# Complete AR 350 Legend



## huntmichigan (Nov 18, 2005)

Looking for a complete set up, what brands and scope set ups do you guys and gals recommend. Don't want to spend a ton but enough to have a quality gun to add to the deer hunting arsenal.

Thanks


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Me too. Following.......thanks for posting.

L & O


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## jr28schalm (Mar 16, 2006)

I went with Great Lakes F and A. Haven't had any issues with it yet. Was under a 1000 and made in Michigan


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## Dirty Sanchez (10 mo ago)

A


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Dirty Sanchez said:


> I can not say this enough. Build your own. Learn the platform. It is very rewarding and super easy.
> 
> ......


That doesn't work for me. I'm not a guy who builds or fixes things. I break things and then go looking for help.

L & O


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## Dirty Sanchez (10 mo ago)

You caught me..I deleted it.

Hehe.

Dude, I was the same exact way. I was the same guy.

2-3 YouTube video later 50 Ars have been built. Even teach classes to the newbies on the gun forum at my house.

I think you'd surprise yourself.


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## Dirty Sanchez (10 mo ago)

One more thing...there is a lot going on right now.....go on Palmetto state armory or something and get at least a complete lower coming. That way you have the gun part taken care of. You can always buy a complete upper later. The lower is the FFL portion. 
Once you got the lower..you can buy all kinds of different caliber uppers.


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

Bear Creek ARs run in the $500 range, but no 350s in stock currently. I have one that I added an $80 drop in trigger to (stock trigger was garbage), it's operated flawless and is a fantastic shooter.

I put a 3-9x Vortex Crossfire II on it, I hate it and will be replacing soon.


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## Dirty Sanchez (10 mo ago)

For those that want to save money.....before you buy a drop in..if you are on a budget

You can polish your AR trigger.
Very easy and very effective.

I do exactly what the below article tells you not to do...but I use tooth paste and a buffing brush.









How to Perform an AR-15 Trigger Job – AR-15 News, Reviews and...


how to perform an AR-15 trigger job for a smoother crisp trigger pull that is a big improvement over the stock mil-spec trigger




www.arbuildjunkie.com


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

gunfun13 said:


> Bear Creek ARs run in the $500 range, but no 350s in stock currently. I have one that I added an $80 drop in trigger to (stock trigger was garbage), it's operated flawless and is a fantastic shooter.
> 
> I put a 3-9x Vortex Crossfire II on it, I hate it and will be replacing soon.


Another option is they have a complete .223 Wylde on sale now for $349, and several 350 legend uppers in the $300 range, $650 for a complete AR and an additional upper is tough to beat.


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## aacosta (Dec 18, 2015)

I also went with the GLFA 350. No issues, kills deer dead


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

huntmichigan said:


> Looking for a complete set up, what brands and scope set ups do you guys and gals recommend. Don't want to spend a ton but enough to have a quality gun to add to the deer hunting arsenal.
> 
> Thanks


What kind of budget are we talking? Several companies are making them and "a ton"is ambiguous at best?


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

gunfun13 said:


> Bear Creek ARs run in the $500 range, but no 350s in stock currently. I have one that I added an $80 drop in trigger to (stock trigger was garbage), it's operated flawless and is a fantastic shooter.
> 
> I put a 3-9x Vortex Crossfire II on it, I hate it and will be replacing soon.


Bear Creek 350 uppers and rifles are notoriously irregular in their performance. Way too many issues for their uppers and rifles were reported. Jamming being the problem. Accuracy is usually pretty good for their products. Feeding not so much..


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## motoscoota (Mar 9, 2021)

If you're not looking to build, take a look at the Rueger AR-556 MPR chambered in .350L.

I love this gun!

...But, I'm still laboring over which optics...


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

FullQuiver said:


> Bear Creek 350 uppers and rifles are notoriously irregular in their performance. Way too many issues for their uppers and rifles were reported. Jamming being the problem. Accuracy is usually pretty good for their products. Feeding not so much..


Guess I got lucky


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## Mike da Carpenter (Nov 26, 2017)

Great Lakes Firearm and Ammo (GLFA) and a nice Leupold scope. You’ll be golden. Go to Budsgunshop.com

GFLA is a Michigan company too, from Sparta.


