Uppers And BCG’s

Not familiar with either of those but I recommend getting the headspace checked prior to shooting it if you aren’t going to purchase them together from the same outfit. BCM makes really good bolts by the way.

I have 3 bear creek arsenal stripped uppers, 3 of their bolts, and have had a couple of their barrels too. They were all fine and the barrels were accurate. I can't think of a reason I would want a titanium nitride coated bolt carrier as opposed to a normal black nitride BCG, but if you like it go for it.

The carrier will be the last part in the gun to wear out.

If you’re not shooting it much look at PSA they have some nice uppers with the BCG and charge handles for prices that are hard to beat.

I think you’re 223 Wylde choice is good.

I’d suggest you figure out what type of shooting you want to do with it.
If you’re not sure I’d suggest a 16” with a free float hand guard. Don’t spend a lot, Shoot it and have fun then decide if your opinion of ARs and how much you’ll be shooting.

I will warn you ARs are fun to shoot and I think even more fun to assemble.

someguy2800 said:

I can't think of a reason I would want a titanium nitride coated bolt carrier as opposed to a normal black nitride BCG, but if you like it go for it.

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One of my AR's came with one... I haven't seen a single advantage one way or the other.

Toolcraft bcgis the best value out there by far. They offer phosphate or nitride with c158 or the 9310 bolts. I personally prefer the c158 books but if heat treat is done right 9310 is good too.

Check out right to Bear. They have a fre options in the toolcraft with great pricing stayying at $79.99. Monmouth reloading and granite ridge have good pricing as well

If you don’t like cleaning, go with one of the nickel boron BCGs. Myself, I like Black Nitride the best. The surface is harder.
I also like the 223 Wylde chamber. When it comes to rails and handguards, it depend on my intended purpose for the gun. I like a fixed front sight on a duty gun and a 15” slim rail on a gun for sport and fun.
But then I have a hard time making up my mind on what I like the best at times.

Firstly, it matters. The upper is where nothing should be held back. Second, what is the purpose of the build; home defense, plinking, 400 yard steel, an ultralight configuration? FSB or low profile? Optics or no? Rail, KeyMod, MLOK, free floating tube, basic plastic? Brake, comp, flash hider?

Too many options to pick a specific but I like the advice on checking PSA for a configuration you like and buying it. If you’ve got a bit more saved up, Bravo Company or similar quality would be worthwhile. You might save a little lubricant with a coated BCG but not a great excuse to “upgrade”.

AR triggers are simple enough to drop in without being cartridge style so save some money and buy one of these https://www.righttobear.com/Rock-River-Arms-Two-Stage-Varmint-Match-Trigger-3-p/ar0093nmkv.htm

Honestly, just close your eyes and point at any 16" carbine made by a major manufacturer. Budget AR's are like pugs, they're all the same dog.

Just a opposite opinion but I am totally under whelmed by the .223 Wylde chamber. So far the best I can it to group at 25 yards is 3/4" whereas my other AR with 5.56 chamber will put 4 rounds touching with three of them in the same hole at the same distance using my 55 gr. FMJBT reloads.

The .223 Wylde has 1 x 9" whereas the 5.56 has 1 x 7" twist. All of my future AR's will have 5.56 chamber (just brought another barrel in 5.56 with 1 x 9" twist so I am going to be doing a lot of testing.

BSA1 said:

Just a opposite opinion but I am totally under whelmed by the .223 Wylde chamber. So far the best I can it to group at 25 yards is 3/4" whereas my other AR with 5.56 chamber will put 4 rounds touching with three of them in the same hole at the same distance using my 55 gr. FMJBT reloads.

The .223 Wylde has 1 x 9" whereas the 5.56 has 1 x 7" twist. All of my future AR's will have 5.56 chamber (just brought another barrel in 5.56 with 1 x 9" twist so I am going to be doing a lot of testing.

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Maybe the wylde barrel is just crappy? That's the problem a lot of the cheaper barrel makers have. They can't make a good barrel in the first place then add wylde chamber and other things to put lipstick on the pig. Not saying that is the case with yours but companies do that, especially lower end ones.

223 wylde isn't a miracle chamber and considering the manufacturer is doing everything else right and it's chambered correctly the wylde might account for a 5-10% accuracy increase which isn't much.

Try a white oak or Douglas/Bartlein barrel spun by compass lake in 223wylde. It will be very accurate

Everready73 said:

Maybe the wylde barrel is just crappy? That's the problem a lot of the cheaper barrel makers have. They can't make a good barrel in the first place then add wylde chamber and other things to put lipstick on the pig. Not saying that is the case with yours but companies do that, especially lower end ones.

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It is not a low end barrel. It is a JSE Surplus upper with Wilson Arms Moly with YHM free float quad rail handguard. It may well be a crappy barrel. I am giving it some thought as to what barrel I want if I decided to change it.

Another possibility is the BCG. As I will soon have three BCG's, each from a different manufacturer, I should be able to determined if that is a problem.

From what I been reading it looks like the .223 Wylde shoots better with heavier bullets. Is this true?

