Side Charger Not So Side Charging!

[Rgarbarino]

I found out tonight that my Bear Creek Arsenal side charge BCG is not compatible with my Mega Arms side charge upper, for a couple reasons.

First, the Mega arms upper is much beefier than the BCA upper. When I put the carrier in the upper and tried to screw in the side charge handle, the handle would bind against the upper before being all the way tight. So it was basically locking the carrier to the upper. I fixed that problem by machining away a little off the bottom of the handle so it cleared the side of the upper. Easy fix.

Second, I found that the position of the charging handle is too far back on the carrier for the slots in the Mega upper. I can't pull the bolt all the way back before the handle runs out of room in the slot. If I were to shoot it the charge handle would slam into the back of the upper slot and probably break some stuff.

I'm sure the Bear Creek side charge BCG works with their own upper since they were designed together. For the sale price of only $70 for a complete side charge BCG I figured I'd try it. Now I have to wait until I can get a Young Manufacturing side charge BCG because their handle is m ore forward on the carrier and actually is stated on their website that it works with the Mega Arms upper.

here's some pics for comparison.

[k1dude]

Bummer. I guess there's no standards for side chargers, so no surprise.

[Sicarius]

Once you deviate from milspec, you will end up having to source your interfacing parts from the same manufacturer.
Kevin

[deckhandmike]

Works with and designed for are two very different things. Why don’t you get the proper part?

[spfabrication]

So you bought a 70$ bcg and wonder why it doesn't work?

[Rgarbarino]

Mega Arms doesn't make side charge BCG's so there is no "part from the same manufacturer".

$70 was the sale price of the original price of $125, price has nothing to do with why it doesn't work in my set up.

Thanks for the helpful info though. I know what part I need now just have to wait for it to be back in stock, therefore I am "getting the proper part."

[Sicarius]

From my reading, it seems to be made to work with the young manufacturing bcg.
Kevin

[ar15barrels]

Mega Arms doesn't make side charge BCG's so there is no "part from the same manufacturer".

$70 was the sale price of the original price of $125, price has nothing to do with why it doesn't work in my set up.

Lesson to be learned here is that you should not buy non-standard parts from different companies and expect them to work together.
In the future, if one company does not make all the parts, buy from a company that makes all the parts so they will work together.

[crufflers]

If I got one it'd probably be one of those no gas straight-pull action rifles, like a Lantac Raven.

[Rgarbarino]

From my reading, it seems to be made to work with the young manufacturing bcg.
Kevin

Yep, I'm on the waiting list for the YM BGC.

I have a Mega lower and the Mega side charge upper is so much beefier than the Bear Creek, which will be great for the 24" bull barrel I'm running. A little patience and I'll have the YM BCG soon enough.

[pklin1297]

https://flic.kr/p/24dzAWD

https://flic.kr/p/EyowQz

The Mega upper works with the YM side charging BCG. This is my build.

[Rgarbarino]

https://flic.kr/p/24dzAWD

https://flic.kr/p/EyowQz

The Mega upper works with the YM side charging BCG. This is my build.

Sweet. I called YM and they said they were about 3 weeks out, were doing the hardening now.