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Was looking for a way to preserve the look of my A2 style AR15, but wanted the mag release to work when I separated the receivers. So, I decided to modify one of the DIY solutions that is out there.
I drilled a hole in the bolt catch slot down into the recess for the mag release button. I then cut a relief slot from the bolt catch slot almost to the right side of the receiver. I did this with an endmill but could have just used a drill I guess. This slot is necessary because the upper doesn't contact the lower where the hole has been drilled.
Then I took a nail and bent it into an "L" shape. One end goes down into the hole that was drilled and the shorter end lays in the relief slot. So, when the upper is in place, it covers the relief slot preventing the nail from moving. This prevents the mag release button from being pushed. But I wanted to be able to use the mag release when the upper is lifted so I needed this "L" shaped nail to lift.
After trying a number of different spring solutions to get this bent nail to lift up when the upper is removed (I don't think I have any more ballpoint pens left in the house), I came up with a simpler solution. I beveled the end of the nail and also beveled the back of the mag release button with a file. So, when the upper is lifted, you can push the mag release button in, which causes the nail to lift and the mag to drop. When the upper is in place, the nail cannot lift and so the mag release button can't be pushed. So far, it works pretty well and only needs the upper to be lifted a small amount to release the mag.
Its all a bit hard to explain so I've attached some pix to hopefully show how this works. I'll probably fiddle around with it a little more to see if I can improve on the idea.
I drilled a hole in the bolt catch slot down into the recess for the mag release button. I then cut a relief slot from the bolt catch slot almost to the right side of the receiver. I did this with an endmill but could have just used a drill I guess. This slot is necessary because the upper doesn't contact the lower where the hole has been drilled.
Then I took a nail and bent it into an "L" shape. One end goes down into the hole that was drilled and the shorter end lays in the relief slot. So, when the upper is in place, it covers the relief slot preventing the nail from moving. This prevents the mag release button from being pushed. But I wanted to be able to use the mag release when the upper is lifted so I needed this "L" shaped nail to lift.
After trying a number of different spring solutions to get this bent nail to lift up when the upper is removed (I don't think I have any more ballpoint pens left in the house), I came up with a simpler solution. I beveled the end of the nail and also beveled the back of the mag release button with a file. So, when the upper is lifted, you can push the mag release button in, which causes the nail to lift and the mag to drop. When the upper is in place, the nail cannot lift and so the mag release button can't be pushed. So far, it works pretty well and only needs the upper to be lifted a small amount to release the mag.
Its all a bit hard to explain so I've attached some pix to hopefully show how this works. I'll probably fiddle around with it a little more to see if I can improve on the idea.
