BCM 14.5 Mid Length T&E/Range Report

[markm]

Frangible controlled pairs on gongs.



5 round full auto comparison

[markm]

Got to try some Match ammo today. I ran my WOA 16" middy against the BCM middy.

I ran a whole battery of Match loads through both barrels, and the BCM hung tough. For a chrome lined fighting barrel it did quite well, but kept getting just edged out by the WOA barrel.

Here is a pic of how it seemed to go all afternoon. WOA on the right and BCM on the left. Both fired with A2ish irons.... WOA with a slightly longer sight radius. 100 yards, irons, 1" gridlines.

[tac40]

Thanks for sharing.

[markm]

Both of these barrels would be sub MOA if I had a nice Mk 4 to throw on top of them.

Here's the Gun Camera video of the BCM:

[OfcPowder]

Both of these barrels would be sub MOA if I had a nice Mk 4 to throw on top of them.

Here's the Gun Camera video of the BCM:

Haha takes me back to my days of DOOM and Castle Wolfenstein... I stopped playing video games long ago...

[Paulo_Santos]

I really would like to see a comparison with the same exact upper with an A2 Flash Hider to compare with the FSC556 to see how they would compare. And also a 14.5" carbine length gas with an FSC556.

[rob_s]

I will be able to offer up at least part of that, to some extent, shortly. I have a 14.5" carbine-length gas DD lightweight barrel. My BCM rifle(s) however have 11.0 rails while the DD will be getting a 9.0

Ultimately I intend to do a good bit of testing, buying an accelerometer, etc. but I don't think it really matters. These rifles, IMHO, are greater than the sum of their parts and I'm not sure what utility there is in dissecting them trying to figure out why. I know I'll wind up doing it anyway, just because I can and largely out of personal curiosity, but I'm not sure I'm going to share the results even when I'm done.

[Paulo_Santos]

I will be able to offer up at least part of that, to some extent, shortly. I have a 14.5" carbine-length gas DD lightweight barrel. My BCM rifle(s) however have 11.0 rails while the DD will be getting a 9.0

Ultimately I intend to do a good bit of testing, buying an accelerometer, etc. but I don't think it really matters. These rifles, IMHO, are greater than the sum of their parts and I'm not sure what utility there is in dissecting them trying to figure out why. I know I'll wind up doing it anyway, just because I can and largely out of personal curiosity, but I'm not sure I'm going to share the results even when I'm done.

It just curiosity for me. I honestly don't think that there is much of a difference if you take two identical set up 14.5" or 16" AR's that are gassed properly and one being a midlength and the other being carbine length. I don't ever remember shooting a .223/5.56 AR and complaining about the recoil. Now an overgassed 6.8 was a different story.

[Creeky73]

Nice writeup, especially about the different buffers. I wonder if my BCM 16" carbine length would cycle with all 3 like yours? I have an H buffer that I haven't had a chance to try yet, but I am curious about the two heavier options. Thanks for the testing/review.

[rob_s]

It just curiosity for me. I honestly don't think that there is much of a difference if you take two identical set up 14.5" or 16" AR's that are gassed properly and one being a midlength and the other being carbine length. I don't ever remember shooting a .223/5.56 AR and complaining about the recoil. Now an overgassed 6.8 was a different story.

It is a common misconception that recoil is the issue. It's not recoil, it's muzzle climb. and it only matters if you're trying to shoot fast, accurately.

We shot Kyle Lamb's 2x2x2 drill at our drills night last month. I turned in the fastest time, with all my hits, of the group using the BCM 14.5" midlength with PWS. We had several shooters run it faster, but one of them had only 1 of the 6 required hits and nobody else ran it faster than me with 6 hits. Yes, this was as much about technique and experience as the gun, but having a gun with virtually zero muzzle-climb didn't hurt.

Central Florida Defensive Carbine Club match - Stage 6 - 15 August 2010


can I shoot that fast with a 16" carbine-length gas and no brake? yep, but not as accurately (IIRC I was maybe 2 down over something like 16 targets). Were there guys there that shot it faster than me without the "crutch" I was using? I'm sure there were (I always shoot 1-over the required number of rounds though, so in this case I shot 42 rounds to everyone else's 28 @ 14 targets).

I am of the opinion that a good shooter will run the type of upper/rifle being discussed here faster than they will various other types of uppers. Having only the brake might help, having only the mid-length gas might help, but wrapping it all up in this package, at least for me the two things compliment each other very, very well and allow me to go faster than I can with any other setup I've tried. Enough that I'm considering playing with an aftermarket single-stage trigger to see if it cures my occasional trigger-reset issue with these guns.

[Paulo_Santos]

Rob, I completely agree with you and it is exactly where I was getting at. Nice shooting by the way.

I've found that for doing the 2x2x2 drill, trigger manipulation is key. No doubt that a good 1-stage trigger will help. Even a good 2-stage like the Geiselle SSA would work. Just depends on your preference. I prefer the 2-stage triggers.