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Posted: 9/9/2015 7:23:08 AM EDT
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Or maybe it's not an issue.
When I was shooting on Monday I noticed when the bolt locked back the handle was at the front. I slid it back easily without load. I was more concerned about getting my sights on at the time. Concern or see if it happens again? I will pay more attention next time. Anything I can do to check this on the bench? Thanks |
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Quoted:
Or maybe it's not an issue. When I was shooting on Monday I noticed when the bolt locked back the handle was at the front. I slid it back easily without load. I was more concerned about getting my sights on at the time. Nothing to worry about - it's working correctly. Charging handle doesn't reciprocate, so it "clips" into the front slot like that (note springy clip gizmo on CH). You can retract to release the bolt from the BHO or use the A3 bolt release if present. |
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As stated, it is functioning as designed.
However, with time, you may notice a different issue with the bolt handle. You can manually lock it and the bolt back, by cocking the rifle and then rotating the handle up. Here is mine. Note how sharp the point is at the tip of that engagement shelf: 
This looks very cool and works great. Unfortunately, the way they machine the receiver, if you release the bolt by just popping the handle down, it will tear itself up against the sharp point the edge of that locking shelf makes. Or to restate, if you just rotate the handle down, which is under heavy spring pressure, at some point, the corner of that shelf will be engaging the corner of the handle - and that's it. There won't be enough material to hold back the spring tension, and the very corner of the plastic will give, and get torn off by the tip of the shelf, removing that plastic. Here is a photo of my handle, after not very many rounds even. Note how some of the engagement surface (the part that contacts the shelf) on the charging handle is already chewed off. 
Essentially this starts removing part of the engagement face of the charging handle, which also makes it harder to engage the lock back. I wish someone warned me of this earlier on, because you can mitigate this by 1) pulling back with a little pressure when popping the so-locked bolt free from lock via rotating the charging handle back into position, to help the soft plastic not get chewed by the point the edge of that shelf makes. 2) and/or with two strokes of a file, take off the very tip of the sharp point on the shelf, that is causing the damage. Fortunately the charging handle is easily enough replaced and is just a piece of plastic. Unfortunately, being Steyr, that simple little piece of plastic is $50. |
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