NEA lower issue

triden

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Putting together a lower from NEA and I noticed that the bolt release doesn't catch properly on the mag follower. Is it normal for it not to catch perfectly without an upper attached? I haven't received an upper yet, but test fitting with a magpul mag and the little tip doesn't seem to be in the right spot. Hope these pics make it clearer.

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so on the tail of Jamie's comment, have you tried other mags? ie aluminum/steel mags? If they don't engage, and the lower is new, take it back. It may be as simple as a bad bolt catch that should be covered under warranty. or dare I say it, buy something else.

Boltgun
 
I've run into this before with both NEA and other brands of lower;

There are a couple of issues that can cause this problem:

1) Magwell being too loose
2) Bolt stop slot being too loose
3) Magwell out of position in relation to the bolt stop slot
4) Bolt stop slot out of position from the magwell
5) VERY RARELY the bolt stop finger is too short, but that virtually is never the problem.

This problem will predominantly arise when using Gen 3 Pmags, but it can happen with Gen 1/2 Pmags as well.

You will often find that steel/aluminum mags don't have this problem. I've found that PCV Beowulf mags also tend not to have the problem either.

If you compare a Pmag with a steel/aluminum mag, you may notice that the spine is thicker on Pmags than on metal mags. The plastic/polymer needs to be thicker so as not to break/crack. This means the follower is forward a skootch more than on the metal mags.

Some pmags also had an issue with flash on the follower or body pushing the follower away and the fix was to scrape the flash away with a razor blade. Again, this is not usually the issue.

Bottom line, it's a lower dimension/tolerance issue.

Aside from having the lower replaced, which comes with no guarantee that the next lower (from the same manufacturer) won't have the exact same issue, there is one reasonably easy way to solve this issue:

Buy a Colt 9mm bolt stop from Brownells and shorten the finger so that it's longer than the standard bolt stop finger but short enough to not interfere with or rub on the case heads. You also have to remove a small amount of material off the top of the bolt stop as well as grinding a bit of an angle to match the standard bolt stop. The reason a standard bolt stop has a 'ramped' top surface is so that the bolt lugs can push it down as it's cycling rearward. Otherwise the square face of the lugs would just mash into the bolt stop on the last round.

I've 'fixed' a few lowers this way and it works pretty well. If anyone wants the actual dimensions/angles for modifying the 9mm bolt stop, PM me.


....or you don't use pmags. Or you just hold the bottom of your mag when you shoot and angle the bottom forward. I like my fix better though. ;)
 
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i had the same issue with a current gen NEA lower and the tab on the bolt catch i have is shorter than another. i dont know how to know if you will have a longer or shorter one but it does seem to be the case. maybe contact wolverine and see if they can help you out finding a longer tabbed bolt catch.
 
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