Dust Cover ???

[Flieger]

I just added a Colt to my collection of (way too expensive - wife's opinion) and although it comes from the same Walther fatory, my dust cover is not nearly as tight as the H&K 416.  Bottom line, it does not stay closed, or opens too easy.

Whay?

[techmike]

There have been complaints of this issue. If I remember correctly, mine didn't stay latched when I 1st got it. As with most things on the Colt, is is a bit different from an AR. The AR's dust cover is latched using a ball detent. The Colt is similar, there is a spring loaded detent, but there is a notch on the back side, this is where it latches. The notch can be very slightly enlarged, (with a small needle file), so it will securely latch in the closed position. Anyway - that is what worked on mine.

[Elessar]

I have been able to "make" my function, but the tab/catch appears to be plastic and I worry that it will simply wear out from use in a very short period of time so I haven't been using it.  Has anyone else experienced any wear issues?

[BlueCrabMafia]

I just picked mine up last night so I haven't had a lot of time with it, but so far that's the only issue I see with it is the dust cover. On mine I can get it to close, but when I cycle the bolt I have to do so with some force in order to get the dust cover to open. That doesn't seem right to me, it should open fairly easily I would assume. You can see the dust cover binding when the charging handle is pulled back. At this point I'm not even sure I want to close the dust cover because I'm afraid it will damage the bolt somehow.

Does replacing the dust cover with a better version alleviate this problem or is this just one of the shortcomings the rifle has?

[Microgunner]

I no longer own my Colt, but it was an early one and it's dust cover would not latch as well.

[techmike]

Clean and lube it good, sometimes the factory lube/preservative can gunk up. Mine took a few cycles to loosen up. Some of the features on the Colt .22 are cosmetic, bolt release, forward assist, and on the early models the dust cover - some wouldn't open on cycle, some wouldn't stay closed.