short-stroking/bolt catch issue and question
Spent the last couple of days attempting to diagnose a short-stroking issue in one of my AR's. I examined the gas port, gas block, gas tube, gas key, bolt, bolt carrier, etc. yesterday and no apparent issues there. I reassembled the upper and fired approx. 50 rounds of assorted ammo. This resulted in multiple FTE and double feeds, not exclusive to one brand of ammo. NOTE: not all rounds failed to eject. Some ejected "normally", some just dribbled out of the ejection port, some extracted from the chamber but didn't eject from the gun. This was NOT exclusive to one brand of ammo.
I went through the lower this morning and noticed this:
http://i1125.photobucket.com/albums/.../boltcatch.jpg
The top edge of the bolt catch has serious wear on it and there are two small divots worn into the edge. There is corresponding finish wear on the bottom of the bolt carrier, but no divots or gouges.
I'm thinking I'm on the right track that the bolt carrier is riding the bolt catch during cycling and causing the short-stroking issue.
Unfortunately, I don't have access to another lower receiver right now to test this assumption, so my question is this:
Is it safe to fire an AR without a bolt catch assembly? I know that I won't have any bolt hold-open ability once the assembly is removed, but am I overlooking any structural or safety issues by removing the bolt catch assembly and firing the gun? I am considering doing this only to ascertain whether the bolt catch was the cause of the malfunction. I don't intend to run the gun without a bolt catch assembly for any more than 50 or so rounds.
Any advice is much appreciated and I'll stand by in the mean time.
Thanks.