Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
I used my first AR-platform rifle featuring a side-charging bolt handle in 2015. It took about 12 seconds for me to realize that the side charging handle was superior to the standard AR charging handle located at the rear and near the top of the receiver. The side-charger is much easier to use, the leverage being noticeably better when a shooter can use their index finger and thumb to draw back the bolt versus the two-finger approach on the standard AR, with the hand and forearm rather awkwardly coming back into the body.
I’m not sure why there are so few side-charging ARs available to shooters, relatively speaking. However, I am sure that Bear Creek Arsenal, Sanford, North Carolina, manufactures one of my new favorite models, the BC-15 5.56 NATO Right Side Charging Rifle.
Table of contents
An AR By Any Other Name
Minus that charging handle protruding from the right side of the billet receiver, the BC-15 5.56 NATO was pretty much a standard AR-15. It featured a 16-inch, chrome-moly steel barrel, with a 1:8 twist rate, and a 15-inch MLOK handguard. When firing, the bolt worked from a carbine-length gas system complete with a buffer tube tucked back into the adjustable stock.
The barrel was tipped with a flash hider, the bolt carrier group was BCA’s own BCG, and the multi-caliber lower receiver was made of forged aluminum.
Shooting the NATO At 50 Yards
To test out the BC-15 5.56 NATO, I initially mounted a Mepro Tru-Vision red dot onto the rifle. Made by Meprolight, an Israeli manufacturer, the Tru-Vision featured a 2-MOA LED red-dot reticle with 12-day and 4-night brightness settings, plus an automatic brightness-control system that enabled good visibility of that red dot even when lighting conditions change.
At the mid-level brightness setting, Meprolight rated the unit and its single CR123 battery as able to be on continuous “ON” use for two years. The Tru-Vison went onto the BC-15 easily enough thanks to the quick-release Picatinny rail mount that came standard with the optic.
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At my outdoor range, I zeroed the rifle and optic at 50 yards with some random 223 Rem. rounds I had on hand. Then, I switched over the Winchester’s now-defunct Razorback XT hunting round loaded with a 64-grain lead-free bullet—which, by the way, was a great round for taking on wild hogs, as the name implied.
At 50 yards and shooting from a rest, my groups started off large and got smaller. My first five shots hit at 3.30 inches; my next two groups came in at 2.6 inches and 2.0 inches, respectively. I only had four rounds of the Razorback left in the box (sadly, my last box), and those four bullets drilled in at 1.0 inch even with three of the shots nearly touching.
Longer Range Accuracy
For my longer-range testing, I switched out the Tru-Vision for the new Leupold Mark 5HD 2-10×30 rifle scope, clearly made for carbines like the BC-15. The scope featured Leupold’s Tactical Milling Reticle or TMR, the optic-maker’s redesign of the MIL reticle employing hash marks instead of dots. The elevation turret provided 30 MILs of adjustment in 0.1 MIL increments, and Leupold’s patented ZeroLock set screw ensured that the elevation dial wouldn’t shift.
Fiocchi Ammunition | Made By Shooters For Shooters (fiocchiusa.com)
Images seen through the Mark 5HD were sharp-edged, the colors were well-defined, and the controls were very precise.
I shot the BC-15 with two different rounds for accuracy: Federal Premium 5.56x45mm 77-grain OTMs; and Fiocchi HyperFormance 223 Rem. loaded with a 50-grain Barnes Varmint Grenade bullet.
The Federal 5.56 had the best showing, pegging two, five-shot groups at 1.1 inches and a four-shot cluster at just .80-inches.
My five-shot groups with the Fiocchi were in the 1.5- to 2.0-inch range, though I did make a three-shot group at .80-inches.
NATO Trigger & Magazines
My Lyman Electronic Trigger Pull Gauge put the BC-15’s trigger pull at 3 pounds, 3 ounces on average. The trigger appeared to be of the Mil-Spec variety, a little stiff and held up just slightly before engaging, but nothing terrible.
For my shooting, I used ETS Group magazines for the first time and they worked flawlessly. I used the ETS Black Nylon and Carbon Smoke magazines, both 30-rounders though I only loaded them to 20 rounds. They loaded easily and popped out of the BC-15’s magwell nicely. The ETS magazines were made from heat-, UV- and chemical-resistant materials and featured non-tilt followers and creep-resistant feed lips.
Conclusion
Given the ease of loading/unloading the rifle using the side-charging handle, the accuracy and the fact that I had zero functional problems in over two hundred rounds (without any cleaning, though I did lubricate the bolt before I started shooting), the BC-15 would be a solid and reliable option for anyone looking to add an AR-15 to their collection.
Factor in the BC-15’s suggested retail of less than $600? It’s an even better deal.
On its webpage, Bear Creek Arsenal also shows its side-charging AR-10 models chambered in 243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, and 308 Win, among other calibers. I really look forward to trying out these for future big game hunts.
