Are BCM barrels especially the recently made ones still good to go?

I know that some people have had issues with barrels being shot out in as little as 1500 rounds like that one thread with the 12.5”, being overgassed, poor accuracy etc. Hopefully those are just a fluke. What are folks experiences with BCM barrels?

Well..

They're the same as they've always been...

Poor accuracy is almost always the result of using poor ammo. FMJ bullets are the worst available because they are made backwards, from the pointy end to the base. That leaves an open base which is detrimental to accuracy.

I only have one BCM barrel, a 20" A2 1/7 twist chrome lined copy. It shoots okay, 1.25" to 1.5" with match ammo at 100 yards. Nothing to write home about.

Barrel quality nowadays is better than it's ever been. Buy a stainless steel barrel from White Oak Armament, Wilson Combat, Noveske, Lilja, Shilen, Compass Lake Engineering, Lothar-Walther or Criterion. You'll get a great barrel, some of them for around the same price as BCM.

If you plan on shooting nothing but cheap FMJ's don't waste your money or time on a premium barrel, they won't make bananas fly straight.

Heavier buffers work for slowing down over gassed rifles.

When I zero irons at 25 meters I can tell a noticeable difference in my 14.5 bcm and my .223 Wylde ballistic advantage stainless “match” barrel.

I use whatever 5.56 m193 spec ammo I have available at the time and the stainless prints roughly half the size groups.

To be fair my bcm has seen considerable mag dumps, and neglect.  It’s my go to rifle and has an eotech on it. Nothing I would consider precision but it is absolutely acceptable for accuracy

I had a bcm hammer forged 16” barrel and with a 1-4 it was sub moa with match ammo

BCM makes a fine barrel for a rifle shooting mostly FMJ and running a red dot. If I wanted to have something for use with magnification and better ammo but still as durable, I would go Criterion or DD, chrome lined. If sub MOA accuracy was my goal, a Krieger or Bartlein blanked stainless, unlined.

BCM is a quality, durable milspec type barrel with mediocre milspec type accuracy.

And no barrel will be shot out in 1500 rounds unless it was abused. Any barrel CAN be shot out in 1500 rounds.

They're far more expensive than barrels with better precision, proper gas port sizes, and non-antiquated profiles. There's very little reason to buy a BCM barrel anymore.

I've had a couple BCM barrels I was disappointed in. A 14.5 and 11.5, both ELW and standard rifling. But my 3 hammer forged barrels and the 14.5 SOCOM have been great. The SOCOM is indistinguishable from my Colt SOCOM in terms of accuracy and quality. My 16, 14.5, and 11.5 BCM CHF barrels are just as accurate as my DD and FN CHF barrels. I would buy another BCM, as long as it's CHF or SOCOM.

BCM has never put out terribly accurate barrels from my understanding or sample size of 1. My understanding is their claim has always been heavy chrome lining reduces accuracy but increases barrel life, so all the people that like to do mag dumps blah blah who cares.

Get a Green Mountain barrel without the gas port drilled and have a smith drill it to your spec.

Good lord! BCM button-rifled barrels are $250+. Their CHF are $320+. DS Arms has chrome-lined, button-rifled barrels for $130. A Spike's CHF is $289, which is probably the same FN-manufactured barrel BCM is selling. A Criterion chrome-lined, button-rifled barrel goes for about $280, which is probably the most accurate chrome-lined barrel available.

Would you measure the SOCOM and see how long it is?

I don't believe so.

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/
6000 rounds to shoot out a barrel with steel cased ammo.

Full auto melonite vs chrome lined torture testing done on this site via faxon and mrgunsngear

Pre torture accuracy


Chrome lined torture test


Melonite torture test


Post turture accuracy testing

My 18” SS410 spr barrel is sub moa with 77 gr and I’ve only been shooting scoped rifles for 3 weeks.  I always shot irons and dots.

It has a pinned/welded BCM Comp Mod 1. With that the length to bolt face is 16 and 3/8. I have an uninstalled Colt SOCOM barrel, so I compared them. The BCM is just under 1/8" longer. I'm very happy with the BCM barrel and would buy another one if needed.