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

Look I already had a great AR I built with a 223 Wylde chamber in a WOA barreled upper build. However I thought I would try a 350 Legend upper from BCA. ( mainly because it was very inexpensive) From the factory it couldn't feed even the first round. There were assembly issues with the bolt that caused a bent extractor pin. Then after fixing those issues I found that it still wouldn't feed rounds consistently. The feed ramps and chamber were very rough as well as some bolt issues that had to be addressed.. 

However with an ample amount of work from me, now the upper performs flawlessly, but I have more than a basic understanding of gunsmith skill set. Far from a drop on upper but considering the price and the fact that currently I have an upper that shoots right at MOA I am satisfied. Probably not how most customers would feel after having to do so much work to get an upper to run well.. YMMV..


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## dntnddb (Jan 15, 2009)

Mike da Carpenter said:


> Great Lakes Firearm and Ammo (GLFA) and a nice Leupold scope. You’ll be golden. Go to Budsgunshop.com
> 
> GFLA is a Michigan company too, from Sparta.


Or just go to GLFA web order one and pick up, less then a week. I just picked mine up Friday


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## motoscoota (Mar 9, 2021)

dntnddb said:


> Or just go to GLFA web order one and pick up, less then a week. I just picked mine up Friday


Yeah, I agree - had I known about GLFA before purchasing the MPR I would have gone with the GLFA option. It's a much better price & I really prefer to put money in local talent.


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## TriggerDiscipline (Sep 25, 2017)

I have an upper built around a Bear Creek barrel. Like fullquiver, I had a lot of issues with getting it to feed. The feed ramps and chamber were very rough, causing the cases to get hung up in the chamber. A polishing with flitz and a chamber mop along with modifying my magazine seems to have solved the issue. If I did it again, I'd get a Mos-Tek barrel, or at least a barrel with a nitride extension.


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## jr9912 (Dec 2, 2008)

My Bear Creek Upper in 350 shoots great at 100 yards. No cycling issues at all, even suppressed.


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## LLSSt Clair (Apr 15, 2016)

FullQuiver said:


> Bear Creek 350 uppers and rifles are notoriously irregular in their performance. Way too many issues for their uppers and rifles were reported. Jamming being the problem. Accuracy is usually pretty good for their products. Feeding not so much..


I have a bear creek 350 upper bday gift special sale 279$ had colt lower, some slop in my pins. Teflon tape hack helped, Feeding was screwy at first but not any worse than the 450 when they came out. Accuracy falls off after 125 yards, could be me. I found that after adjust the gas tube screw? it fixed a lot of my feeding issues. Good Home defense and hunting gun, why not??


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## Ray Duve (Jun 26, 2004)

gunfun13 said:


> Bear Creek ARs run in the $500 range, but no 350s in stock currently. I have one that I added an $80 drop in trigger to (stock trigger was garbage), it's operated flawless and is a fantastic shooter.
> 
> I put a 3-9x Vortex Crossfire II on it, I hate it and will be replacing soon.


Have the same gun, one for myself and 1 for my son with the same scope set up. Bought the lower and uppers separate and put together my self. Have a grand into both guns with the scopes. Guns have performed flawlessly for me with more than 200 rounds going through each gun. No grouping issues or jamming no problems at all. Bear creek gets a bad publicity at times for various reasons but I have no complaints and will purchase from them again. I will agree the triggers are less than desirable and will be replaced this year before the season starts.


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

Ray Duve said:


> Have the same gun, one for myself and 1 for my son with the same scope set up. Bought the lower and uppers separate and put together my self. Have a grand into both guns with the scopes. Guns have performed flawlessly for me with more than 200 rounds going through each gun. No grouping issues or jamming no problems at all. Bear creek gets a bad publicity at times for various reasons but I have no complaints and will purchase from them again. I will agree the triggers are less than desirable and will be replaced this year before the season starts.


Five shot group @ 100 yards on Sunday out of the beae creek. This is just off of the bench with some sandbags, no lead sled or anything like that. The flyer I believe is a round I dropped on concrete and scuffed the tip. I don't have a ton of rounds through it, maybe 100, but its never failed to feed or fire.


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## Sunshinetim (12 mo ago)

FullQuiver said:


> Bear Creek 350 uppers and rifles are notoriously irregular in their performance. Way too many issues for their uppers and rifles were reported. Jamming being the problem. Accuracy is usually pretty good for their products. Feeding not so much..


