Are you looking for something a little different for your shooting fun?
Well Bear Creek Arsenal’s 5.56 NATO Pistol with a 4.5″ barrel and brace is here for review.
Right away this little firearm is an attention getter out of the box! When my friend Bill, owner of Finest Firearms received this interesting little combo, we were both anxious for the testing results.
Bear Creek Arsenal first explains here what this little attention hog is all about:
This Bear Creek Arsenal AR-15 5.56 NATO Complete Pistol has a 4.5″ heavy barrel with a parkerized finish, and features a 1:7 twist, with a micro length gas system. This 5.56 NATO AR-15 includes a 4″ MLOK rail, a forged upper receiver, a BCA AR15 Bolt Carrier Group, Flash Hider, rear charging handle, and mil-spec forged AR-15 multicaliber lower with brace.
| SKU | CP8932N-556PHB4.517P-4M3SBA3 |
|---|---|
| Weight (lbs) | 4.500000 |
| Magazine Capacity | N/A |
| Barrel Length | 4.5 |
| Profile | Heavy Barrel |
| Twist | 1:7 |
| Barrel Finish | Parkerized |
| Material | 4150 Chrome Moly Vanadium |
| Thread Pitch | 1/2 x 28 |
| Caliber | 5.56 NATO |
| Feed Ramp | M4 |
| Flutes | Non-fluted |
| Gas System | Micro |
| Gas Block System | 0.875 |
| Charging Style | Rear Charging |
| Classification | AR Pistols |
| Platform | AR-15 |
| Bolt Material | E9310 |
| Receiver Material | Forged |
What about that red dot/green dot sight?
High Quality BCA Branded Red Dot Sight. Switch between a Red or Green Reticle depending on your preference to greatly improve accuracy and performance. For any situation, this sight fits on any 20mm Mount Rails and comes with lens covers. No matter the occasion, this Bear Creek Arsenal Red Dot sight is the right choice.
Adjustment Type: 1/4″ Clicks
Red Dot Size: 4 MOA
Field of View: 60
Mount Rail Diameter: 20 mm
Lens Covers Included: Yes
- Red Dot/Green Dot
- Reticle Type: Mil-Dot
- Type: RIFLE
- Illuminated Type: Red and Green with 5 level brightness adjustment
- Magnification: 1 X
- Field Of View(@100yds): 60 degree
- Tube Diameter: 40mm
- Objective Diameter: 35mm
- Eye Relief: Flexible
- Exit Pupil Diameter: 80mm
- Length: 120mm
- Height: 3.03inch
- Weight: 475g
Package Includes:
1 X Cleaning Cloth
1 X Instruction Manual
*Battery not included*
Battery Type: 3 V/CR2032
First off for this review I used both 20 and 30 round P-Mags. I discovered while 30 rounds are 10 rounds more fun that the 20 rounder the more compact magazine had an advantage. While testing for accuracy I used a sandbag and braced the little BCA the best I could for 50 yard targets. That short barrel required a magazine and frame hold in my support hand.
That very impressive flash hider is a lot closer to your hands and your ears. Hearing protection is a MUST!
The brace is quite a beauty of design and allows this pistol many other shooting positions.
The Red Dot/Green Dot Sight has many light intensity levels for both the red and the green dots. Select what fits the moment the best with a quick turn of a knob. Sighting in was easy with the easy to adjust horizontal and vertical adjustment knobs that have their own screw on covers to keep your zero intact. Flip up lens covers protect your glass from debris when not in use.
Range day arrived and the weather in my area was not cooperating. It was 29 degrees Fahrenheit with a brisk wind. Before the next storm it was time for the Bear Creek Arsenal AR-15 5.56 NATO Complete Pistol with Brace and the Red Dot/Green Dot Sight to show what they can do. The first shot reminded me to make sure my ear plugs were very firmly in place!
For accuracy shooting I chose 3 different randomly selected ammo makes that I had on hand.
From my somewhat unstable rest on a very cold and windy day, I was able to achieve this group at 50 yards using the the Czech Republic made Scorpio .223 Remington 55 grain FMJ loads achieved a 2.5″ group. Too bad I couldn’t stop the annoying winds of Ohio!
This group was created at 50 yards distant using the PMC X-TAC 5.56mm 55 grain FMJ-BT cartridges made in Korea. Three shots were in a 3/4″ group with two fliers that were mostly my fault for certain opened it up to under 4″ overall.
Ammo made right here in the states by Winchester that is .223 Remington with a 55 grain Boattail Hollow Point shot the same point of impact as the other tested cartridges and grouped a respectable 2″ group. Please excuse the extra patched holes. They were used for the initial sight in.
This little gun and sight combo is so much fun to shoot that I lost track of how many rounds I put through it. I can tell you I had no jams and the Bear Creek Arsenal AR-15 5.56 NATO Complete Pistol with Brace and the Red Dot/Green Dot Sight ran flawlessly in during rapid fire plinking. The sight held zero well and I really wish I had a machine rest to take out any shooter error and test this little beast on a windless day. I am certain the groups would be even more incredible from such a short statured creation.
Here are my overall thoughts of the Bear Creek Arsenal AR-15 5.56 NATO Complete Pistol with Brace and the Red Dot/Green Dot Sight combination. It is an absolute blast to shoot! With quite a bit of noise and a respectable muzzle blast flash in lower light conditions it is part junkyard dog! Accuracy is quite surprising and the heavy 4.5″ barrel appears to stabilize the longer rifle projectile quite well. I was quite curious in the beginning of this review to see if that was actually possible but BCA has achieved it!
If you are looking for a smaller length weapon that still has the firepower of a larger rifle, the Bear Creek Arsenal AR-15 5.56 NATO Complete Pistol with Brace and the Red Dot/Green Dot Sight is a great compromise between a traditional pistol and a full sized rifle. Once you fire one, you will be hooked!