BAL Lever Problem - Help needed

jmiddy said:
Take your baseplate off your pmag and see when you try to remove the spring and follower if the spring binds at all on the rivet. If it does in yours then the rivet is taking up some of the springs tension. I know for a fact they do in mine.

This is just a minor problem but still is a problem.
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Worth a look. I'll check tonight. Regardless I am assuming at this time it is the fact that the Lever is preventing full travel of the catch at is causing the failure to lock when firing.

Maybe I will pop to the range at lunch and see if the LAR's make a difference.
 
Another issue somewhat is mag leveller postion in regards to the bolt catch GI/LAR 10rder vs Pmag

You can see a difference just by putting them side by side and viewing from the top.

This also has an effect could be just a little but it still does.

Anyways i hope you figure yours out and hopefully this thread will be of use to some if they have the same problem.
 
Okay, so I tried the LAR mag this after noon with BAL on. No lock back. Pull the BAL off and no problem with Pmags and LAR's. So it seems that there is no problem with the mags I have.

Interestingly enough, I tried maintaining pressure on the bottom of the BAL arm with my left thumb while firing. The bolt locked back with no problem.

I believe that this is further evidence that the lever hitting the side of the receiver is causing the bolt latch to fail to catch the bolt.

I am going to visit my gun pusher this weekend to see of I can replace the bolt catch with one that does not cause the arm to hit the receiver. Baring that, the arm gets gently bent.

Anybody got tips on how to bend aluminum without breaking it? How much heat? I basically have a propane torch, not welding gear :)
 
I took my rifle and BAL to my local gun smith today. Turns out the BAL lever interferes with the bolt catch on a colt receiver too. That is, the lever arm hits the receiver before the bolt catch moves all the way up.

Okay, so as is, it does not appear that the particular unit will work on any receivers. That means I have not a lot to loose in bending it, in the event I break it. So grab a couple of pairs of pliers and my propane torch and let rip.

First I bent the arm above the "elbow" to get it to clear the receiver. Mount it and check. I cannot get the arm to touch now, but the part of the lever that goes through the trigger now has a distinct downward angle. I actually think I over did the first bend but I don't want to go back and re-bend it, I am concerned that it will work harden and break.

Anyway, next I heat the pieced again and bend the lever so it is about 90 degrees to the receiver wall. Opps, a little too much heat (the anodizing is missing on the bottom of the lever now. But, the arm is functional and does not impede travel of the bolt catch. With the mag inserted, the bolt catch extends up to cover the full height of the bolt lugs. Next will be live fire function testing. Likely next weekend.

Assuming this works now, I have a functioning BAL lever and there appears to be nothing with my Norc receiver that caused it to fail. Not bad for used kit off of EE. My only other concern will be of the lever being bent away from the receiver will cause it to snag on my chest rig more so than if I had been a little less aggressive with the first bend.

Crossing fingers.
 
Bolivar, how dare you sully the good name of a glorious, 'better than everything else' Colt. Everyone who hates on the Norks will not stand for a comparison between the two guns. ;)

Adam
 
To be fair, I said the BAL experienced the same issues on the Colt as the Norinco receiver. All that means relative to the two makes is that the Norc does not appear dimensionally different than the Colt with respect to attaching the BAL.

I did not say that NORINCO IS AS GOOD AS COLT. I would never say that. That would be just stirring the pot. I'd never do that.:D

Just like I would never say MY PARA PISTOL WORKS JUST FINE AND IS NOT JUNK. Again, statements like that would just serve to annoy the Para haters. Wouldn't want to do that.:nest:
 
Bolivar said:
I took my rifle and BAL to my local gun smith today. Turns out the BAL lever interferes with the bolt catch on a Colt receiver too. That is, the lever arm hits the receiver before the bolt catch moves all the way up.
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gushulak said:
Perhaps attaching a finely machined American piece of gear to a POS comblock rifle is the problem. Get a real rifle and the lever will work just fine.
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The BAL had the same problem on both the Colt and the Norc. How about you take the time to read before posting your pears of wisdom?

I`m not trying to say the Norcs are better than anything else, or a better deal. It is what works for me, period. Don`t s**t on me for it.
 
gushulak said:
Perhaps attaching a finely machined American piece of gear to a POS comblock rifle is the problem. Get a real rifle and the lever will work just fine.
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Wrong. The design of these fine American pieces of gear is the problem, not the rifles, which function perfectly fine without them. The idea is great in theory, but in practice, significant numbers of AR lowers of all makes fail to function with these devices.

Maybe the manufacturers' promise for these things are worth it to some, but for me, that little extra capability isn't worth the potential complications they may induce in malfunctions. Especially since the things are supposed to simplify the manipulation of the firearm.
 
True. It would be perfect if you could try before you buy. And they are not for everyone.

However, since I have money into the add-on, I am motivated to try to make it work, such that there is no problem with reliability of the firearm.

Worse comes to worse, I take it off. At least there is no permanent alteration of the firearm needed.
 
Sniper1 said:
Had the same problem with a magpul BAD on a Bushy lower.
Problem was solved by putting the BAD lever in the spare parts box.
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Sometimes I've seen the occasional BAD lever (and I suspect this may also be the case with the BAL) where the specs may be slightly out, ie: the angle of the lever varies slightly from what it should be.

It's entirely possible that the norcs may be more prone to issues with these types of levers due to their tolerance issues. This isn't to say the problem is exclusive to norcs - just that it's more prevalent. Just my $0.02. Glad to hear you got it working in any event.
 
Working.......yeah that is not quite the case. I tried it this afternoon with Pmags and LARs, even the stock Norc mag.

Unfortunately the bolt is still not locking back. At best, the catch is grabbing the bolt carrier, not the bolt head. Seems like the extra mass of the arm is slowing down the catch and not letting it engage properly by the time the bolt returns.

Pmags were the worst, several didn't lock the bolt at all. Now I am getting annoyed.
 
Bolivar said:
Working.......yeah that is not quite the case. I tried it this afternoon with Pmags and LARs, even the stock Norc mag.

Unfortunately the bolt is still not locking back. At best, the catch is grabbing the bolt carrier, not the bolt head. Seems like the extra mass of the arm is slowing down the catch and not letting it engage properly by the time the bolt returns.

Pmags were the worst, several didn't lock the bolt at all. Now I am getting annoyed.
Click to expand...

The PMAG problem with the bolt locking back is limited to the 30-round version and specific to norcs; this has been previously established. It's possible that the problem with the lever is exacerbating it. Honestly, the BAD/BAL working on norcs seems to be hit-and-miss at best; works for some - not for others. Have you tried it with a BAD lever?
 
That is a likely next move. Hopefully my buddy will let me borrow his.

As for the mags, the lever still fails with LAR's so they are sure not the only issue.

We shall see what happens. I don't really want to throw money at the problem. Worse comes to worse, off the lever comes.
 
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