

I slugged the bore with a 95 grain .312 coated cast bullet. It swagged it down to .306 on the flats. I couldn't measure the grooves. They were off set. So ill try .308.

Click to expand...

That doesn't sound quite right to me.

Coalcracker said:

I did some digging for others who had slugged at .306 and was successful
. Bear Creek upper blow up? [Archive] - Cast Boolits

Click to expand...

That thread was all over the place. Call BCA and see what they say. Or email them.