Bear Creek Arsenal .300BLK Kaboom

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  • DAVE_M

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    So for those not on Facebook, 2A Tactical had a customer's Bear Creek Arsenal .300 BLK upper go kaboom.

    I saved about 40 of the photos taken of the upper before and after the barrel was EDM cut. I also saved the video from 2A Tactical where two BCA uppers from the stores inventory were pulled and failed to close on a Forster .300BLK Go Gauge.

    /// POST AUTOPSY ///

    It took two of us over an hour using a lot of force and tricks to get this upper apart.

    This was a COMPLETE Bear Creak Arsenal .300 BLK Piisstoll Upper Receiver. The customer had upgraded to a Geissele Ambi Charging Handle and a Nickel Boron BCG.

    Please review each of the pictures for individual commentary.

    Folks were asked if the customer somehow fired a 556 round or something other than 300 BLK through it when it had it's Catastrophic Malfunction. The cartridge casing that is still jammed in the chamber is clearly a 300 BLK cartridge. Also, the barrel is in fact a 300 BLK barrel and the customer had previously fired approximately 150 rounds of 300 BLK through it before the issue occurred.

    The customer was ONLY using quality factory 300 BLK ammo.

    So what did we discover? We we found something that we have never seen before. I (Rob) have been the NCOIC of countless Army ranges with hundreds of shooters over 27 years and I have never seen what we found.

    The customer stated that he loaded up a fresh mag prior to the detonation and the BCG went into battery with no issues.

    We scoped the barrel and then saw something amazing! (And we know this has happened before, it's just WE'VE never seen this yet!)

    Approximately 1/3 the way down the barrel, from the chamber side, we found a nearly intact, albeit blown out, cartridge. The cartridge appeared to be the length of a 300 BLK casing, but we cannot yet be certain.

    As we traveled further down the barrel we found the stuck casing in the chamber that you can see the primer side in one of the pictures. There is absolutely no bullet or bullet fragments in the barrel.

    We took photos and video with our scope and will be posting them soon.

    We are planning to have a nearby business cut the barrel length wise with an EDM machine. This will allow us to take additional measurements.

    Everyone has an opinion and currently we don't want say what we think caused the malfunction. We have several strong theories and we will continue to update everyone on this incident.

    Just remember folks, some would just toss this upper in a trash can, but we choose to treat it like a crime scene and dissect and investigate every bit of it until we can come up with the most plausible factor or factors that caused this incredible malfunction.

    Ultimately something caused this, and we were blessed this time that no one was injured. If we can gain some knowledge from this incident and possibly avoid similar incidents in the future, we'll call that a win for all of us!

    More to follow!

    LASTLY - ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION!!!

    -2A Tactical Team

    95537354_3249372135075468_6187571272369569792_o.jpg


    UPDATE:

    I'll keep this short:

    I (Rob) just got off the phone with with a person at Bear Creek Arsenal.

    The person was adversarial throughout the entire conversation. It was almost like I was talking to a robot that couldn't get off a script. The person did not express any worry about future incidents, despite me expressing my concerns many times.

    I explained that we were taking back undamaged BCA Complete Uppers from customers that were not comfortable keeping them. The person advised that if we returned them to BCA, we would not get a penny in refund.

    Regarding the two damaged uppers, this person couldn't even guarantee we would get replacements for them either, and this person seemed to really want them back... bad.

    The bottom line, if I was the owner of this business, I would have handled this thing completely different. The person kept spouting off warranty and other rules and I just kept saying that all I really care about is the safety of my customers and my employees.

    We purchased at dealer cost nearly $10k in products from BCA and we are willing and ready to take each and every one of those products back. Since they won't take them back and we can't say for sure if they are safe or not, we will be destroying each and every one of them.

    -Rob Russell
    Owner, 2A Tactical LLC

    And before anyone gets their panties in a twist, they said they finally got in contact with BCA and it was productive, so we shall see...

    Folks,

    We are VERY happy to report that one of the owners of BCA reached out to us later today. We had a very pleasant and productive conversation and I see us and BCA working together, rather than adversarial, to figure this thing out, and most importantly to keep shooters safe!

    Again, a BIG thank-you to BCA for calling us and hearing us out!