<quote>From what I been reading it looks like the .223 Wylde shoots better with heavier bullets. Is this true?</quote>

That depends on the barrel twist far more than how the chamber leade is cut (which is the only real difference between the two). I had a 5.56 NATO chambered 1:9 that would easily shoot 1-1.5 MOA with the right bullets before I wore it out. The primary reason the Wylde chamber exists is to be able to fire both .223 and 5.56 ammo safely, with maybe a bit more accuracy. Still need the right barrel twist to match the ammo you mainly want to be shooting

Cutting a 223 wylde chamber in a crappy barrel is like putting premium gas in an AMC Pacer. Putting a 5.56 chamber in a match grade barrel is like putting stale 85 octane in your 69 Z28.

There should be no reason to replace a Wilson barrel unless it is defective or worn out. Should shoot sub MOA with the right ammo.

Back to the OP, I’d suggest an all-in-one inexpensive (to go with the theme) PSA like this http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-...sl-upper-with-bcg-ch-rear-mbus-516445899.html $249.99 with BCG, CH, Magpul rear sight, plus a MOE handguard. It’s gray but a sale price is a sale price and you can always grab a MOE grip to match.

This is a great deal, I'm thinking of picking one up just because. Not that I need another upper.


http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-...eight-m-lok-upper-with-bcg-ch-5165448422.html

Ifishsum said:

<quote>From what I been reading it looks like the .223 Wylde shoots better with heavier bullets. Is this true?</quote>

That depends on the barrel twist far more than how the chamber leade is cut (which is the only real difference between the two). I had a 5.56 NATO chambered 1:9 that would easily shoot 1-1.5 MOA with the right bullets before I wore it out. The primary reason the Wylde chamber exists is to be able to fire both .223 and 5.56 ammo safely, with maybe a bit more accuracy. Still need the right barrel twist to match the ammo you mainly want to be shooting

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The Wilson is 16" with 1x 9" which according to almost everything I have read should be very accurate with 55 gr. FMJ.
The 5.56 is 16" with 1x7" twist should not be as accurate due to the twist being too fast for 55 gr. bullets. Yet my experience is just the opposite.

As you can already shoot .223 safely in 5.56 chamber I thought (think) the real benefit was better accuracy.

Skylerbone said:

There should be no reason to replace a Wilson barrel unless it is defective or worn out. Should shoot sub MOA with the right ammo.

Back to the OP, I’d suggest an all-in-one inexpensive (to go with the theme) PSA like this http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-...sl-upper-with-bcg-ch-rear-mbus-516445899.html $249.99 with BCG, CH, Magpul rear sight, plus a MOE handguard. It’s gray but a sale price is a sale price and you can always grab a MOE grip to match.

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Well that was my expectation with the Wilson barrel also. I am taking three different brands of factory ammunition and a box of my reloads to range to do some serious benchrest shooting.

I sure am happy with my 5,56 PSA Freedom barrel.

Anyway O.P. I did not mean to highjack your thread so far. I just want to share the less than satisfactory experience I have had so far with the .223 Wylde.

Most people don’t know, but till about 4 or 5 years ago, Mossberg was the major manufacturer of AR barrel. In 2004 DC Machine started making barrels with one CNC machine. They are now one of the largest gun barrel manufacturers in the country, producing over 1800 barrels per day. They specialize in AR barrels and supply gun manufacturers across the country.
I’ve used several different barrels, from bargain buys to named brand. Here’s one I built with a PSA 556 1/7 Nitride barrel.


On this build I used a Blackhole Weaponry 556 1/8 SS barrel.


I picked up two of these barrels from CDNN Sports a while back on sale for $130 . 556 1/8


I built this rifle with one of the barrels.


I used a DTI 556 1/9 barrel, made by FN, on this build .


For this build, I called the T-Rex, I used a Brownell’s 556 1/12 14.5” Retro barrel.


All of these rifles shoot great and the cost of the barrels ran from $100 to $260. I have used barrels that I picked up on sale for as low as $59 that shot very good.
If I ended up with a cheap barrel that just didn’t shoot good, I would just replace it, but if I spent good money on Wilson barrel and it didn’t shoot, I would contact Wilson. Pretty sure they would make it right.

As an afterthought, since you have already started the build... people looking for a generic plinker AR, I wouldn't look any further than the zillions of bottom-end AR's available for sub-$500. Last gunshow I was at I saw NIB DPMS carbines for $460. Just like any AR, if you don't like something in particular, you can swap it out easily.

Having said that, my typical solution is to buy a completed upper from someone like Rock River unless you already have the tools to assemble an upper properly. I bought a RRA upper for my lightweight carbine I built, still going strong after about 8K rounds of abuse.

As far as the coated BCs, my lightweight has a NiB coated one (the shiny silver one, I think that's NiB...) and the one big advantage is easy cleanup. I was amazed the first time I tore it down for cleaning, it wiped clean in about 2 minutes vs the 30 minutes it takes to chisel my Colt AR bolt and carrier clean.