BCL MRX Bronco Howitzer 9.5" in 223 Wylde......

I

Iloverevolvers

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........ present or previous owners, please post your impressions of this firearm.

https://www.blackcreeklabs.com/bolt-action-rifles/mrx-bronco-howitzer/

I'm very interested in owning one because in my youth there was this "handgun" called a Remington XP 100, some of them chambered in 223 Remington with fairly long barrels. I always wanted to own one, but never had the chance and it increasingly looks like I never will, living here in the land of "freedom" and "democracy" and all.

But now along comes this little, amazingly-NR "Howitzer" with it's 9.5" barrel (even shorter than some XP's barrels) and I'm getting a bit of the same feeling I had in my youth. (With a bipod and long eye-relief scope or red dot, one could conceivably fire the Howitzer with one or two extended arms from a seated position -- stock not against shoulder; just hanging in there for the ride, so to speak-- as one might have the XP, I think. Maybe somebody here has already tried that. I'd like to hear about it.:)

(The 9.5" Howitzer in 308 does not yet interest me, but I'd like to hear owner's experiences of firing that beast, too. Specifically, was it really fun or was it something else?)

Thanks.
 
I had the 12.5 its really too heavy to shoot like a handgun also working the action would be more difficult trying to use it as a pistol. Also you are losing a lot of velocity with 223 with the 9 inch barrel. It going to be load. Here I am shooting the 12.5
 
JBD said:
I had the 12.5 its really too heavy to shoot like a handgun also working the action would be more difficult trying to use it as a pistol. Also you are losing a lot of velocity with 223 with the 9 inch barrel. It going to be load. Here I am shooting the 12.5
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Thanks for the great video. Quite a flash. I really like the green ceracote, too.

Are you a competitive shooter? I ask because I'm a very slow shooter compared to you. If I acquired a 9.5, I'd go to an indoor range occasionally to fire off a total of maybe 20 rounds, just to have a bit of fun, and then be on my way. I'd definitely be spending a lot of time cleaning it at home-- just admiring its compactness and simplicity.

Anyway, you say you "had" a 12.5 rather than have. How long did you own it and why did you decide that it wasn't for you? Did you find its overall quality to be acceptable or unacceptable?

Thanks again.
 
Iloverevolvers said:
Thanks for the great video. Quite a flash. I really like the green ceracote, too.

Are you a competitive shooter? I ask because I'm a very slow shooter compared to you. If I acquired a 9.5, I'd go to an indoor range occasionally to fire off a total of maybe 20 rounds, just to have a bit of fun, and then be on my way. I'd definitely be spending a lot of time cleaning it at home-- just admiring its compactness and simplicity.

Anyway, you say you "had" a 12.5 rather than have. How long did you own it and why did you decide that it wasn't for you? Did you find its overall quality to be acceptable or unacceptable?

Thanks again.
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I dunno 6lb be alot to shoot 1 handed. Its not a TC contender.

I had a 7.5inch AR. I wasnt well liked at the range with it.
 
OkayShooter said:
I dunno 6lb be alot to shoot 1 handed. Its not a TC contender.

I had a 7.5inch AR. I wasnt well liked at the range with it.
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I guess I was not very good at explaining myself in my first post. What I have in mind is the way the first guy in the following video shoots -- only in the case of the Howitzer, the stock will be between the arms, not against the shoulder, not really doing anything. (Again, the term "handgun" for the XP 100 was not completely accurate. Although it could be carried and laboriously fired with one hand or two hands, freestanding, like the really large all-metal handguns of today, it was really more like a rifle with the stock chopped off. To me, the 9.5" Howitzer looks like a large handgun with a stock added on. Of course I will use the stock, too, especially while shooting standing.)
 
You've got to wonder. For just exactly whom was the XP 100 manufactured by Remington way back when? For just exactly whom is BCL manufacturing the 9.5" Howitzer today? Is the latter really meant for backpackers venturing forth into the deep wilderness to put in their packs in order to protect themselves from huge predators (I hope they've got their hearing protection handy at all times)? As todbartell said a few posts back, I think these were/are novelty items that buyers will shoot once in awhile just to have some fun, but maybe I'm wrong ........
 
Iloverevolvers said:
Thanks for the great video. Quite a flash. I really like the green ceracote, too.

Are you a competitive shooter? I ask because I'm a very slow shooter compared to you. If I acquired a 9.5, I'd go to an indoor range occasionally to fire off a total of maybe 20 rounds, just to have a bit of fun, and then be on my way. I'd definitely be spending a lot of time cleaning it at home-- just admiring its compactness and simplicity.

Anyway, you say you "had" a 12.5 rather than have. How long did you own it and why did you decide that it wasn't for you? Did you find its overall quality to be acceptable or unacceptable?

Thanks again.
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I needed the new style of bolt shroud because I was getting light hammer strikes. Black creek labs warranty service is excellent. The only use I had for it was as a truck gun and for the model of truck I have it has to be very compact. It worked fine for this but I prefer my Troy Par 14.5 barrel for that. I bought a CZ trail as well so it was not getting that much use.
 
