LR-308 Broken Bolt catch pin...

[Egreen6823]

So I assembled my 308 finally and of course I got one of the duds screwed in the bolt catch pin almost all the way then crack...broke off the entire part where the allen wrench goes in. Whats better is I got it all the way in so that when it broke there is nothing sticking out of the hole its about flush but a little deeper. Now I am trying to figure out the best way to get it out with out hurting the lower....or should I just leave it and hope I never have to change it? Maybe it will work itself out when I shoot? wishful thinking though. Drill it out very carefully? hack saw? sawzall?? anyone?

[weespeed]

Did the whole threaded part snap off? That's where the alan wrench goes.
If it did I think the only thing holding it in is tension on the pin part by the bolt catch. Then you could maybe try and wiggle it back out.

If only part of the threaded alan head broke off, you should be able to get a small extractor in there and unscrew it with whatever little threads that are left.

Hope that helps, and good luck.

[Egreen6823]

yea about half the threads remain and the problem is with the extractor I dont know of one thin enough to use so I dont scratch the lower?

[Speedpower]

That is weird how the screw broke off, is it really hard screwing it in? did you force it in that's why it broke off? I have installed mine and it went in easy, in fact I have to out a small amount of loctite just to make sure it does not back out.

[Egreen6823]

Nope not hard at all.. Thing split like an eggshell then I tried to get some need nose on the half that was left and that broke off like nothing also never encountered a metal that fragile I'm not the only one tons of people have had them break under normal conditions that's why the stupid part is sold out everywhere. The one place that had it midway.com limits it to one per customer cause people were getting a few in case they break

[redlace]

similar problem

I had a similar problem with stock DPMS bolt catch screw - almost exactly as you described. It shattered and there was nothing left to geta purchase on in order to get it out.
First things first - I taped off the receiver with duct tape to prevent nicks and scratches.
I ended up using my dremel with a cutting disc to slice into the bolt catch. I then took everything out piece by piece until just the head of the screw was left in the receiver.
I then mounted a very small drill bit in my low-profile dremel flexible extension (to lower the angle of incidence of the bit across the screw body) and drilled entirely through the remaining piece of catch screw. The bit went through the "hardened" screw much easier than I expected it to, very quick work.
Gently tapped a slightly oversized allen wrench into the hole - it grabbed just enough and I was able to turn the screw out half a turn. Gently removed the allen wrench, reseated it into the screw head and repeated. In just a few minutes I had the whole thing done.
I think you might be able to simply drill into the head of the screw and tap the allen wrench in without going through all the cutting that I did.
Once I had all the pieces out, I tried a new catch screw. It started going in tight again so I carefully threaded a 6-32 tap through the hole to clean out any malformations to the threads. I believe this was the problem the first time around. New bolt catch screw threaded right in, no problem - just as it should. I will use blue loktite to keep it in place. Now I just need another bolt catch.
I did try a couple of micro sized screw removers, but they just would not find purchase on the screw, and the close angle to the receiver increased the difficulty of doing it right.

[Caleb1911]

My problem was that I followed a YouTube build video on an AR-10 and the guy's lower had a roll pin instead of a threaded pin. My DPMS lower kit included both parts but being an AR-15 man I assumed the lower used the roll pin. I had no idea what that pin with the threaded end was for! After only being able to drive the roll pin in half way, I realized that something was seriously wrong. Using a pair of visegrips on the roll pin (I had of course taped everything off before I began the process), I was able to (mercifully!) hammer on the visegrips and get the pin out. The problem then was that the threads were buggered. I tried tightening the correct threaded catch pin in the hole and it broke after 1 turn. Luckily it came back out and I am now in the process of getting a new pin and a 6-32 tap to chase the threads. After measuring what is left of the pin it seems like 6-32 is the right thread. Thank you Redlace for confirming this for us. Hopefully everything will go back together okay when the threads are doctored. I will keep you all posted.