J_McLeod
Member
I built an AR last year using a Stag lower and a Spike's LPK. the safety selector moves freely, but not as easily as on most ARs. Could this be something I did wrong or just the fit of the parts?
sticky AR selector switch
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Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
Very common.
You probably simply need to adjust the spring. Pull the grip off and let the spring and detent come out and make sure the safety turns freely. If it does, you can remove a coil of the spring and reinstall everything. Check the function and see how much better it is. Repeat, taking off one coil at a time until it works as freely as you want.
Another way is to find a drill bit that exactly fits the hole in the pistol grip and drill it a hair deeper.
If you screw up and go too far, safety detent springs are very cheap and so are pistol grips. Not like you're going to hurt anything.
You probably simply need to adjust the spring. Pull the grip off and let the spring and detent come out and make sure the safety turns freely. If it does, you can remove a coil of the spring and reinstall everything. Check the function and see how much better it is. Repeat, taking off one coil at a time until it works as freely as you want.
Another way is to find a drill bit that exactly fits the hole in the pistol grip and drill it a hair deeper.
If you screw up and go too far, safety detent springs are very cheap and so are pistol grips. Not like you're going to hurt anything.
MagnumWill
Member
You know what I did once? I built a lower for my mother-in-law's boyfriend, and I noticed that his selector was sticky as well. Turns out, you know how the people who build the parts kits throw an extra pivot pin in the kit, in anticipation that two will go in the gun and the other would make its way into your nasal cavity? Turns out I had thrown the pivot pin in the selector hole. Funny thing is, it still worked just fine, but was a little sticky. Fixed now 
Ibmikey
Member
Do not chop any springs a lot of research got them this way. Usually the detent will cause the problem, you should have a few extras change it and check. Still gritty check selector.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
Oy vey! Sure research went into the springs but we aren't talking about the disconnect or spring or mainspring here. All this does is put a little pressure on the detent to keep the selector from rotating too easily.
Check everything else, of course, but if it is still stiffer to move than you like, reducing the spring slightly won't hurt anything.
Check everything else, of course, but if it is still stiffer to move than you like, reducing the spring slightly won't hurt anything.
Roughneck08
Member
Ran into this on my latest rifle. I installed a CMC trigger on my LWRC and when I re-installed my pistol grip and torqued the main bolt inside the grip too tight the safety selector was so hard to operate. Loosened the bolt several turns off and piece of cake now it is as smooth as butter.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
rbernie
Contributing Member
Just pull the grip, spring, and detent, drop a drop of oil down the detent tunnel onto the safety, drop a drop of oil on the detent, and reinstall. I've seen a lot of builds where, when dry, the detents were sticky until things got burnished in. I attribute the issue to tolerance stack in the parts and their respective coatings (and sometimes a minor misprofiling of the detent vice the safety's detent groove), and oil seems to do quite well as an expedient 'fix' until the gun gets used enough to fix the issue itself.
I have less of this issue with Colt reversible safeties that any other generic LPK safety, just as an aside, which tells me that the issue isn't always the detent tunnel but can be also caused by a slightly out-of-spec groove in the safety.
I have less of this issue with Colt reversible safeties that any other generic LPK safety, just as an aside, which tells me that the issue isn't always the detent tunnel but can be also caused by a slightly out-of-spec groove in the safety.
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jmorris
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You wouldn't happen to have an aftermarket trigger or a lower that has extra screws that has some form of trigger adjustment built into it do you?
If you do, remove all of the extra adjustment stuff and try it again.
For example a set screw where the pistol grip bolts to will take up pre travel but if you so too far the safety will bind or not go on at all.
If you do, remove all of the extra adjustment stuff and try it again.
For example a set screw where the pistol grip bolts to will take up pre travel but if you so too far the safety will bind or not go on at all.
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I had a similar problem with a psa build in the opposite where it moved too freely. Turns out the selector was machined not just quite right. They sent me another one.
Do you have another selector switch you can swap it with to test?
Make sure there's not a burr in the detent.
Do you have another selector switch you can swap it with to test?
Make sure there's not a burr in the detent.
sorry i misremembered. in my case the one i had wasn't the selector that was poorly machined, but the hole in the receiver was drilled too deep so that the detent stuck in too far. modifying the detent slightly made it fairly normal
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