Bravo Company AR for Home defense ?

[Robert Mitchum]

Budget $1300 or maybe a little higher.

Not looking to play mall ninja games .. Just a solid AR for range and home use.


Thanks for any help !!

[Clusterfrack]

I like the BCM 14.5” lightweight upper.

[GJM]

Really hard to beat a Colt Trooper. At $700 they were grossly underpriced and even at 800 and change they are a lot of AR for the money.

[MSparks909]

BCM ARs are great rifles but as GJM said the Colt Trooper is a seriously good deal too. Is that $1300 budget for the rifle + accessories or just the rifle? Check out the Colt Combat Unit AR as well. It's Colt's 16" midlength gas AR. Around $1200.

[TGS]

I have two BCMs and love them.

With that said, if it's just going to sit in a safe for "HD" and get shot twice a year or so you'd be crazy not to get the Colt Trooper unless you are jonesing for a pencil profile barrel or middy just because you want one.

[Sensei]

BCM makes a great rifle. Yes, you can get a similarly equipped rifle from Colt for less. In the off chance that either gun gives you problems, I trust BCM customer service far more than Colt.

[Wake27]

BCM makes fantastic everything. I put all of their stuff on every AR I have (most are BCM). The only "enhanced" products I like better than BCM are the Geissele Airborne Charging Handles and flat faced triggers, but you're paying significantly more for those items. My wife's BCM (14.5 enhanced lightweight, fluted) is stupid light and makes me wonder why I've paid more for two Noveskes and have considered a few KACs. But, a Colt Trooper is also a lot of gun for the money. If you're not stretched for cash and can swing the price for the gun and still get quality accessories, the BCM won't disappoint. If the $1300 needs to include optic, light, and sling, then get the Trooper.

FWIW, they just released their MLOK and quad rail handguards so you have a lot of great options. If it were me right now and I was building my one and only primary HD AR, it'd probably be this one https://www.bravocompanyusa.com/BCM-BFH-14-5-Mid-Length-ENHANCED-Light-Weight-p/bcm-urg-mid-14bfh-elw-mcmr-13.htm

Lame photos but this is my wife's gun. It serves as primary HD and I tried to keep the weight down while still going with my preferred accessories/options. I'm pretty sure the only things on this gun that are still original mil-spec are the ejection port cover and the bolt release, though the latter will be changed soon. The only things that I'd change (besides making it an 11.5" gun) would be a BFH instead of standard barrel and the new MCMR MLOK rail, but both of those are really pretty minor for my needs.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171020/68b3a3eceb4833beb557a2c4276bc2b8.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171020/6d3372ec21027b6859224e46377d101c.jpg

[Doc_Glock]

I love my BCM uppers. I am not a high volume shooter, but in the few thousand rounds I have through them, I have not had a single malfunction.

For a complete BCM I would recommend this one:

http://www.gandrtactical.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=780-790

It is out of your price range. Alternately, you can't go wrong with a Colt Trooper for $7-800 and that leaves you cash for sling, light, sights and optic.

[MistWolf]

I have been tracking threads relating to AR malfunctions and the resolutions thereof. There have been quite a few that the source of the malfunction has been traced to a failing extractor spring and a few of those were BCM. If you get a BCM, install a new Colt extractor spring and save yourself from a potential problem. With my personal ARs and trouble shooting ARs for friends and acquaintances, most non-Colt extractor springs tend to fail in a thousand rounds or less.

[LittleLebowski]

Yes, BCM good. Go buy in confidence.,

[rjohnson4405]

Keep in mind if you use the gun it's very likely GONE. It makes sense for it to be the CHEAPEST reliable rifle you can find.

You don't need free float or a ton of rails. The Colt Trooper is the best deal. If you have to have a BCM, get the ELW, slap on BCM or Magpul plastic furniture, a red dot, and a light.

[Wake27]

Keep in mind if you use the gun it's very likely GONE. It makes sense for it to be the CHEAPEST reliable rifle you can find.

You don't need free float or a ton of rails. The Colt Trooper is the best deal. If you have to have a BCM, get the ELW, slap on BCM or Magpul plastic furniture, a red dot, and a light.

You don't need all kinds of things, but there is significant value to an extended free float rail when you're loading up a barricade a shooting a target beyond a few dozen meters. While not huge for the stated purpose, its pretty easy to get hooked into different applications with the AR.


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[Robert Mitchum]

Thanks for the good advice ..I truly appreciate it too all who posted. !!

