I just got it in the mail today and installed it. It wobbles like mad on the bolt release lever. Its not just magnifying the movement of the lever, it wiggles on it. I have tightened down the screw that hold the two halves of the clamp together as tight and far as it will go. Any more and I will strip it. Has anyone else run into this? Is there a fix?
ETA: Fixed. My advice to all that gets this is to just dump the torque head screw it comes with and go to ACE and get a hex head screw of the same type. The hex head tightens down much tighter without the fear of stripping it.
what brand is the parts kit that the bolt release came from? Possibly out of spec bolt release? Any other rifles or a friend’s rifle you can try the BAD on?
I’ve shimmed mine with a small piece of 100 mph tape under the face of the BAD where it contacts the front face of the bolt catch. After thousands of rounds later,it’s still on there tight. Also did this to another buddy’s AR, no issues reported yet.
I put some blue loctite on the face of the paddle once and it helped since it only moved with a little pressure. I have one on a few different rifles and they fit a little differently on each.
Tape seems like a good idea and there’s really no way for it to come out.
For what it’s worth, I have five BAD levers mounted on Noveske and Colt lowers with no issues. They all lock up tight on the paddle. Any movement is within the latch itself.
It would be interesting to put your BAD lever on another rifle and see how it fits.
I’ve lost count of how many of these I have. None of the Magpul variety locks down on any of the paddles I have them on, from Colt to everyone else.
See this comparison that I wrote. You can see in the range of movement pictures that the BAD moves further tan the EBR and that extra movement is entirely due to the looser fit of the BAD. It hasn’t affected function on any of my guns.
All the ones I have fit the paddle tightly.
What is noticeable is that you can then see how lose the bolt catch fits the lower receiver after installing the BAD Lever.
If the play between the bolt catch and lower receiver bother you remove the BAD Lever and move on.
Ghostman, I had the same problem on one release. I tried a few tricks to fix it, and in all my tinkering I quickly rounded out that crappy little torx head screw that it came with. I ran down to Ace and picked up some cap head allen screws. They accept a 3/32 allen wrench or a T10 torx wrench(both of which I keep in my leatherman because they are pretty common sized on my rifles). Changing out these screws made the most difference in the play of the bad levers, due to the extra tork you can apply. The one that had the play in it was all but gone.
PS: I have long since removed these things from my guns because they were just another fix for a problem I didn’t have.
Make sure the wobble isn’t in the bolt release. I’ve seen BAD levers that clamp onto bolt releases very solidly, yet the bolt release itself has a lot of play. The long lever arm of the BAD just accentuates what play there already is in the system.
It’s also worth mentioning that even bolt catches that fit with the BAD tightly will eventually start fitting looser. I’m not talking about the BAD screw walking out, but the BAD rubbing against the grooved face of the bolt catch and effectively rubbing/sanding the bolt catch face down slowly. Over time, the tolerance gets looser. This happened to me, and when I took off the BAD, I found silvery powder/gunk inside the BAD on the bolt catch face from the wear on the bolt catch face. Once I cleaned everything and shimmed it with the 100mph tape, I had no other issue. I recommend just shimming it from the start, as the tape acts a cushion buffer against this wear and keeps things tight.
BAD itself presents issues as other members have pointed out. For me, the benefits happen to weigh more for me…only because I was able to sort out the problem(s).
I’m surprised more companies are not offering these types of levers as a single piece with the bolt catch integrated. I’ve only seen one that does. It should make for a lighter and stiffer unit.
Though, admittedly, changing out catches can be a bit of a pain in the ass, but I’d put up with it to avoid the potential jiggle between the level and latch.
