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Posted: 2/26/2026 9:01:37 PM EDT
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So I took my new AR22 to an Appleseed event last weekend and I struggled just a little with the mag changes as the rifle does not really hold the bolt back after the last round is fired. After a little googling it looks like I might be able to swap in the JP bolt catch and swap to Kriss magazines. Just looking for some input. Rifle: Nordic Components upper reciever PSA Sabre 15 forged lower  Obligatory redcoat pic. 
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I went down that rabbit hole for Appleseed... Total waste of $. First, you need a dedicated lower because the JP bolt catch won't allow regular 5.56 mags. So, got a new lower, installed JP bolt catch. Does not function with Kriss mags and a JP22 Upper... I can manually lock open, but it wont stay open long and when the mag is removed, bolt will go forward. Same with Black Dog mags. I did not try 15-22 mags but basically the 22LR mag springs are so weak they can't push the catch up. I made Distinguished Rifleman without LRBHO. Save the $ and dryfire your 2/8 reloads instead. |
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Originally Posted By CPTmorgan: I went down that rabbit hole for Appleseed... Total waste of $. First, you need a dedicated lower because the JP bolt catch won't allow regular 5.56 mags. So, got a new lower, installed JP bolt catch. Does not function with Kriss mags and a JP22 Upper... I can manually lock open, but it wont stay open long and when the mag is removed, bolt will go forward. Same with Black Dog mags. I did not try 15-22 mags but basically the 22LR mag springs are so weak they can't push the catch up. I made Distinguished Rifleman without LRBHO. Save the $ and dryfire your 2/8 reloads instead. So this lower will be dedicated to this rifle. Unless swapping to a dedicated .22 lower would solve this issue better. |
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The JP bolt is nearly identical to the Nordic bolt. I'm only saying this from photos as I've never had a Nordic to measure against the JP. I do have a JP and I bought their 22LR bolt catch. It works as it should. I use the S&W 15-22 mags though. The KRISS mags have always been unreliable for LRBHO for me. Even with the increased power springs I got from Black Dog Mag. I think Borebuddy has higher power mag springs for the KRISS but I haven't tried those. It is also helpful to install the lighter mag-catch spring that comes with it. KRISS and Borebuddy both sell the lighter mag catch springs. You may go through all of this to find out the dimensions on the Nordic are slightly different and the bolt catch won't work anyway. That's a $50 gamble I think I'd take. JP may let you return it if it doesn't work. I would also not assume that the Catch22 or Borebuddy bolt catches work either because they are designed to work with the CMMG bolt. One last thing...if you go with S&W mags, get the little magwell spacer or the glue-on spacer that goes on the magazine itself. You need this for proper fitment of the S&W mags in the std. mag well. I use large zip ties cut to about 1.5" and glue two strips on side by side. I think you need about 3/32" or so. |
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Originally Posted By Erik72: The JP bolt is nearly identical to the Nordic bolt. I'm only saying this from photos as I've never had a Nordic to measure against the JP. I do have a JP and I bought their 22LR bolt catch. It works as it should. I use the S&W 15-22 mags though. The KRISS mags have always been unreliable for LRBHO for me. Even with the increased power springs I got from Black Dog Mag. I think Borebuddy has higher power mag springs for the KRISS but I haven't tried those. It is also helpful to install the lighter mag-catch spring that comes with it. KRISS and Borebuddy both sell the lighter mag catch springs. You may go through all of this to find out the dimensions on the Nordic are slightly different and the bolt catch won't work anyway. That's a $50 gamble I think I'd take. JP may let you return it if it doesn't work. I would also not assume that the Catch22 or Borebuddy bolt catches work either because they are designed to work with the CMMG bolt. One last thing...if you go with S&W mags, get the little magwell spacer or the glue-on spacer that goes on the magazine itself. You need this for proper fitment of the S&W mags in the std. mag well. I use large zip ties cut to about 1.5" and glue two strips on side by side. I think you need about 3/32" or so. Thank you for the info! I think I’ll call JP today and ask their opinion. I have a buddy with a JP rifle I could use to compare the bolts but he lives a pretty good bit away so it might be a few weeks before I could get down there. |
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Well I called JP but they couldn’t give me a definite answer since they were unfamiliar with the Nordic bolt. I went ahead and ordered their bolt release to give it a shot. Also got my buddy to shoot me some pics to compare. Nordic on left, JP on right  My lower with Black dog mag  JP lower with Kriss mag 
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| Went to my buddies today and we swapped out the bolt release with the JP part. Using his Kriss mags resulted in the bolt catching about 50% of the time. The 50% it didn’t catch the follower was not up all the way. I do believe stiffer springs in the magazines will remedy this. Going to order new mags and spring tonight. I will also order the lighter catch spring just in case I need to tweak it a little more. |
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Got the mags today with the upgraded spring preinstalled from BB. They are much stouter than the factory Kriss springs on the mags I used last weekend. Just inserting the empty mag and charging it I can tell the difference in the lock back. It seems 100% better. I think these are gonna work fine. I’ll update again once I’ve ran them a bit. Also I wanted to point out that installing the new bolt release hasn’t affected the use of the black dog mags. They still work fine but still will not hold the bolt back. |
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Just thought I would update this again since I’ve had some time to run this rifle. Shot the 1st day of a two day rimfire known distance event today. I fired 125 rounds today with zero failures or issues. The only thing I might change is to figure out if there is a way to make an ambi bolt release work with this setup. |
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Originally Posted By 71jeepcj6: So this lower will be dedicated to this rifle. Unless swapping to a dedicated .22 lower would solve this issue better. Originally Posted By 71jeepcj6: Originally Posted By CPTmorgan: I went down that rabbit hole for Appleseed... Total waste of $. First, you need a dedicated lower because the JP bolt catch won't allow regular 5.56 mags. So, got a new lower, installed JP bolt catch. Does not function with Kriss mags and a JP22 Upper... I can manually lock open, but it wont stay open long and when the mag is removed, bolt will go forward. Same with Black Dog mags. I did not try 15-22 mags but basically the 22LR mag springs are so weak they can't push the catch up. I made Distinguished Rifleman without LRBHO. Save the $ and dryfire your 2/8 reloads instead. So this lower will be dedicated to this rifle. Unless swapping to a dedicated .22 lower would solve this issue better. I use Kriss magazines and this bolt catch in a dedicated 22 build. https://borebuddy.com/product/2x-kriss-25rd/ Here is the catch by itself. https://borebuddy.com/product/ar22-bolt-catch/ Now it's still a 22, so it's not perfectly reliable, but I regularly dump 25 round magazines in about 1.2 seconds using a forced reset trigger. The bolt catch always works. It is not the weak point of the gun. |
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