How to break your BCM KMR Rail UPDATED 15JUL16 failed again

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

This week I finally picked up my Surefire SOCOM can, and since I’d been running a AAC Mini4 on my BCM 11.5 KMR upper previously I needed to change out mounts. A good friend works at Rainier Arms (which is local to me) so I figured I’d let a professional handle it and brought it over to them. After getting my AAC mount off (side story: it had to be cut off as I had somehow baked it on from hard use), they mounted the Surefire flash hider on and all I had to do was throw on my trusty Aimpoint and Surefire light and I was off to the range to rezero. Simple right?

Well it turns out I couldn’t for the life of me get my Surefire Fury back on very well, and when I did- it had a serious cant. I figured carbon or locktite had built up and after getting back from the range I would clean it out and set it straight. But when I came home it had already fallen off and that’s when I noticed the real issue-

The metal from the KMR had given out. FML… I just got this SBR perfect!

I emailed BCM about it to see if there were metallurgical from certain rails or if they had seen something like this before. Since they were using a new aluminum / magnesium alloy I wondered if there were durability issues.

15 minutes later (seriously, that’s how long it took for them to respond) I got an email from them that they looked at my picture and noticed that my Noveske Surefire light mount had been reversed, and as it’s not a bidirectional mounting system this is what caused the failure. Sure enough, I remembered that when I first bought my upper I had reversed the mount for more clearance with the rail covers plus it was slightly more comfortable. As this was my first experience with KeyMod I didn’t even consider what long term effects this would have not to mention this was not how the system had been designed. They even politely included a return authorization number so they could examine the rail further.

I felt like a complete idiot. Realizing I was the only person to blame, I looked at buying a new 10" KMR rail and quickly discovered that not only BCM but EVERYONE was sold out.
Sweet Baby Battered Jesus on a Pogo stick…

So I apologized to them for their time and asked when they would have their rails in stock as I couldn’t find one anywhere, and they promptly responded that they would replace it, hence the return authorization number at the end of the first email. I couldn’t believe it, the issue was entirely my fault- why would they replace a $250 part due to user error?

So I asked them “You guys are replacing my rail that my dumbass broke? Seriously?” to which they replied “Absolutely, Keep shooting!”

Morals of the story- don’t modify things to do things they weren’t designed for, and buy BCM stuff because they’ll stand behind and replace them even if you’re a total moron. You can’t have customer service better than that.

2

Agreed, you can’t have better customer service than that. I need to buy more of their stuff…

3

BCM wins the day again!

4

This is why I recommend BCM to everyone I know. You just don’t see customer service like that very often, not to mention the outstanding products.

5

That’s pretty impressive and good to hear. They really wouldn’t have had to replace that rail.
I try to support BCM as much as I can.

Thanks for sharing.

6

Yup. In all honesty, BCM may have some use for your KMR as far as being able to reproduce a failure modality that users can obviously contribute to (but not all would realize they’ve done), and if they can design around it that’ll still work fabulously. Might be something as absurd as adding a small peg/boss pair towards the nose of the mount so that the mount will only install front-forward.
That said, this is the level of unbeatable CS that makes the hardware they put their name on worth more than the sum of it’s already impressive parts.

7

I love BCM more and more. Good to know that it was a user error, I was getting kind of nervous reading since I have two now.

8

Good job BCM, stand up company. Come to think of it, how many companies in all walks of life come around and deliver such high quality products at such an attractive price and stand behind their stuff. I’m always amazed at the speed companies like BCM and KAC just churn out high quality stuff.

9

Excellent!

BCM did the same thing for me a week ago. I got a rifle back from another company’s warranty service and somehow between when I sent them the rifle and when I received it back the lever on my BCM .308 charging handle had become bent and dysfunctional. I asked BCM if I could just buy a new lever/latch piece from them since the damage wasn’t their fault and the rest of the handle was good but they told me to send them the whole handle so they could ship me a brand new one. Outstanding CS.

10

I had to admit to a rep from another major company that I was a complete idiot because I thought their keymod sling mount was out of spec because when I mounted it to my KMR, it would not work. Turns out I did not install properly, and the QD swivel would not seat. Moral of the story, while keymod is pretty simple system, you really do have to do it properly.

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I personally can not say enough good things about BCM. OP, glad it worked out for you.

12

Wow. Great to hear they took care of you. Love me some BCM

13

Picatinny is definitely simpler and doesn’t require locktite, but KeyMod is so much lighter and more ergonomic. I picked up my 14.5 the other day with it’s RIS II rail and thought how massive and bulky it feels. I’d never use KeyMod on a military weapon overseas but stateside for a personal weapon it’s perfect.

14

Holy cow, this x10.

15

Installed a 13" KMR on a 16" mid length build and when it arrived, I figured the box was empty. I shook it to check and nothing (packed well). It’s a ludicroulsly light rail…and also has great customer service.

16

Wow, that is simply incredible service from BCM. I’ve been going back and forth on manufacturer while saving the money for my next rifle. BCM just moved further up my list. Nicely done BCM.

17

This thread is killing me… I’m on the verge of pulling the trigger on a C4, DDLR3, or a KMR. I thought I had shoved the KMR out of focus, but right back to the forefront it goes.

And people wonder why BCM has so many fans.

18

Thats why I have 3 BCM rifles. The only other one is an LMT. The BCMs have run flawlessly so far.

19

All I have to add is if I ever meet Paul or other BCM Staff in person the beer is on me.

20

Kudos to BCM for fixing a problem that wasn’t their fault.

However, I feel like this is a design weakness of Keymod’s that MLOK addressed.