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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite $100 BCG (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 1/19/2016 11:25:15 AM EDT
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PSA Premium
PSA NiB Radical Melonite AIM Nitride Given a $100 (roughly) price point, what's a better BCG to look for? CHAD |
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Aim Surplus. Hands down.
Please do not ever post anything about Radical Firearms again.. 2 Barrel extensions come loose on barrels. 2 gas keys come loose off of carriers. But that ended functioning rifles. I have heard many stories like this. I am from Houston where they are based out of. They are horrible. I don't trust Nickle Boron anymore. Have had too many parts flake.. Nitride all the way. |
| I don't have any experience with any of the BCG's you listed. The AIM gets good reviews as well as the PSA premium. I plan on getting a few of the AIM nitride treated to try out. Don't forget Toolcraft as another option. They have a phosphate for $88 and a Nib for $107. I have never had a Nib flake on me but I have seen 2-3 posts but never any pictures of Nib flaking. I imagine like any coating, if it is not applied properly it can flake. All the Toolcraft Nib BCG's are coated by UTC with the Fail Zero coating. WCarmory.com sells the Toolcraft BCG's and they get good reviews as well. I have some of the Toolcraft BCGs in different coatings. |
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Quoted: I see this is a theme. Consider it done. I'll keep an eye on the AIM to come back in stock. CHAD Quoted: Quoted: Please do not ever post anything about Radical Firearms again.. I see this is a theme. Consider it done. I'll keep an eye on the AIM to come back in stock. CHAD |
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I'm kinda picky about buffers and buffer tubes. I much prefer a 7075T6 buffer tube as it is substantially stronger than 6061T6 tube. Brownells has had their 7075 tubes for a little over $21 recently. Damage Industries sometimes has theirs on sale as well. VLTOR, BCM and Spikes all use 7075T6, but they are more expensive. I use to get the Spikes for $30 delivered at AIMsurplus but they went up. The Spikes has several extra drain holes and is numbered on top - which I like. I prefer an H1 or H2 buffer in a majority of my builds. Those handle bolt bounce better than the cheaper carbine buffers. Pretty much the only time I'll use a lighter buffer is if I'm using a lightened BCG with it. For springs, I like Damage Industries chrome silicon enhanced springs. They go on sale for $6 fairly regularly and have a service life of 750,000+ cycles. A standard spring normally needs replaced after 3-5,000 rounds. Sprinco also makes nice springs, but they're about $20 each plus shipping. |
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It is as simple as this - If you want a Nitrated one go with the V2 AIM, if you want a phosphate one flip a coin and go with ToolCraft or PSA Premium. They will all last you just as long as the big name BCGs do, and have similar performance. I don't like NIB either, well I shouldn't say I don't like it as I have never owned one personally - but I don't trust them 100% so they are a no go for me. I will take a Nitrated or Chrome BCG if I have to have something other then phosphate.
And very good point on the 7075 buffer tubes. I really need to experiment more with different springs/buffer weights. I always use carbine buffer/regular spring but am not against trying something new out - just haven't had a problem out of any set up like this so far and want to make sure it will cycle any ammo I put in it. I thought about getting one of those extra power springs instead of a heavier buffer. I just have a feeling it would make your rifle more reliable if you had more force pushing on the BCG and it was dirty? I may be wrong, I haven't read that much about them and don't see many topics on them with personal experiences on this. But it would just make sense to me that more force pushing forward would have more of a chance of going into battery even if gritty/unlubed. Someone else may have personal experience on this, and I would love to hear it. |
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I'd say toolcraft, but I'm pretty sure they make the premium BCGs for PSA Link? Strike that, I believe it's just the carriers as toolcraft doesn't make bolts. Link to??? Confirmation? Sorry, can't help there. Some manufactuers are pretty secretive about where they source stuff. I said I'm pretty sure because I recall hearing it from a fairly reliable source but cannot recall who..... I've used both and never had a problem with either. |
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Something I have been thinking about lately is the bolts that come with the ToolCraft BCGs. Since ToolCraft doesn't make bolts, I wonder who makes the ones they sell at WCArmory. I know they make the carrier, but all carriers are basically the same quality and are never going to break. The bolt is the beating heart of the rifle. I know for most major companies that sell BCGs they source their bolts from many of the same places as there are only a few manufacturers. That also has me wondering if there is any real difference in quality between most of them. It seems the only times you hear of bolts breaking prematurely is when you hear of a bolt being made by some off brand company that produces their own or has some small scale setup and messes something up. All the major mil-spec C158 bolts from known companies seem to be good to go from what I can tell. I am sure others know more on this subject then I do, and I could be completely wrong. But from what I have came to understand, this is at least mostly true.
