About half the people that I’ve talked to on the subject say that the forward assist feature on the M16/M4/AR-15 series was a bad idea from the get-go. Some others say it’s a useful feature. What’s the general consensus?
It does no harm by being on the gun.
Better to have & not need, than to need & not have.
^agree. i use it all the time. i pull the CH back a bit to do a chamber check and use the FA to make sure the bolt seats well. most of the time, the bolt is in good position, but it makes me feel better that i used the FA.
Has VIRTUALLY no use other than when you are doing a press check and want to make sure the bolt is fully locked. Other than that, I NEVER use it.
C4
It helps you load your gun quietly. You can insert a mag and ride your charging handle while you chamber a round. Then, you can use the the forward assist in making sure the bolt is in battery.
I do this all the time coyote hunting. The last thing you want is to announce your arrive by loudly chambering a round.
It has a limited use. I like having the option.
There’s a lot of irrational fear and nonsense surrounding the feature.
According to the below extract (source: DTIC), a bolt assist modification was proposed as early as 1963. Was this a result of feedback from Vietnam or just the result of continued stateside testing?:
The U.S. Army Infantry Board Product Improvement Test of the
Armalite AR15 Rifle, 14 October 1963 furnished the results of the
fifth test. The purpose was to determine the suitability of the
proposed bolt assist device. No control weapons were used. The
conclusion was: “The bolt assist device used in the test provIdes
an adequate but not optimum means of closing the bolt of the AR15
rifle in event of a stoppage.”
I have used it to chamber dirty/muddy rounds…
Don’t ask;)
I don’t remember who told me this (think it was someone at Colt) that the forward assist is essentially a bad idea because if the round does not chamber properly, why would you then try and force the bolt closed? Chances are there is some type of obstruction or something else happening.
Now let me relay a personal obesrvation. Back in the summer of 2006 at a very large training facility in N.C there were some Soldiers from the 3rd SFG(A) training out there. One of them had a problem with the bolt breaking on his M4 carbine. Apparently the bolt was replaced and no one checked the weapon further or did a headspace check. One of the instructors calls into the armory and asks for someone to come out and look at the weapon again. I show up and tell the Soldier to grab a mag and try and load the weapon again. The round goes about 2/3 into the chamber and stops. He starts mashing on the forward assist and I’m like, WTF? He extracts the round and does it again, same results. At this point I take his carbine off the line and examine it. Turns out that there was a broken lug off the previous bolt lodged inside the chamber area.
I punch it out with a cleaning rod, check the weapon and it’s GTG. No more problems.
Moral of the story is if the round isn’t chambering properly there is something going on and you should check the weapon out.
X 100.
As others have said, it’s useful for fully chambering a round after a press check, but other than that…
Not so much.
I guess my main problem with it is that people tend to bang on it when the weapon doesn’t fire. There might be a reason other than being dirty that a round doesn’t completely chamber, such as having the remains of a previous round whose rim was torn off, still jammed in the chamber. I can see it as a good thing for Delta teams and such who might simply run so many rounds through their weapon during a firefight (Mogadishu for example) that they just don’t have time to service the weapon and that extra tap on the FA could be a good thing.
Eugene Stoner didn’t see the need for it, and I figure if Air Force special forces are okay with slickside uppers, then I doubt it will be an issue for me, even if I get in a firefight. (Not too likely 
) The people banging on it are at the range, and I recently saw a Youtube video of a kid who was having this very problem, just kept banging on the FA, and finally got the weapon to fire out of battery and got a kaboom. (His friend’s gun BTW!) I look at it as pretty much a personal preference. I have both, and like both. I just have come to like the clean look of a slickside a little better…
I’ve never had to use the forward assist on any of the M-16s, M-16A1s, AR-15A2s, or AR-15A3s I’ve fired. Of course I’ve never been in a firefight (in which Murphy is sure to attend) but I did do a hitch in the Army. I have always been pretty fanatical about keeping my weapons clean.
I, too prefer the clean lines of the original receiver (which looks even better without the case deflector bump on the side).
As others have said it’s probably better to have it and not need it than…
There are numberous reasons to have a Forward Assist or other means to be able to ensure your bolt is fully locked home. There are other reasons said FA may not always work, as noted. Every manually operated rifle has a bolt handle, the M1/M1 Carbine, M14 and AK have the operating handle where you can tap forward if the bolt doesn’t full seat. Again, tapping is usually assumed that you are using good, clean qualility ammo. Picking up objects not belonging in the chamber the issue would still remain an issue with or without a FA. I only use one or two taps on the FA if, it doesn’t seat then inspect and determine why. I also had a bolt lug break during a test fire before rolling out on a mission down range. Broken lug was inside bolt chamber area and prevented bolt from closing. Other times FA is used after draining rifle and tapping to seat round while slowly and quitely chambering round after exiting water. Know your equipment and how and why to employ such tools.
CD
on another non-gun related forum, i know a curmudgeonly old Vietnam vet, who still tells stories of bloodying his palm smashing the forward assist on malfing A1’s…
at that point, seems like the FA was the only thing keeping those soldiers alive and in the fight.
with chrome chambers and proper maintenance, i agree, it serves less and less of a purpose.
The FA is pretty much a legacy item. Before the M193 cartridge got its powder issues sorted out, the FA was necessary. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to fire a large number of blanks through the AR/M16 family of weapons, then you’ll understand the issue.
However, as Combat_Diver indicated, it’s there because the charging handle on a AR/M16 can’t be used to assist the bolt foward the way it can with the other issue weapons.
“Opportunity”? You look on the bright side huh? From what I recall it was almost comical…butter…jam…butter…jam
Generally speaking I suppose an FA is a nice thing to have, but is a weapon flawed without it? Probably not.