the last round hold open mechanism tends to wedge itself into the groove on the bottom of the bolt and at will not release when you hit it. have just been using the charging handle untill recently. is anyone else having this problem? also if anyone has a brand new 15-22 pc model or otherwise, i would love to see a picture of the lever to see if they have updated it.
bolt catch sticking
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thacheese
Member
it's an issue which has been discussed at great length. i did manage to resolve my issues temporarily, but it has come back.. at this point i think it's a worn catch. search for hold open.
thacheese
Member
mag spring tension could be a factor too which is why they couldn't resolve it as you probably didn't send all the mags.
well i pulled the latch and as it turns out its actually made of real metal so i was able to add some material to it and reshape it, brushed on some cold blue and its good to go now.
on the topic of levers, is anyone still making an extended charging handle? and if i get an ambi safety am i going to have to re work it?
on the topic of levers, is anyone still making an extended charging handle? and if i get an ambi safety am i going to have to re work it?
thacheese
Member
you for a fact fixed it by adding material to the catch? can you post a pic?
MMA_FAN
Member
Finally some one with my same issue. I have over 5000 rounds through mine and it did not start doing this until about 4000 round mark for me. Next time i go to the range i will take pictures/video of it and post. I have not searched the forum to hard for this but is S&W fixing this if we send it back?
(Edit) Seen the 4th post in the thread and that is a bit disappointing.
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snyderman, is that the specific issue you sent it in for? also what did they tell you they did to fix it?
thacheese, how did you temp. fix yours? and sorry about the crummy pic, that was the "what it used to look like, just in case" picture. this weekend i should be able to get a good video or at least better pics up
and MMAFAN, that is exactly how it went with mine and yes it is disappointing
thacheese, how did you temp. fix yours? and sorry about the crummy pic, that was the "what it used to look like, just in case" picture. this weekend i should be able to get a good video or at least better pics up
and MMAFAN, that is exactly how it went with mine and yes it is disappointing
thacheese
Member
there's an older thread about it, and for me it involved messing with the bolt carrier, and resolving any rough patches/bends or tension on the rails to make everything as smooth as possible. i am starting to suspect that the catches wear out. wonder if we can just order new ones.
Yes, that is the reason I sent it in. I told them that the bolt did not lock all the way back after the last round, jamming the rifle. When it came back, the included paper had nothing but my name and address on it. Upon inspection, I could tell they replaced the spring, but that might be it. It doesn't do it every time like it used to, I'm trying a heavier lube on the inside of the catch instead of clp, I'll see how it works when I go to the range this weekend.
in my case the bolt was going all the way back, but coming forward hard enough to where the latch would push by the edge on the face of the bolt. actually the bolt was more worn than the latch, the edge of the bolt was visibly rounded and there were no marks on the bolt catch. not through the powder coat or anodizing anyway. i dont think it would be worth getting a new latch unless they updated the part.
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MMA_FAN
Member
^^^ My same problem exactly ^^^
After making it a mission to figure out what exactly was causing my problem.. (The same problem the op stated) It was obvious it is not the bolt catch malfunctioning. The bolt catch is just fine and doing its job. However the bolt its self has been worn down and is causing the malfunction.
In these pictures you can see that the face on the center ridge is worn. There is a good amount of material missing. This worn edge is allowing the spring to shove the bolt forward past the catch and lodging it between the two groves. This makes it so no matter how hard you push the bolt release it will not budge because it is actually inside the grooves.
Now my questions are: Would S&W replace the bolt for me? and if so, do i have to send the entire rifle to S&W or just the bolt carrier group?
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MMA_FAN
Member
So those videos show that you do not have a malfunction anymore? You applied material to the bolt catch to compensate for the lack of materiel on the center ridge of the bolt?
Awesome! Hopefully S&W will replace my bolt so i don't have to go through those lengths of modifications. I am hoping that with in my lifetime warranty from Smith and Wesson this will be covered.
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ScottyJ
Member
^^^ My same problem exactly ^^^
After making it a mission to figure out what exactly was causing my problem.. (The same problem the op stated) It was obvious it is not the bolt catch malfunctioning. The bolt catch is just fine and doing its job. However the bolt its self has been worn down and is causing the malfunction.
In these pictures you can see that the face on the center ridge is worn. There is a good amount of material missing. This worn edge is allowing the spring to shove the bolt forward past the catch and lodging it between the two groves. This makes it so no matter how hard you push the bolt release it will not budge because it is actually inside the grooves.
Now my questions are: Would S&W replace the bolt for me? and if so, do i have to send the entire rifle to S&W or just the bolt carrier group?
I am having the SAME problem as you guys, so I did some detective work, and my bolt looks EXACTLY like MMA FAN's. The corner of the center rail is worn down. Just like his. The gun has about 1000 rounds through it. The bolt is getting wedged on the catch on the way foward to "engage" the catch. I manually inspected it while cycling it by hand, and if done by hand it BARELY locks onto the catch by a hair now. I will bet that when brand new the bolt had just enough meat to engage the catch. Now that the bolt has wear it blows right by the catch, and gets snagged. Like MMA FAN said....the catch gets wedged in the groove on the bottom of the bolt. In comparison my plain jane 15/22 has no wear on the center bolt rail, and the catch engages alot better. Wierd that it only happens to PC models.
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ScottyJ
Member
I called S&W, and spoke to a rep. They know about this problem, and have dealt with this before. They say send the complete gun in so they can look at it.
ScottyJ
Member
^^^^^ S&W knows all about this problem. I spoke to them. They say send the gun back, so they can look at it. I honestly don't know if I will send it back. More than likely just use the charging handle to chamber rounds after a magazine change.
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Well took a good look at my bolt catch and bolt. Seems the bolt catch itself is sloppy, and moving further than it should, and is wedging itself in the groove of the bolt. So looks like a bolt catch problem....not the bolt. I may be wrong but thats my 2 cents.
ScottyJ
Member
I just looked at brand new still on the rack guns, and I noticed a trend........the bolt catch on these new guns barely engages the bolt. I get the feeling that when new the catch isn't so sloppy, and the bolt rail is nice and square. Put a few thousand rounds down the pipe, and you get this bolt/catch jamming problem. I honestly think it is a poor design, and S&W knows it.
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