I love the idea and function of the B.A.D. Lever, but am not a fan of the two-piece design held together by a little watch screw. Call me cautious. I bought one and once I figured I liked what it could do for me, I took it off and purchased a one-piece Phase 5 Tactical Extended Bolt Release V2.



Has anyone ever encountered a problem with the B.A.D. Lever? I've heard stories of "catastrophic weapon failures" occurring and the B.A.D. Lever being blamed for it, but I always thought if it rattled loose, the shooter could still use the ping pong paddle.

No issues yet, but have heard of people putting round into battery, due to proximity to trigger. I haven't personally experienced this, but can see how it could happen. Magpul's B.A.D. Lever sits low in the trigger guard compared to others on the market.

The catastrophic weapon failures are people putting their fucking finger on the trigger instead of the lever. It was the same thing when the guy on YouTube shot himself while drawing his 1911 and promptly made an add on to the video blaming his SERPA holster for his finger being on the trigger (in the video you can actually see that his finger was in the wrong place and that he shot after the gun had cleared the holster). Trigger discipline is just that: discipline.

The BAD lever itself is actually surprisingly rugged. Ive used mine for years now and love it. I've only seen one break, and as you pointed out the paddle still functions, though I could see it potentially shearing the roll pin, but again haven't seen that happen. The thing I've seen from time to time is a failure to hold the bolt open on an empty mag. Some guns do it some guns don't. Can't figure the rhyme or reason to it.

I too was intrigued by the increased functionality of these bolt release levers when i first built my rifle. I wanted to see how i liked having one but right away didn't like the idea of a single "watch screw" holding it together. Instead, i decided on the Tactical Link lever because it uses 2 "watch screws" for clamping and a 3rd for added tension against the face of the paddle. Turns out, it needs to be re-tightened every 50 rounds or so. Once i found that i liked the extended lever, i yoinked it and replaced it with the Phase5 EBRv2 and am loving how solid and stronger it feels.

Yeah, they recently installed them on the HK416s at work. Some of the 416s wouldn't hold the bolt carrier back after ejecting the last round, some of the 416s did. What was noticed was the HK steel mags would let the BCG go forward, but when we used the Magpul EMags, the bolt would lock back. Strange...

Only issue with the one I have is that I had to use some electrical tape on the inside to tighten it up.

I've put them on 8 lowers and  never once had an issue with any of them.

I like them a lot.  The add function to the lower, and you can still use it the traditional way if you so choose.

That being said, I do use fast-steel to fill in the gaps between the BHO and BAD lever to eliminate the wobble, and then I red-loctite the screws in place making them semi-permanent.

This might have more to do with the H&K magazines than the BAD.  

The Maritime magazines are known for beginning to wear out and not locking the bolt back after extended use.

~Augee

I have had been using a BAD lever for about a year and have had zero problems with it.

I tried the BAD lever but didn't care for how much it intruded into the trigger guard area or the awkward 'finger-up' movement needed to manually lock the bolt back. Although more expensive, I ended up going w/Redi-Mag's Redi-Catch & Redi-Release which provide the same functions as the BAD but w/no trigger guard intrusion and manually locks the bolt back by pressing the mag release (which I find more ergonomic).
Tomac

Not strange.   The lever changes the weight being moved by the spring.  I've had the same issue.