Forward Assist Needed in an Urban Environment?

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

But, I gotta wonder.... would Kyle Rittenhouse have had the time to find that rear-facing charging handle at the back of his AR's receiver and manually rack the action again, before the commie shot him in the head?
Was it a good move for him to just smack that forward assist and hope / expect that seats the cartridge fully?

 

[lostchild]

But, I gotta wonder.... would Kyle Rittenhouse have had the time to find that rear-facing charging handle at the back of his AR's receiver and manually rack the action again, before the commie shot him in the head?
Was it a good move for him to just smack that forward assist and hope / expect that seats the cartridge fully?

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. No Monday morning quarterbacking.

 

[Shotgun Surgery]

The weight penalty is so damn negligible that youd might as well have it. Plus it helps for closing the chamber quietly

Honestly, you should already have a round in the chamber anyways.

 

[Shotgun Surgery]

Kyle needed it…

He used it, anyways. If the round was out of spec somehow then him smacking the forward assist might have only made things worse. If he had racked the charging handle he might have just as easily cleared the malfunction. A lot of "what if's" can be said about that situation.

 

[Shotgun Surgery]

The weight penalty is so damn negligible that youd might as well have it. Plus it helps for closing the chamber quietly

I think it's like an ounce or two? Honestly to me, if I have the option to have one or not I choose not for that ounce or two. People pay big bucks to get certain things to be an ounce or two lighter.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I'm not ambidextrous, so for me, the only way I could quickly and confidently operate the charging handle on the back of an AR would be with my dominant (right) hand.
I'm basing this on not only how I've tried my AR's charging handle with either hand, but with my experience with the left-side charging handles on H&K weapons like the CETME and MP5.

And given that I'd have to use my right hand for either technique, I think I could smack the FWD assist button a lot faster than I could grab, pull rearward on, and then release, the charging handle.

 

[Gingerbeard Man]

Yes. In a life or death situation, your opposition is not going to care if the round or your rifle is out of spec. Get that ****er chambered and get your shot off.

 

[harrycalahan]

That‘s not what the forward assist was designed for. This is a fallacy that has been perpetuated around the internet for decades, started by folks that were either never trained, or were trained improperly.

All our previous semi-auto/select-fire long arms had forward assist capability (M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M14), as does the AK family and it’s variants. All of these arms have a reciprocating charging handle. If you push forward on the charging handle, it performs the exact same task as the FA on the M16/AR family.

Fast forward to the M16’s development. This weapons system has a non-reciprocating charging handle. The only thing that pushing forward on it does is lock it in place.

The military recognizes that there are times when you need to chamber a round quietly. Pulling back on the charging handle and letting it fly makes quite a recognizable racket. Pulling it back slowly, and easing it forward, won’t always reliably chamber a round fully and allow the bolt to go into battery. So, the final step is to use the forward assist.

The same applies to press-checking. If you do an actual press-check, the bolt may not go back into battery. Use the forward assist.

When performing either of the above tasks with the M1 Carbine/M1 Garand/M14/AK, the final step is to push the charging handle forward FIRMLY. That’s the forward assist function of the reciprocating charging handle.

If you have a round that won’t chamber in an M1 Carbine/M1 Garand/M14/AK, and you shove the charging handle forward in an ill-guided attempt to get it to chamber (which no one trains or advises, BTW), you will end up with the same mess that you’d have if you used the FA on an AR for the same incorrect purpose.

I was a Small Arms Instructor in the Corps, a Firearms Instructor for LE at state and Federal levels, and have run my own firearms training business for over 20 years. I have never taught to use the forward assist to cram a recalcitrant round deeper into the chamber, nor was I ever taught to do so in the Corps (Marines know a thing or two about running an M16), or any Instructor-certification course I have ever attended.

The forward assist performs flawlessly when used at intended. Like any device in the world, when used improperly, it can cause problems.

The problems lies not in the forward assist, but in folks that don’t know what they’re doing.

I never understood why it was used for forcing out of spec rounds. But Im definitely “untrained” so I never questioned it. Thanks for clarifying. This is news to me.

 

[lifeandliberty123]

Honestly, you should already have a round in the chamber anyways.

absolutely but there are times to check the chamber to make sure then be able to close it quietly. Ive done this tons of times hunting.

I agree that folks waste tons of money trying to make their kit lighter (and often less functional) but honestly theyd be better off shaving pound off on the treadmill.

 

[cmshoot]

Good reminder, CM. Failure to fire, when you know you've got ammo remaining in the mag, does NOT mean you go pounding on your weapon's charging handle (or rear of slide, if it's a pistol).

Instead, you'd do a Tap (of the magazine, making sure it's fully in), Rack (manually cycle the action), [re-assess as needed] and Bang, right?

Yup. If you have a round that won’t chamber under regular use, it’s TAP-RACK-REASESS. Used to be TAP-RACK-BANG.