I want to try an oversize bolt release paddle. I don’t know if it will prove useful so I don’t want to pay the FCD premium. Is the Seekins Precision Enhanced Bolt Catch a decent part that can be used, or is it something I’ll just need to replace again if I like the feature?
https://www.rainierarms.com/seekins-precision-enhanced-bolt-catch/
Love my ABC/R’s but I also like the Seekins variant. Give it a shot.
Seekins is fine in my carbine. Installed it 3 years ago, works well, good design and execution. Major improvement on mil spec item.
Mark
If I am building up an AR from a stripped lower I generally always use that Seekins bolt release, really nice part and decent (ergonomic, for me) improvement over the USGI style one.
Agree 100%. I had the Seekins on a previous lower and now I have the Forward Controls bolt catch with centered pad and I love it. I feel it’s better than the Seekins I had previously. It costs considerably more but I’d still do it over again.
From experience Seekins stuff is not the best and that is a part I would not want to fail. Personally I am more of a fan or the Forward Controls or Badger Ordnance.
Seekins reviews on Brownells are predominantly negative, including one “Bent and locked up my 9mm carbine.”
I’ll wait until I can afford the FCD part.
Forward Control for the win, Roger now offers forward and rearward bias as well as the original neutral version.
This X’s 100
Cheers, Steve
Each bolt catch spends 26 minutes on the machine, with all its minute angles, ledges and notches, ABC/R v3 is even more difficult to make than before. At $58, we’re under charging for it. The market probably can’t bear a $70 bolt catch, which is where it should be going for, we don’t want to price it out of reach of folks that want and/or need it.
There was a time we had to contend with comparable products MSRP, but we blew through that long ago, it’s no longer one of the metrics. Our MSRP is largely based on our cost, and we dial down the MSRP and decrease our margin when necessary so some aren’t so expensive, they belong in the collectable category. We don’t charge more simply because we can command it.
There has never been a MIM or cast ABC/R. Small batch runs allow us to make changes as needed, and given the time intensive nature of billet machining ours, ABC/R v3 can’t be mass produced, but that is not our goal anyway. The Army won’t be kicking down our doors to buy them, we’re happy to make them the way we like it, quality over quantity, and function over form, 26 minutes at a time.
Recently ordered something directly from Forward controls. Order placed to having a tracking number was 8 minutes and the part that arrived is a work of art. If FCD makes something that fits the bill then it gets the nod from me.
I’ve had the Seekins bolt catch in my 3gun Limited carbine for two seasons with no issues. In fairness, though, I haven’t actually gone empty/BHO very often.