Spike's or BCM?

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

I’m looking at picking up my first AR. I want a light, fast-handeling self-defense carbine. This will be mostly for plinking in the woods, range shooting, and the occational 3-gun or IDPA carbine side match. That will be the uses that the carbine actually sees. But it will also be my goto weapon in any SHTF/Bug Out situations. So I want it to be rugged, dependable, and I won’t use any accessory that requiors a battery (in case SHTF becomes EOTWAWKI).

This is what I’m thinking for specs - 16" chrome-lined barrel & chamber, light weight barrel, mid-length gas system, Mag-Pul MOE furnature, BCM gunfighter Mod 4 charging handle, and DD A1.5 rear sight. That, a bunch of Pmags, and a big ol’ pile of ammo.

I was thinking I’d buy a finished lower, a barreled upper, a few more components and assemble it myself ('cause you can’t really call THAT a “build”). I budgeted around $1300 for my new weapon.

But then called Spike’s, gave them my specs and asked what they could do for a finished weapon. They gave me a quote of ~$1150 including shipping.

So then I checked G&R on what they could do for a finished BMC with those specs. The price came in at a hair more, but not much.

The Spike’s carbine has their Battle Trigger and Enhanced BCG - That is to say all the components in the FCG & BCG have a nickle-boron coating similar to Fail Zero’s Exo coating. Before anyone asks, yes, Spike’s enhanced BCG is fully High Pressure Tested and Magnetic Particle Inspected.

I kinda like that, but someone mentioned that the Army has been shooting AR BCGs on full auto for going on 45 years without any nicle-boron coating and without any problems.

The thing the Bravo has going for it is a 1:7 twist in the barrel as opposed to Spike’s 1:8. I think that will do a little better job stabelizing the El Cheapo 55 gr. NATO surplus ammo I’ll be shooting most of the time.

But since I’ll be using iron sights ALL the time, and only rarely shooting over 100 yards, will that even matter?

The nickle-boron coating, even if it does NOTHING else, will at least make cleaning my BCG a little easier. I’m thinking the BCM will have a little better resale value, but I don’t like selling guns, nor do I like buying the same gun more than once. I’d rather do my homework, spend a little more and buy the “right” gun the first time.

So, for my self defense carbine should I get a Spike’s or a Bravo company?

I’d like to get some feedback. Thanks in advance.

2

phydaux,

I recommend that you use the ORANGE SEARCH BUTTON (top right) and spend some time reading. There is plenty of BCM and Spike’s knowledge posted here.

Or you get a Colt 6920 from GandR and then just add the few extras you want.

3

Avoiding battery optics in case of “TEOTWAWKI” is stupid to say the least, the whole idea of “TEOTWAWKI” kind of bothers me. “The Road” and “I am Legend” were movies, fabricated by Hollywood. That shits not happening. Take off the tin foil hat. In the even that would happen, you’ll have much bigger concerns than you’re Aimpoint failing. Not to mention an Aimpoint has a five year battery life, and when it dies, that’s what BUIS are for.

Realistically what will happen here is riots in the street, maybe revolution, civil brake down, the country turning into a third world nation, food shortage/riots etc.

1:7 vs 1:8 wont make a difference with 55gr ammo.

I wouldn’t waste money on Nikel Boron coating, buy a T1 instead.

Buy a complete rifle, you won’t save any money assembling it yourself; ask me how I know.

I prefer BCM.

4

While your attitude of “Buy ONCE” is amazing (probably never said on this forum from a new poster/member) and you chose quality parts, this question has been asked extensively and on a regular basis.

It comes down to personal preference. What do you like more?

It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you want, are you just asking for reassurance? Would you like to decide for yourself on a rifle you will be shooting or would you like people here to tell you what you should get?

5

These posts are starting to get silly…search button will do wonders. I do not have any experience with spikes but i do own a BCM middy with T1 and it is a bad bitch. Chews up everything and isnt sensitive to being clean like all other ar’s:D

6

I had a spare lower laying around and a few weeks ago, I ordered a 14.5 w/A2X flash hider upper from BCM. Added a BCM bolt carrier group about a week later when they were back instock. Very nice upper.

About a week later, I ran across a complete Spike’s upper at DSG Arms for $485. Comes with their regular bolt carrier group. I ordered a stripped Spike’s lower, lower parts kit and buffer tube kit on monday. Should get it all together tomorrow, hopefully. The Spike’s upper is very nice as well.

Both companies make nice stuff. I think you can’t go wrong when ordering from either one. Let us know what you get.

ARKAR

7

I own a Spike’s, it is fine. But if I had it to do over, I would go in this order, Daniel Defense, Colt, BCM, LMT, then Spikes. Just my preference based on resale and projected reliability but it gets a little subjective. Just buy one and shoot the hell out of it and don’t look back. I think the gap between the top and bottom is getting smaller but perception is a lot. On this forum, they are heavy BCM as they should be but the others I listed are not bad either. I doubt you will ever know the difference without full auto and circumstances that most likely will never happen. Just my opinion.:big_boss:

8

Gotta go with IG here - Grant (G&R tactical) has Colt 6920s for about $990 plus shipping transfer here. Ain’t gonna get any better than that. Boonie packer sling for $18 delivered, a decent light on the FSB, and you’ll have a whole pile of $$ left over for ammo.

Wish I’d have done for my first AR.

