Forward assist or nah?

[WKB]

I had an interesting thing happen this weekend. I was shooting an AR-type rifle when a jam occurred. I looked at the ejection port and saw the bolt was out of battery about halfway and it looked at a glance like a possible double feed. I attempted to clear it and realized the bolt would not release when the mag was dropped, nor would the bolt retract into the buffer tube when I pulled on the charging handle. I mortared the butt stock a few times and got the bolt to retract, but it would just stay stuck about halfway. I initially thought perhaps the gas key was torqued off or the buffer tube was bent. I took the upper and lower apart and a small spring and a roll pin fell out. I pulled the bolt out and looked in the upper and saw a small sliver of metal in the charging handle channel. It was the forward assist pawl. Somehow the retaining pin had sheared off and the pawl had become lodged in the bolt channel. The next shot that was fired, the bolt reciprocated and was prevented from going into battery. I removed the pawl and the gun shoots and function fine. The FA obviously does nothing now.
Here is the deal, I have in 14 years of service in LE/Mil/ never used an FA, nor have I heard of anyone using one, for what it was actually intended for in training or combat. For those of you who know what SPORTS is, that crap is useless. I have heard some MSR hunters use it to silently chamber a round instead of slamming the bolt forward. My anecdotal experience does not make me an expert, and that is why I am opening it up to the RS community. What do you think/what are your experiences? Have you actually used a forward assist? Should I repair mine or leave it as a vestigial reminder of the past like some sort of gun belly button?

 

[MallardSX2]

I went to all side charging uppers.

 

[WKB]

I went to all side charging uppers.

I can appreciate that stance, and from what I hear they work well for hunting. For my purposes, I don't like the idea of possibly binding the bcg when charging the rifle, or a reciprocating bolt handle smacking my hand/thumb and causing a short stroke. I was not upset when the SCAR did not get selected past RFI stage bc of that reciprocating charging handle (among other things). I also like being able to seal it up the receiver with the ejection port cover.
Do you find you are able to keep dirt/mud/snow out of your receiver and do you just use the bolt handle to tap the bolt in place to snug it into battery?

 

[Marbles]

I would want a forward assist on a rifle used in prolonged combat conditions. I have seen it needed on older training guns that were dirty. I know the Canadian military guys I worked with religiously smacked it every time they loaded, they said it was because the guns were old and did not always go fully into battery. I think for most uses, it is a comfort blankie and based on user preference. I lack the experience to have any real authority on the issue, so value my opinion as worth what you payed for it.

 

[WKB]

I would want a forward assist on a rifle used in prolonged combat conditions. I have seen it needed on older training guns that were dirty. I know the Canadian military guys I worked with religiously smacked it every time they loaded, they said it was because the guns were old and did not always go fully into battery. I think for most uses, it is a comfort blankie and based on user preference. I lack the experience to have any real authority on the issue, so value my opinion as worth what you payed for it.

If the bolt is not fully going into battery, there are some other issues at play. I think you nailed it with dirty rifles used in training. If that chamber extension is not clean and carbon fouling builds up from extended blank usage or fam fire usage I could see that being an issue.
In hot tropic weather conditions, cartridge cases can and do swell, to the point of being sticky to chamber and extract. I think some of the basis of the FA stems from this. This builds upon the apocryphal tales of .223-dimensionally chambered M16s getting cases stuck in chambers during Vietnam. However 5.56-dimensionally chambered rifles with chromed chambers do not suffer from this phenomenon. Case studies from later conflicts in Grenada, the Philippines, Hawaii, Nicaragua, Panama, Sub-Saharan Africa and Thailand exemplify this.

You mention the Canadians. The Canadian Army marksmanship team came up with the .223 Wylde-dimensional chambering to increase the accuracy of the C7 rifle with issue ammo for service rifle competitions. The .223 Wylde chamber is different enough from the 5.56 NATO spec to sometimes necessitate use of the FA to get "looser" dimension issue ammo to fully seat in a "match" chamber.

 

[justinspicher]

I’ve used mine enough to appreciate having it. During training with several hundred rounds and a suppressor, the chamber can get dirty and give you fits, on my deployments in the mil you can get a rifle pretty dirty getting of a chinook or Blackhawk helicopter easily.