Agreed. I have a BCA upper in .350 legend. Stainless barrel and a good feel the the guard, but it jams like crazy. I tried cleaning it multiple times even took the bcg apart and cleaned/lubed it. It was absolutely soaked with lube so I thought it may help. it did not. Took my awhile to sight this one in as well....and I see why, groups are inconsistent. I ended up going bolt action and just purchased a Winchester xpr. I do have the Leupold VX-Freedom scope with the .350 legend CDS system. I cannot say enough about this scope. Hands down the one you need. I have one on my .450 as well. Just sight in at 100 yards and crank it to whatever yardage you want and it sets the hold over for you. Aim where you want the bullet to hit and it will.


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

Sunshinetim said:


> Agreed. I have a BCA upper in .350 legend. Stainless barrel and a good feel the the guard, but it jams like crazy. I tried cleaning it multiple times even took the bcg apart and cleaned/lubed it. It was absolutely soaked with lube so I thought it may help. it did not. Took my awhile to sight this one in as well....and I see why, groups are inconsistent. I ended up going bolt action and just purchased a Winchester xpr. I do have the Leupold VX-Freedom scope with the .350 legend CDS system. I cannot say enough about this scope. Hands down the one you need. I have one on my .450 as well. Just sight in at 100 yards and crank it to whatever yardage you want and it sets the hold over for you. Aim where you want the bullet to hit and it will.


Do you still have the BCA upper? If you do please pm me. I would love to have a talk with you about it ....


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## ro2 (Oct 6, 2011)

I have a bear creek in 450, I call it the jam o’matic. Subscribe to psa email list and wait for a daily deal. Haven’t heard many folks complaining about PSA


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## GuppyII (Sep 14, 2008)

I have built a dozen BCA 350s and equally as many 450s and the biggest issue was the feed ramp on the 450s. a dremel with a polishing bit cured it almost every time. Mags were an issue with 350s as well if you didn't purchase a 350 mag or machine out the front lip about 0.150". I had a friend with GLFA and he's had nothing but issues with it, even went back twice. He dumped it and went bolt action.


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## Sin_X (Mar 3, 2004)

I have a BCA 350 upper with a 20in SS barrel. It started off giving me feed issues right off the bat. Dremel and polished the ramp, filed out the mag lips to get the thing to feed correctly. Put a Leopold Freedom 350 scope on it and had nothing but issues with trying to sight it in. Ran out of elevation, tried different rings, shimming, adjustable rings and the best I could get was 4in high @ 100yd. Swapped out my Leapers Bug Buster from my other gun, 4 shoots to adjust and now I'm clover leafing 3 shot groups @100yd. Very disappointed in the Freedom 350 scope, wanted it to work, but after wasting 3 boxes of ammo, I'll keep the bug buster on it. 

As far as the BCA triggers, myself and my sons run Rise Armament drop in triggers. I have 140's in mine and the boys have to 240's, both feel very nice.


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## Sunshinetim (12 mo ago)

Did you remove the cap with the two Allen screws and make your elevation adjustments then set the cap back on at 0?


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## Sin_X (Mar 3, 2004)

Sunshinetim said:


> Did you remove the cap with the two Allen screws and make your elevation adjustments then set the cap back on at 0?


Yes sir, still no joy. When I feel better I'm going to try it on a bolt rifle, if I can't zero it in on that I'll send it in.


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## 252Life (Sep 17, 2004)

This is my Ruger after I first got it. I've since added a few things and changed out the scope for a Nikon. Love shooting it but not sold on it being a great deer rifle.


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## Scandiacus (Oct 11, 2017)

FullQuiver said:


> Bear Creek 350 uppers and rifles are notoriously irregular in their performance. Way too many issues for their uppers and rifles were reported. Jamming being the problem. Accuracy is usually pretty good for their products. Feeding not so much..


I wonder how much of that is the rifle, though, and how much is the magazine. I don't have any experience with Bear Creek, but when I built my own 350 upper with a Faxon barrel, I had a lot of trouble with commercial 350 Legend magazines not feeding reliably and causing jams. However, I found that modified Gen 3 Pmags work flawlessly, because they hold the cartridge at a slightly elevated angle that feeds almost straight into the chamber.