Specifications: Bear Creek Arsenal BC-15 556 with Side Charging Handle
Caliber: 5.56 NATO
Operation: Semi-Auto, Carbine-Length Gas, Gen 2 Right Side Charging
Barrel: M4 Contour, 16”, 1:8 Twist
Barrel Material: 4150 Chrome Moly Vanadium Steel w/Parkerized Finish
Upper Receiver: Billeted Aluminum
Lower Receiver: Forged AR-15 Multicaliber
Feedramp: M4 Feedramp
Sights: None
Handguard: 15” MLOK
Trigger: Mil Spec
Stock: Retractable
Magazines: None
Length: 32.25” to 35.5”
Weight: 6.75 lbs.
MISC: BCA AR15 Bolt Carrier Group, Flash Hider
MSRP: $562.50
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I don’t understand why we’re talking about accuracy here! T
the side charging handle should not have any effect on the accuracy of the gun, that makes no sense at all why that would that make any difference!
Completely silly in my opinion, and I’m an AR-15 builder!
As most of us learn over time by trial and error, looking back, I would have built every single Modern Sporting Rifle (at least that I hunt with) with a side charging handle. Can’t count how many times I had to baby a round in the chamber, use that forward assist and have that “I really hope that thing sat right?????” feeling as I’m pressing through the trigger.
Is the bolt reciprocating or non-reciprocating?
Bolt handle?
Yes it reciprocates.
Side charging on an ‘AR’ is great. I have an RIA VR80 12 gauge and it’s charging handle can be extended on either side. As a righty I have it on the left side and when I pull it back I can reach down with my middle finger and lock the slide. Tidy. I wish it was that way on my PCC
I have assembled several rifles using BCA uppers and components (556, 224, and 450B). I prefer the side charging aspect and feel they are much easier to charge. Available in both left or right side.
I have one in 350 Legend. Side charging is the way to go.
Do they make for left handed shooters?
Why is it I’m the ONLY one to realize guns like this STUPID gun and AK’s STILL have the charging handle on the WRONG SIDE unless your the EXTREMELY VEEEERY FEW that are lefties, then this gun was BUILT FOR YOU! Understand DUMB ACE MANUFACTURERS…. A SHOOTER that is RIGHT handed which is 98% of ALL gun buyers SHOULD ALLLLLLLLWAYS, ALWAYS KEEP their hands on the pistol grip NEVER to come off EVER until the guns done being shot! EVER! You KEEP your RIGHT/STRONG hand to KEEP CONTROL of the gun at its closest to CENTER of gravity UNLIKE if you were to keep your WEAK hand(left)and TRY and hold the ENTIRE weight of the gun from the END of the FRONT of the guns hand guard is basically impossible to do without moving the stock off your shoulder to get a better grip on things to manipulate what WOULD be a VERY easy pull to the rear on the charging handle IF it were on the CORRECT side which is the LEFT! And this gun in today’s technology couldn’t come up with a non reciprocating charging handle which is fine IF YOU NEVER EVER make a mistake and put ANYTHING in the path of it like a finger or two that would almost certainly get broken when the charger SLAMS back AND forth with EVERY shot! There are MANY LEFT side chargers out there if your willing to SPEND A LOT of time to find the very best one. New frontier makes some GREAT LEFT handed side chargers from everything from 9mm all the way up to .308 sized platform and ALL in between. I built a real nice 10mm and sing their side charger and lower and especially with the extended charging handle it’s hands down the FASTEST AR I own in regards to manipulating it! ALSO there are MANY uppers out there that have BOTH sides milled out of the upper so if you want to run in the CORRECR left side, simply unscrew charging handle and swap to other side and will take you longer to get the tools out than swap to one side or the other. Most have the right side only to eject on so not for lefties. OR can get one that has both side charger slots milled into the upper and both sides also have the ejection ports cut in both sides so simply turn bolt head so it ejects opposite side and swap charging handles and then you have a true left or right handed gun. The last one is hardest to find, but usually found at shops that aren’t well heard of but makes great stuff. Trust me you don’t want his gun! Take an hour or so and really search sites for what you REALLY SHOULD be buying and what you really want. All they did was make a slot for the handle to be able to slide into during its cyclic rate, drilled a hole into the carrier that’s threaded and that’s it! Nothing special about this as basic as can possibly be upper. You can take ANY AR you have to ANY LEGIT gunsmith that in minutes could notch your upper for charging handle to move rear/forward, and to drill a hole and tap takes five minutes tops and that’s including the time to get the proper tools ready to do work by getting out of tool boxes! TRUST ME, YOU DONT WANT A NON RECIPROCATING side charger! Unless you want to do the string and key ring BS that turns your stiff into a run away.
Nah,
the percent chance anyone using it will need the handle on the left side, and when that needs arises also be a difference maker for winning or losing…is smaller than the chances that person will be struck by lightning, run over by a car, and have their plane crash all on the same day.
It’s a $500 dollar AR that in the extremely unlikely chance you need it to defend yourself, will very likely do what needs doing.
I didn’t have an hour to read the whole thing, so I just read the all-caps words. Figured they were the important ones, right?
Not sure about anyone else, but two sentences into Slim’s tirade, I was moving on.
I’ve shot a couple BCA platforms and they’ve always gone “bang’ , every time I pulled the trigger.
Haters and high dollar fan boys will try to talk the brand down..BCA makes their own uppers, lowers, barrels and bcg’s..maybe more parts, too.
Great rifles that you don’t have to worry about beating up because you don’t have a couple months wages in it.
This is why my HK 93 is superior to any AR