 

[WKB]

I’ve used mine enough to appreciate having it. During training with several hundred rounds and a suppressor, the chamber can get dirty and give you fits, on my deployments in the mil you can get a rifle pretty dirty getting of a chinook or Blackhawk helicopter easily.

yeah, I can see that with a suppressor giving a lot of blow-by into the chamber and receiver. I've never used suppressors professionally, so I can not speak to that experience. Whenever I was on a bird or a plane for a insertion or a jump, I just made it a personal TTP to kept my eject port cover closed, and a rag/sock in the mag well and I never had any issues with out of battery malfunctions. Waaaay more malfunctions were magazine related.

 

[StupidLightweight]

When buying uppers, I do everything in my power to avoid those with the forward assist. It's a solution to a problem that never existed, which is why you won't find it on Gene Stoner's original design. As the OP found out the hard way, it can cause a problem catastrophic enough to render the firearm inoperable. I strongly encourage a delrin plug be installed in its place.

 

[RobertLosekamp]

In the Marines I was trained to hit it every time so I still do. Don't know if it's ever been needed because I do it every time whether it needs to be hit or not.

 

[xsn10s]

The Army trained me to use the FA. As a former LEO trainer and shooting competitor I used the FA also. But in the last ten years I purposely ran my truck gun dirty without cleaning to see how reliable it is. This is in the desert environment of Oregon and I've rarely had to use the FA. Only when running certain powders like TAC has my AR gotten dirty enough to malfunction as high as 500 rounds. All my AR's have a 5.56 chamber. Only one is not chromelined. I'd still want a FA or side charging handle. Murphy is a SOB.

 

[SloppyJ]

I started putting the plugs in them or using the non-FA designs. Just extra weight for me.

 

[LookinforDirt]

Kyle Rittenhouse needed and used it. Most likely saved his life. His bolt was out of battery (gun was not jammed) after shooting Huber. When Grosskreutz saw he was having issues with the gun he lunged at him. Rittenhouse used the forward assist and got the rifle working just in time to get the shot off hitting Grosskreutz in the arm.

They are also good to use when you want to quietly chamber a round. You let the bolt in slowly and then press the forward assist to ensure it is fully seated. It can be used after a press check. FA isn‘t meant for clearing a jam. SPORTS or the more current tap-rack-bang is used for that. FA is merely for pushing the bolt into battery if needed. Not something you are supposed to wail on but push. You can use the indentation in the bolt but if your hands are slippery or you have thick gloves on it can be hard to use.

 

[WCB]

Combat is different than hunting and general shooting. Sure in a shit hits the fan situation use it. When out shooting beer cans use your head not the FA. I have seen more problems cause by them than solved by them (not related to combat).

I have forgot a few times calling for Coyotes to puy a round in. Ive dropped the bolt with coyotes 150-200yds out...never lost one because of it.

 

[LookinforDirt]

Combat is different than hunting and general shooting. Sure in a shit hits the fan situation use it. When out shooting beer cans use your head not the FA. I have seen more problems cause by them than solved by them (not related to combat).

I have forgot a few times calling for Coyotes to puy a round in. Ive dropped the bolt with coyotes 150-200yds out...never lost one because of it.

In a non-life threatening situation I wouldn’t want to shoot a round that didn’t chamber and required the forward assist (outside of me gently closing the bolt and using it to ensure the bolt seated). I’d remove the round and inspect the rifle and round to see what is causing the issue.

If FA’s are failing it’s probably a result of shoddy rife builds and components. FA‘s are completely reliable if quality and appropriate parts are used and it is built properly. I could care less what people use. But the argument FA’s are a problem waiting to happen just isn’t true. If someone isn’t competent at building a rifle and/or wants to use weak cheap or bling parts, that’s not the designs fault.

 

[PlumberED]

All of my shooting experience is recreational and hunting. I have rifles with and without FA. I’ve only used the FA once or twice and I could have just as easily cleared the round by using the charging handle. So, the FA is not really that important to me, more a matter of personal preference.