Put keep it lubed (Mobil 1, Royal Purple, whatever) and go shoot the thing. Nickel Boron is not worth paying extra for IMHO, standard anodizing has worked fine for billions of rounds so far…

9

Heres the deal. A H1/T1 battery lasts like 5 years. No reason not to have one. If your worried about the world ending, stock up on a few batteries and your set for life. If your worried about an Emp or some other tin foil hat stuff, just get a quick release mount for your optic like a larue?? If you refuse to have a reddot because of the chance of something like this you are seriously limiting your combat effectiveness. Even regular army is issued red-dots now. Low light and close quarters is not the time to be messing with irons.

On paper the spikes deal might look better because it has some newcool coating. But BCM has way more credentials in the reliability department. Like iraqguns said at this price range a colt would also be MUCH nicer then a spikes. I would only ever risk a spikes if it was a ridiculous deal (Like 600 bucks for the whole carbine).

My vote is get the bcm or colt, use the extra money that you would have spent on a space age coating that is not needed and buy yourself an aimpoint and a half a dozen batteries. While your at it, drop 20 bucks for a moe/miad grip and shove all your batteries in the compartment there so your set for life.

Everyone will yell at you to use the search button, which you should but the down and dirty is that spikes is a borderline company that is starting to get the picture and one day might be up there with the rest of the guys. That has yet to be proven though, so for MORE money- i would not buy a questionable carbine.

10

As far as cleaning the BCG i clean mine with 725 and run EWL on it and after i shoot its really easy to clean. I dont think that should justify the difference in price to me.

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Was a book written in the 50’s. Concepts such as these are pretty prevalent in most developed (read: have something to loose) society though homsap history. It’s nothing new.

I don’t disagree with the rest of your post fwiw. :slight_smile:

OP, there are many good choices, ask instead of “why am I getting this one”, eliminate them with “why am I not getting this one”, sorted by price assuming that is a factor.
You will reach a good conclusion in short time and be much more educated in the process.

Or just take someone’s, admittedly good, advice and buy a Colt and hope for the best. Though part of being prepared if you are really worried about that, is knowledge.

13

Are you sure the spikes barrel is 1/8 not 1/7?
I ordered one in may and receiver it in July and it is 1/7 CL and it’s a middy…

14

I’ve never seen a 1:8 spikes, both mine have been 1:7.

On the NIB, there are no downsides other than price, and a lot of potential upsides depending on the application. It is, obviously, not even remotely required, but neither are a lot of the things we like on these guns. All money being the same or nearly it’s a no-brainier in my opinion to go NiB, there is great debate about it but all it amounts to is you can’t really measure “how” it’s better other than figures on sliding friction. I don’t get how one can not want the BCG to be as slick from the start, before lube, as possible in an AR, people are resistant to change though. It’s an old gun after all. The tech has trickled down and got cheap and easy enough finally. There is another thread on here today where a gentleman posted a pretty neat video from Armalite, the real Armalite, way back in the day touting the virtues of the AR10, if you listen to there description of the BCG it is earily similar to the virtues of NiB. This is my mechanically inclined but not (gun) professional opinion mind you.

15

OP, you could probably read every “BCM or Spikes?” thread there is and still not have your answer. FWIW, I have a bunch of BCM middies in the safe and would grab any of them in a SHTF scenario…all with optics too. If I were you I’d give more thought to adding a quality RDS and BUIS instead of relying on irons only for your stated purpose no matter which AR brand you choose.

16

From G&R’s website

  • LMT complete lower receiver $330
  • LMT M4 upper receiver $ 485
  • COLT BCG $ 169
  • BCM / VLTOR Charging Handle $ 50
  • MAGPULL MOE forearm $ 30

Total — $1064

17

BCM has blemished lowers available, which could save you a few bucks.

18

Wait do we hate Spike’s or not? Things change so fast.

IMHO BCM>Spike’s for performance, although Spikes is improving.

BCM was top notch to start with.

Biggest downside to a Spike’s is guilt by association. I own a ST upper that I put on a Post-Ban Bushmater (to make the M4C userbase haters head’s explode) and it has been functional for everything I throw through it, including Cheap RUssian junk. Caveat: I’m not super hardcore–its only about 2k rounds.

But given the choice to start with: BCM

19

From your choices, BCM hands down. But like IG stated,get the Colt 6920.

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Let me start off by saying that I live in the real world. I do not live vicariously through movies or imagined scenarios. I’m not saying you do, just giving you an idea of where I’m coming from. I hesitate to get involved in these threads with stupid acronyms like SHTF and EOTWAWKI, but I feel the need to insert some logic here.

Now I’ll address your dislike of battery powered accessories. You stated that you don’t want anything battery powered on your rifle because of the possibility that the world as we know it is going to end. Your words. From a purely mathematical/statistical standpoint, the chances of you being in a dark environment with someone who wishes to do you harm (a situation where you would want a light attached to your rifle), are FAR greater than the chances of the world ending…because as far as I’m tracking, the world has not ended recently.

Even if you KNEW that the world was going to go to shit in your lifetime, why not put a Surefire or similar light on your rifle to use while batteries are still available…then simply not use it when they’re not. What’s the downside?

Now, Spikes or BCM. Realistically, you’re going to get a quality AR from either. Although Spikes seems to lend itself to gimmicky products for some reason…like the ST-T2 Buffer. Or that CLP type product they offered (I forgot what it was called but they advertised it as the world’s best gun oil)…somehow that stuff seemed to actually CAUSE rust. I’m not saying Spikes is junk. They do care about using the right components and know their way around an AR. Their customer service is also top notch. But, given an option, why not go with BCM? Reliable, no BS, no gimmicks, no history of price gouging, no sword-fighting penises on your rifle.

Just my humble opinion. I’m sure others may differ.