A Tough Look at the Bear Creek Arsenal BC9

I’ve recommended a 9mm carbine as a utility gun for years so I finally decided to buy one. I took 3 of my daughters to the gun show in town to get our hands on a few. After handling and comparing prices, we decided upon the Bear Creek BC9.

Why the BC9?

I chose the BC9 because it’s an AR9 variant. It has an adjustable stock, so it will easily work for my kids or wife. The Mill-Spec trigger is lighter than the Hi-Point or Henry 9mm carbines, and it can be swapped with a quality drop-in trigger. It’s side-charging, which is easier to operate for kids or with winter gloves. The price wasn’t much of a thought, but being the cheapest in its class was quite a bonus.

First Impressions

Ours is the standard AR9 type design with a buffer tube and an 16-inch barrel w/flash suppressor.

The basic finish is not reminiscent of luxury, to say the least. It does eliminate glare, and it seems to prevent rust fairly well. This being the seventh rifle I’ve purchased from Bear Creek Arsenal, I’m used to it by now.

The first thing I did was take a good look at the trigger. It’s a normal AR-15-type trigger with a standard machining finish to it. It’s not the worst nor the best for a basic platform rifle. I inspected the feed ramp, throat, and bore for rough spots and it seemed fair enough. When I first get a rifle, I usually do a simple trigger polishing job before heading to the range. But, seeing as I wanted to handle this rifle as it comes, I held back on my tradition.

Before loading up, I dry-fired a few hundred times to get used to the trigger. Every trigger pulls and breaks differently and getting used to it will help me get a good impression of what this gun can do.

The BC9 has a decent point and balance to it. I’ve held better, but I didn’t find this one awkward or clumsy at any rate. It takes Glock magazines, which are the most reliable out there. but they’re sold separately. Taking Glock magazines easily puts it at or over twice the ammo capacity of the Hi-Point carbines.

Fitted with a new Vortex Crossfire II rifle scope, we finally let lead fly. With a visual bore sighting and a few quick adjustments, it was functionally sighted in at 50 yards. The first groups during sighting in were about 2 1/2 inches. I loaded up magazine after magazine as quickly as the barrel cooled down and fired with a combination of quick-fire and slow-fire volleys. Every conceivable round ran without a hiccup.

When we were 300 rounds in, I figured the weapon must be broken in, so I settled into the sandbag to better see this gun’s accuracy.

My friends and I trust Bear Creek Arsenal to make decent guns and fix any problems. They have an extensive list of pistols and AR-style firearms in hard-to-find calibers. Click Here to see the BC9 on their website

500 rounds later

My best accuracy was found with 115-grain ball ammo. Remington Law Enforcement training loads shot the best overall accuracy with an average of 2 inches at 100 yards. Remington UMC came in second with a 2 1/4 inch average. Herter’s branded ammo (presumably made by Winchester) came in third with a 2 3/8 inch average group. In other words, normal 9mm target ammo seems to reliably shoot groups in the 2MOA zone. I will admit, I was just a bit jittery and didn’t have my best day. I wager this gun will shoot a little better if I were to skip my morning coffee next time.

The point of impact shifted by 2-5 inches at 100 yards when I switched ammo, but I was only really interested in group size and not location. When you get a load that shoots small groups, dial the sight into that point of impact.

The most off thing about the BC9 is the reverberation of the handguard and buffer. They make a ringing sort of sound. While common in AR-type firearms, cheaper versions seem to have it a bit more. Most of it is quelled with a firm grip on the handguard but I could really hear it when shooting off a sandbag. Considering its price point of 200 to 300 dollars less than the competition, that’s not a deal killer for me.

The trigger loosened up by at least a pound and begun to crisp up a bit. Even my seven-year-old daughter commented on how the trigger felt easier to pull. I’m confident that with a 15-minute hillbily trigger job, it would shave a quarter to a half an inch off the average group size. I will say, I forgot just how dirty 9mm ammo can get. After over 500 rounds, my fingers were getting sooty due to my rearward hold on the carbine.

The 9mm isn’t a speed demon and it drops swiftly. I found I prefer to be an inch or two high at 50 yards. That makes for easy shooting out to 100 yards.

I did not bring my chronograph out of forgetfulness, even though I remembered to stop for its batteries on the way, so I’ve no specific figures on the velocity achieved. however, based on the drop from 50 to 100 yards, I’ve calculated that the approximate velocity for the 124-grain projectiles was around 1250 fps and the 115-grain projectiles came in around 1350-1375 fps. I’m remembering my chronograph next time.

I saw that when firing into a moderate crosswind gust, I made poor hits at 100 yards. I saw an easy wind drift of 4 inches at 100 yards. My ballistic calculator says a 10mph crosswind can affect my bullets by as much as 6 inches at 100 yards.

I found two zero distances I liked. For the faster bullets, I like a 100-yard zero. With my sight height at 2 1/2 inches above the center of the barrel, my bullet will be less than 2 inches from my crosshairs between 25 and 100-yards, and it’s dropping a little less than 2 inches between 75 and 100 yards. That’s good enough for tin cans and woodchucks, pigs, or deer.

With the slower-bullets, I’d sight in at 75 yards and keep my shots within that because I saw about 3 inches of drop between 75 and 100 yards. That’s just a bit much for functional field use.

With only a little ammo left, I had to try the 300-yard berm. After gestimating my holdover (roughly 8 1/2 feet) I worked up my way to the 8-inch hanging gong. I didn’t hit the gong, but I managed to hit the rubber strap holding it up before running out of ammo… I’ll be back for it next time.

All-in-all, I really like this gun. Its recoil is nil, there is no muzzle blast, and the report is much quieter than I expected. It hits its mark, uses cheap ammo, and gives you 75 yards more effective range out of the 9mm round. It’s a perfect kids gun, fun for plinking, and great for varmints of four and two-legged varieties. Just remember that the 9mm is fat and slow and is heavily effected by wind at 100 yards.

Click Here to see the BC9 on the Bear Creek Arsenal website.

Where To Buy a BC9

Bear Creek Arsenal firearms are less common to find on a gun store shelf, but they can be requested from any gun dealer or ordered from the Bear Creek website and shipped to your local gun store. I ordered this one and had it shipped to our small town sport shop. I paid $506 after taxes and another $50 to the gun store for handling the transfer and background check. Shipping is always free, and quite fast with Bear Creek Arsenal. When ordering from their website, you can see a list of your local gun dealers they will ship to. Just choose your favorite and complete the order.