Magpul B.A.D. Lever

I have heard some differing opinions on the battery assist devices in the past. One side runs the heck out of them. The other side argues that the bolt catch on the AR isn't capable of holding the extra torque and breaking the bolt catch. The device itself looks like a good design and seems like it would help with one handed loading, holding bolt to rear, and malfunction clearing. But I also don't want to add something to my duty rifle that would negatively effect the reliability. Thoughts?
 

tmoore

Member
In my opinion anything that dangles into my trigger guard is an absolute no go. The risk of getting caught up on the lever, or slipping off on to the trigger is to high compaired to whatever percieved advantage the b.a.d. lever might have. I have heard of both these things happening to people I personally know as well as stories I have read on the internet. Think how much you are really going to use this device in any practical manner and compare that to the possable negative outcomes installing it may have. To me the b.a.d. lever adds "convenience" but at what cost? As far as reliability goes I haven't seen them effect the guns in that way myself.
 

DPaul

Newbie
I used to run one on my personal rifle, but I wouldn't run one on my duty rifle because I read comments similar to those above. I realized that it was pointless to keep it on and potentially create a training scar. The only thing I really miss about it is the ease of locking the bolt to the rear and on the flip side of that, it's probably when I put the most stress on it causing the breakages we read about. I could see it being useful on a DMR type rifle to drop the bolt in the prone, but that's just a thought.
 

David Mayeur

Regular Member
Aside from the potential issues with it being located inside the trigger guard and the aforementioned malfunctions, with the proper technique it's a rather unnecessary item to have on a rifle.
 
I ran one on a DD lower with a BCM upper for 40ish thousand rounds and had no issues. I got mine for the specific role of bolt catch/release duties in conjunction with a redi mod.

My take, if you're not running a redi mod there isn't a justifiable reason for it. I still think the redi mod is an excellent piece of gear.
 
I’m running a BAD lever on two of my rifles. I have not experienced any failures of the bolt locking back in about 3500ish rounds between the two, including a carbine class and two shoot house classes.
That said, it is only used for locking the bolt open or clearing double feeds. I do not use it to drop the bolt. The bad lever does give you a bigger target to hit when dropping the bolt with the left thumb.
YMMV but I like it so far.
 

PM07

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
FWIW:
I have used BADs on my duty rifles, Colt 6920 BCM , and my current set up for several years. It's been used in multiple classes, lots of rounds and a lot of manipulations. I have never had a malfunction caused by the BAD nor have I had one break. Bolt locks back proper on empty magazines and not prematurely. When I used a Redi-Mag it was essential. I have no problem doing demo's on our patrol rifles without them as far as that goes.
 
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Oak City Tactics

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
I've run them for many years professionally with no issues on duty guns and personal guns. Multiple Colt M4A1's, 6920's, BCM's, LMT, and a few franken guns. I initially had some work loose. The only mod I do is I insert a piece of bicycle inner tube rubber between the clamp and the bolt catch and ad blue loctite to the screw. They don't work loose after that. They've been on several guns I've shot multiple barrels out of. Lots of rounds and reps. You can live without it, we all did for years. It does make things easier though.
 

Beau C

Newbie
I ran one for a while on two of my personal ARs. I enjoyed it; it's definitely convenient. I had no issues with one of them, however, one rifle constantly failed to hold open on an empty mag. I initially refused to believe that the BAD lever was causing it. I tried changing out mags, followers, and even bolt catch components to no avail. Ultimately pulled the BAD lever off and haven't had the issue since. I ended up removing it from my other rifle as well because I didn't want to deal with habit transfer.
 

Wil

Member
I had one on a duty patrol rifle. I didn't have any issues with malfunctions, but it just didn't seem to really add enough for me to recommend them for the office. It currently sits in the armorer's box collecting dust.
 
I run a Magpul B.A.D. device on every small frame AR I own and a Phase 5 Extended Bolt Release V2 on my large frame AR. I've had the Magpul on mine ever since they came out about 10 years ago and have experienced zero issues with it. I use mine to lock the BCG open only. I use the charging handle to release the BCG just like I retract the slide on my Glock to put the slide in battery.
 

pointblank4445

Established
(Thinking out loud)

Not that I give 2 shits about the BAD lever (though its presence on a gun does often give some quick insight on the shooter more often than not)...but I wonder if it spotlights internal conditions/speed of a gun's operation. Hear me out...

EXAMPLE: With earlier models of the 10.4" HK 416 (before they had the bleed off valve like the longer barreled guns), guys trying to set up suppressed guns would often have failures to pick up rounds and/or lock the bolt to the rear on empty with normal mags. The bandaid fix was use of certain aftermarket mags with stronger springs.
In other words, an already over-gassed gun/fast cycling gun was made more aggressive with backpressure of the can and out-running the magazine spring and inducing failures.

HYPOTHESIS: Given that the BAD adds to the weight of the bolt catch, I wonder if this additional tolerance stack and the ability/inability for lock-back may not be of some value/insight into the efficiency (or inefficiency) of the operating system.

In other words, which would be more likely to fail with the BAD: An OEM Colt 6920 16" carbine system or say something like a Hodge set up for full-power 5.56 and suppression?

...just a thought.
 
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