Just had a catastrophic failure and the gun is destroyed. With a new BCG from BCL
, I had 1 stove pipe round 4 of 10. Next round of 10 I had 1 at round 8. Then round 5 of next mag this happened. The bottom of the mag blew out/apart, the BCG jammed itself into the buffer tube and will not budge. A large section of the upper has a swath of metal removed. See attached pics of removed metal and the remains of the round that was chamber and fired. The bullet left the barrel.
The only modification I have done is install a Magpul UBR Gen 2 stock using original buffer and spring. Looks like the gun is destroyed.
What could have caused this?
Sad to say but what probably caused this is BCL makes garbage and has three stray cats employed as their quality assurance department.
What ammo were you using?
When you figure out how to post pics can you also post pics of the spent brass that came out of it before the rifle decided that life with that brand name on it's side wasn't worth living? Please include a pic showing the primers (looking for pierced primers or heavy cratering around the dent left by the firing pin).
Headspace shouldn't be an issue in an AR type platform, especially if it's from the same manufacturer.
Can you tell if any bolt lugs were sheared off?
There are too many variable and possibilities without seeing pictures.
Step 1: Contact BCL and be persistent until you have a new rifle (unless it turns out it was your fault somehow).
If it was somehow your fault, do not admit it to them or your warranty will be void. I wouldn't mention you were shooting handloads, they will probably void your warranty.
Step 2: Sell your new replacement BCL rifle as new in box and learn not to buy their products again.
Welcome to the side of the forum all the BCL owners who haven't had problems YET like to say are a bunch of haters who have never actually owned a BCL product. I've owned their stuff (NEA) and will never spend money on their garbage again.
Yes, I'm a hater, I've been watching them for years and have owned their products. They've earned their reputation and the loss of my business and anyone else I can steer away from them. This is just another case that reinforces that observation and opinion.
Glad you weren't hurt.
Good luck with their warranty department, I've heard they're not exactly a customer service oriented customer service department anymore.
Thanks, I'll try this tonight on home laptop, can't download at work
The 308 brass is crushed to half its length and a big blow out holes at the bottom. It was a reload, could it have been too hot a load? Can't see it being that hot as the 44grns I use without issue to date fills almost the entire brass. Had I accidentally double loaded it would overflow big time and I would have caught it.
And the other odd thing is the neck is crushed on one side. makes no sense.
I'll try and load pics tonight
Do you do load development with your rifles or just pick a charge that has worked before in something else and start there? Every barrel needs it's own development starting low and working up carefully, semi auto's are not as tolerant as a bolt action. I doubt that the reloads are the problem as 44gr doesn't sound like a hot load unless you're using a really fast powder.
What powder and bullet weight?
I'm not sure how that picture is even possible. How many reloads were on that brass, hot loads previously? What rifle was the brass used in last? Random range pick-up brass?
He shouldn't have to. The design is such that any barrel and bolt combination will work, as long as they are within specifications.
Lol, within specifications? Are we still talking about BCL?
, I had 1 stove pipe round 4 of 10. Next round of 10 I had 1 at round 8. Then round 5 of next mag this happened. The bottom of the mag blew out/apart, the BCG jammed itself into the buffer tube and will not budge. A large section of the upper has a swath of metal removed. See attached pics of removed metal and the remains of the round that was chamber and fired. The bullet left the barrel. 
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