Bolt catch not catching on PSA PA-X9 lower with PSA Hybrid Upper

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  • j4jenk

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Jun 27, 2012
    458
    28
    Madison County
    First, let me get this out of the way, I know that this lower does not have last round bolt hold open. I'm talking about manual engagement of the bolt catch.

    I have a newly assembled 9mm carbine, PSA PA-X9 Lower with PSA Hybrid Upper. Shoots great with no malfunctions of any kind in the first 150 rounds of cheap 115gr FMJ that I put through it. However, it does have an issue that I've not seen before and that I'm not sure how to address. With bolt held back by the charging handle, and the bolt catch manually engaged, riding the bolt forward until it contacts the catch does stop bolt. But, as soon as I remove my thumb from the catch the bolt face slips off of the catch and goes home. Just to make sure that the catch from the PSA LPK wasn't undersized, I swapped it out for a Seekins Precision Encanced Bolt Catch with the exact same result. Looking at it closely, it appears that the lower part of the bolt face is narrowed so much to feed the single stack Glock mags that it doesn't offer enough surface are to hold onto the catch.

    I'm looking for advise from others who have had this problem or feedback from folks that have this combo from PSA and don't have this issue.

    I did email PSA on the 4th, and again today, but have not gotten a response.
     

    ROLEXrifleman

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    54   0   0
    Feb 7, 2009
    1,767
    84
    NW Indiana
    I can manually lock mine back and practically beat on the gun and the bolt will not disengage and go forward.
    Three things can be at work here.
    1) out of spec bolt catch. But you said this happened with two different catches so scratch that.
    2) over milled bolt that doesn't have enough material to engage the catch properly.
    3) something blocking the bolt catch from lifting high enough into position. Maybe a wrong spring or detent used in the installation of the catch preventing it from traveling far enough
     

    j4jenk

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Jun 27, 2012
    458
    28
    Madison County
    Thanks for the quick reply.

    I got it to work by filing down the underside of the Seekins catch (the part that is parallel to the side of the receiver), which allows the "catch" part to raise up an extra 2mm. I'm guess that the slot is milled a little short, since the plunger goes all the way into the hole.
     
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