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Thread: Bear Creek AR barrels

  1. #1
    Boolit Master RU shooter's Avatar
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    Bear Creek AR barrels

    I plan on buying /putting together a AR just something basic and I want a 1:9 barrel seems these are way out of fashion these days , stumbled upon the Bear Creek site and found some 9 twist barrels that would be just what I wanted and the price is way below most all others . As it's said if it's too good to be true it probably is ? So has anyone have any experience with bear creek barrels? how they shoot ?

    Tim
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    They have a 1" moa Guarantee at 100 yards on barrels 16 inches or longer. Return policy is pretty good according to the ar forums. I don't have one yet, waiting for the holiday weekend for them to be on sale.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

    Sig556r's Avatar
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    WYPIWYG...what you pay is what you get, for barrels that is.
    I have used their inexpensive pistol barrels as passable but ARs? you're better off with PSA, DTT & the likes.
    Having said that, the rest of their build components are priced pretty competitive, either from them or their dealers.
    FWIW, they got raided by ICE not too long ago.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master RU shooter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steelshooter View Post
    They have a 1" moa Guarantee at 100 yards on barrels 16 inches or longer. Return policy is pretty good according to the ar forums. I don't have one yet, waiting for the holiday weekend for them to be on sale.
    Yeah seen that MOA guarantee . I take that with a huge grain of salt for a sub 100 dollar barrel. I'm sure there are many hoops to jump through to get them to honor that . 2 MOA ok I'd still be happy with that for the price.
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

  5. #5
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    CDNN has Sig/Sauer AR barrels for $49.99 but they are 1-7" and NOT threaded for tacticool muzzle devices. Good AR Barrels are very affordable now. You really have to be a hotshot to need a Noveske nowadays.....

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    Well I haven't had any issues with Bear Creek Barrels. The things work for me Ok. Granted if I wanted to put ten rounds into one hole at 100 yards, I would choose something else. But for my purposes the barrels work fine.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    To bad they don't have the new 350 cartridge, might try the 450 bushmaster. If I don't like it no big loss.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master RU shooter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Earlwb View Post
    Well I haven't had any issues with Bear Creek Barrels. The things work for me Ok. Granted if I wanted to put ten rounds into one hole at 100 yards, I would choose something else. But for my purposes the barrels work fine.
    So what sorta groups are you getting with yours ?
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I have 4 of them, two 18" in .223 and .300 BO, and a pistol in both of them. With good triggers, and 3x8x40 Nikons on them, both rifles hover around 1/2"at 100yds, benched up to 3/4". I have built 2 more of them for buddies, and theirs do just as well. The two pistols, shoot around 1 1/2" groups at 100yds, again with good aftermarket triggers, that break at a crisp#3, and both have 2x7 Leupolds Vari X II's on them. The reason I emphasize the better triggers, after putting them in, all the guns groups shrunk by about half. I am a gunsmith, with 35+years bench experience, and a good trigger is a must, to my way of thinking.

  10. #10
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    tomme boy's Avatar
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    They are about 50/50 if you get a good one. I have 2 that I need to send in. A 18" 223 7 twist and a 16" 223 8 twist. Both shoot the same. About 1.5" for the good and about 2.5" for the bad. I have wasted A LOT of bullets trying to get them both to shoot. Both barrels are the Wylde chambers.

    And for the record using the same components and loads I get from a 0.25" groups to 0.5" groups out of my Savage bolt gun. The AR lower I have has a trigger group that I polished up and is breaking at 3.2lbs. My Savage is set at 3.5lbs.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master RU shooter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steelshooter View Post
    To bad they don't have the new 350 cartridge, might try the 450 bushmaster. If I don't like it no big loss.
    They do have one offering in 350 it's onthe last page of their complete uppers
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy
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    Thanks, I will take a look at it.

  13. #13
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    count me in the Bear Creek barrel club. I prep them with treatment used by navy seals for their barrels. I also use shaw barrels before they were credible with the elites but they always shot good. Yup, you get what you can afford and then do the extra hand work and smile. Not match grade but I could afford them.
    Look twice, shoot once.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have a couple of BCA uppers. The 7.62x39 side charger wears a thermal and is sure death on hogs. Not a match gun, but a pig's head at 75 yards is a done deal every time.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by koger View Post
    I have 4 of them, two 18" in .223 and .300 BO, and a pistol in both of them. With good triggers, and 3x8x40 Nikons on them, both rifles hover around 1/2"at 100yds, benched up to 3/4". I have built 2 more of them for buddies, and theirs do just as well. The two pistols, shoot around 1 1/2" groups at 100yds, again with good aftermarket triggers, that break at a crisp#3, and both have 2x7 Leupolds Vari X II's on them. The reason I emphasize the better triggers, after putting them in, all the guns groups shrunk by about half. I am a gunsmith, with 35+years bench experience, and a good trigger is a must, to my way of thinking.
    I'm glad to hear that, because I am planning to get one of their HBAR uppers this summer for my Anderson lower. If I can get groups the size of my hand at 100 yards I'll be a happy man. Do their 1:7 barrels get along with 55 grain bullets? My Zastava bolt action really likes the Hornady soft points.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have a 13.5" 9mm barrel from them and it is the most accurate pistol caliber AR barrel I have ever shot.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master RU shooter's Avatar
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    Sounds like I'll give them a try the barrel I'm looking at is only 60 bucks so even if it's a dud it's only 60 bucks
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I’m glad to hear somewhat positive results about Bear Creek. I was going to buy a 243 upper from them and passed because after reading all the negative reviews on the Internet of bear creek uppers jamming, not cycling, and couldn’t hit a barn if you were locked inside of them. Just about all the negative feedbacks I read claimed Bear Creek would never call anybody back and left several messages and emails for them. There’s literally dozens of bad reviews on them of you google. It’s nice to hear that they guarantee one MOA because as most the bad reviews I read shooters were averaging 3.5” to 6” plus groups with their barrels.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have no experience with the 223 barrels but I have a 13.5" AR9 barrel it is the most accurate out of the 9- 9mm barrels I have tried and it is also had a good throat in it. I plan on buying a 223 barrel from them soon. I also have one of their side charging uppers with bolt and carrier both are top notch so far and the price was rite.

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