Historically, I have always used Colt BCG’s.
I understand there are some “better” ones out there, mainly I suppose in the coatings on them, but perhaps lug geometry as well.
Can a couple of you give say a list of the recognized top 3 or so and I can do a bit of research?
Coatings are largely negatives in my experience… with the exception of Robar’s NP3. Everything else is to some degree worse than phosphate.
Other lugs and cam pin slot geometry seem to work, but I have yet to see something that works noticeably better than a good old COLT or BCM bolt group.
thanks for that.
I was reading up, and Geieselle BCG are friggin costly, but they advertise as something outwardly. Primarily it seems based on the special 158 material used.
The diamond coating seems to get a lot of accolades.
robar has been around for eons, and always seem to put out a good product. Edited to say a quick search and robar is closed down.
LMT has one designed for short barrels. I just wonder other than making the carrier and bolt lubricious with a coating, how much can you really improve it?
It its c158, its just standard base metal.
They’re supposed to be forged though.
i consider Colt, BCM, SOLGW, BRT, and Sionics the best out there
I poked around in Geissele’s new BCG. Very nice… the finish is supposed to have mystical powers, etc. I’d run one no problem. But I’m not paying a premium over something that doesn’t need improvement in the first place.
Ahhh, apparently you didn’t read the Geieselle description. This ain’t no ordinary C158, it is C158+ !!!
The Geissele Stressproof Bolt is made from Carpenter 158, however this is not your typical material spec’d by the US Government. Since Geissele wanted to take it to the next level, our engineers worked directly with the Carpenter Steel metallurgists in Reading PA, to produce a special type of material known as Carpenter 158+. This material is cleaner with less impurities, ultimately making it stronger and more consistent. We did not stop there, we decided to forge the bolt. Using the same process used to produce upper and lower receivers, a forged bolt manipulates the grain structure of the metal and yields a bolt capable of 5 times the life of a mil-spec bolt. Each bolt is then rigorously inspected, high pressure tested, mag particle inspected and coated with Nanoweapon for maximum corrosion and wear resistance.
Anytime you hear/read “nano”, red flags should go up. Geissele’s stuff is primo. But again… I’m not paying more to solve problems that don’t REALLY exist. I’m not breaking BCM bolts… EVER.
Forging, in this case, won’t do a whole lot due to the geometry of an AR bolt.
The heat treat of the steel is more important when it comes to metal failures in high stress areas like bolts.
Virtually any steel with a shitty heat treat will yield a shitty bolt, even C158.
Robar is still there they just don’t deal with the public anymore.
A shop named Wright Armory now offers NP3 to the public.
That’s a testament to their intelligence!
I’m real comfortable with my current BCM, Colt, SIONICS and SOLGW BCGs and while I see no reason to expand my horizons, I would also trust Centurion, DD, LMT and FCD. The only coated BCGs I own are SIONICS Np3, that is the only fancy finish I’ll use. You can have the rest, I’ll stick with phosphate. I’m sure Geissele BCGs are quality but nothing uber special.
If I was going to point at one BCG and say “That one is the best.” it would probably be KAC.
Wright Armory stopped offering NP3 months ago. There’s supposedly new shops that offer it now, but I think the shops are just collecting enough parts before sending a batch to Coating Technologies (the actual owners of NP3/NP3+, Robar merely had an arrangement with them).
I wouldn’t say that the extra coatings solve any problems, but they could further optimize the performance of the bolt carrier, and aren’t a bad thing necessarily.
The LMT e-BCG is probably a good contender for unambiguously having some advantages over a milspec BCG. The SureFire OBC is also very interesting, though it seems to not have lasted very long on the market.
Thank you, I was not aware of that.
Yep, I got their email notice as I used them to NP3+ a bunch of after market parts for my M4 H2O. I emailed them about it and their response was kind of strange…I drew the conclusion there was more to it they wouldn’t get into publicly.
For your what?
Benelli M4 H2O - Basically everything is coated with NP3+ from the factory.
When I added aftermarket parts I kept them consistent with the rest of the shotgun.
Gotcha. I thought you made an M4 carbine with all water/rust proof parts.