I just bought my first AR15 used.

It is a DPMS lower with a bushy upper.

When the mag shoots the last round the bolt should be locked in the open position right?

Not only does mine not catch the bolt.  It will not hold the bolt when I do it manually by holding the bolt open and pulling the release.

HELP

if it doesn't hold it open with an empty mad in it than i would replace the bolt catch and pin.  should be no big deal..a couple minutes of work and it will work.

Will your carrier lock open manually? That is when holding in the bolt catch. If it does try a different mag.

Blazinglead

No the bolt does not hold open manualy.

I have tried it every way you can, with many many mags.

The lever that you are pushing on is actually the bolt release.  Just below the tab that is the release tab there is a little button that you have to push on to get the bolt stop up in order to holt the bolt back.  Sorry if you already know that but post back if this works or you already know that and we'll go to the next step.

I have been holding the "button" back and forward with no luck.  

Is this a common problem?

no, this is not a common problem!

take a look at the the picture here:



does your bolt catch look like the one shown here?

It is possible that the catch was broken if you can't even get it to work manually.

The bolt catch is supposed to catch the face of the bolt itself.  (Big surprise! That's why it'c called a bolt catch!)  

There's not much to the mechanism.  Either the bolt catch can swing up far enough to catch the face of the bolt, or it can't.   Assuming the bolt is properly made and not damaged, the only remaining possibilities are:

The machined slot for the bolt catch may not be deep enough (on the side) to allow the catch to swing high enough to catch the bolt face.
If this is the case, it's a defective receiver. Return it.  (I'm NOT a fan of DPMS, by the way...)

The bolt catch may be too short.  It's improperly made, if so.  (Not very likely.)

The bolt catch's slot in the lower may be cut too deep and the pin that retains it may be placed too far down on the lower, which would again be a defective lower.

That's about all it can be.  

Try this:  Completely separate the upper receiver from the lower.   Take the bolt and carrier and put it in its correct place on the lower receiver, pushed back into the buffer tube,  holding it firmly in your hand to keep it from being tossed by the recoil buffer spring. Push the bolt catch upward with your thumb while holding the bolt in place, and see if the bolt catch even comes close to holding the bolt.

The bolt catch should be free to swing up to meet the bolt face, and the amount of movement required is about an eighth of an inch upward, at the minimum.  On one of my rifles, it'll go up about a quarter of an inch, and on the other it's just a little bit less than that. About 3/16th of an inch.

CJ

Man you guys are awsome!!

7IDL- Yes my bolt catch looks like that.

cmjohnson- I did what you said and the bolt has a "slope?"  I am assuming the the the bottom of the bolt should have a flat surface for the bolt catch to grab onto.  It appears that said flat surface (if it suposed to have one) is machined to NOT allow the bolt catch to.. well.. catch.  In otherwords, where I expectd to see a flat surface there is none.  It appears to have been made that way.

Man I wish I had my digital camera right now.

If someone wanted to really kind they could post a picture of the bottom of a bolt that does catch correctly.  So I could compare.

Thanks again.  

Keep the sugestions commming

Maxwell05

The face of the bolt should be FLAT, and that means across all seven lugs, too.

The face of the bolt catch (the contact face) should also be flat.

If the face of the bolt is not flat, then it may be improperly made, damaged, or severely worn.
In any of those events, you should take it to a gunsmith and have him take a look at it.  A new bolt may be in order, provided it headspaces properly to your existing barrel.

Here's a pic of a new bolt:



(Edited to make the pic come up)

CJ

cmjohnson

The bolt catch should catch on the bolt carrier right?

Not the bolt.

If that is so I am looking for a picture of a bolt carrier.  I am searching ebay right now.  Any other ideas where to look?

Thanks,
Maxwell

here's a couple of pic's that might help. the bolt stop comes up in FRONT of the bolt lugs, not the carrier. It sounds like your bolt and carrier is not coming all the way back behind the stop, may have the wrong extension/buffer tube on, or long screw in buttplate/buffer tube.
HTH
Borg


Edited because Image station is a PITB,and so is Websnots, If you right click on the red X, click properties, highlite the url, cut,and paste in your browser, you too can see the SOS.
Borg

cmjohnson
"The bolt catch should catch on the bolt carrier right?

Not the bolt.

If that is so I am looking for a picture of a bolt carrier. I am searching ebay right now. Any other ideas where to look?

Thanks,
Maxwell"

Max, the bolt catch catches the face of the bolt, not the carrier.  Check your bolt catch again as it's hard to imagine anything else causing this problem.  Can you take this back to the store and compare it to a working AR?

Steve

We-rBorg gets the prize.  I installed one of those new skeleton stocks from ACE LTD and the screw in buttplate that goes into buffer tube is to long. Actually it is the screw for the buttpad.  WAY TO LONG

I installed the stock right after I bought the rifle, or I would have noticed.

I would have mentioned it earlier but it did not occur to me.

Thanks guys

Kewl, uh, what's the prize?
Borg

You mean your buffer has been pounding on the end of the buttstock screw? Better check it. I'll bet the plastic on the end looks all knarley looking. How did the screw look?