Aero Lower Bolt Catch

[madstyle1]

Need help, bolt catch screw on Aero lower is stripped. Best way to remove?

[ar15barrels]

Need help, bolt catch screw on Aero lower is stripped. Best way to remove?

Extended left hand drill bit.
You might have to have one custom made or take a standard length left hand bit and extend it.

Setup the receiver in a milling machine.
Heat the receiver right before you start drilling.
Run the bit slow and push hard.
The goal is to get the left hand bit to grab the screw and make it unscrew rather than actually drilling all the way through it.

[bugsy714]

Extended left hand drill bit.
You might have to have one custom made or take a standard length left hand bit and extend it.

Setup the receiver in a milling machine.
Heat the receiver right before you start drilling.
Run the bit slow and push hard.
The goal is to get the left hand bit to grab the screw and make it unscrew rather than actually drilling all the way through it.

You are a wealth of knowledge!

I would add if there is a reason it got stripped such as a thread locker definitely follow the advice about heating that area well to break that thread locker


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[ar15barrels]

I would add if there is a reason it got stripped such as a thread locker definitely follow the advice about heating that area well to break that thread locker

I do indeed heat them up enough to defeat loctite.
Common vegetable oils will smoke around 350-450 degrees and 380 degrees will defeat most grades of loctite so put a little oil on the lower and heat until the oil smokes off when you remove the torch's flame.
You won't get smoke while the flame is actually on the oiled area as the oil is being burned off by the flame but once you remove the flame, the remaining oil will smoke IF you are above the oil's smoke point.

More fun with cooking oils:

https://www.jessicagavin.com/smoke-points-cooking-oils/

You can use different temperature smoke point oils as a way to detect when you have heated something to a specific temperature or higher.

[SVT-40]

I just have to ask.. Why does it have to be removed?

[bugsy714]

I do indeed heat them up enough to defeat loctite.
Common vegetable oils will smoke around 350-450 degrees and 380 degrees will defeat most grades of loctite so put a little oil on the lower and heat until the oil smokes off when you remove the torch's flame.
You won't get smoke while the flame is actually on the oiled area as the oil is being burned off by the flame but once you remove the flame, the remaining oil will smoke IF you are above the oil's smoke point.

More fun with cooking oils:

https://www.jessicagavin.com/smoke-points-cooking-oils/

You can use different temperature smoke point oils as a way to detect when you have heated something to a specific temperature or higher.

[madstyle1]

I just have to ask.. Why does it have to be removed?

My dumbass forgot to put the spring and plunger in, and without thinking i loctite it. Guess I had to many things going on at the time of the build and just forgot about it.

And im not sure if it has anything to do about it but when i took my AR to the range yesterday bcg wasnt locking back after the last round. But i am thinking that was a separate issue due to having an adjustable gas block and I didnt adjust the gas. I got so frustrated after 5 rds and left as I didnt want to keep wasting more ammo if it continued to not lock back.

[bugsy714]

My dumbass forgot to put the spring and plunger in, and without thinking i loctite it. Guess I had to many things going on at the time of the build and just forgot about it.

And im not sure if it has anything to do about it but when i took my AR to the range yesterday bcg wasnt locking back after the last round. But i am thinking that was a separate issue due to having an adjustable gas block and I didnt adjust the gas. I got so frustrated after 5 rds and left as I didnt want to keep wasting more ammo if it continued to not lock back.

No spring and plunger would definitely make it so it would not lock back automatically you need that spring tension to push the mechanism into place on the last round


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[ar15barrels]

No spring and plunger would definitely make it so it would not lock back automatically
you need that spring tension to push the mechanism into place on the last round

False.
The spring and plunger is to keep it from accidentally locking back BEFORE the last round.
The magazine being empty overrides the bolt catch spring and causes the bolt catch to pop up.

The bolt catch spring is there to KEEP the bolt catch from popping up when you don't want it to.

[SVT-40]

My dumbass forgot to put the spring and plunger in, and without thinking i loctite it. Guess I had to many things going on at the time of the build and just forgot about it.

And im not sure if it has anything to do about it but when i took my AR to the range yesterday bcg wasnt locking back after the last round. But i am thinking that was a separate issue due to having an adjustable gas block and I didnt adjust the gas. I got so frustrated after 5 rds and left as I didnt want to keep wasting more ammo if it continued to not lock back.

Oops. We've all done stuff like that.

[SkyHawk]

No spring and plunger would definitely make it so it would not lock back automatically you need that spring tension to push the mechanism into place on the last round


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The magazine spring and follower is what pushes it into place (up!) on the last round to catch the bolt.

Anyhow OP, lesson learned about using a screw for that application. Roll pin for the win

You might also see if you can bang in a small torx bit to grab it, but you need to heat it to loosen the loctite. What color loctite did you use?

[madstyle1]