I’ve been running a Fail-Zero BCG in my 11.5" BCM SBR. There has never been a lick of lube put on this firearm.
For the first 836 rounds, ~half suppressed and some full-auto & suppressed, I didn’t experience any failures. (I did clean at 836 rounds but did not lube because the Marine Corps in me was screaming)
I did replace the action spring with a Tubb’s flatwire CS spring and replaced the H buffer with an H2. Still cycles everything from M193 to Wolf 55gr. My SBR is seriously running some gas down the works
As of today I have 2,546 rounds through the rifle and it’s been 1,710 rounds since it was cleaned (not even a wipe-down). No failures due to lack of lubrication (I’ve had two stuck cases /w Wolf ammo at below 30F. Not related to the BCG at all).
The inside looks nasty but still no problems.
Of course, pictures:
Outside: Note the discoloration by the ejection port from escaping gas (and yes, the BCG was originally silver-colored)
Bolt itself, pretty filthy
FCG, lots of grit all over it
Gas tube and chamber, the nastiest of all
Lots of white schmaltz wear the upper meets the lower at the rear, from the can I imagine. Don’t have a good picture right now. I never expected this rifle to run this long without any cleaning or lubrication. Gonna shot another 290 rounds on Friday to make it an even 2k before I clean anything–with my luck it’ll fail at 1,999 rounds :lol:
Regardless, after this I’m gonna clean every 1k rounds just for maintenance’s sake.
I think the real advantage of the FZ comes into play with suppressed or FA shorties–Nothing eats lubricant quite like a suppressor. I will say that I am tempted to use a FZ BCG in my new LMT built but I’m not quite sure as it’s a 16" and won’t be run suppressed very often.
I have a new Noveske BCG and a new Ion-Bonded BCM BCG, but after seeing what you’ve done here I may have to spring for a FZ for my 6933 upper with M4-2000. Thanks for the report!
that answers that question. yes i will pick one up. how far you gonna go before cleaning? 5k 10k ? and then do post pics of the clean up. i dont envy that job
Okay, so I had and FTE today–at 2006 rounds! Cause’d by a short-stroke. I made it over the magic number and cleanup was a real bitch. Here’s what she looked like after 2035 rounds with no cleaning or lubrication (I did clean her today but did not lube).
Suppressor schmaltz right hand side
Same view but left-hand side
BCG
Chamber/upper
It should be noted that 250 of the last 325 rounds were shot suppressed. So, 2,035 rounds since last maintenance and 2,871 total.
Just a random thought I have while reading your review: About how much time would it take you to return that rifle to “like new” clean… inside and out? I’m looking at your pictures and thinking hours, not minutes!
Is the DPMS special coated BCG’s similar or is that FZ a very unique and special coating?
DPMS shows 3 or 4 unique coated complete BCG’s on thier site ranging from $130 to $185.
You should probably clean some of that carbon build-up off. I can only imagine it hinders any lubrication provided by the finish they apply to their BCGs.
Don’t bother with the Brownell’s link. The FZ webpage has em’ listed for $250 right now.
The BCG cleaned up easier but I didn’t just wipe down that amount of stuff off with a rag.
The upper, of course, was far more of a pain in the ass. I normally wouldn’t have near the amount of carbon during a routine cleaning because I let it go for so long.
Excellent review. I’m more a fan of advanced metal treatments on firearms the more experience I gain with them (been wringing out IONBond Tungsten DLC and Melonite on 1911s for several years), but especially inside the AR15 platform. FailZero’s UCT seems to be rising, if partly because they’re applying themselves to the market and acquiring new industry partners to utilize their treatment. I’ll have to try the FZ BCG in a rifle next to the IONBond one.
