SOTA arms

[dirtmcgirt76239]

what are you shopping it against?

at 55 bucks its not a big gamble, then you can go on arf and be a contrarian loud mouth and tell them yours runs like a raped ape and how they must not be tactical enough.

[JohnJak]

what are you shopping it against?

at 55 bucks its not a big gamble, then you can go on arf and be a contrarian loud mouth and tell them yours runs like a raped ape and how they must not be tactical enough.

The price was intriguing just to have around. I'm not looking for a desk top ornament.

[Northcountry2007]

I'll offer up my $ .02. I had bought 2 of the originals. I had nothing but troubles as far as magazines were concerned. Tolerances were way too tight on every mag I had except GI mags. I was very vocal about the issues on other forums, mostly because the owner of SOTA told me to just use GI mags (He was basically very rude, and told me to pound sand.). That was his solution....pissed me off. 2 years later, I heard of some refinements from Sota, so decided to try again. I love the look of these!! They do a super nice job on the trigger guard, and they are billet. Long story short.....the next ones worked well with every mag, except hit or miss on PMAG G3. Tolerance is tight pinning the uppers to these lowers, but not too bad.

So with that said.....I hesitated on the $29.99 sale and they sold out yesterday. But I just ordered 3 of the new Gen 3 lowers that are compatible with all mags. OP....PM me if you want pics.

[MTBr]

Not to revive an old thread but...
I recently picked up (second hand) one of their lowers. All magazines I have tried fit but the bolt catch slot is too large and allows the bolt catch to rock back away from the follower. This causes the bolt to close on an empty mag. It does it almost every time with all different magazines. I even tried another mil-spec bolt catch with the same result. After researching the issue, I see it is the machined slot that is too large. Some folks say shimming it helps, some say it doesn't work. Any suggestions or solutions? I don't want to go the 9mm catch route as this has its own issues I'd like to avoid.
Other than that it runs great and the finish is beautiful. It's a shame.
FYI I already called SOTA and left a message with no response over a week ago and emailed with no response.

[Pita]

Let us know the outcome.

[MTBr]

Well, I'm sorry to inform that after numerous calls and an email I was not able to reach anyone. Nor did anyone call or email me back.

So on to the next option, fixing it myself.

I used a feeler gauge to find just how much I would have to shim it forward and ordered some shims. (A huge thank you to Lance at triggershims.com)
After selecting a combo of shims that were just a little too tight, I lightly polished the forward face of the bolt catch until it worked nice and free, yet has no torsional or axial play in it.
It works like a dream now. Every magazine engages it perfectly.
I'm kinda glad I went this route as it was an easy fix and I doubt the fit of the bolt catch would be this tight even with a different lower.

[DrScaryGuy]

Well, I'm sorry to inform that after numerous calls and an email I was not able to reach anyone. Nor did anyone call or email me back.

So on to the next option, fixing it myself.

I used a feeler gauge to find just how much I would have to shim it forward and ordered some shims. (A huge thank you to Lance at triggershims.com)
After selecting a combo of shims that were just a little too tight, I lightly polished the forward face of the bolt catch until it worked nice and free, yet has no torsional or axial play in it.
It works like a dream now. Every magazine engages it perfectly.
I'm kinda glad I went this route as it was an easy fix and I doubt the fit of the bolt catch would be this tight even with a different lower.

I had never even heard of shimming the bolt catch lever, so thanks for the DIY gunsmith info.