Last year, I was one of the lucky early testers of the Bravo Company Gunfighter Stock. Here’s my preview of the BCM Gunfighter stock. I can say that I am still very happy with it. The production unit that I received later has few added improvements, but the basic design remains the same.

A recap, the biggest advantage that the BCM stock has over most of other collapsible stocks on the market is its completely redesigned locking system. The mechanism that attaches the BCM stock to the buffer tube is heavily reinforced. I didn’t realize how strong of the design until BCM shown me some images of Larry Vicker, one of BCM’s Gunfighters, had drop tested the BCM stock from a 2-story hight shooting tower during one of his training classes.

Larry Vicker and BCM had reproduced the 2-story drop in the following video:

Keep in mind that the standard U.S. military’s rifle drop test is just 6-feet off the ground with a fully loaded weapon. Larry Vicker and BCM also conducted the same drop test with other stocks and those didn’t fair so well. BCM asked me not to specifying the brands.

I find it’s interesting that not only the BCM stock survived the 2-story high drop but, the buffer tube didn’t get bend in the process. I think part of it is the two steel side supports in the locking mechanism may have also help to protect the buffer tube.

A major upgrade in the production unit is the changing of the polymer material of the leaf spring. One of the early tester had left the firing pin in the stock, which compress the leaf spring, for couple of weeks and found that the leaf spring had lost a bit of tension. Of course, he was not supposed to do that since that design feature is really made for easy installation and removal of the BCM stock.

Anyhow, BCM has decided to using a better type polymer for the leaf spring at substantial manufacturing cost increase. The new polymer material has no issue of keeping the tension under prolong compression.

The 2nd design change is the addition of the VBOS tab on production model. What’s call the Vehicle Borne Operation Sling tab is made for securing the weapon sling in vehicle opts or storage. BCM carries a specifically made rubber band for use with the VBOS tab.

For those that don’t want the VBOS tab, it is easily removable by just take out the screw on the butt pad, which is shown on the last step of this video.

For a 2^nd opinion on the BCM Gunfighter stock, I got a hold of Matt Cole, a local trainer in the Las Vegas area and he has been a user of the BCM stock since it came out. Matt is the head instructor and managing director of Cole Partnership and Training.

He went over the Pros and Cons of the BCM Gunfighter stock with me. The Cons are the exterior shape of the BCM stock is a bit lacking in the aesthetic area and it requires a tool take off the stock, unlike the standard M4 carbine stock or B5 Systems SOPMOD stock.

The Pros are far outweigh the above minor Cons. The BCM stock feels solid but yet it’s very lightweight with a non-snag shape. The locking mechanism is very strong and Matt uses the BCM stock to demonstrate the mortar drill in many of his class. The method is used for clearing a stuck case in the chamber by holding down the charging handle, and slam the butt of the rifle hard onto a hard surface. The inertia of the bolt carrier group coming to a sudden stop would be usually enough to losing up a stuck case. However, this drill is hard on the rifle stock and it’s known to breaking stocks. Matt’s BCM Gunfighter stock is holding up just fine. Matt also think the VBOS tab is a great addition on the final production design of the BCM Gunfighter Stock.