Forward Controls ABC/R Enhancement

[Duffy]

17K I love your Snoopy bolt catch

How much more space would you like to see added to the left? We may simply "move" the upper paddle to the left so as to not increase the size any.

[MistWolf]

Just moving the paddle forward would work for me. I see no reason to keep a paddle in the stock location. If the paddle were moved forward about an inch, I could just run my thumb straight up and not stretch back at all.

Just tossing this idea out there...

[26 Inf]

Corycop - Would the bolt catch work in conjunction with the billet upper in your picture if they moved the pad forward?

[vicious_cb]

Im not a fan of the idea. IMHO the feature that makes it so much easier to hit the bolt release is improved angle that makes the bolt release really stick out esp. when the bolt is locked back, not the size of the paddle. If you want a larger paddle you can always try the Geissele bolt catch.

[ClangClang]

I would LOVE to have a bolt release paddle that extends further forward towards the muzzle. I have to strain to hit the release on the Geissele MBC. It's still better than mil spec, but I wish I had something better. This is a very common lament shared by everyone I speak with, and I talk to a lot of people. I shoot competitively, around 20 local matches and 5-6 major matches per year. I volunteer as RO for at least 8-10 of them. I even come home with a match win once in a while.

@Duffy - give me a reason to dump my MBC's and I'll buy 3-4 of your new ABC's the day they're released. If they're compatible with ambi lowers like the LMT MARS I'll buy another 2.

Here is a photo of my hand in its natural placement when doing a speed reload with a beer can grip. And I have XL hands. Having a paddle that extended closer to my natural thumb placement would be great. And people with smaller hands would be doubly happy. Among my immediate circle of shooting friends, this is something we've all wanted for a long time.

ek0eghpl.jpg

[Duffy]

I don't MBC isn’t a competitor for ABC/R in any version. Try the current v2 and you’ll see why.

I wrote about it and posted on our site http://www.forwardcontrolsdesign.com...y_ep_53-1.html

I will come up with a forward biased paddle, do note though it will be moderately done, just enough to do the job but no more than that, we don’t do over correction like rushed to market products with little thoughts put into them.

Re: MARS compatibility, we approached LMT, its bolt catch is proprietary. We can’t cater to a company that isn’t willing to collaborate on products that benefit their own customers.

[CoryCop25]

Corycop - Would the bolt catch work in conjunction with the billet upper in your picture if they moved the pad forward?

Good question... in short it probably would because of the angle of the current ABC/R.

For the record everyone...
I do not want a bigger paddle. I would just want it augmented forward (toward the muzzle) about 25%.

[CoryCop25]

I have a ton of respect for Bill Geissele but the MBC is just plain wrong.

Turn it around and it would be perfect IMHO.

Well maybe not perfect. There’s always that chance of stuff like this getting snagged on your kit.

[militarymoron]

What I have proposed to Duffy is not to make the ABC/R pad larger, but to slide the pad toward the muzzle about 25% or a little less than 1/4 inch. This would help my issue and also help with left handed shooters hitting the bolt catch when they reach under the handguard to release the bolt.

In this photo, you can see what I mean by a left handed shooter reaching under for the bolt catch....

As a left-handed shooter, I have never done that. Tried it, didn't work for me. I use the index or trigger finger of my left hand to release the bolt catch without moving my firing hand. So, for me, extending the OEM-sized paddle to the rear slightly is actually beneficial. The larger top paddle of the ABC/R does the trick for me. I would not want the paddle moved forward as it would remove the main benefit that I get from the ABC/R. It would just have to made larger to accommodate both needs.

[CoryCop25]

As a left-handed shooter, I have never done that. Tried it, didn't work for me. I use the index or trigger finger of my left hand to release the bolt catch without moving my firing hand. So, for me, extending the paddle to the rear slightly is actually beneficial.

I am not left handed but I do teach left handed shooters. I teach both methods but the trainers that I get advice from use the method I describe. I like to teach a couple options when it comes to reloading rifle or handgun.