BCL102 Mod it or sell it?

M

Markit

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Seeking opinions from BCL 102 owners that have successfully modified their rifles for accuracy.

NEA/ BCL haters - yeah i know it is crap / sell it blah blah blah. Not really interested in your opinions. For me, mine has been fantastic except for my likely unrealistic accuracy expectations.

I have a first gen BCL 102 in excellent condition and the rifle has been solid since day 1.

I bought it for hunting and for medium to long range precision shooting out to a 800m or so.

The only issue I had was on clambering the first round when I short stroked the charging handle and there was a failure to feed. That and the Raptor charging handle I bought kept punching me in the nose so I went back to the factory one with no issues.

Other than that it has been just under 500 rounds of flawless function with several factory loads and a ton of my reloads.

The only thing that bugs the crap out of me is the accuracy.

I was hoping for a 1” moa rifle (yeah I know wishful thinking) and after tons of load development in the first few months it is consistently 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 moa when I do my part and conditions are perfect, with the occasional 1 moa group when the stars align and one fluke sub moa group at just under 3/4”. These are 3 round groups as I find after 3 rounds the barrel heats up and the group sizes grow rapidly.

The only mods have been a 3lb Timney and a bipod adapter for the rail and of course glass and a mount.

I hate having rifles I can outshoot because quite frankly they bore me so I have not fired this one in over 4 months as I ponder what to do.

So the question is do I keep it and mod it by changing out the barrel to something like a ballistic advantage or sell it and pick up something like the Maccabee and build up a non-restricted in a hunting / precision capable caliber.

Any BCL owners in the same predicament and what are you thinking of doing or what did you do?

Markit
 
Short stroking isn’t the fault of the rifle. The pull is going to be longer as the round is longer than a similar .223. Just got to get used to it.

I’ve seen the Raptor handle do what yours did on my friend’s AR. It won’t lock properly and flies loose on firing. I put his Raptor on my gun and it locked and worked fine. Probably a tolerance issue on your receiver. Maybe try a BCM or Geiselle?

I don’t have much experience with the BCL-102 but I did shoot our resident gear junkie, DILLIGAF’s, rifle. I LOVE his gun! Light, gorgeous and accurate enough ( not 1 MOA) but fun nonetheless. The only thing preventing me from getting one and modding to exactly like his is the cost!

I don’t hunt with a semi and .308 is too expensive to shoot for our TAC matches. I guess it comes down to what you want the rifle for. For me, it would be an occasional shooter and a safe queen so I doubt I would invest the cash for one. But a NR .308 that works like an AR is sure attractive!
 
Markit said:
Seeking opinions from BCL 102 owners that have successfully modified their rifles for accuracy.

NEA/ BCL haters - yeah i know it is crap / sell it blah blah blah. Not really interested in your opinions. For me, mine has been fantastic except for my likely unrealistic accuracy expectations.

I have a first gen BCL 102 in excellent condition and the rifle has been solid since day 1.

I bought it for hunting and for medium to long range precision shooting out to a 800m or so.

The only issue I had was on clambering the first round when I short stroked the charging handle and there was a failure to feed. That and the Raptor charging handle I bought kept punching me in the nose so I went back to the factory one with no issues.

Other than that it has been just under 500 rounds of flawless function with several factory loads and a ton of my reloads.

The only thing that bugs the crap out of me is the accuracy.

I was hoping for a 1” moa rifle (yeah I know wishful thinking) and after tons of load development in the first few months it is consistently 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 moa when I do my part and conditions are perfect, with the occasional 1 moa group when the stars align and one fluke sub moa group at just under 3/4”. These are 3 round groups as I find after 3 rounds the barrel heats up and the group sizes grow rapidly.

The only mods have been a 3lb Timney and a bipod adapter for the rail and of course glass and a mount.

I hate having rifles I can outshoot because quite frankly they bore me so I have not fired this one in over 4 months as I ponder what to do.

So the question is do I keep it and mod it by changing out the barrel to something like a ballistic advantage or sell it and pick up something like the Maccabee and build up a non-restricted in a hunting / precision capable caliber.

Any BCL owners in the same predicament and what are you thinking of doing or what did you do?

Markit
Click to expand...

You have gained the personal enlightenment that comes from realizing looks don’t satisfy all your needs. Like the guy who married a model, then realized his buddy with the plump willing wife has a much better life. A Mossberg Nighttrain in a chassis stock would probably shoot better than most AR-esq rifles. Cheaper too. My 338WM Weatherby Vanguard 1, crappy trigger, faded blocky plastic stock, factory 20” barrel, put 3 rounds in 0.998” yesterday. You aren’t married to the damn gun, grab your nuts and find something that makes you happy.
 
Barrel it. But with a high end barrel. Somebody that's known for accurate bolt action barrels. Also have realistic expectations after. (Not saying you dont) but a 1-1.5 moa semi is nothing to scoff and about realistic for the platform.
I have no idea who BCL is getting their barrels from but with their list price I would doubt they are from a high end manufacturer (at least in the accuracy dept.)
 
I don’t have my BCL yet but I plan on keeping It long term and building it up. Barrel, BCG, charging handle, trigger the whole nine yards. I think it will be fun to see what kind of MOA I can get out of the gun by improving the firearm piece by piece.
 
MOD it :) as for the Raptor CH it does that on plenty of other rifles ;)

Its the CH touching the Gas key somewhere. Nothing a bit of polishing cant fix.
 
With the Fulton Armory (Criterion) lightweight barrel .... 147g Lake City factory ammo. Primary Arms 1-6. JP BCG. Happy with the results.

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I would just start with the barrel first. My bcl shoots about the same as yours I do have a receiver set coming so building another one in 6.5cm with a faxon match barrel. If I wasn't I would change the barrel out on my current one. Christensen arms provides a 1 moa guarantee on their ar 10 but they have a carbon fibre barrel on them and cost double a bcl
 
Just installed a Shillen 308 barrel on mine with a JP bcg but have not had a chance to take it out yet. Hopefully the next week or two but I have high expectations s! Have a buddy we are putting a Shillen 65 creedmoor on that will be testing at the same time. I say rebarrel it and see what it can do.
 
emerson said:
Dang, that changes things pricewise if you don’t expect that going in.
Click to expand...

The cost to change things is relative to what you want:
Barrel = $400 +/- $100
BCG = $400 +/- $100
Gas block = $100
Gas tube = $50 (correct length)
Buffer = $ 50ish
Spring = $50ish

Note: I did not mention which currency, because some of this is available here in Canada, and some of the stuff isn't.

plus shipping and pst/gst. In summary, not cheap to fix something that should work right out of the box. But keep in mind that the current barrel is light weight and when it heats up a bit, the MPI tends to shift. If you want a tight group (5rds) after firing a few rounds, you may want to change the barrel to something a little longer and heavier.

Otherwise, the barrel is probably good for what it is marketed for, a light weight "hunting" rifle. Intended to shoot one round from a cold bore....
 
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