Bear Creek Arsenal launched its line of bolt action upper AR rifles and pistols at SHOT Show last year. A lot of folks might be scratching their heads and wondering why you’d want a bolt action AR. If you’re a state where you can’t hunt with semi-automatics, like Pennsylvania where I live, that’s certainly one reason.
Furthermore, it’s an option for folks behind enemy lines in ban states. It allows them to take advantage of AR ergonomics and parts, with a state-compliant upper. It also gives them a ready-to-use lower to use if their state finally gets a spurt of newfound freedom.
The AR platform’s modularity allows you to easily add accessories like bipods, optics, your choice of grips, and rail covers. You can much more easily customize an AR than you can a traditional bolt-action rifle. Plus, bolt guns are great suppressor hosts. There’s no action noise to worry about. You also don’t have to worry about whether subsonic rounds will cycle a semi-auto action. The suppressor-host idea led me to pick up a BC-15.
The Bolt Action BC-15
Bear Creek makes the BC-15 in a pretty wide variety of calibers and barrel lengths, in both rifle and pistol configurations. They also sell barreled uppers that you can drop on your existing lowers. I wanted something compact, but with a decent bit of power, so I reached out to BCA and arranged to get a pistol chambered in .338 ARC for testing and evaluation. I wanted to try it as a suppressor host and I’d been hearing great things about the .338 ARC suppressed. .
The Bear Creek Arsenal BC-15 pistol I received is built around a 10.5-inch parkerized heavy barrel with a 1:8 twist rate and a non-fluted profile. It features a 5/8×24 threaded muzzle and comes fitted with BCA’s distinctive flash hider. It features a 10-inch Talon M-LOK split rail system, and SB Tactical SBA3 adjustable pistol brace. The pistol weighs approximately 6.55 pounds and is currently listed at $453.95.
BCA doesn’t ship their AR platforms with a magazine, which I guess keeps costs down. I presume they assume most folks already have AR mags lying around. In the case of the .338 ARC though, you do need a magazine specifically for a .338 ARC or .400 Legend. A standard 5.56mm mag won’t feed reliably. I did have .400 Legend mags on hand from a build I did last year, and that I used when I reviewed Bear Creek’s .400 Legend rifle earlier this year.
.338 ARC vs .300 Blackout
The .338 ARC is a newer cartridge from Hornady designed to increase long-range capability and terminal performance compared to .300 Blackout, while still functioning in compact AR-style platforms. It fires larger-diameter .338-caliber projectiles that offer a higher ballistic coefficient than many .300 Blackout loads. This allows it to retain energy and velocity better at extended distances. The .338 ARC tends to deliver flatter trajectories, improved wind resistance, and greater retained energy beyond 300 yards compared to the .300 Blackout.
It does produce slightly more recoil than the .300 Blackout due to its heavier projectiles and increased energy, although it’s still quite manageable. The .338 ARC is newer and more specialized, so ammunition choices are currently more limited and often more expensive.
First Impressions and Set Up
The BCA pistol is short and quite handy. It’s a little muzzle-heavy with the heavy-profile barrel, but overall pretty comfortable. I actually like the rubberized grip that BCA uses on their AR’s. It has a beaver-tail extension, grooved front and back straps, and an American flag embossed on the sides, which further add texture. It’s matte black and subtle.
The BC-15 uses an ultra-short 23-degree throw bolt. You don’t need nearly as much movement to operate it as you would a conventional bolt-action rifle. When I first saw the video of the rifle being operated, I thought it might even be a straight pull action.
BCA sent me the .338 back in December so I’ve been running it for about 6 months now. I mounted a Gideon Optics Guardian 1-8x LPVO on it, which I though was well suited to the 10.5 inch barrel. It can be set to 1 or 2x for close in shots, but still have some decent magnification to reach out a couple hundred yards if need be. I also paired it with my Griffin Ultralight .36 suppressor. Overall length with the suppressor installed is just 34 inches.
Bolt Operation Woes
When I first got my BC-15, I honestly thought something was wrong with it. I couldn’t get the bolt to lift and cycle most of the time. I’d fight with it and maybe get it to work one time out of five, if that. I emailed BCA and was directed to a video that went over the operation. It turns out you have to apply some inward pressure as you lift the bolt. Once you do that everything smooths out quite a bit. It was also recommended to work the a bunch of times to break it in. Once you realize what you need to do it isn’t hard, but I felt like that should be in the manual if that’s required.
Speaking of manuals, it comes with a standard semi-auto AR manual. Not entirely helpful. I did suggest that BCA should have a separate manual for the bolt-action guns covering operation and take-down.
Speaking of take-down, that’s a little different, too. The upper pops off via you typical front and rear retaining pins like normal. To remove the bolt, however, you need to use an Allen wrench to remove the bolt handle. Once you do that you can slide the bolt out the rear of the receiver like you normally would for an AR. You’ll see that it uses a chopped bolt carrier, although the front portion looks to be pretty typical AR, minus the need to a gas key.
Range Work, or Don’t Work
I rounded up some .338 ARC to work with, which wasn’t easy. .338 ARC is still pretty new and ammo variety isn’t great yet, nor is availability. However, I did come up with three loads: a 300gr AAC, a 307gr Hornady and a 175gr Hornady. I had to order from various sites online. My local shops don’t stock .338 ARC.
