Bear Creek Arsenal BC-15 7.62x39mm Review: Budget Blaster or Bust?

There was a time when I loved the 7.62×39mm round. It was cheap, plentiful, and powerful. So who wouldn’t want the power and affordability of the 7.62×39mm round with AR ergonomics, upgradeability, and improved accuracy?

Time moved on, and before I knew it, Russia invaded Ukraine. The price of 7.62×39mm skyrocketed. However, I found myself still wanting an AR in the old Russian round.

After some searching, I found out that Bear Creek Arsenal had some cheap rifle options. But would a budget rifle hold up in the long term? Would the 7.62×39mm AR be everything I built it up to be in my head?

I took the plunge and went on a journey to find out. Keep on reading to see where the 7.62×39mm AR sits and whether it’s as viable and fun as I hoped!

Bear Creek Arsenal BC-15 7.62x39mm Specs & Features

Specs

• Caliber: 7.62×39mm
• Capacity: 30
• Overall Length: 36”
• Barrel Length: 16”
• Weight: 7.3 lbs
• Comes with: Firearm only (no magazine)

Features

• Right-side charging handle (left-side and rear charging available)
• Fluted barrel
• M-LOK forend

History of the 7.62x39mm AR

The AR-15 platform has become the de facto rifle of the United States. It’s easy to handle, accurate, affordable, and modular. This has led to massive popularity, in turn leaving ARs produced in just about every format possible.

This includes a wide variety of calibers. Across the world, two calibers reign in the arms and arsenals of military forces: 5.56x45mm and 7.62×39mm. Adapting an AR to 7.62×39mm was entirely predictable, but it does pose some challenges.

It requires proprietary magazines that feature an odd, pronounced curve. Additionally, the walls around the bolt face must be thinned to accommodate the cartridge’s wider diameter. Steel-cased 7.62×39mm often has harder primers, which require a longer firing pin protrusion and a wider tip to ignite reliably.

But years of experience and problem-solving have made most 7.62×39mm ARs quite reliable, even at the budget price point.

Shooting the Bear Creek Arsenal 7.62×39mm: Accuracy & Reliability Analysis

This gun does not come with a magazine, so I started things off by ordering some AR-Stoner 7.62×39mm magazines.

I then mounted a Swampfox Blade 1X prism-style sight that I’ve had forever and figured would be appropriate for this rifle.

After a quick 50-yard zero, I was dead on and ready to start shooting. Before the barrel got too hot, I set four 8-inch circles and trotted back to 100 yards. I used a quick improvised rest in the form of a blue 55-gallon drum and fired four five-shot groups.

At 100 yards, I couldn’t see the circle, but I could see the white of the target. I placed my reticle dead center and in the paper the best I could and fired my groups. My largest group was 3.4 inches, and the smallest was right around 3 inches.

For an affordable rifle firing steel-cased 7.62×39mm, the accuracy wasn’t bad. I was impressed and felt my own ego stroked a little. My ammo was Wolf 123-grain standard stuff you can get anywhere, and is one of the most common 7.62×39mm rounds on the market.

The bigger, heavier 7.62 bullet produces more recoil than 5.56, but the BCA has less than your standard AK.

With a 5.56 AR-15 rifle, I can shoot low-ready Bill Drills in about 1.6ish seconds. With the 7.62×39mm BCA, I was struggling to shoot a clean two-second Bill Drill. My best was 2.10 seconds.

Double-taps were also a little slower, at about a second from the low ready at 10 yards. My failure to stop drills took about two seconds instead of the typical 1.3 seconds I can do with my 5.56 mm ARs.

I shot double-taps, triple-taps, and failure-to-stop drills at 50 and 25 yards. Accuracy wasn’t an issue, but the gun does buck and drive itself upward, making the drills slower overall.

There were two issues worth noting.

I had two failures to feed from a full magazine. The first round failed to fully chamber both times, and it occurred with the same magazine. It only occurred on the first round, and if I downloaded it by one round, it wasn’t an issue.

The second issue was the gun failing to lock open when the last round was fired. I can manually lock the bolt to the rear. The problem could be magazines, but being able to lock the bolt to the rear manually makes me think it’s not.

Hold-open failure can occur if the buffer is too heavy, so I swapped it for a lightweight carbine buffer. This isn’t recommended for long-term use of a 7.62×39mm rifle as it tends to cause bolt bounce and increased recoil.

The problem persisted even with the carbine buffer. I was thinking it was undergassed, which is somewhat rare for budget rifles. They are typically overgassed for reliability with cheap ammo.

To check this, I spent too much money on a box of brass-cased 7.62×39mm. ($1 a round!). I loaded five rounds in each magazine and let it fly until my 20 rounds were gone. Boom, problem fixed — the bolt locked open!

Brass-cased ammo creates a tighter seal, preventing gas leakage and seemingly helping the bolt lock open when the last round is fired.

Ergonomics: Fit & Feel

The BCA 7.62×39mm comes with the most standard carbine furniture imaginable. It has a typical A2 grip and M4 type stock. I hated the stock due to the amount of wiggle it had.

I swapped it for a Magpul MOE-SL stock that doesn’t wiggle, is more beard-friendly, and is better all around. The adjustable stock makes it easy to find the right length of pull for you.

The shorter handguard is enough for me, but if you want that aggressive C-clamp grip, you might want to opt for the longer handguard. Being able to get a more aggressive grip would likely help control some of that muzzle rise that was slowing me down.