[JohnO]

BCM make top shelf stuff.

For Home Defense a suppressor has a lots of benefits. Take a look at Clint Smith talking about his House Gun.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Ku9X8l8zM

[nate89]

I don't want to jump on just to echo what others have said, but I have been very impressed with every BCM product I have used or owned. I have a complete 16" gun that I have shot pretty regularly for about 7 years now. It simply runs, like a sewing machine. Recoil is very pleasant, it's gassed almost perfect, and even though I have 'fancier' rifle with free float forends, geissele triggers, etc., I shoot this one just as well. BCM CS is also one of the best in the business.

[NH Shooter]

I don't want to jump on just to echo what others have said, but I have been very impressed with every BCM product I have used or owned.

Ditto. This is my BCM 16" ELW BFH mid length with A5 buffer assembly. It's light, accurate and so far 100% reliable with a variety of loads;


http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/bcmcarbine-1.jpg


http://www.canonshooter.com/photos2/bcmcarbine-2.jpg

[critter]

BCM, aside from the well earned kudos, also has decent (minor) cosmetic blem sales from time to time. Can't say it's a better deal than that Colt, but if you're looking for a BCM specifically, the blems provide a little cash saving alternative. I love blem stuff. For a firearm, it really doesn't matter because it's gonna get blemmed up anyway.

[Clusterfrack]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171021/d8bf4779bee5968df7cc74538b30a8d3.jpg
House gun. ELW Fluted 11.5”.

[Robert Mitchum]

I truly appreciate the help
Thanks !
BCM® MID-16 Mod 0 Carbine

What's good range AMMO ?
Gold Dot for Home defense ?

21057

[Robert Mitchum]

Ammo for Range use ?

Home Defense ?

2 Separate Ammo Types

[Wake27]

Ammo for Range use ?

Home Defense ?

2 Separate Ammo Types

Very nice. For range ammo I'll use just about anything brass cased, but my favorite is Magtech's 62gr stuff. PMC Bronze also works well and is cheaper and easier to find. I've been meaning to grab some Gold Dots but the Federal Fusion line has shown to be very similar in testing and is much more widely available so that's usually what I have loaded.

[Doc_Glock]

I have been pretty impressed with Wolf Gold 55 grain for range use. Very affordable and good ammo to boot.

[rjohnson4405]

Wolf 55 grain or M193 for practice.

Then gold dots because they're easy to find and not that expensive.

Even if you sight in with 55 gr and then load 75 gr for HD, at short distances you won't have a real POA/POI difference. But I can find good, ballistic matching 55 gr practice ammo and HD ammo locally so that's what I run.

[MSparks909]

Third vote for Wolf .223. It's actually Taiwanese spec 5.56 that's imported by Wolf. Good ammo.

I'm running Black Hills 77 OTM in my HD AR mags.

[Clusterfrack]

I'm using my 55gr XM193 clone reloads for practice, and Hornady 75gr TAP SBR as a defensive load in the 11.5" gun. Confirmed same POI at 50yds.

[Wake27]

Third vote for Wolf .223. It's actually Taiwanese spec 5.56 that's imported by Wolf. Good ammo.

I'm running Black Hills 77 OTM in my HD AR mags.

I'll probably transition to 262 once I'm back on the mainland and have a decent stash of it for mid range use. It seems to still perform well enough that there wouldn't be an advantage to stocking a third round for HD (training and distance work/HD vs. training, distance, HD). It's only potential weakness is barrier penetration, but I'm of the mindset that more bullets would probably make up for that.


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[DiscipulusArmorum]

Would someone who has one of these mind putting the complete upper on a scale?

[DiscipulusArmorum]

^ Sorry, wrong thread :cool:

[M2CattleCo]

I've been shooting Paul's uppers since they were MOS, before BCM.

They're good stuff, not anything extraordinary, but good parts, properly assembled (albeit tight).

I used to have a painted carbine that got used A LOT for several years. In an email Paul asked how that upper was doing. I told him I had to go look at it again because I was thinking it was a Colt for the past year. He said that was the highest compliment I could have given his upper.

I like BCM stuff, the KMR/MCMR is my favorite hand guard, their ELW barrels are my favorite chrome lined barrels.

[Greg]

I've never had a problem with anything BCM made. With that being said, the way they market their stuff (and package things like hats and posters with rifles & uppers) makes me wonder how much extra I paid for the fluff.