I wish I would have found this website a week earlier! It was too late to cancel my order, but I would rather do upgrades over time than take a big hit trying to resell it at the moment. I picked up the rifle for $865 nib. Ok now for a couple of questions:
The BCG appears to be staked properly, but I will post pics for your opinions.
I am getting ready to order the extractor parts from BCM and was looking at H buffers… since my rifle is not milspec does that make a difference on the buffer itself? Also I noticed for a few $$ more I could get the STI-T2 buffer. Would this be a better choice?
I will be staking the endplate this week, and will probably order a complete BCG in the next couple of weeks.
I am going to be running iron sights for a while until I figure out what my ultimate goal for the rifle will be / more research, but the Magpul MBUS REAR Back Up Iron Sight has no elevation adjustment. After 19 years in the Marine Corps, this is going to drive me nuts. Not sure what I am going to do hear yet… maybe try and find a used carry handle for the interem.
Can some one show me a pic of proper gas key stacking? I should just have our armor check it, but I like to know what I am doing. I will be BZOing this wekend.
Any other advice would be aprreciated. I have tried to search and read as much as I could. Man I could have had a BCM!!!
I think I remember reading that you could not just unscrew the flash supressor and put a new one on the BM… correct?
Congrats on your new rifle. Do a search on my screen name and Bushmaster LE Dealer.
Have your gas key staked, upgrade to an H2 buffer (as BM AR’s are really over gassed), buy a spare bolt (which you should do for ANY AR), stake the castle nut and shoot the hell out of it!
I know the feeling. I wished I would have bought a BCM when I did my build.
I neglected to stake my castle nut.
Won’t make that mistake again.
As far as the BM is concerned, I carried an issued one on patrol for a couple of years. It served me well. Even though, the gas key came loose in training one day. As a result, the armorers staked all the gas keys on department issued rifles.
Be proud of your new rifle. With luck, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to buy or build others.
Remember if you get a different rear back up sight you will need to change the post on the front sight base.
The FSB is not F-Marked and thus, the post will need to be .050" longer to line up with a Magpul Rear MBUS or any other mil-spec rear sight. I hope that the rifle came with this already done if it has the MBUS from the factory, but who knows. BM is also supposed to stake the castle nut, so who is to say they put the right post in there?
Also, if you get a carry handle once again you have to know which post you have. Cant get a mil-spec carry handle with the shorter post since BM makes their carry handles shorter. If they did replace the post then you can use any mil-spec carry handle sight I suppose.
Also, overgassed or not, my BM will not lock back every time on an empty mag shooting Wolf with an H-Buffer. Had to put the carbine buffer back in when using Wolf.
First of all go shoot the damn thing. How can you already have buyers remorse, if you haven’t even shot the rifle yet? It may not be top tier but you didn’t pay top tier price either.
Go easy on the guy, dude. He bought the rifle, and then found M4C and probably read what should be done to AR’s (staking everything, proper buffers, extractors etc. A lot of people think that a 700 dollar AR is the same as a 1500 dollar one, just from a “brand” company.
My Bushmaster XM15 is my favorite rifle even over my BCMs. Its almost like I want it to fail, but it won’t. Its accurate, and it has never ever failed me going on 2000 rounds. I don’t take it with me to Afghanistan, nor would I bring it to a 3000 round count training event, but my BM (I did chop the barrel to 14.5") is factory stock and is a very reliable piece.
I have no buyers remorse at all with it. Neither should you.
If it WORKS it WORKS. And if so… I’d guess that you COULD depend on it if the crap hits the fan, so it serves its purpose well.
Even though my first is a DD XV, I’d say that having all the features doesn’t necessarily make it better for the guy shooting less than 1,000 rds per year.
Can some one show me a pic of proper gas key stacking?
Staking isn’t rocket science, but it is amazing how often it’s done poorly. There should be enough material displaced from the gas key so that contact is make with the screws. This simply prevents the screws from backing out. At the same time, the staking does not need to be applied with a 10 lb sledge.
I should just have our armor check it, but I like to know what I am doing.
Good call. Some armorers and gunsmiths are more squared away than others. Some have no business monkeying around on the AR/M4 platform.
Exactly. Don’t panic. You can correct/eliminate most if not all the weaknesses by what Grant lists above. Stake the gas key and castle nut, or if $$$ isn’t too big a deal then get a BCM BCG to drop in, replace spring and buffer, extractor upgrade, etc and you’ll have it in the ball park for a reliable rifle.
It happend 2/5 magazines on day. I had the car buffer with me and put it back in. Did not try to go back to H-buffer, maybe I should.
I say just shoot it! I probobly had about 1000 rounds through my BM before I found this site, and in that time has zero malfunctions with factory new and re-maned ammo. Only started having malfunctions once I started using Wolf. But hey, I figure its good training. lol
I’ve had a Bushmaster for awhile now, about 3 years, and approx. 2500 rounds thru it. No problems yet. Only mod was a Defender D-Ring, and that wasn’t put on due to a extraction problem but just because I read that it would help eliminate a common AR problem.
While I don’t get to shoot it as much as I’d like, I just did a firearms instructor course with it and it ran like a top for all of approx. 600 rds.:big_boss:
I’ve learned quite a bit since NCPatrolAR directed me to this site. Heck I want to sell my RRA and DelTon’s for DD and BCM equipment. I will swap out parts, checked staking and will be looking at DD and BCM from now on…
There’s an intense knowledge base here, for sure
