Another BCL-102 Review

- FTE's

- 'so-so' accuracy.

- questionable workmanship

I'm glad I stayed away from the first batch of these things. One would think that a Canadian company could do measurably better than Norinco...


So true...like the old saying... if you had your mind made up on something ...no amount of facts can change that
 
First of all, thanks for taking the time to post your review. I found it insightful and I'm glad you did it. Please don't let the fact that I have a couple of nits to pick discourage you.




Although I can't see the particulars of the malfunction from here, you should have been able to fix this without resorting to the KNS pins. If your pin is walking out every 5 shots there is clearly something assembled incorrectly. Have you much experience with AR rifles? In the factory design the hammer and trigger pins are both retained by spring wires that rest in grooves on the pin. I am not familiar with your aftermarket trigger but there should be something built in specifically to retain those pins, and it was probably just a matter of moving a spring leg.



This has been the standard of the AR family forever, though looking at my M16A1 and M4 uppers the rod actually contacts the barrel nut rather than the handguard.



Okay, this is something of a pet peeve but I absolutely HATE when people use the abbreviations FTE or FTF, for the simple reason that they aren't uniquely defined. "FTE" can mean Failure to Extract or Failure to Eject (FTF can be Failure to Feed or Failure to Fire). I know some people are likely to claim that there is some convention on this forum or across the internet or whatever that everyone has agreed on a meaning, but I call bullshìt, I have been cruising online firearms groups since the days of usenet rec.guns and I have seen the terms widely interchanged. They are therefore meaningless, I read your post carefully twice and still cannot say what kind of problem you were experiencing. It's a shame to have an otherwise good, informative post like this undermined by lazy terminology that leaves people guessing.

That being said, neither extraction nor ejection failures are usually influenced by magazines so I'm scratching my head how you figure you stopped whatever problem you had by changing mags.

No worries Battlerife! This is my first MSR. It is possible that the aftermarket trigger was not installed properly.
On the BCL102 the rod definitely misses the barrel nut and the slim SLR handguard.
I should have spelled out failure to eject before using the acronym. I fired 30 rounds from an xcr-m mag and had 5 FTeject. Fired the next 30 with the IMI mag and had no FTE's. I cant explain it besides what I mentioned about the difference in followers, but this is a report on what I experienced. I will update once I test out the XCR-m mags with the filed followers.
 
Thanks for your detailed review.
I'm hoping to get in on the 3rd pre-order and I find it kind of strange that there's so few reviews on this forum.
I thought there was around 75 guns in the 1st pre-order, yet there's less than 10 reviews on here (and only 1 I think on YouTube).
It's refreshing to read your honest review versus a typical fanboy spewing the gospel.
Cheers

Mine has been accurate, reliable, and has had zero problems outside of some old neck sized hand loads that Travis Bickle described as having to be "mortared" out. But that's not the rifles issue, that was the ammo. It didn't shoot 7.62 NATO worth a damn. It's not a precision rig. It greatly depends on what the needs and expectations are.

I love it and like any reviews you'll hear from the unhappy ones, or the ones with unrealistic expectations many times over before the content ones say anything.
 
as long as it shoots xm80 at 4moa without stupid fte issues I'm good

It's a NR ar10, NR ar10 for under 2k! We should be jumping up and down in total joy!
 
The away I look at it; if you have to drop 1K on a high end BCG and barrel to get your desired level of precision and reliability, your still $2K+ ahead of a MH. Plus they were smart in making most of the parts non-proprietary and appreciate the flexibility as an end user. I'm upgrading the sh#! out of mine because that's what I want but I'm sure the second run will go a little smoother for the guys not interchanging components.
 
The away I look at it; if you have to drop 1K on a high end BCG and barrel to get your desired level of precision and reliability, your still $2K+ ahead of a MH. Plus they were smart in making most of the parts non-proprietary and appreciate the flexibility as an end user. I'm upgrading the sh#! out of mine because that's what I want but I'm sure the second run will go a little smoother for the guys not interchanging components.

Through in another $400 for trigger ,now your only a few hundred less than a a MH.
I don't see how either one is bad.

I prefer the charging handle on the 102 though:)
 
The away I look at it; if you have to drop 1K on a high end BCG and barrel to get your desired level of precision and reliability, your still $2K+ ahead of a MH. Plus they were smart in making most of the parts non-proprietary and appreciate the flexibility as an end user. I'm upgrading the sh#! out of mine because that's what I want but I'm sure the second run will go a little smoother for the guys not interchanging components.

Through in another $400 for trigger ,now your only a few hundred less than a a MH. Which is $3650
I don't see how either one is bad.

I prefer the charging handle on the 102 though:)
 
Oh I defiantly could've bought a MH whit the money I dropped on my 102... lol... Imagine if they sold the uppers on lowers for 3-400 $ Youd be able to build something better than a MH for cheaper...lol...

I just dont have the patience to wait on NEA to get stripped receivers sets out in a timely matter... lol...
 
Gosh. My 38 year old Belgium made BAR .243 shoots perfectly, without any issues, still bone stock as hand assembled, sold for far less than $1800 (although it might sell for a tad more today..if they still built them) and I assure you that this rifle is no safe queen.....with groups touching at 100 yards with a $300 scope....

The 38 year old hunting rifle and $300 scope forum is over there... Apples to apples people...
 
Yep, even a upper/lower for $800 you'd still be better off.
Right now,your paying for parts,that's gonna be tossed in the garbage.

I think they would make more money,just selling the upper/lower combos, than the complete rifle.

My buddy said he's waiting for the IOP ,program,plus a 15% off sale,then he's gonna sell it to me,for what he gets it for:)
 
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Yep and if I was going to buy either,it would be the AR10.

But let's be honest about the price.

When you add the parts that the MH has,there's not much difference in price.

According to their site hat price doesn't include a brake, anything other than black anodize factory paint, and no ambi-controls so the fair comparative price to the factory spec BCL, by their site is $4,268. Plus you still have the bonus of the AR10 platform vs. the MH. I think a $2,468 variance in price point just to get a basic MH makes the BCL102 the clear value winner. Just my two cents...
 
According to their site hat price doesn't include a brake, anything other than black anodize factory paint, and no ambi-controls so the fair comparative price to the factory spec BCL, by their site is $4,268. Plus you still have the bonus of the AR10 platform vs. the MH. I think a $2,468 variance in price point just to get a basic MH makes the BCL102 the clear value winner. Just my two cents...
Fair enough,I'll give ya that.
But then you have to deduct $1000 for the NEA Upper/Lower..Lol
 
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