I never want to hear anyone say the forward assist is useless ever again!

[mRad]

I don't care what some proclaimed tier 1 guy used to do. Not running the rifle hot is a very dumb idea, closely followed my the ignorant practice of "quiet loading" with the useless forward assist.

Championing the forced inserting of a round into the chamber under the guise of a "what if" one in a billion scenario is plain stupid. Kyle had a low end rifle and likely zero training coupled with minimal trigger time on the gun. He got lucky.

I didn’t say they weren’t running hot. But they would press check on approach.

Sometimes a round not going into battery isn’t the round…

The FA doesn’t cost much and doesn’t weigh much. In fact, rifles without it sometimes cost MORE because slick is a niche. I don’t care what you do, but the notion of FA “forcing a round” is bullshit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Renegade]

I didn’t say they weren’t running hot. But they would press check on approach.

This sure sounds like the gun is not hot and they are trying to stealthily make it hot:

didn’t want to risk the sound of a whole team dropping bolts. They would feel the round on the bolt, ease the charge handle into battery then use the FA.

[TomMcC]

Maybe people should step back a bit and get some perspective. Do we know if and what kind of training he had? Maybe self taught? Had he had some prior usage of the FA that he thought worked for him? If I were in his shoes with literally seconds to apply what I did know, would I spend the extra time racking a possible faulty round out or would I take a shot at hitting the FA? In his mind at that moment hitting the FA was the way to live. That will do for me.

[Disciple]

Bill Alexander referenced surf and arctic uses for the FA.

As to the forward assist, you should learn to love this item. The forward assist is not as popularly discussed used to force rounds into the chamber, but rather should form part of your SOP every time you handle the weapon. On loading the rifle, you will note that there is no loaded chamber indicator. A partial extract will verify the presence of a round in the chamber either by a visual or tactile cue. Dropping the bolt from this position is not a sure way of ensuring that the gun is in battery so the forward assist is tapped to make sure. Partial extractions are required for all over the surf use and water drainage and arctic conditions require that the bolt is moved partially and the round is moved every 20 to 30 minutes. In all cases the forward assist is the check that the gun is in battery. While the "new" fashions in tactical teaching often miss this feature or bypass it with suggestions such as noting which side of the mag is loaded then removing the mag to see if the round is stripped, or pushing the bolt with the gas pocket using your thumb, unseating the magazine brings the gun back to an unknown condition. As to pushing the bolt with your thumb you do not want to touch anything metal with flesh at -40F.

Bill Alexander

[RUTGERS95]

Saw that. Amazing how well he did under pressure.

yes sir it, modern stonewall jackson!

[T2C]

I am neither pro nor con on the use of the forward assist and other instructors I work with have varied opinions on the subject. I cannot ignore the fact that someone successfully used the forward assist under pressure and survived the encounter.

[titsonritz]

If he had not noticed the bolt of battery and hit the FA unicep POS would have shot him in the face.

I wonder what caused the malfunction, I'm thinking underlubbed POS rifle but might it have occured as a result of the struggle with skateboard guy.

[pag23]

Maybe people should step back a bit and get some perspective. Do we know if and what kind of training he had? Maybe self taught? Had he had some prior usage of the FA that he thought worked for him? If I were in his shoes with literally seconds to apply what I did know, would I spend the extra time racking a possible faulty round out or would I take a shot at hitting the FA? In his mind at that moment hitting the FA was the way to live. That will do for me.

I think that Kyle is trained as his actions and comments kind of reflect it...he did a very good job under extreme stress.

Having the presence of mind to use the FA and be able to defend himself was crucial....

[bamashooter]

Kyle Rittenhouse just said live on the Tucker Carlson show that he saw his AR was out of battery and hit the forward assist right before he shot Gage Grosskreutz.

FTR that's not what he said though perhaps meant. He stated "I noticed that my ejection port is opened about an inch ....".

Forward assist. Used it once since 1968. During that time in the navy, army, govt civilian, other, I probably observed others use the FA 4-5 times or so. Better to have it and .........

Regarding training. I'm under the impression he had very little yet his cool and calm demeanor saw him through. As it normally will.

[markm]

What I did see of his fight was VERY impressive. As someone who has spent tons of time carbine training in my prior years, I was massively impressed by his skillful fighting. Not sure if he's just a natural, or if like many young people these days, he watched a million youtube videos. But the kid fought better than most people I know could have.