Last week at the range the bolt did not remain open after the last shot on 1 of my mags, I chalked it up to the magazine.

A couple of days later it was doing it on each of my mags so I decided to invetigate. What I found was a simple fix.

The bolt catch lever was gritty and although it worked perfectly when tested manually obviously wasn't fast enough to work when fired. A quick blast of air and it was smooth again and works perfectly.

I had the same issue and now I clean the lever every time I go to the range when I clean the rest of the gun.

The root cause is a overly strong bolt catch spring. This has been known for a couple of years, as has the solution; simply remove the bolt catch and clip two turns off the spring and reinstall.

Keeping that area clean is also a good idea.

Additionally, this is one place a drop or two of CLP or similar is a good thing.

Thanks for the tip on the spring. Good tip to know just in case.

I might try this after I see how it does with the Magpul BAD as I wonder if having the heavier spring would be better in this case to compensate for the small small increase in weight on the catch by adding the BAD.

It appears that just the opposite happens - the extra weight of the lever, either MagPul's or NDZ's, places more strain on the paddle, making more force to pus up the latch necessary.

NDZ went through two versions before they got one that was reliable on the 15-22, and even then cutting the spring was often necessary. The original lever was a little over 9 grams and it was necessary to get it down to a tad over 4 grams to get reliable lock back. I know, because I was doing the bulk of the testing on it for them.

The "problem" with the MagPul on a 15-22 is the bolt release is in a slightly different location in regards to the trigger guard, hence the need to do some bending. Since you already have one, go for it!

Thanks.. good info. If the bolt is not staying open post BAD install, I will look to the spring.

Yep, I am going to straighten the bend right out of the Magpul and make it work should be a piece of cake.

I saw the current version by NDZ on eBay, if it was 9g originally, now at 4g, it was clearly way over built to begin with. I will weigh the BAD out of curiosity, as it is about as minimal as can be already.

Good luck with the project. Be sure to post your results.

Oh yeah... + or -, I will give full photos and results.

I am just waiting on some final parts, then I will reveal my build and specs. But like a fine wine, I don't want to reveal before it's time

Ahh ha, the searched worked.

I have noticed this problem today and the time before last when I was at the range. All after I installed NDZ bolt release. I did notice some grittiness in bolt catch today when I was cleaning the rifle. I'll try the spring mod good clean before I shoot again.


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Always put a drop of CLP between the latch and the lower. That area attracts a lot of powder debris.