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I see upper recievers some with and some without, are they a must have?
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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No.
But I wouldn't have an AR without it.
It's one of those things you never need, until you do.
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Only if you're carrying it in combat. This is an original AR-15, on display in the NRA's National Firearms Museum: The forward assist was neither Stoner's design nor his idea.
Last edited by XL5; 02/25/12.
Alle Fähigkeit ist vergeblich, wenn ein Engel in Ihrem Notenloch uriniert -- old German proverb
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It's a handy little device that will let you go from a jam you can clear by pulling back on the op handle and bouncing the butt on the ground to one you can't beat open with a rock
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Don't need it. Air Force SOF units didn't have them on their carbines until they got M4's which is fairly recent.
If and when you have a malfunction, IF you hit that forward assist, you just [bleep] yourself.
The only purpose it can possibly serve, is to ensure the bolt is completely in battery after a press check. And even this is moot ,'cause if you load the gun properly and check for crossover, you don't need to presscheck it.
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Sounds like it doesn't hurt to have one!
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Can't remember ever needing it for live ammo, but I can tell you that MILES gear would NEVER have worked without a forward assist. Between the rifle getting dirty and low powered blanks, I remember having to hit it every round.
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Campfire Tracker
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Not sure about the Air Force but the Army uses SPORTS in a failure to fire situation. The "T" in SPORTS is for tapping the forward assist. This procedure won't create a worse jam because the "O", which is for observe, will ensure that the feed path is clear. If the feed path is clear and you "R" release the charging handle, you should be good to go. If not, your rifle is out of commission either way, at least for the time being. I also like to use the forward assist in extremely cold weather while coyote hunting to ensure that the bolt is closed. IMHO MontanaMarine has it right - not that useful until you need it and then nothing else will do.
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Using the forward assist to drive a stubborn bullet fully into battery is exactly like beating a bolt action with a rubber mallet to close it.
I've got no problem with taking a hammer to Uncle Sam's rifle that I drew from the unit armory. But if it's my rifle bought and paid for, unless I'm about to be overrun by Fuzzy-Wuzzies and my life depends on getting it up and running RIGHT NOW, if I can't push the bolt closed with finger pressure applied to the recess in the bolt that Stoner put there for that very purpose, I'm gonna opt for taking a few minutes to catch up on maintenance and fix whatever's making it difficult to chamber.
Alle Fähigkeit ist vergeblich, wenn ein Engel in Ihrem Notenloch uriniert -- old German proverb
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The forward assist gives you a device to beat the bolt forward harder than what you have to pull it back open with. All joking aside, I use them to make sure the bolt is pushed all the way forward when riding the bolt down to keep charging the rifle quiet when calling. Other than that it is punch the bolt release or let it fly forward with a pull of the charging handle.
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Campfire Tracker
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Its not needed. Cant hurt to have it, but Ive never had to use it....countless malfunction drills and through actual training I cant think of one time Ive ever used one or seen one used. And we have induced some horrific jams for our drills.
Yup.
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I wish I could find the report again on the fallen soldier who spent all night with his NV and suppressor killing the enemy in either Iraq or Afghanistan but it's been awhile.
Anyway this soldier was finally killed but when they found him, his palm was bruised from beating the filthy weapon into battery and killing one more enemy soldier.
That is what the FA is for, for the rest of us, we have time to clean...
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Campfire Member
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The Army uses SPORTS because it is so far behind the rest of the world in proper clearance procedures for malfunctions.
FTF MALFUNCTION=PUSH/PULL, RACK AND ROLL, ASSESS
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Campfire Tracker
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"Miller hadn't fired a weapon for seven months, and he admits he wasn't the best marksman. He was an Army mechanic, and when he'd taken his first marksmanship test, he'd failed it.
So what did he do? "One guy, like, jumped up to where I could see him, and he had a mortar round in his hand, getting ready to drop it in the tube," he says. "And as he jumped up, I just raised my rifle up and shot, and he fell over."
It was the first shot he fired in the incident. The lousy marksman hit home.
But after that first shot, his rifle jammed. He had to pound on it with the palm of his hand, after every shot, to get the next bullet loaded into the chamber. He kept on re-loading and shooting. "I was kind of getting a rhythm down, count like seconds and then look up," he explains. "And you could see somebody else trying to load it. So, I was starting to count, and when I'd get to the number, I'd look up. And somebody else would be trying to load it, and I'd shoot. I did that probably seven times total. I counted the last time, and when I looked up, there wasn't nobody there." " - copied from a 60minutes website, story about the Jessica Lynch deal in Iraq.
Would a clean weapon have prevented this - I'm absolutely sure it would have. But how the hell do you keep it clean craling around in sand???
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I like the forward assist.
Sometimes I ease the bolt forward and it doesn't fully lock up. A tap on the FA seats it that last smidgeon.
Islam is a terrorist organization.
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I find the FA useful sometimes (I like to press check) but as other have said you can sure make a mess an even worse mess if you don�t use some common sense. I do have a Bushmaster Carbon 15 that does not have the FA or a dust cover. This is one of the last guns built at the Lake Havasu plant before BM moved everything. It is gassed heavy and sprung heavy and cycles really fast. I don�t shoot it much and keep it clean and lubed and it has never once bobbled in a whole 500 rnds. Having a couple ARs with the FA and one without the FA I guess I think the Forward Assist is a good feature.
John Burns
I have all the sources. They can't stop the signal.
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The Army uses SPORTS because it is so far behind the rest of the world in proper clearance procedures for malfunctions.
FTF MALFUNCTION=PUSH/PULL, RACK AND ROLL, ASSESS We teach, tap-rack-bang, just like with a pistol. Run the charging handle with your left hand. When the SFAUC program started in the 90's Army SF units went to that. There were still knuckleheads there who wanted to teach that SPORTS BS but they were squelched.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I personally would build a AR without it
A Doe walks out of the woods today and says, that is the last time I'm going to do that for Two Bucks.
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