    -Rob Russell
    Owner
    2A Tactical LLC

    The barrel just came back from the EDM machine at Hagan Machine and Design in Newmarket and the precision that it was able to halve this barrel is incredible!

    A number of small fragments fell out of the barrel during the procedure. We were able to locate the original position of each fragment by very carefully following the lans and grooves and other marks. It was akin to a very difficult jigsaw puzzle, but harder!

    One small fragment of brass fell into the EDM machine and was unable to be recovered. We will address where the missing piece would have been located.

    Many more pics to follow!

    49869191417_2a48b7934b_h.jpg

    49868351488_084544970d_h.jpg
     

    twinin

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    I hope the owner was ok after that. Considering what was in the barrel, I'm surprised it doesn't look worse than that.

    Now the hilarious part is the guy saying cutting the barrel open will void your warranty - Don't do it. Send it to us. lol
     

    shrxfn

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    So after reading this it seems like it was not a out of spec BCG but somehow a casing got into the barrel and plugged it causing the next round to go kaboom or did I read that wrong?
     

    dougstump

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    From looking at the photos, there was a case or maybe a live round in front of the chambered Blackout round. A couple of possibilities:

    1. Someone chambered a different round "to see if it would work". I remember a heated discussion about shooting 30 Carbine out of a Blackout. The owner then chambers a Blackout not realizing that he had a bore obstruction. I certainly hope someone didn't do this on purpose, dropping something down the bore when the owner wasn't looking.

    2. Someone up here has been playing games with the ammo in the big stores, swapping rounds out. I went to purchase a couple boxes of Hornady Blackout but looking through the window on the box, something was amiss. I took it up to the counter and opened it up in front of an employee. There was one round of Remington 223 in there. We checked several more boxes, each one had been tampered with. We started checking the Remington 223, yep, we found the missing Blackout rounds. A co-worker bought some 308 at the same store and found some 243's in the box.

    Personally, I have a 5.56 barrel and three uppers (one Blackout and two 5.56's) from Bear Creek and have been very pleased with them. I have serious doubts this incident was their fault.
     

    DAVE_M

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    From looking at the photos, there was a case or maybe a live round in front of the chambered Blackout round. A couple of possibilities:

    1. Someone chambered a different round "to see if it would work". I remember a heated discussion about shooting 30 Carbine out of a Blackout. The owner then chambers a Blackout not realizing that he had a bore obstruction. I certainly hope someone didn't do this on purpose, dropping something down the bore when the owner wasn't looking.

    2. Someone up here has been playing games with the ammo in the big stores, swapping rounds out. I went to purchase a couple boxes of Hornady Blackout but looking through the window on the box, something was amiss. I took it up to the counter and opened it up in front of an employee. There was one round of Remington 223 in there. We checked several more boxes, each one had been tampered with. We started checking the Remington 223, yep, we found the missing Blackout rounds. A co-worker bought some 308 at the same store and found some 243's in the box.

    Personally, I have a 5.56 barrel and three uppers (one Blackout and two 5.56's) from Bear Creek and have been very pleased with them. I have serious doubts this incident was their fault.

    According to the owner and 2A Tactical, only factory .300 BLK was fired.

    From the other 38 photos I have, it appears that the initial bore obstruction was a partial case and jacket, but not necessarily a genuine squib. The case appeared to be out of battery when it fired.
     

    shrxfn

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    According to the owner and 2A Tactical, only factory .300 BLK was fired.

    From the other 38 photos I have, it appears that the initial bore obstruction was a partial case and jacket, but not necessarily a genuine squib. The case appeared to be out of battery when it fired.

    That seems weird to me. How would it work for the first 150 rounds and then all of a sudden go kaboom with a partial case in the barrel? Wonder if the owner did something and is not admitting to it. I don't even know how a casing would get in the barrel like that unless he hit the BCG with a hammer when it wouldn't go into battery on the next round and forced it in there. Hopefully, they will post more info on the issue as something seems hinky to me.
     

    dougstump

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    That seems weird to me. How would it work for the first 150 rounds and then all of a sudden go kaboom with a partial case in the barrel? Wonder if the owner did something and is not admitting to it. I don't even know how a casing would get in the barrel like that unless he hit the BCG with a hammer when it wouldn't go into battery on the next round and forced it in there. Hopefully, they will post more info on the issue as something seems hinky to me.

