If you are familiar with the AR-15 platform of rifles, you are familiar with the Forward Assist assembly. It's a little button on the right side o the upper that acts as a lever to push the bolt carrier forward in case of a failure to fully seat the bolt.
When I was a young grunt in basic training, I was taught the Slap, Tap, Bang method of immediate action. Slap the bottom of the magazine to ensure that it is fully seated, Tap the forward assist to ensure that the bolt is fully seated, and squeeze the trigger to make the rile go Bang. Nowadays, the Army teaches the SPORTS acronym. Slap the magazine, Pull the charging handle, Observe that the chamber is clear, Release the charging handle, Tap the forward assist, and Squeeze the trigger. Hopefully, the rifle will go bang.
Each of the M16s I was issued, and all of the AR's I subsequently bought, had a Forward Assist. It was part of the upper assembly, but I never much thought about it. It was simply there. Until I picked up my latest AR, bought used at a pawn shop because I realized that point I didn't have one in the house.
I've never had much of a love affair with the AR series, considering them simply as a tool. Useful, indeed, but extraneous to the rifles I really liked. However, no good tool box is complete without a wrench of some sort, and no good gun cabinet is complete without an AR, so I made my way to the local pawn shop and picked one up. It was several months later that a friend was inspecting it and commented that it didn't have a forward assist. I had mounted an optic, sighted it in, and put a couple of hundred rounds through it, and frankly had never noticed the lack of that little button on the right side of the upper.
So, I started questioning if the little button was necessary. The rifle fires flawlessly is absolutely accurate, is very light weight, It's nimble, a classic carbine in a very familiar package. Yet, it doesn't have a forward assist.
And, I realized that in 25 years carrying one for my Uncle, I never really used the Forward Assist. If the rifle failed to go into battery, I'd conduct immediate action, but the idea of jamming a cartridge into a chamber that didn't want to accept it wasn't something I was likely to do.
I understand why it was included in military contract rifles, especially in the early years before the platform was dead-nuts reliable. I am certainly not going to run out and buy a new upper simply because I don't have a Forward Assist.
So, has the familiar little button become extraneous on the AR platform? What say ye?
6 comments:
Speaking as a former Armorer and Small Arms Repairer and having spent a lot of time with an infantry company I can say it is likely to be useful (rarely used) in a military feild enviroment where you might not be cleanign things for a while. The only use I've known for it would be during using blanks for long periods of time. For those of us that are less likely to have mud, sand or a great many blanks fired though the weapons the forward assist can be easily deleted. It's extra machineing, hardware and somethign else to clean and worry about. The only time I've used it outside the Army is when I was chambering a round for hunting and wanted to do it as silently as possible for Coyote hunting. I used my forward assist to slowly ease the bolt fully forward as quietly as possible while walking it in with the charging handle. Perhaps some folks would use it in that way, short of that it's no longer needed.
I don't remember having an FA in SEA ('60s); i *think* there was one in Korea (2 years in the '80s) but the rifle was just a piece of hardware attached to my vehicle; there was one for sure in Saudi ('90s), but the rifle was never used.
All of my ARs have it, but in all the years, other than for checks I can't say I have ever used it.
Not a fan. You shouldn't have to force the bolt closed.
I watched a nurse nearly blow off her hand because she was able to make the weapon go bang by use of the forward assist
IIRC it was added by military request after the introductory debacle of the M16 in Vietnam. The problem originated with the substitution of a different powder, which the military had in bulk, for Stoners specified powder. It fouled up the works with residue and made it hard to chamber, (and extract) a round. A good friend of mine was 2/1 Marine then, when the switch from the M 14 happened. He related stories of seeing guys dead , with cleaning rods beside them, they were trying to drive the stuck cases out of the chamber.
So a alteration to a rifle to fix a problem caused by something that no longer exists.
Pretty sure I recall seeing a Clint Smith video in which he had some rather colorful things to say about the forward assist. IIRC, his basic philosophy was that it was a bad idea to try and force a cartridge in that didn’t want to go in. He figured making the problem worse by beating the stuffing out of the forward assist was counter productive. So says my memory at least.
I was in the Army from Jan 1975-Sept 81 (Infantry and Air traffic Control) and April 85-May 1991( Lance Missile crew).i agree with the armorer Except for alot of blanks or a lack of lubricant I do not remember using one either I only used the M16A1. One of the guys i worked with in the jail (he worked for the Dept. of Corrections and a Policy Monitor. Was in the Canadian Military (he said Special forces)he stated that he would NOT own an AR because of the forward assist he said if the design needed a forward assist it was a faulty design. He used L1A1's I am not a big fan of AR's being left handed and Not very good with peep sights, plus in my opinion the caliber is too small for an open country Infantry rifle. I wish I was able to use the optical sights like they have now. I never saw an M16A2. Funny though I Now have a Couple of AR's One is a Trump Spearchucker M-4 with a Aim-point on it and a Daniel Defense M-18 Pistol. That I bought the pistol when they started talking about the Bumpstock ban.
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