AR Stoner/Bear Creek Arsenal 243 upper fist group tests.

Well I finally got around to it and went out to try some group tests for the first time with my AR stoner 243 upper. I found out the other day that my AR Stoner was manufactured by Bear Creek Arsenal and rebranded...which I cringed since Bear creek Arsenal has had a lot of mixed and bad reviews in the past along with recent bad luck with their hiring sting(and the fact that I overpaid a $120 for the same rebranded item I bought from Midway USA). Well, the stoner had nothing but great, sub MOA , Five star reviews so it put me back at ease a little bit like stem on midways feedback. It’s the first gas AR I’ve had in about 20 years. The last...and only one before it I owned was a bushmaster targeter vaminter that wouldn’t cycle and jammed every other round. I’m sure it was a gas issue now that look back and have more knowledge on how an AR functions now.

https://i.imgur.com/XIlfRFM.jpg



Before my group session I took it to the range a couple times and put 43 rounds through it to make sure if functioned. It’s been running smooth as silk after I checked the correct Cartridge OAL and loaded them shorter. I did have dents in the middle of alot the cases along with paint chipping off my shell defector. I fixed the issue by taking the soft side piece of Velcro that had two way stock tape on it and stuck it on my shell defector. The fired cases look literally perfect now.


https://i.imgur.com/6UIdXnv.jpg


I cleaned it the barrel the night before and had no bluing come out it. I had previously loaded up some 55 grain nosler ballistic tips to try with three different powders For my little Remington 600. Sorry, no cast tried in it yet, but Someday soon. I don’t know if my gun would like the light, little, short bullets but I wanted to give them a try. I made sure to check the OAL so they weren’t to long in my AR chamber and also dropped every one in my Lyman case checker being paranoid as I stuck one in my AR the first trip out because my ammo I tried was load for my Remington 700 and the AOL was too long.

All 55 grain ammo shot and functioned fine. The three powders I tried were H380, H4895(my favorite power for 243’s), and Varget.

I first tried the first five H380 loads and wasn’t expecting great results since every time I’ve used H380 in anything Ive never had acceptable groups. It shot just as I expected. I never measured the groups being they weren’t impressive...as expected. Only one of the h380 groups shot MOA and all others were approximately 1.25” to 1.5”.

I then grabbed the five H4895 loads. Four out of the five shot SUB MOA with the best being .3” from 45.5 grains...a load one grain over max. I was hoping for a nice little cloverleaf from one of the loads with this powder like I normally get from most 243’s with H4895 but it didn’t happen. I normally load in .2 grain increments for ladder testing so I plan on loading up some 45.3, 45.7, and a few more 45.5 grain loads to test again to see if it tightens my group up. I was looking in my book on velocity to check my 45.5 grain load. After did the math it looks like I’d be around 4030 FPS with my 22” barrel. Which was my original plan...to have a coyote lazer that I put my crosshairs directly on a coyote out to 400 yards without worrying about the drop.

I then tested my five Varget loads. I had two shoot sub MOA with the tighest measuring.4” using 46 grains...a load .5 grains over max. Like all my 243’s I own, I was quickly finding out my gun was no different and likes it’s loads just a little over max. I’ve never really tried varget in a 243 before so I didn’t know what to expect. I’m planning on loading some 45.8, 46, and 46.2 grain loads to try again. To see if I can close the gap. My 46 grain varget load looks to be close to or around 3950 FPS.


Here’s some of my 100 yard groups...

https://i.imgur.com/rntkH0g.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XIjlWl9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TTCDNtl.jpg


The one thing bugging me while shooting was my 2.5 lb single stage CMC trigger. That single stage trigger all of a sudden had ALOT of travel in it before braking which was riling me up and throwing me off. I don’t believe you can adjust these triggers either. I actually bought one and cmc swapped me out because of the same issue. I would assume its just a cheaply made poor quality trigger.

If I can’t get a nice little cloverleaf from my next six load ladder test tries I plan on loading up some 60 grain Seirra hollow points next that another member here sent me. I never tried the sierras before but have heard great things about them and have seen a nice little cloverleaf shot out of another exact same 243 bear creek upper by someone else I know who owns one recently so I’m going to have to give them a go.

In all honesty I have shot tighter groups at 200 yards with my other AR and rifles, but to be fair, with ALOT more load testing and bullet choices. I have to say for a cheap, cheap upper that gets a lot of bad rap on every forum all day over the net that read doesn’t shoot tight groups I wanted to put out a post with groups and functioning. To be fair to the rifle I’ve only shot 15 groups of three loads through it so far, the trigger imo mentally was throwing me off, and it might not like 55 grain nosler ballistic tips, or I just wasn’t on my game yesterday. But for an economy $330 upper...if I would have saved a $120 and bought it from Bear creek instead of Midway USA, gets a thumbs up in my book. I bought my Areo M5 lower on Black Friday for $213 but as of right now I believe they are back to $249. So I believe you can put this same rig together currently for approx $580! Boy have AR 10 prices gone down! I’m sure I can get it to shoot tighter with the right load, and, or, a different bullet selection. I do see that bear creek guarantees their barrels to shoot MOA as well...and I’ve seen a lot of posts with other “new” calibers that had issues. Well I know of two other shooters that own the same 243 upper and both shoot sub MOA so Bear creek must have the 243’s figured out. My smith also has a 7.62x39 stoner/rebranded bear creek barrel type upper that shoots bug holes and function perfectly. He had a guy walk into his shop and asked to order one. Long story short no deposit was taken, the guy never showed, and he didn’t want to send it back to Midway so he kept it. My smith said he loves that cheap little upper and glad the guy never picked it up. I’ll have to mess with my trigger to see if there’s anyway to remove the travel.