    I agree. I strongly suspect there is more to the story than we're being told. Either he chambered an incorrect round, or someone dropped a shell down the barrel, causing an obstruction. And it's always blamed on an out of battery! If it was a true OOB, the head of the case wouldn't still be in the barrel.

    I know someone that, last summer, repeatedly tried to fire a 20 gauge shell in a 12 gauge shotgun "just to see if it would work". He finally forgot to remove the 20 and fired a 12 behind it blowing up the gun. Fortunately it mostly blew forward. He has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer claiming they manufactured a defective firearm. I have been in touch with the manufacturer's legal department and may be called as a witness if it does go to court. BTW, I have video.
     

    DAVE_M

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    That seems weird to me. How would it work for the first 150 rounds and then all of a sudden go kaboom with a partial case in the barrel? Wonder if the owner did something and is not admitting to it. I don't even know how a casing would get in the barrel like that unless he hit the BCG with a hammer when it wouldn't go into battery on the next round and forced it in there. Hopefully, they will post more info on the issue as something seems hinky to me.

    I agree. I strongly suspect there is more to the story than we're being told. Either he chambered an incorrect round, or someone dropped a shell down the barrel, causing an obstruction. And it's always blamed on an out of battery! If it was a true OOB, the head of the case wouldn't still be in the barrel.

    I know someone that, last summer, repeatedly tried to fire a 20 gauge shell in a 12 gauge shotgun "just to see if it would work". He finally forgot to remove the 20 and fired a 12 behind it blowing up the gun. Fortunately it mostly blew forward. He has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer claiming they manufactured a defective firearm. I have been in touch with the manufacturer's legal department and may be called as a witness if it does go to court. BTW, I have video.

    Case separation, lodging into the barrel, which potentially led to the next round not seating fully.

    There is also a potential that due to short headspace, it blew out the first case, dropping pressure, and caused the squib.

    I'm all for fully understanding what happened, but I'm not going to defend BCA, because I know how they build their rifles and have video evidence that they have quality issues.
     

    DAVE_M

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    To add, this apparently happened to two BCA uppers.

    The second barrel was recently cut and they will post pictures soon.
     

    shrxfn

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    Do you have a better picture showing the squib? I can't get that cut barrel picture to show it but doesn't look like there is anything stuck in the barrel...
     

    snipehunter7

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    I bought 2 of their complete BLEM uppers a few years back for cheap. Ended up selling before I even fired them. Discovered the barrel nut on one was loose as hell. Glad to see I moved them down the road.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    DAVE_M

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    I bought 2 of their complete BLEM uppers a few years back for cheap. Ended up selling before I even fired them. Discovered the barrel nut on one was loose as hell. Glad to see I moved them down the road.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    That’s because they use a wrench and cheater pipe to install barrel nuts. They do not properly torque them with a torque wrench.

    Is that 3 different projectiles?

    The jacket of three projectiles.

    The lead cores made it through.
     

    Sig220

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    Hmmm, don't look like it was BCA's fault. Somebody loaded some subs too lightly is my guess and couldn't tell the first one didn't leave the barrel. :(
     

    shrxfn

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    I can't even begin to imagine WTF happened here. It looks like 3 rounds shed their copper jacket but how does the first one lose the complete jacket but somehow the subsequent two only lose from the crimp back I would think the rest of the jacket should be there somewhere.

    I wonder if the case from the shoulder forward came off because of the EDM or if it separated on firing.

    I would love to know what brand ammo he was shooting because that seems like a prime offender here also especially if the jacket and cores separated like that.......

    I was thinking maybe it was a bad ream and the barrel was not a true 300 caliber barrel but if he shot 150 prior rounds that would have shown up way quicker and not waited for 150 rounds. I am still baffled at how the last round went into battery it looks like the jackets would have blocked it from going into battery easily from the first pics. I was looking for complete rounds in the barrel missed that it was only the jackets.
     

    DBMJR1

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    Was this done with factory ammunition, or with re-loads/gunshow re-loads?

    I'm guessing squibs combined with operator error and an out of spec lower that allowed an OOB.
     
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