Spikes tactical vs bcm

[MohawkSlim]

If you have $2,000 don't buy the Spikes or the BCM.

Buy a $600 Palmetto, $1000 worth of ammo, and $400 worth of training.

If this is your first AR the brand doesn't matter. All of 'em will outshoot you at this point.

 

[Psode27]

IMO it comes down to QC. An Anderson rifle can be great, however a company who fills the niche of those who want a great rifle EVERY TIME is where I'd spend my money. Its like harbor freight tools. SOME of their stuff is great, some of it is broken in the box when you buy it. Something like a rifle, buy from a company with a rep like BCM and you won't be disappointed.
While I'm not a spikes fan boy (I own a few things and am pleased though), my buddys AR is probably the smoothest AR I've ever shot. His build is all spikes. Is every spikes like that? IDK....

 

[burt gummer]

im getting closer to my budget so going with a company who has a good rep for high quality parts and guns is what I need spikes, bcm, knights armaments

 

[seedubs1]

Stupid computer is messed up. Burt, you don't have to spend that entire $2k budget to get a proven reliable battle grade rifle. If that's what you're looking for, in ascending price, I'd be looking at: Colt, BCM, DD, LMT, KAC. You can't go wrong with one of those. They are proven reliable. The rest of the good brands listed in this thread will have 99.9% happy customers. But QC will not be as high as Colt/BCM/DD/LMT/KAC. Read on the AR specific forums. Those are the gold standards.

 

[burt gummer]

@seedubs1 thanks for the info I went with the 2k budget just to prove I could save that much

 

[Dog1]

Kudos to the moron at BCM that thought making the hole for the barrel in the upper so tight you have to use a heat gun. Nothing having to heat it so hot that you can't touch it to work on it.

Normally I like and use BCM parts, but I will never use one of their stripped uppers for a build again.

 

[seedubs1]

Did you measure it? Was it out of spec? Did you freeze the barrel? Doesn't honestly sound like an issue to me...

Kudos to the moron at BCM that thought making the hole for the barrel in the upper so tight you have to use a heat gun. Nothing having to heat it so hot that you can't touch it to work on it. Normally I like and use BCM parts, but I will never use one of their stripped uppers for a build again.

 

[Dog1]

Did you measure it? Was it out of spec? Did you freeze the barrel? Doesn't honestly sound like an issue to me...

Nope...not outa spec. It's in the instructions that comes with the upper.

I'm building a carbine for my son, he bought the upper. Didn't know about having to heat it up.

Lesson learned.

 

[burt gummer]

Rifles and Pistols - AR-15 - F-1 FIREARMS LLCAnybody ever hear about F1 firearms? I just read a 3 page article about their AR it looks really awesome

 

[tradertator]

If you have $2,000 don't buy the Spikes or the BCM.

Buy a $600 Palmetto, $1000 worth of ammo, and $400 worth of training.

If this is your first AR the brand doesn't matter. All of 'em will outshoot you at this point.

..... and then you can be the guy with the rifle that goes down in the middle of a class, holding up everyone else that paid a lot of money for tuition. Been there, done that, and learned my lesson. I'm not knocking cheaper AR's, they are great for what they are. And I agree that ammo + training is crucial if you want to learn how to effectively fight with a rifle. But if you want something for hard use (and a 2+ day rifle course will test the best of them), you better buy something good.

 

[seedubs1]

Like I said earlier, in ascending price: Colt, BCM, DD, LMT, KAC. Well said traderator. Someone with a $2k budget being recommended a PSA for a hard use duty rifle is not the best suggestion. People will argue for PSA to death. They're decent for what you pay, but they're a budget gun, and they will go down more frequently than the ones I listed.

..... and then you can be the guy with the rifle that goes down in the middle of a class, holding up everyone else that paid a lot of money for tuition. Been there, done that, and learned my lesson. I'm not knocking cheaper AR's, they are great for what they are. And I agree that ammo + training is crucial if you want to learn how to effectively fight with a rifle. But if you want something for hard use (and a 2+ day rifle course will test the best of them), you better buy something good.

 

[Principal Skinr]

..... and then you can be the guy with the rifle that goes down in the middle of a class, holding up everyone else that paid a lot of money for tuition. Been there, done that, and learned my lesson. I'm not knocking cheaper AR's, they are great for what they are. And I agree that ammo + training is crucial if you want to learn how to effectively fight with a rifle. But if you want something for hard use (and a 2+ day rifle course will test the best of them), you better buy something good.

Nothing wrong with the premium Palmetto State Armory rifles. (The cheap 600 dollar ones are PTAC or Freedom models. The premiums are a bit more $$ than that). The premiums are high quality and as well as any of them, and the CHF barrels are made by FN.

If I were taking a class, whatever rifle I chose would get a few miles on it before subjecting it to that kind of workout. Every make has failures and defects. Some fewer than others due to tighter QC, but they all have them. They are all man made.

I just saw the BCM Mod Zero rifle and really liked that one. I like my battle rifle to be basic and simple, without a lot of crap hanging off of it.

 

[burt gummer]

I think I will go with bcm and later build a spikes, i am currently training so I won't have to spend a fortune on that

 

[jonny4523]

What kind of BCM parts are you looking at that is going to run you $2k? I've built quite a few rifles using their parts and have purchased factory assemblies of theirs also. Right now, you'd get a full rifle for around $1300 delivered for their newest generation lower with the PNT trigger and their stock, and that's IF you pay full price. Add $493 for a MRO/mount combo and your under $1800 delivered.

But while I'm a huge BCM fan, I agree with one of the comments above. You need to budget for training and ammo. So if you're not reloading, I'd budget $350 for 1k rounds and $400-500 for a good respected training class.

As an analogy that I often like to use: just because I bought a really nice scalpel, does that automatically qualify me to perform open heart surgery?

 

[tacticalmaster45]

BCM is a great company. I purchased a 11.5in BCM upper and am very impressed