When I sat down at the bench to do my sight in though, my troubles began. Although I thought I had the bolt technique down pat, once I started cycling ammo I again ran into issues. I could lift and cycle the bolt fine now, but I often struggled to get the bolt closed on a live round. It was a fight to get rounds chambered, and I didn’t want to waste a lot more ammo in that range session. I did manage to do my sight in, and shot some groups but honestly it was a frustrating experience.
Enter SHOT Show
I reached out to BCA again and explained the issues I was having. As it turns out, this was right before the SHOT show in January, so I agreed to swing by the booth so we could discuss and troubleshoot the issue in person. After chatting with the guys in the booth, I found out that there were Gen 1 and Gen 2 bolts for the BC-15 already.
After looking at some of the demo guns in the booth, we quickly ascertained that I had a Gen 1 bolt. The Gen 1 bolt carrier is literally a chopped conventional bolt carrier. The Gen 2 is a dedicated carrier for the BC-15. It’s shorter than a standard bolt carrier but has an enclosed rear section more like an unchopped carrier. You can see what I mean in the comparison pics better than I can explain it.
Now, let me say that not all Gen 1 bolts were causing problems for folks. If you have one and it runs fine, then you’re good to go. If not though, you may want to look at getting a Gen 2 carrier. BCA agreed to swap mine out after SHOT and pretty soon I had a Gen 2 to try.
Range Round 2
After swapping the bolt out and hand cycling it empty, everything seemed much smoother. The test would be at the range, though, so I packed up my gear and headed back out. This time around I was happy to see that everything worked as it should. The longer enclosed Gen 2 carrier was much smoother and I didn’t have any cycling issues or issues with the bolt closing.
With a now smooth functioning gun, I sat down at the bench and found out what the BC-15 could do. I used a sandbag rest and did my testing at 50 yards, which seemed suitable for the 10.5 inch barrel. Between the hills and brush in Western Pennsylvania, 50 yard and in shots are not uncommon.
I had three loads to work with the AAC 300gr HPBT, a Hornady Black supersonic 175gr JHP, and a Hornady Subsonic 307gr Sub-X Polymer Tip load. Recoil and bark were definitely more noticeable with the supersonic loads, but they weren’t unpleasant. With the heavy subsonic load the BC-15 was downright tame. While I did try the gun with the provided flash hider I pretty quickly pulled that off and replaced it with my Griffin suppressor. The main reason I chose the .338 ARC was to shoot suppressed, so that was how I did most of my shooting, including the bench-test groups.
My test day was an unusually mild January day. It was sunny, with just a touch of clouds, minimal wind, and temps in the low 50’s. For January in Pennsylvania, I couldn’t ask for much better.
Range Results
I had used the AAC ammo to sight in since I had the most of it. That shot point of aim at would consistently give me 3/4 inch 5 shot groups. The 175-grain Hornady load hit about 3 inches high, but also gave very good groups averaging around 7/8 of an inch. The Hornady 307’s hit slightly right and a little lower than the 175’s, although not as low as I would have expected. Those opened up to an average of 1 3/8-inch groups, although it seemed like I’d usually get 4 rounds touching, then one flier that opened things up. So a fair bit bigger than the other loads, but in the scheme of things, still pretty decent.
Gideon’s Guardian was, in fact, a good fit for this build. It’s got great optical clarity and adjust and focuses easily. The reticle is different than anything I’ve ever used. It has an etched-glass three-line German-style reticle, but in the center of that is a circle with a kind of star-shaped aiming point, complete with BDC/MOA markings. It sounds busy, but it’s really not. It’s fast on target up close, but precise when zoomed in. It also has red illumination you can use depending on the lighting conditions you’re shooting in. It’s a nice optic and fairly compact, which works on the BC-15 pistol.
The .338 ARC also worked quite well with my Griffin suppressor. With supersonic loads the report was mild, although you still did get the crack of the bullet. With subsonics, it was more of a soft “whomp” than a sharp blast. It was pleasant without ear pro and would be great to use hunting without worrying about adding to your hearing loss and tinnitus.
Final Thoughts
I’ve had the BC-15 out a few times since my bench test session as the temps have warmed up, and rain has allowed. I probably have a little over 140 rounds through it at this point. Not any kind of endurance test I know, but it is a bolt action and with ammo running from $33 to $40 a box I wasn’t exactly blasting rounds downrange willy nilly. Although I just did a price and availability check again as I was writing this and, it looks like prices may be getting a bit better, as well as availability from 6 months ago when I first bought my ammo.
While my initial bolt issues were a little frustrating, once I had the bolt swapped out things straightened out. Accuracy was quite and good and the sub $500 price point extremely reasonable. Especially compared to other compact bolt-action suppressor-ready setups. Not to mention you have an AR lower half that you can add other uppers to, whether its another bolt action upper in a different caliber, or a semi auto upper. You will need to add a buffer and spring if you drop a semi-auto upper on, though, as they aren’t needed for the bolt action.
BCA’s bolt action platform offer’s a very affordable platform for hunting or just quiet shooting at the range. They offer a ton of options as far as calibers and barrel lengths. There are even AR-10 versions, too, if you want the same bolt action style in heavier calibers.