Iloverevolvers said:
You've got to wonder. For just exactly whom was the XP 100 manufactured by Remington way back when? For just exactly whom is BCL manufacturing the 9.5" Howitzer today? Is the latter really meant for backpackers venturing forth into the deep wilderness to put in their packs in order to protect themselves from huge predators (I hope they've got their hearing protection handy at all times)? As todbartell said a few posts back, I think these were/are novelty items that buyers will shoot once in awhile just to have some fun, but maybe I'm wrong ........
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XP100 was designed for Metallic Silhouette shooting and handgun hunting. Same as TC Contender.

BCL, short compact rifle, likely built to fill the void of banned short barrel ARs.

You could manafacture a different stock to be a stub whatever length required to be legal.
 
JBD said:
I needed the new style of bolt shroud because I was getting light hammer strikes. Black creek labs warranty service is excellent. The only use I had for it was as a truck gun and for the model of truck I have it has to be very compact. It worked fine for this but I prefer my Troy Par 14.5 barrel for that. I bought a CZ trail as well so it was not getting that much use.
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Thanks for the information. I had heard about BCL's light hammer strikes, but I think that that issue has been corrected, but maybe I'm wrong on that. So it's great to hear from a former owner that BCL's warranty support is excellent and that the parts to fix the issue will arrive promptly and are relatively easy to install.

Just like you, I also need a very compact firearm, but in my case to fit in our dimensionally-challenged-but-extremely-heavy safe. The CZ Trail would also fit just fine, but I do not like the CZ's plastic chassis as opposed to the Howitzer's all-aluminum chassis. (The latter's chassis is very similar to the finest firearm I'm ever owned which hasn't seen the light of day for five years, but soon may be rising like a Phoenix for its new owner and provide me with the funding for the Howitzer.) I'm not too politically keen on CZ as a company lately. CZ has ingratiated itself to whatever moniker you want to put on the nation we live on, so I think that it is unlikely that "our" govenment will suddenly re-classify CZ's Trail to R or prohibited, so owners can fairly safely expect this firearm to remain NR and available for use for as long as they own it.

In addition to good customer support, another good thing about BCL is that it is a Canadian company/manufacturer that has local employees who spend their income in the local cummunity, etc. in Ontairo -- a province that has powerful political clout at the federal level. Therefore, I think that there is a very good chance that if I buy one of BCL's firearms that that firearm will remain NR and that I can take it to the range for as long as I own it.
 
Iloverevolvers said:
Again, to me the howitzer seems more like a handgun than a rifle and, apparently, I'm not alone:
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They're designed not to fire with the stock folded. Modifying it to fire with the stock folded would make a prohibited rifle.


The chassis is made of aircraft grade aluminum and fitted with a compact folding stock that captures the bolt handle when closed. When fitted with our patent pending safety wedge, the FSS stock can be made to lock the safety in the “safe” position, making it unable to fire when the stock is folded.
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Basically is a wedge on the folding stock. That pushes the safety on, when folded close. Locking the safety on. Then the stock locks the bolt from being operated.
 
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OkayShooter said:
They're designed not to fire with the stock folded. Modifying it to fire with the stock folded would make a prohibited rifle.




Basically is a wedge on the folding stock. That pushes the safety on, when folded close. Locking the safety on. Then the stock locks the bolt from being operated.
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That video does not show a firearm that has been modified in any way. What the video does show is how the howitzer might possibly be fired with the stock in its proper, extended position, next to a single arm's forearm, or, not shown, but easy to imagine, between both arm's forearms, in whatever shooting position one might want. One could do the same with almost any rifle, but, let's face it, it's going to be a heck of a lot more difficult.:)
 
Iloverevolvers said:
That video does not show a firearm that has been modified in any way. What the video does show is how the howitzer might possibly be fired with the stock in its proper, extended position, next to a single arm's forearm, or, not shown, but easy to imagine, between both arm's forearms, in whatever shooting position one might want. One could do the same with almost any rifle, but, let's face it, it's going to be a heck of a lot more difficult.:)
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Im pointing out it is not operational with stock folded.

You can do that with ANY gun. Doesn't make it any more like a handgun than a rifle.

You're gonna get odd looks, people telling you how to shoot, RSO staff going WTF.
 
OkayShooter said:
Im pointing out it is not operational with stock folded.

You can do that with ANY gun. Doesn't make it any more like a handgun than a rifle.

You're gonna get odd looks, people telling you how to shoot, RSO staff going WTF.
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I think the reaction, if any, will be "hey, that looks like fun. Can I give that a try? I'll let you try my gun if you do." But I might be wrong. If I am, I'll certainly clean up my act for the local powers that be. :)
 
Have one with the 9.5" barrel chambered in 308. The novelty does not wear off. The muzzle blast is insane though. Gets under 1 MOA groups with a few different loads. Velocity is quite a bit better than you would think.

I have loaded 110, 168, and 220 grain bullets for it, with 5 different powders. Still able to get 2000fps with a 220 grain bullet.

Definitely not for everyone, but the ability to just throw it in the 2-up seat of my quad without needing a gun case is really handy.
 
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