Most 7.62x39mm barrels are a little meatier, which can make a rifle designed for 5.56 mm feel a little front-heavy. BCA opted for a fluted barrel that is both pleasant to look at and effective for reducing weight.

The trigger is a very basic mil-spec design. It’s stiff, but part of that is due to the type of ammo being used. Light triggers might not be able to properly ignite the 7.62×39mm hard primers.

It isn’t heavy enough to make a significant difference in accuracy, but there are better-feeling mil-spec triggers out there. A smooth Geissele trigger it is not.

We have a lower receiver with all standard AR controls. The magazine release, the bolt lock, and the safety are all what you expect from a basic AR. This means they work super well; everything’s easy to reach and activate.

Reloading is a bit awkward. The curvature on the magazines is just weird. They aren’t straight, so getting a grip is odd, and everything feels off and slower. On a closed bolt, you really have to slam that thing in there for it to lock in.

Bear Creek Arsenal leans heavily into the side-charging design, ditching the standard rear charging handle for a right, or sometimes left-side charging handle.

The rifle I tested features a right-side charging handle, which makes it easier if you are transitioning from an AK to an AR.

The right side charging handle isn’t my go-to. As a right-handed shooter, my options are to go under the gun and grab the charging handle or to break my shooting position. Admittedly, this isn’t a big deal if I’m not in some form of defensive shooting.

It still feels awkward, and it reciprocates. This design can get in the way depending on your optic mount. If your bolts are hanging over the right size of the gun, or a QD lever is there, you might scrape your fingers or knuckles when you rack the weapon.

The good news is that BCA also makes traditional AR charging handle designs if you aren’t keen on the right-side charging handle.

Improvements We’d Like to See

There isn’t much BCA or any AR manufacturer can do with a standard AR lower receiver to fix some of the gun’s flaws.

You’re stuck with awkward magazines and a thin bolt face unless you get into a specialized platform like the CMMG Mutant, which gets us away from the standard AR-15 platform.

I think BCA needs to address the undergassing issue. All 7.62x39mm guns should function perfectly with steel-cased ammo. The easiest fix would seem to be to widen that gas port a little and let it rip!

Who Is It For?

For me, this is a solid brush gun. I wouldn’t want 7.62×39mm for home defense, not because of its capability, but due to overpenetration concerns.

However, for hunting deer and hogs in tight swamps, this rifle is great. The 7.62×39mm round is more than effective against coyotes and hogs.

It’s lightweight, decently accurate, and fires a potent caliber. It could be what I call a working rifle. If you live in a rural area where you might have fences to mend or property to drive around on, a gun like this makes a lot of sense.

There are no concerns about having a safe queen. This gun is affordable, and it can get beaten up without you feeling too bad.

By the Numbers

Reliability: 3.5/5

We had some minor malfunctions, and the problem with the bolt locking to the rear is worth noting.

Ergonomics: 4/5

I don’t care for the right-handed charging handle design, and the wobbly stock was annoying. At the end of the day, it’s still an AR.

Accuracy: 3.5/5

For a 7.62×39mm rifle, 3 MOA isn’t bad by any means.

Value: 4/5

If you can deal with the minor issues, the rifle still offers good value at the sub $500 price point.

Overall: 3.5/5

The BCA 7.62×39mm rifle is a fairly solid budget rifle. It has some interesting quirks, but nothing that makes it a terrible rifle.

Upgrades & Accessories

Every rifle needs a sight. A crisp reticle, insane battery life, and shake-awake technology make the Holosun ARO one of the best budget red dots on the market.

Not all 7.62x39mm AR mags are made equal. I used the AR-STONER mags from Midway USA during testing, and they performed pretty well.

How We Tested the BCA

I fired a total of 360 rounds. The large majority of the ammo used was standard Wolf 123-grain FMJ, along with a few boxes of Red Army Standard 122-grain FMJ I had lying around.

I also fired 20 rounds of Winchester brass-cased 123-grain FMJ ammo to further test for last round bolt hold open functionality. I’d like to have fired more, but brass 7.62x39mm is pretty pricy.

Accuracy testing was conducted by shooting four groups at 100 yards. I also ran numerous close- and moderate-range drills, noting speed while maintaining solid hits on USPSA-sized A-zones, 8-inch circles, and Sage Dynamics Thoracic targets.

Meet the Experts

This article was authored by Pew Pew Tactical author Travis Pike. Travis spent a lifetime shooting as a kid and later joined the United States Marine Corps, where he spent five years as an infantryman.

His experience as a machine gunner, recreational and competitive shooter, hunter, concealed carry instructor, and firearms enthusiast has given him unique insight into various weapon platforms. Travis has written countless articles for numerous publications. Between his personal collection and time spent shooting all manner of guns at media events, Travis knows a thing or two about different AR platforms.

Final Verdict on the BCA 7.62x39mm AR

The BCA 7.62×39mm AR rifle is a fun gun that takes Stoner’s design and adds a dash of Kalashnikov. I was surprised by its accuracy, but irked by the failure to lock open after the last round.

These guns are extremely affordable, and BCA makes numerous variants in pistol and rifle calibers. There is a configuration out there for just about everyone.

What do you think about the BCA and 7.62x39mm ARs in general? Are they cool, or heretical? Sound off in the comments below! Interested in other 7.62x39mm rifles? Check out our article on the Best AK Alternatives!