I recently purchased a 14.5 BCM BFH midlength with Vltor A5H0 buffer and sprinco green spring. I shot about 40 rounds of Hornady 223 55GR urban TAP ammunition out of it without an issue, but generally speaking, how reliable is this gun with 223? I am asking because this gun and the hornady ammo is what I depend on for home defense, and I want to be sure what I’m using is dependable. I know the 14.5 barrel and a midlength gas have a greater chance to short stroke due to the reduced dwell time.
BCM’s stance seems to be only mil spec 5.56 is recommended. Anyone have extensive experience with BCM 14.5 midlength can comment?
I had one. I sold it to a friend before a divorce. I fed it 5.56 ammo and it did fine with a h2 buffer. The current owner only uses wolf or whatever cheapest he can get his hands on. Never had a failure and it still hasn’t, that I have been told.
I have limited experience with ARs, so I’m just curious if they increase the gas port hole in the barrel to compensate for the shorter dwell time in 14.5 midlength vs a 14.5 carbine?
Not a 14.5, but a 16" midlength 5.56. 2900 rounds down the pipe since completion last month. Almost all Federal .223, bit of wolf steel case, bit of wolf gold, bit of green tip. No malfunctions of any kind.
Take 500 rounds to the range on a Saturday and run her hard for awhile. I doubt very much you’ll have any kind of problem. It will cycle just fine.
Here is BCM’s recommendation from their website : { These 14.5" mid length gas barreled upper receiver groups have been specifically tuned to be a very soft and fast shooting set up. They are a joy to shoot, but please feed it good ammo. With good milspec pressured ammo we have been running H buffers. We do not recommend using lower powered ammo. * If using less than milspec pressured ammo, it may be best to run a standard carbine buffer * }
I don’t own a 14.5 middy, but here is my input.
I would just try shootings some Tula or steel wolf through it and see what happens. I’ve shot well over 30k of that steel shit, and have only had a handful of jams, same ratio as brass malfunctions for me. Regardless of what most AR guys will regurgitate, shooting some steel won’t hurt your gun. Every time I buy a new gun I buy 100 rounds of Tula, some mid range 223 and some mil 5.56, I shoot a few hundred rounds of each and make sure my gun likes them all. I usually start with the 5.56 pressure ammo in case the upper receiver has any burrs or anything like that that needed to be worn in, totally unneeded, but I am a kind of anal person.
Also, if you reload(make your own ammo), just load up some soft loads and see if they cycle your gun. One thing I have noticed with under gassed guns, is that if you don’t hold them against your shoulder they might not cycle, but if you hold it against your shoulder it will cycle due to the energy. Seems silly but that is also worth a shot.
If your gun only cycles hot ammo, and you want it to be less picky, there are things you could do to change that. Just do your proper research before doing something big like drilling the gas port.
I’ve developed a liking for fixed A1-length buttstocks and rifle spring/buffer setups for some of my “go to” guns. Currently I have a couple 14.7" carbine gas guns and a 16" midlength set up like this.
Anyone have any input into how well a 14.5" midlength runs with a rifle buffer?
My 14.5 Middy shoots anything I’ve loaded up into a magazine. Although I don’t shoot Tula or other Russian ammo so I can’t comment on that type of ammo. PMC .223 ammo has a rep for being very under powered and I’ve shot tons if this stuff through it and have not experienced a stoppage yet.
I’ve fired significant quantities of .223 from my bcm 14.5 middy, much of it pmc to echo watrdawg above, as well as wolf gold, with zero issues. I am using a standard RE and carbine spring with an H buffer however, so not a precise match to your setup.
It sounds like you already doubt the reliability of your choice of ammo and BCM has stated 5.56 is recommended. SO- why lose any more sleep about this and just buy some reliable hollow point 77 grain 5.56 ammo and call it a day? And I would shoot more than 40 rounds before calling it- Good. I bought 500 rounds of 77 grain, ran it through various magazines, everything from cold to dumping a 60-round Magpul drum, heating up the barrel. A couple more magazine changes, accuracy drills and dumps and then I’m confident in my setup for home defense. 40 rounds of a non-recommended by the manufacturer, lower pressure ammo, wouldn’t give me the warm and fuzzies. Too many other choices in 5.56 out there. This is the routine I did for my new DD M4A1 14.5" and it performed flawlessly.
I run a BCM 14.5 midlength with an H buffer, also. I don’t see any need to run anything heavier than an H. My rifles have ran everything I’ve fed them.
I ran 700 rounds of PMC bronze 223 plus a few hundred lake city XM855 5.56 through my 14.5 BCM middie when I first bought it, without cleaning (other than initially, to clean factory oil off) Mine is a standard barrel/gov profile, complete BCM lower with H buffer with A2X P/W FH. It’s a good set up and has always cycled smoothly and positively.
I have a 14.5 barrel in a BCM upper and it has never had an issue with any ammunition I have fired through it.
In the bad old days when quality ammunition and ammunition components weren’t as readily available as today I was forced to “Take what I could get” and this barreled upper being a part of my first personally owned AR, I fired a wide variety of anything and everything I could get.
I have only had one issue and that was what I believe to be from a dirty chamber after firing several hundred rounds of Russian Tula ammo that left the chamber “sticky”. Since then, I now am taking a second to scrub the chamber after shooting that stuff. Never had another issue.
That upper is the equivalent F150 of uppers. Just a bit of Preventive Maintenance and it will last you until you shoot the barrel out.
