Did you ever actually use your forward assist? - How'd that go?

steelgray

steelgray

Regular
Rating - 100%
37   0   0
Location
Ottawa Valley - Ontario
I figured that the forward assist which was added to the AR platform was really just something to restore confidence in firearm after it had been shipped with the wrong ammo an no cleaning kits. I've never run across any anecdotal stories where the thing was useful, in a military setting.

how about plain old civilian use? Have you ever actually used your forward assist? - How'd that go?
 
I use it after press check, but then press check is a creation of crappy magazines that the government refuses to toss away.
 
I've used a FA a few times, usually a result of riding the bolt. I also have never palm punched a FA, I used moderate pressure with my thumb, the same as I've done on an SKS, a M-14, or Garand in similar circumstances. The one different time I remember using the FA was when I took some bent rounds and got rid of them. It was stuff picked up after a match while brass picking.
 
sorry if this does not meet the requested info 100% but I did have an experience where some kind of FA would have been helpful....in the early 1980s we young men had an option of joining something called the "Militia" then....seems to be a bad word now but that was how the Primary Reserve was commonly referred to then....I was in a trench that was dirty and somewhat muddy clutching my trusty C1A1 loaded with blank rounds, chamber empty....the weather was cold perhaps near freezing. The attack came and I tried to chamber a round...the bolt carrier seemed to go into slow motion and refused to fully close....looking back it was either corrupted with mud/dirt or the rifle was over oiled with the 30w oil we used and the cold had thickened the oil...perhaps a carrier with "sand cuts" would have solved this and no doubt the trouble was caused by my own improper care of the rifle but it goes to show the reality of some worst case situations...in dirty cold over oiled condition even a good old battle rifle can fail...I have always looked at a FA as kind of a last ditch device...like the poor old GI with a cleaning rod taped to the bottom of the early m-16s in SE Asia for use when extraction failed...in well maintained condition the AR platform functions well...please note my experience with the AR platform is somewhat limited and it has never been a favourite of mine...
 
I think it was added for confidence like you already said...In a do or die situation with a round partially chambered and no time to do anything but ram it home the forward assist might save a Soldiers bacon.

I have never used it for the simple reason that when a round never chambered I did not want to make the round more stuck.
 
I have used it when single-feeding rounds slowly for accuracy testing. It just takes a nudge with your thumb to get the extractor over the rim. I'm sure you could do it by pushing on the cutout on the BCG through the ejection port. If you have to push harder than thumb pressure, something is wrong. It could also come in handy if you want to chamber a round quietly when you're hunting.
 
No. Even if they still teach to do it...

But. Yes I admin check ( press check ) and no I never ride the carrier front.

If it does not go fully in battery, I eject and check the ammo.
 
I have several thousand rounds through my Mossberg MMR, sans FA. Cold weather, hot weather, factory/reloads. Never needed it. But I charge the gun with authority each time.
Unlikely to ever need one for range use. BUT, on a battlefield or quiet hunting, I can see its value when slowly charging a round for stealth.
 
No. The Israelis welded the charging handle on the FAL so you could use it as a forward assist. I never needed a forward assist on the L1A1, but I wasn't in the desert. So it would be "get this crap off my rifle", unless I was in a sandpit. Better to not have it, when you are never going to need it. Not like I'm using an AR for bear defence.
 
Was taught to use it, used it once on live fire and never did again.

The first C7 I was ever issued had the extractor break off on the first shot. Of course the MCpl's nearby thought it must have been my fault, until the weapons tech who happened to be teaching on my course said no way could this been my fault.

Could it have been the FA forcing over time snapping er off? Dunno really. Probably unrelated but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom