B.A.D Levers, yea or nay?

Magpul gave us a couple of those things right before they were available for retail sale. I put one on my issue weapon, but due to years of training, I always forgot it was there and never used it. I didn't keep it on my weapon for long.

Nay

Get a true ambidextrous lower. A bolt release that also allows you to engage the bolt stop on the strong side is a wonderful thing. You can lock the bolt back without moving you strong hand.

trackskippy said:

Like most things youre unfamilar with, once you spend a little time with them, and figure things out, and you usually have a different opinion on the other side.

The most obvious thing is, it gives you more control of things without removing your hand for the grip.

And if you feel the need to "slap" the release, its even bigger and easier to hit now t

Click to expand...

I did state "in my case". I have never needed something like that. If I have a need I will try to find a solution. With my AR it has been only an ambi charging handle because of a scope and a different pistol grip to space my hand farther back and make it easier to use the tip of my trigger finger instead of tending to wrap my finger around it.

FL-NC said:

Magpul gave us a couple of those things right before they were available for retail sale. I put one on my issue weapon, but due to years of training, I always forgot it was there and never used it. I didn't keep it on my weapon for long.

Click to expand...

I had the same experience, except my Dad sent it to me. Took it off for the same reason you did.

I originally thought they look like a good idea, but adding a nonstandard piece of equipment to my personal rifles (3-gun shooter) and then going into work (armed security at a national security complex) where I don't get to modify a rifle could be a recipe for disaster. It would take a TREMENDOUS amount of training to not only become proficient with the BAD lever, but to develop a mental switch to using a rifle without one when coming to work and not having it on a rifle. In the event of a real situation at work, it has a lot of potential to create a very bad situation at a very inopportune time.

Obviously, I have no experience with it, but with so many techniques available for quick reloads, I think it's an unnecessary piece of equipment to part people from their money.

DustyGmt said:

I also don't see alot of 3gun competitors using them either which is kind of puzzling since they shave a small amount of time off of sending the bolt forward or locking it back to deal with a malf, etc....

Click to expand...

Top level competitors don’t let there guns run dry unless it’s defined in the stage plan.

I tried the BAD lever and just didn’t care for it at all. Probably still in gun “junk drawer”unless I binned it

Not for me, carried an M16/M4 for years and like mine now as close to the issued ones I had when I was in as I am very familiar with that manual of arms and don't want to modify it.

If it works for you though, rock on.

mcb said:

Get a true ambidextrous lower.

Click to expand...

To fair these were being sold long before ambi lowers were a thing.

I had one on my first AR and I didn’t like it much. Seemed like a solution to a nonexistent problem. Here I am a half dozen ARs later (mostly sold or traded away) and have never missed having it. It actually seems like I might be in the extreme minority in thinking that most of the stuff people bolt onto their guns is just weight to carry for not much of a good reason. In the case of a lot of things like a BAD lever the weight is negligible but add a few negligible amounts and it becomes notable.

Only thing my guns get are sling, optics, and for the precision rifle I may be adding a stud to attach a bipod. All other whizbang gizmos need not apply.

trackskippy said:

If youre looking for a decent ambi safety lever, that is ambi in its own right, these work really well. You can switch the levers to either side so even for the wrong handed people, the trigger finger isn't annoyed.

JBO AR-15 Ambidextrous Safety Selector

JBO AR-15 Ambidextrous Safety Selector

www.joeboboutfitters.com

Click to expand...

I would have agreed until last weekend. I heard the click as I went through brush. The selector hung on a thorn bush and had switched to the fire position. The thorn was still wedged in under the thumb lever on the left side of the rifle. I’m not swapping mine out, but I’m not gonna automatically install them anymore.

I have one on one of my guns. It works well for what it is. You can drop or lock the bolt back with your trigger finger, which has come in handy more than once. It hasn't given me any reason to take it off yet.

I bought one to try, realized they won't work my Sig ambi lower

I liked the BAD lever on my AR-15s. When I was in the Navy we had M14s. I never learned the manual of arms on the M16 or the AR so I wasn’t “retraining” to use the BAD lever.
Over time I have gotten rid of my AR-15s

When I bought my SFAR I politely a BAD lever on it. BAD levers do not work properly on the SFAR. It impedes the proper operation of the bolt catch. I removed the BAD lever.
It’s funny, it took me a few times to get used to the standard operation of the SFAR “normal” operation of the bolt catch.

If a BAD lever was developed for the SFAR I probably would buy one and use it.
I don’t shoot 3 Gun or compete and I sure as heck ain’t no “operator” so I don’t think a BAD lever is going to be a detriment to me.

I asked my lefty son if he wanted one for his AR.



He said no, he's pretty good at dropping the mag and releasing the bolt in the standard configuration. I thought about it, but I've trained enough that i don't really see the need for one, either.
I remember the M14s in the Navy - we had several in the Armory, only two that were select fire, IIRC. Darn good rifles, wish I had one.

I use these https://phase5wsi.com/extended-bolt-release-v3-ebrv3.html

Many said that they didn't like it after just trying it or that they were trained without one and didn't see the need to change what they already knew and practiced.

I've been running them for years and when I shoot an AR without one, I find myself looking for it to drop the bolt. I'd say that it's arguably faster because you're using an appendage that would otherwise be doing nothing to complete an operation.

The downside to them is that they only work or ARs with a traditional shape and dimensions. They won't work on some billet lowers and those shaped like billet lowers. On one Aero lower, I had to bed the bolt catch lever into the BAD lever to get it to work reliably, but that was on a hunting rifle, so I wasn't too worried about it.

If you put it on your rifle and treat it like it's a part of the rifle and actually train with it, I think that many who discount it may come to appreciate it.

TonyAngel said:

I'd say that it's arguably faster because you're using an appendage that would otherwise be doing nothing to complete an operation.

Click to expand...

My thumb that's putting another magazine into an empty magazine well, is an appendage that is doing nothing and is capable of filling the operation of dropping the bolt catch upon seating the magazine, and it happens to land just on top of the bolt catch/release when fully seating a magazine.

I would rather keep my trigger finger focused on being outside the trigger guard until I want to press the trigger, not thinking about activating a lever that is passing through the trigger guard to drop the bolt; an action which my support hand is more than capable of doing, and very quickly and smoothly when trained.

I don't need to train with one to know they are not for me. But to each their own, glad for Magpul that there are seemingly quite a few people that prefer having them.

The only true "benefit" I can see of the BAD lever has been mentioned that one can catch the bolt without in an open position without moving one's primary hand.

For me, this doesn't provide a benefit that outweighs the cons to the BAD lever, as that situation is a situation that I would find myself in when I have plenty of time to make that happen, i.e. make the weapon safe with action open. I'll take less complicated, obtrusive, simplistic and elimination of another point of failure in NOT having a lever in the trigger guard for the compromise of having to take my primary hand out of firing position to make safe; as I don't need to have my hand in firing position if I'm in position to make my rifle safe.

If you have a failure, i.e. bolt over brass, failure to feed, etc., the proper way to clear that with an AR leaves a person to break their primary hand's position to pull back on the charging handle and support hand dropping/ripping the magazine out of the well, which then leaves the support hand and primary hand in position to catch an open bolt from standard AR controls, another instance where a BAD lever doesn't provide any benefit.

I've never found it problematic in the circumstances that warrant to catch an open bolt to utilize the standard AR controls. It all comes down to training.

BreechFace said:

My thumb that's putting another magazine into an empty magazine well, is an appendage that is doing nothing and is capable of filling the operation of dropping the bolt catch upon seating the magazine, and it happens to land just on top of the bolt catch/release when fully seating a magazine.

I would rather keep my trigger finger focused on being outside the trigger guard until I want to press the trigger, not thinking about activating a lever that is passing through the trigger guard to drop the bolt; an action which my support hand is more than capable of doing, and very quickly and smoothly when trained.

I don't need to train with one to know they are not for me. But to each their own, glad for Magpul that there are seemingly quite a few people that prefer having them.

Click to expand...

If you can do that while holding a magazine, your hands are more nimble than mine, or are you dropping your your empty mag on the ground?

TonyAngel said:

If you can do that while holding a magazine, your hands are more nimble than mine, or are you dropping your your empty mag on the ground?

Click to expand...

Hit magazine release, magazine drops free to the ground, grab new magazine with thumb flagged out insert to full stop and thumb lands right on bolt release. This is SOP for training to use an AR. Can't get faster than that on a magazine change and dropping the bolt.

I don't like them.
I did install Geissele extended bolt catched though.

One reason people don't like them.

powermad said:

One reason people don't like them.

I Told You This was a BAD Idea

Unfortunately, in a recent bulk update most of our descriptions were wiped out. If this video is impacted by this occurrence and a link or code is missing pl...

youtu.be

Click to expand...

Yup.

Bolt Battery Assist Device?
Shouldn't that be B-BAD (theme song by George Thorogood)?

If a BAD works for you, good for you.
I think I can live with the standard left thumb bolt release or with slingshotting the charging handle to release the bolt.

On the other hand I could be missing something useful. I'll keep reading. You may convince me to go BAD.