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

Scandiacus said:


> I wonder how much of that is the rifle, though, and how much is the magazine. I don't have any experience with Bear Creek, but when I built my own 350 upper with a Faxon barrel, I had a lot of trouble with commercial 350 Legend magazines not feeding reliably and causing jams. However, I found that modified Gen 3 Pmags work flawlessly, because they hold the cartridge at a slightly elevated angle that feeds almost straight into the chamber.


I certainly think that mags are part of the equation. However if my gun is any indication. The chamber was rougher than my dirt road. Looked like tooling was dull and or chips built up in the reaming process. Running a dental instrument lightly down my chamber told the tale then a better visual inspection revealed the extent of the problem.. I've only dealt with a couple of different guns with this issue. However I did reach out to a gunsmith in Iowa and he had seen a steady stream of these uppers with these same problems...


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

252Life said:


> This is my Ruger after I first got it. I've since added a few things and changed out the scope for a Nikon. Love shooting it but not sold on it being a great deer rifle.
> View attachment 852810


Why the hesitation on this being a deer rifle?


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## 252Life (Sep 17, 2004)

This was my experience last year. 









Doe v .350 Legend


Had an opportunity to take a lone mature doe Tuesday at last light. 60 yd chip shot with my 350 Legend. She jumped straight up and ran into the woods. Waited for 30 minutes or so and went and looked. No blood, no hair anywhere. Grabbed another guy and neither of us could find any sign the deer...




www.michigan-sportsman.com


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

252Life said:


> This was my experience last year.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I posted on another thread about my thoughts on the 350 as a deer round after being part of ~70 kills with the round. I'm not sold on it but have purchased some premium ammo this year (Bear Creek) and willing to continue testing. For now, I will not buck hunt with it.

Mine is also in AR. It's a fun gun, but far from an ideal hunting configuration. Other than ammo testing with some crop damage tags, give me the 450 bolt gun any day of the week.


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## 252Life (Sep 17, 2004)

gunfun13 said:


> I posted on another thread about my thoughts on the 350 as a deer round after being part of ~70 kills with the round. I'm not sold on it but have purchased some premium ammo this year (Bear Creek) and willing to continue testing. For now, I will not buck hunt with it.
> 
> Mine is also in AR. It's a fun gun, but far from an ideal hunting configuration. Other than ammo testing with some crop damage tags, give me the 450 bolt gun any day of the week.


 I also stated in that thread that my situation has changed since I bought the .350 and now I own land in the rifle zone. I'll stick with my .308 this year


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## TriggerDiscipline (Sep 25, 2017)

Shot my Bear Creek upper last weekend. Put about 50 handloads through it and it feeds and shoots pretty well now. No failures to feed or extract, it's actually a pretty fun gun now. It even runs the Hornady deer season soft points I was having so much trouble with before. Definitely take a chamber mop and some flitz to your chamber and feed ramps if you have a BCA. I have the 16" M4 profile barrel, and so far my best group is just a tad over 1" at 100 yards using 26.3 grains of H110 with Hammer 125 grain copper monolithics. I bought this upper as a brush gun, handy treestand/saddle rifle, and something for the kids to shoot, so that's better accuracy than I expect. 

Check out hammer bullets. They shoot much better than factory stuff out of my BCA, very good velocity and because of their boattail design they feed flawlessly in an AR. I will update if I take a doe this weekend. Will be using the legend for EA season.

I have this thing topped with a 2-7x32 Hawke vantage in a cheap cantilever mount. It seems to have held zero well through a little over 100 rounds, but the clarity and eye box leave something to be desired. When/if I replace this one, it will be with a Primary Arms LPVO or a Burris.


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Information overload in this thread, but keep it coming. 
I'm not a gun builder so I want the best out-the-door package that I can get for a smaller kid. And not really even sure when they might be ready to start shooting this type of gun.

L & O


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## TriggerDiscipline (Sep 25, 2017)

Liver and Onions said:


> Information overload in this thread, but keep it coming.
> I'm not a gun builder so I want the best out-the-door package that I can get for a smaller kid. And not really even sure when they might be ready to start shooting this type of gun.
> 
> L & O


If I was you and I was doing this over again, I would get a Wilson Combat complete upper, and then a blem PSA lower with either the Geissele trigger included, or just get a base blem lower and switch out the stock and grip with magpul furniture, and drop in a Timney impact trigger. You could have a really nice gun for under a grand.


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