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Last edited by Zhurdan; 09-11-11 at 18:46.
Time flies when you throw your watch.
I use it every time I load the gun during the press check.
- Retract bolt slightly to verify chamber is loaded
- Use palm of hand to push forward assist to verify bolt is fully in battery.
- Use finger tips to close dust cover.
I think the fa is very important on a fighting rifle. I think sometimes proper use of the fa is not understood. It I not meant to jam a round in but to ensure the bolt is fully forward. When can the bolt end up not fully forward? Two cases are common:
1) Rifle is dirty or gunked up. It's easy to say that you should never let your rifle be in such a condition and it is easy enough to prevent, fir the most part over here. Overseas, it's not always possible to keep your rifle perfectly clean at all times. You're not even going to want to speed oil your bolt much less clean your rifle on a two way range.
2) Charging handle press check. If you pull the charging handle back slightly o press check when you are loading, hit the fa to ensure the bolt is fully forward since we have not allowed the full force of the buffer spring to push the bolt forward. This is the equivalent of presschecking your glock (really any pistol) and forcibly pushing the slide forward to ensure slide is in battery.
I guess it depends on your usage but I will never buy a rifle without a fa. But the idea that the fa us there to jam a round in is false.
Im assuming that pushing depression on the BCG wouldnt work as well as pushing the forward assist?
My rule of thumb on the Forward Assist is anything more than simple thumb pressure is more apt to induce more problems than it solves.
'Palm-Smacking' it ia a huge no-go. It can break and stick the pawl or force an oversized round enough into battery to make it almost impossible to extract by hand but not enought to go fully into battery and shoot it out.
Tap, Rack Bang should be the order of the day. The Forward Assist plays no part in that.
It is a device useful for strictly administrative functions only IMO.
Last edited by Heavy Metal; 09-11-11 at 20:41.
My brother saw Deliverance and bought a Bow. I saw Deliverance and bought an AR-15.
Agreed. In my post, I said "hit" the fa. I should have said push the fa. Wacking the hell out of it could definitely cause more harm than good. And the fa has no place in malfunction clearing. The two scenarios I mention in my post are the only time I engage the fa.
Good point brother.
I have to admit to being guilty of hyperbole, not intentionally, however. Giving it a bit more thought, I do have to admit to using the FA on other rifles when a round didn't quite seat because of a press check, fouling or started getting a bit dry. But it was a gentle shove, something I did automatically. If it took more than that, I cleared the round from the weapon. Other than a press check or a quiet load, I don't recall ever using the FA on an AR. Maybe once.
I will not tell anyone to ditch their FA, nor would I spend the time or money to delete the FA from my existing AR. Matter of fact, the rifle kit I'm waiting delivery on has an FA and I didn't stop to think whether it had one or not when I ordered it.
Upon reflection, an FA may be something rarely, if ever, needed, but when needed, it's needed now. Much like carrying a spare tire
INSIDE PLAN OF BOX
- ROAD-RUNNER LIFTS GLASS OF WATER- PULLING UP MATCH
- MATCH SCRATCHES ON MATCH-BOX
- MATCH LIGHTS FUSE TO TNT
- BOOM!
- HA-HA!!
-WILE E. COYOTE, AUTHOR OF "EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW IN LIFE, I LEARNED FROM GOLDBERG & MURPHY"
I am American
I hear you brother. I would just say that as an admin procedure, you should push the fa everytime you press check using the charging handle for reasons mentioned in previous posts. Note that I am only talking about admin procedures. The fa has no place following any immediate action (IMO) as the point of ia is to get you back in the fight pronto! I know it may not seem like a big deal but it takes only a second, it's preformed in safety, and just adds a little bit of insurance. Just my opinion.
Last edited by sboza; 09-11-11 at 22:05.
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