Also, speaking of the Toolcraft being better then the AIM BCG. I could be wrong, but it seems like I remember reading that AIM sourced their BCGs from ToolCraft, or at least did in the past. That could be wrong, but it is stuck in my mind for some reason. And again, since ToolCraft doesn't make bolts the real question is who makes both of their bolts. I know many like the 9310 bolts for various reasons, but I prefer the C158 bolts because they are mil-spec and from my understanding not as sensitive to getting the correct heat-treatment as the 9310 bolts. I bet the BCGs from AIM that have the C158 bolts like their V2 line is either the exact same thing as many others out there on the market or of similar quality. |
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Something I have been thinking about lately is the bolts that come with the ToolCraft BCGs. Since ToolCraft doesn't make bolts, I wonder who makes the ones they sell at WCArmory. I know they make the carrier, but all carriers are basically the same quality and are never going to break. The bolt is the beating heart of the rifle. I know for most major companies that sell BCGs they source their bolts from many of the same places as there are only a few manufacturers. That also has me wondering if there is any real difference in quality between most of them. It seems the only times you hear of bolts breaking prematurely is when you hear of a bolt being made by some off brand company that produces their own or has some small scale setup and messes something up. All the major mil-spec C158 bolts from known companies seem to be good to go from what I can tell. I am sure others know more on this subject then I do, and I could be completely wrong. But from what I have came to understand, this is at least mostly true. Also, speaking of the Toolcraft being better then the AIM BCG. I could be wrong, but it seems like I remember reading that AIM sourced their BCGs from ToolCraft, or at least did in the past. That could be wrong, but it is stuck in my mind for some reason. And again, since ToolCraft doesn't make bolts the real question is who makes both of their bolts. I know many like the 9310 bolts for various reasons, but I prefer the C158 bolts because they are mil-spec and from my understanding not as sensitive to getting the correct heat-treatment as the 9310 bolts. I bet the BCGs from AIM that have the C158 bolts like their V2 line is either the exact same thing as many others out there on the market or of similar quality. Most of the issues I see mentioned on the forums are gas key related or gas ring related. One has to do with the carriers and one with the bolt. |
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Last week I got an email blast from AIM about the NiB back in stock. I put it in the cart, entered card info and ordered. No email through the weekend. I go back to AIM and it doesn't show up with my other orders, and all their BCGs are out of stock. AAh, but the Toolcraft are back in stock (weren't last time I looked). So ordered one there and saved $2.26.
Thanks for your help. CHAD |
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Just got a Toolcraft Very well made and very little maching marks. Liked it so much I bought another. I've have/had BCM, Rainer Arms, PSA, LMT, Colt and Young to compair it against. Its the best of the bunch for finish just not HP tested. +1 on Toolcraft. I got a phosphated Toolcraft BCG through Cryptic Coatings. No tooling marks on the carrier. The phosphate feels like velvet. Lifetime warranty. I don't know if Crytic puts a little extra love in their BCG's because they do exotic coatings as well, but it definitely blows the doors off of any of the RRA, CMT, DPMS, or basic PSA carriers I've used or seen. They also list their bolts as HPT and MPI. Mine was only marked MPI so I am confirming with Cryptic. I looked at a PSA premium BCG at a local gun show. It looked good, with minimal tool marks, but they did go a little overboard with the permatex, which was visible all around the gas key. Made me wonder how much got into the internal passages. ETA: Just heard back from Cryptic Coatings. Their bolts are HPT and MPI tested. |
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+1 on the Toolcraft BCG 1B1B6 C-158 MPI Complete.
Shipped amazingly fast from WCArmory !! Ordered Sunday the 6th - DELIVERED Wednesday the 9th. Unbelievable. Just under a hundred bucks with shipping. However.... Take a look at these pictures. Does the staking look a little light on the one side? It does to me too. I'm still going to use it. Hope nothing comes loose. 
