Broken bolt catch, what brand to replace it with

[Little Dutch]

My AR-9 and the AR-45 both have quite a bit of overtravel on the bolt. I filled the space on both with quarters. I have a spare parts kit I can rob of the bolt catch for now too. Thanks all, I think we've got this solved. I appreciate everyone's responses, they were valuable.

[beast556]

Glad you got it worked out. I love my pcc's but they definitely have there own set of quirks.

[Little Dutch]

Unrelated, but the AR-45 sends the brass way out into the weeds. It has a strong, but consistent, ejection. I don't care about losing the brass, but am wondering if I should address that at some point.

[beast556]

Unrelated, but the AR-45 sends the brass way out into the weeds. It has a strong, but consistent, ejection. I don't care about losing the brass, but am wondering if I should address that at some point.

Launching brass is from the fixed ejector, you can mitigate it some with heavier springs and heavier buffers but that can bring about problems too.

[Great-Kazoo]

Unrelated, but the AR-45 sends the brass way out into the weeds. It has a strong, but consistent, ejection. I don't care about losing the brass, but am wondering if I should address that at some point.

See what if any difference the spacers made, ejection wise. before chasing another issue.

[SA Friday]

The 45 auto PCC is a pain in the ass only second to 10mm and 40's with their flat nose bullets. You should be running a 10-11 ounce buffer and about 13 ounce bolt. That's massive reciprocating mass, but it's the only way to slow the system down enough to get them to run right. You should be also using a 308 carbine buffer spring.

Not all castings for AR's are made the same. Schmid castings are the best. They are marked with a stamped "S" on them, and are used by all the better AR makers in the business. Colt, BCM, Sionics, SOLGW, Zev, Hodge, etc... Regardless, 45 cal PCCs are just brutal on bolt stops and you will probably brake a few more if you are shooting a lot and going fast. 9mm is better in these guns, flat out.

Use a delrin spacer or quarters to shorten the cycling length to where the bolt is clearing the bolt catch by 1/4-3/8" and no more. I usually space it out with quarters and then measure the stack and cut a piece of delrin to length.

DO NOT make your extractor spring stronger. They need to be softer than an AR-15 set up. I typically like about as much tension as a 4-coil AR extractor spring by itself and without any buffer or donut. If in doubt, the tension of a Glock extractor (or slightly less) is what you are shooting for.