[70cuda383]

I picked up an M16 BCG off arms list, the guy wanted $250 for the complete BCG and a charging handle. said he bought the part to finish his build, then when he was told he couldn't get a barrel for 2+ years, he sold all the parts off.

He said that when he bought it, the guy told him it was a colt.

it looks to me like a standard mil-spec BCG with chrome lined carrier and all mil-spec parts. but there are no names or numbers stamped on it.

just wondered, when buying used parts, do you guys have any way of verifying who actually made it? are there any measurements I can take to confirm "mil-spec"?

I'm not too concerned over it, I bought this as a stop gap for now. I have a Mil-Spec BCG on order from the same people who make Spikes' but I am tired of the indefinite waiting and lack of an honest ETA. I bought this incase I never get the BCG that I have on order, and if I do get the BCG that I have on order, I'll sell this one, hopefully for the same price that I paid for it.

 

[70cuda383]

the original ad:

http://www.armslist.com/posts/96926...-new-bcg-bolt-carrier-group---charging-handle


pics of it now that I have it:

 

[eric1229]

I have a colt m4 and the bolt has a MPC stamp and on the left side of the carry group the is a C stamp for colt. hope this helps

 

[eric1229]

Here are the pics from my Colt BCG. Hope it helps

 

[Quentin]

As Eric said it doesn't look like a Colt. Also the gas key staking is weak but otherwise it looks like a good M16 BCG. I'd expect it to work well for you and as you say you can replace it later if you want.

Unless there are clear markings it's pretty hard to ID a BCG. I have a Daniel Defense BCG (made before they began marking them) and there's no way to be 100% sure what it is other than I trust the vendor I got it from a few years ago.

 

[70cuda383]

Thanks for the pics! yea, probably not a colt. hopefully the guy I bought it from didn't pay "colt" prices for a non-colt part. I'm not upset that i paid $250 for a complete BCG and a charging handle, given the current panic pricing. I'm willing to bet that if I REALLY wanted to, I could toss it up on Gunbroker tonight and fetch $350-400 for it. when looking at it, there is hardly any wear marks in the finish, especially on the cam pin. the one in my old AR had a few thousand rounds through it and the finish on it had worn down to a bright shiny silver.

I tossed it into my AR and test fired about 10 rounds, and it works as promised. no malfunctions of any kind, so I think it'll work just fine until the brand new spikes BCG arrives. (although 10 rounds is hardly a torture test haha)

 

[70cuda383]

Also the gas key staking is weak but otherwise it looks like a good M16 BCG.

Can someone post up pics of what good staking looks like? I thought it was rather neat, and looks to be effective.

 

[dickpalmer]

Good steaking.

 

[longunner]

Good steaking.

What exactly does staking a BCG do?

 

[Quentin]

Keeps the screws tight that secure the gas key. You get short stroking if the key loosens. If it gets real bad the key and gas tube can self destruct upon impact.

 

[JonM]

Lots of lower end makers only locktite or just torque without staking. Under heavy use the bcg can get hot enough to melt red locktite and the violent stress of heavy use and heat will loosen a simple torqueing. Thats why people building to last look for properly staked carriers.

All it takes to stake a carrier is a center punch and a hammer. Bcg assemblers have staking machines that make it fast and easy.

One of the big important features often over looked is the chromed inside of the bcg where the bolt sits. If thats not chromed its going to clog up under heavy use and cause fail to go into battery issues. Cheap bcgs from the likes of dpms and bushmaster also skip this step to save on costs.

Nonchrome nonstaked isnt an issue for range plinkers who arent going to fire hundreds to thousands of rounds or more per range session.

 

[Rick1967]

When I was in basic training my M16 would only fire as a single shot. I had to pull back on the charging handle after each shot. It cost me being able to qualify the first time around. When I took it to the armoror he pulled the bolt carrier group. The bolts were not staked and were really loose. He tightened them up and staked them while I was standing there. He gave me back the rifle. I qualified expert. But didnt get credit for it because I boloed the first time. Very educational experience.

 

[fsted2a]

Keeps the screws tight that secure the gas key. You get short stroking if the key loosens. If it gets real bad the key and gas tube can self destruct upon impact.

More than likely though, you will just end up with what basically amounts to a bolt action rifle, with a little lower velocity because the gas that would have gone into cycling your bcg to lock your hammer to the rear is just going out the side of your gas key. Not dangerous most of the time, but aggravating as hell. When I was in BNCOC in 2006, the cadre disabled the gas system of our M16's so we had to pull the charging handle back every time, and Soldiers who were used to qualifying sharpshooter and expert every time were ending up barely qualifying or bolo. One of our instructors was a POW in 2003, and he said that because of the sand and not being fielded cleaning kits, that is what happened to them. Their weapons wouldn't cycle, and they had to manually charge the weapon each round.