I have had nothing but excellent service out BC Arsenal uppers, have 4 as we speak. I have ordered 3 others for friends. 2 of mine are pistols, a 10" .223 and 300 BO, and they shoot right at 1" or just a tad over, while the carbines shoot under MOA at 100yds. The ones I have ordered for friends, have shot great also. I have heard the rumors of bad stuff from BCA but all my experience has been positive.

I have two complete uppers from Bear Creek Arsenal. They have been great uppers. One is a 16 inch 223 wylde upper, and the other is a 10" 300 blackout.
The 300 blackout upper had to be completely taken apart. The barrel nut wasn't tightened correctly, and when it was tightened correctly the free float handguard/top rail were not lining up with the rail on top of the upper. I used two shims and tightened it down correctly and everything lined up perfect. With that said, I would not hesitate to buy another upper from them.

My 243 isn't an Ar style but I get my best groups at longer ranges with the Sierra 95 Matchking. I consistently get groups of 1.5 inches or less at 200 yards. It will do better if the wind isn't blowing.
100 yards is basically one hole.

Well, I ordered my 2nd 243 upper yesterday. A 20” version for $318.oo. I beat the toilet paper protector panic to the punch as BCA still has a lot of 243 uppers in stock...and cheap.

I have been considering getting an AR9 from BC. But haven't found much about the Co. I think you have pushed me over the edge.

Old post but figure I'd update on the 20" 243 upper. The first one I had didn't shoot the greatest. I tried over 69 ladder tests. Only 3 of the loads shot under moa with the tightest group at .7". All the rest were 1.5"-2" groups at 100 yards. I sent it back under there now discontinued MOA guarantee. It took over 6 months to get an upper back( that they had in stock the whole time). Apparently they were re coded and did not know they had any. In this lengthy turn around process BCA told me their tooling wore out and was waiting for new 243 tooling.That was the reason I was told mind didn't shoot. They told me the chamber and rifling was cut ruff and jagged when they inspected and test fired it. I was also told it didn't pass their MOA testing. Then after months of waiting I was told they decided to.discontinue the 243 chambering. So they found 3 of the miscellaneous coding. I was told they tested them all and was told none passed "their" moa testing. I said I still wanted one because I couldn't get the parts now for what I paid for the upper. They sente.the tightest grouping upper with its test target that printed around 1.5 MOA. Got it finally and did a ladder test with nosler 55 grain ballistic tips and 60 grain seirra HPs. The seirras groups were tighter.

The black barrel is the new upper...

https://imgur.com/a/nvfq3qE
https://i.imgur.com/jTSnR91.jpg

Seirra test groups at 100 yards...

https://imgur.com/a/oMCaRge
https://i.imgur.com/0KbM13E.jpg

https://imgur.com/a/oMCaRge
https://i.imgur.com/lBm7jZr.jpg

Thought it shot OK for a $300 upper that I was told wouldn't shoot MOA. I called back and told them my results and sent my test findings. They told me the person who tested them was new and picked a random powder and used bulk FMJs to test.lol no wonder it didn't shot MOA. My guess is both would probably shoot better with heavier bullets.

I didn't know Stoner was a rebrand of Bear Creek, but when Midway began selling Bear Creek I did a search and found they sell direct for a lot less than Midway's gouging. I believe Larry Potterfield attended the Wayne Lapierre school of wealth accumulation.

The upper I bought was a side charging 18'' heavy fluted and I'm pretty well satisfied with it as far as function and accuracy go. I loaded mine with mil-surp 55gr. ammo and shot around 30rds. my first range session and was well pleased with the groups which came in at about 1.5''. I probably wouldn't choose another side charging upper, but I built this particular rifle to more a ''sporter'' and it accomplishes that role better than a traditional AR upper. At around $350.00 for a complete upper that shoots as good as this is hard to beat.

I wasn't aware of the rebranding at the time or I would have saved $150 and bought one from BCA. BCA told me my stoner is covered under the BCA lifetime warranty. I use mine for predator hunting in the dessert so open holed side charging receivers were never an option for me. The POF P415 ,14.5" barreled version in the top right of my photo will shoot .3" groups at 200 yards using a 60 grain vmax and 25 grains of benchmark....but it also retailed for $2300 at the time.

I was very impressed with your groups with handloads. The side charging handle is annoying when cleaning and does open the receiver to dirt, but the handle didn't come loose as some said they did or could. I put a 50 year old Weaver 3-9 on it along with flip-up irons and was impressed with the accuracy out of the box with surplus Greek 55gr. ball ammo. I didn't compare it side by side with my DPMS Panther Arms NM upper using known good ammo though. I don't miss the shell deflector for sure, I find my brass neatly stacked to my right rear instead of scattered all over the place.

Has anyone tested the BCA AR10 uppers on a PSA lower?

They are cheap enough I would buy one and put a better barrel on it if it works on my PSA.

I don't know if they will in a PSA lower. I did pick up a stripped Aero M5 lower receiver for $114 on black Friday. Also picked up an Aero parts kit for $39 and rifle buffer kit for $46. Also grabbed a timney 3 pound trigger for $99 shipped from Sportsmans. So my extra 243 upper will have its own lower now.