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+1 on the Toolcraft BCG 1B1B6 C-158 MPI Complete. Shipped amazingly fast from WCArmory !! Ordered Sunday the 6th - DELIVERED Wednesday the 9th. Unbelievable. Just under a hundred bucks with shipping. However.... Take a look at these pictures. Does the staking look a little light on the one side? It does to me too. I'm still going to use it. Hope nothing comes loose. http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o525/nelsd99/AR15/AR%20Pistol/IMG_20160309_154827.jpg http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o525/nelsd99/AR15/AR%20Pistol/IMG_20160309_154750774.jpg http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o525/nelsd99/AR15/AR%20Pistol/IMG_20160309_154447002.jpg That light staking on one side is nearly identical to my AIM nitride BCGs. It is fine by the way. |
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That light staking on one side is nearly identical to my AIM nitride BCGs. It is fine by the way. Good to know, thanks! BTW, the AIM Nitride V2 probably would have been my first choice, but they were OOS. But after the fast shipping, toolcraft will be my new go to for phosphate. |
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That light staking on one side is nearly identical to my AIM nitride BCGs. It is fine by the way. Good to know, thanks! BTW, the AIM Nitride V2 probably would have been my first choice, but they were OOS. But after the fast shipping, toolcraft will be my new go to for phosphate. I have quite a few of the Toolcraft BCGs, phosphate and Nib. It is the BCG I prefer. The machining and finish are the best I have seen. I bought a couple of the AIM nitride BCGs to try out. The machining on them is not as nice. The corners are sharp and there are very small chips/ imperfections in the bolt lugs on the new AIM BCGs that I received. |
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I have quite a few of the Toolcraft BCGs, phosphate and Nib. It is the BCG I prefer. The machining and finish are the best I have seen. I bought a couple of the AIM nitride BCGs to try out. The machining on them is not as nice. The corners are sharp and there are very small chips/ imperfections in the bolt lugs on the new AIM BCGs that I received. Quoted:
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That light staking on one side is nearly identical to my AIM nitride BCGs. It is fine by the way. Good to know, thanks! BTW, the AIM Nitride V2 probably would have been my first choice, but they were OOS. But after the fast shipping, toolcraft will be my new go to for phosphate. I have quite a few of the Toolcraft BCGs, phosphate and Nib. It is the BCG I prefer. The machining and finish are the best I have seen. I bought a couple of the AIM nitride BCGs to try out. The machining on them is not as nice. The corners are sharp and there are very small chips/ imperfections in the bolt lugs on the new AIM BCGs that I received. You made me want to go and check the new AIM V2 I have using a 20x jewelers loupe and could see no chips/imperfections on the bolt lugs thankfully. |
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You made me want to go and check the new AIM V2 I have using a 20x jewelers loupe and could see no chips/imperfections on the bolt lugs thankfully. Quoted:
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That light staking on one side is nearly identical to my AIM nitride BCGs. It is fine by the way. Good to know, thanks! BTW, the AIM Nitride V2 probably would have been my first choice, but they were OOS. But after the fast shipping, toolcraft will be my new go to for phosphate. I have quite a few of the Toolcraft BCGs, phosphate and Nib. It is the BCG I prefer. The machining and finish are the best I have seen. I bought a couple of the AIM nitride BCGs to try out. The machining on them is not as nice. The corners are sharp and there are very small chips/ imperfections in the bolt lugs on the new AIM BCGs that I received. You made me want to go and check the new AIM V2 I have using a 20x jewelers loupe and could see no chips/imperfections on the bolt lugs thankfully. I have to be completely honest.... you using a 20X jewelers loupe and finding no imperfections in the metal is quite impressive, especially in a $99 pc of metal. I will try to get some pictures up (I'm lazy and it may not happen) but AIM has stated that the V2 BCGs are made by someone different than the standard $89 nitride BCG. The AIM carrier is fine, it's the bolt that has what I would call imperfections/ tiny chips. |
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Toolcraft > AIM But if Toolcraft was not in stock, I would feel OK buying AIM. What if AIM was made by Toolcraft? mind blown? I'm fairly certain Toolcraft does not make the AIM $89 nitride BCG but I have been wrong once or twicee in my life. The carries do not look the same and the bolts are not even close. Granted, Toolcraft could have multiple carrier designs that slightly change but that would seem odd unless it was a difference of a standard round or faceted carrier. |
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Since the AIM V2 Nitride is OOS, would the original AIM BDG Nitride BCG be a sufficient substitute?
AIM Nitride BCG |
[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite $100 BCG (Page 1 of 2)
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