Only had mine for a short time so far but love it. Being left handed myself it has improved my reloads in competition significantly.
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Only had mine for a short time so far but love it. Being left handed myself it has improved my reloads in competition significantly.
I opted for the Tactical Link lever over the Magpul because it attaches with two screws rather than one and I felt this would be a little more stable. Yes it is a little heavier, but I've had no issues after about 400 rounds attached to a PSA lower. It's my favorite accessory and also the least expensive. Try either one and see. Not a lot to lose if you don't like it.
you can use it as a bolt release that can be actuated with your thumb on your right hand. I have one rifle with a Raptor, BAD lever, Troy ambi mag release, and badass safety and I'm faster with it than with my right hand (I'm right handed but severely left eye dominant). I don't have any other rifles set up like this though, I usually just use my index finger for the bolt catch, or use my SR15
I wish I knew someone local that had one. As a lefty I rock a Troy ambi mag release, a BADASS ambi selector, and I feel like I'm more than good to go if not faster than righties since I can hit the bolt release with my index finger.
I have a BAD lever on one of my rifles with a couple thousand rounds through it. Worked perfect with no malfunctions. It's an inexpensive add-on and not much of a loss if you end up not liking it.
I've got two, one on each of my KAC lowers, and haven't had any problems with either. Caveat is that I don't shoot people for a living, however I do run my guns hard. It seems to be one of those things where either it works or it doesn't. If it doesn't, you take it off and are no worse off than before, if it does, you've added some capability to your weapons handling. I typically use it for administrative tasks, and it works well in that regard. I generally split 50/50 as far as using it for reloads goes.
I've been using a BAD on my Spike's SBRed lower since 2007ish. I have had no problems with function of the rifle. I have also timed myself and I'm a little faster on a speed reload than without it on a almost identical setup. On the other hand all my other rifles do not have a BAD.
Here's my experience with the BAD. I got one when they first came out and mounted it on my lower (Noveske gen 1 with Colt LPK). I really liked the efficiency of locking the bolt open, and the speed of dropping the bolt. Everything ran fine for a couple years and thousands of rounds. Then I started hearing about the issues people were having with failure to lock back. I decided that I would just keep the wrench for it in my kit, and if anything went wrong I could just remove it.
It decided to go tits up during a carbine class with Jack Leuba. It was ridiculously cold, and folks were getting all kinds of malfunctions and breakages. Some of my old PMAGS were giving me double feeds, so I retired them and moved on. Then the failure to lock backs started in earnest, so I decided to remove the BAD. I warmed up the rifle in my truck, then took the wrench and very carefully started to remove the screw. The head of the wrench stripped. It was double ended (as supplied by Magpul) so I carefully set up to try again, knowing that this was my only wrench end left. This time the head of the screw stripped. It was now impossible to remove the BAD from the rifle. If I'd had a hacksaw with me, I would have cut it off. This screwed me for the rest of the class, luckily we were on the last day and it was late afternoon.
So, as Grant said, the BAD may decide to interfere with the reliability of the rifle at an unknown time. And for the folks saying "If it screws up I'll just remove it", that may not work out so well. I had to get the rifle on my bench and use an EZ-out to remove it. I replaced the bolt catch, plunger, and spring with Colt parts and no trouble since.
So I really did like the benefits of the BAD, but for me it's not worth the risk of it deciding to quit on you at an inopportune time. Add to that the inability to remove it in the field, and in my opinion it's not worth the risk.