I just picked up a DDLES Glock lower to replace my LMT lower in my 9mm AR build. I’m using a CMMG 9mm upper on this setup but I’m reading that the bolt will need to be machined in order for it to work properly with Glock mags. My question is, can I get the CMMG bolt that I have now machined to fit? If I do have my CMMG bolt milled, will it still work with my Colt style magazines if I wanted to switch back to my LMT?
Slightly off topic but ordered one of the small frame lowers. What do you think of it?
I’m pretty sure once you machine your bolt to work with the geometry of the Glock mags, your pretty much dedicated it to that lower. Think you might have been better off just getting the DDLES colt style lower. The Glock trend is a search for better mags. Stick with the metalform and you’ll be good.
There might be an issue of how much surface area of the bolt face contacts the next round out of the magazine. Since the Colt pattern has a staggered/alternating patter out of the magazine, there’ll prolly be feeding issues once the round is on the right side of the mag (where the narrowing took place).
Glock magazines are always center feeding (prolly not the right term), but you’ll see once you put in a couple of rounds and look at both magazines.
I’d get a new bolt.
Or if you’re not happy with the DDLES, I’ll buy it off ya.
Or if you decide to keep it. I’ve done some research about the mag selction for the glock ARs.
For the 9mm, you can either buy factory Glock 17 33rd mags for $32.
Or rehab a $15 Korean Glock mag with an OEM mag extension, OEM insert, and OEM spring for $13 ($28 total).
I have yet to test the Franken-Glock magazines though.
Good thing you went with the DDLES then as the Lone Wolf lowers magwell is too narrow to take the Korean mags. The biggest issue with the Glock mags is the angle at which they feed. Glock grips (and magazines) are about at 110° while Colt pattern are damn near vertical.
I just read on another board, a member got his glock cut bolt to work on his colt lower.
Heresay for now, the safe way to test it is getting 9mm dummy caps of 5 rounds or so, load it up, get on the charging handle fast till they’re all out.
If it hangs up, might need another bolt. If it cycles through each one you just saved some cash.
I dont se why a glock converted bolt wouldn’t still work in a colt system, the glock conversion only takes off a corner of the bottom area and the bottom itself is still there for use on the colt system,
I may be wrong but thats my thinking
Thanks for your replies guys. I decided to sacrifice a couple of my older Glock mags to see if they worked, and they did. I did however see that the corners were a little chewed up on each of the mags that I tried but the rounds still fed fine. It is strange that the damage was done on opposite sides of each mag. Attached are some pics of the magazines after I ran them through with the CMMG bolt. I wondering now if I should just shave down both corners of the Glock mag instead of getting the bolt modified as I still have a lot of Colt-style mags for my LMT lower that I can use.
Interesting…
It cycled fine on a normal non-narrowed 9mm bolt without damaging/stretching the inside of the metal magazine feed lips? And just little polymer scrapes on the outside of the feed lips?
Wow, that’s cool that you didn’t have to get the bolt mod. I think your older Glock magazines might have been riding low. Have you tried it out with a new magazine yet?
What does the magazine catch in the magwell and slot on the magazine look like afterward? Any new marks on those? I’d think the bolt would put stress on those points during cycling since it hit the polymer on the mag.
I tried out several of my other magazines as well, some of which were brand new factory and a couple of KCI. I only found scrapes in the corners as in the pictures above. The pictures above were only the worst ones of the bunch. The others seem to have very little to no wear in the corners.
To see if the magazines were affected, I then tried them out on my G19, and they still fed and loaded up fine.
There was no extra wear on the magazine well or catch that I could tell.
I broke down and took advantage of the 10% off sale at Riflegear over the weekend and picked up another CMMG upper. I figured for a little more than the cost of a new bolt, I would be able to build up another 9mm carbine.
I’ve already sent off the new bolt to Lone Wolf for the mod since I already know the CMMG bolt that I currently have will sorta work fine with my mags.
I must have either gotten an out-of-spec bolt, they were riding low, or just lucky.
I finished putting mine together yesterday and will try and shoot today. I have a DDLES lower, Spikes upper with Spikes bolt. I have cycled it several times and it hasn’t damaged the magazine. The bolt hold open works a bit, but not perfectly, which makes me think it won’t work under use conditions.
You can do as I did and give it a try, but I finally broke down and got a dedicated bolt modified.
Hey all, I realize I’m bringing this thread “back from the dead” but didn’t see any more recent, more relevant ones. I just received a DDLES small frame Glock lower I ordered many moons ago but I don’t think DDLES was accepting orders for their Glock mag compatible bolts at the time I ordered the lower and STILL aren’t so I was a bit worried. Did some searching around about how to modify the bolt and came across this thread.
So just to confirm I understand correctly, a CMMG, Spikes, possibly other 9mm bolts (YHM?) sent to LWD for their Glock mag mod will do the trick, correct? Not knowing what exactly about the bolt needs modifying, I’m just curious if they would do the exact same thing as DDLES would on their own bolt or if it’s “close enough” or whatever.
One other question for those with DDLES lowers - the ejector on mine seems really loose - I can kind of twist it side to side / back and forth a bit - seems odd. Maybe with the bolt carrier in there it is held in place though, IDK - anyone else notice this? Is it normal?
-update- 10/1/13: Got a response from DDLES when I asked about the ejector: “The ejector in our design in floating so it would be normal for it to be loose.”
Seems the LWD bolt mod should be fine, but was just hoping to connect with someone who’s actually done it and used it a while. Guess the OP is not on here these days…
I’ll help warm up this corpse as well.
I just finished a AR9 build as well using a DDLES small frame lower. I’m using a RRA 9mm upper with a CMMG bolt. I haven’t fired it yet, but it feeds and ejects properly. The main concern is mags don’t easily lock into place with the bolt closed. I feel that the bolt will need to be modified as others have mentioned. I’m going to fire it this w/e and see if there is any damage done to the feed lips of the mag and go from there. I already have the page at Adco saved where they will modify the bolt for $45.
Very interested to hear how the unmodified carrier runs with your glock mags.
Looked at one a range buddy had. He ended up sending his bolt to Adco. The mags’ feed lips were showing wear, as well as the bolt. Leaving the bolt to rub the mags just made no sense.
I ended up never firing it due to what felt like more resistance on the carrier/mag than I felt comfortable with. Like the poster above stated, I’ve already sent off the bolt to Adco on Monday to have it milled to fit the glock mags better. I’m excited for the finished product, but I want it to be right before firing for the first time.
Sounds good, I will ship of my carrier to ADCO.