Quick Tip: The RIGHT Way To Use the Forward Assist
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- Today, Brownells Gun Tech™ Caleb Savant gives us an assist in understanding how to properly use the AR-15's forward assist. Most AR-15s still come with one, but judging from the comments on some of our previous videos, the forward assist may be the most hated feature of this rifle platform. But it's actually on the gun to get you out of a jam. Literally.
If your AR-15 fails to go into battery, DO NOT immediately smack the forward assist but follow the immediate-action procedure called "SPORTS" to clear the malfunction: (1) SLAP the base of the magazine, (2) PULL the charging handle back, (3) OBSERVE the inside of the receiver through the ejection port to see if it's clear, (4) RELEASE the charging handle if there's no obstruction, (5) TAP the forward assist button with the palm of your hand, and (6) SQUEEZE the trigger. The rifle should go "bang!" If you hit the forward assist before doing this, you run the risk of jamming the action. It's not the forward assist's or (AR-15 designer) Eugene Stoner's fault. It's yours for using it wrong!
A more streamlined alternative to SPORTS is "tap and rack": TAP the base of the mag and RACK the charging handle, THEN give the forward assist a push. Another use of the forward assist: when doing a press check to make sure there's a round in the chamber, let the bolt close, then give the forward assist a little push to make sure the bolt is seated all the way. What if your AR-15 doesn't have a forward assist but you want to do a press check? Caleb shows us how to do it.
Check out Caleb and Steve's earlier Smyth Buster's video, "Does the AR-15 REALLY Need a Forward Assist?"
Where's my forward assist gang at?
You can just push on the bolt cutout with your finger. No button needed.
@@Vuntermonkey This doesn't work as well imo
Gang gang!
I feel cool tapping it after running the charging handle.
Caleb hit the nail on the head with this one.
I've mostly found the forward assist useful when quietly chambering a round in a deer stand in the pre-dawn darkness. Letting that charging handle down slowly and then pressing the FA to finally seat that round.
Ever use the safety?
I’m guessing your not legally or practically able to carry a loaded chamber??? Please provide more info???
@@danielcurtis1434 Climbing into an elevated tree stand, particularly in the dark, with a loaded firearm (one in the pipe) isn't recommended.
@@RyeOnHam A safety isn't a substitute for proper gun handling. See my comment below Daniel Curtis'.
@@comlbbeau Nah, it's perfectly fine to point a gun at someones face if you have the safety on.
In The Marines we were taught to seat a round quietly by easing the bolt home and use the FA to seat the round.
He basically said to do that. Notice when he says if you do a quick check or /half pull back. It won't seat well when released so you especially want to end with a tap on FA in that situation.
Emphasis on QUIETLY
You can seat the bolt home quietly by pressing the back of the charging handle, does the same exact thing and don’t need the FA for it
@@kurtnewman7182 Please go try it right now before you make yourself look like an idiot again.
@@kurtnewman7182 What charging handle do you know of that can put forward pressure on the bolt carrier?
Good points. Another one is that if the charging handle catches your gear and slightly goes out of battery, you can tap the forward assist.
That's a really good one
@@brianfischer5609 it happens especially with these oversized charging handles that are all the rage nowadays
@@Valorius lol I call them wings!🤣
You mean like radian raptors? Or bigger?
@@brianfischer5609 Really any oversize charging handle, especially ones with a forward sweep, can cause that. They are also snag happy demons when you're wearing web gear as well.
Carrying the platform for 13 years in the USMC I have found the need for the forward assist many times and have never seen it cause a malfunction
I am ex Army infantry and I agree completely
I have seen it assist in making malfunctions worse, but never cause one. And I have also found need for it on many occasions. Always better to have and not need something than need and not have it.
@@stuckgrenadepin.225 What malfunction did you see it make worse?
I'm interested in same.
Also thanks for your service gents.
@@ferrumchnop6617 👍
In the military they also taught to pull back on the charging handle and use the forward assist after deep water crossings. Capillary action can keep water in the small diameter barrel and breaking the seal, letting it drain.
I think you mean the gas tube. Hydraulic pressure is immensely stronger than gas pressure.
Indeed. Shoot off plastic muzzle caps were supposed to be used during water crossings to prevent the water in the bore issue, but none were ever to be found when an actual water crossing was required.
@@onmilo they were all in alaska. Busting a trail through bellybutton deep snow (I’m 6’4”) is a good way for all those short stacks to get snow packed into the muzzle device and end of the barrel. We had so many we used them as shot glasses when we took new guys out koalifying.
@@onmilo LOL, ain't that the truth?
The forward assist is most used for brass checks. In the old rifle tables for the Marine corps it was a requirement for those on the firing line to do a brass check and use the forward assist to ensure the bolt was in battery. As a coach, the only time I saw it become a jam enhancer was when a boot would attempt to use it if they had a double feed or brass behind bolt. In that case, yeah it kind of fucked up the gun more and we would be sat there trying to mortar the rifle for a while. So I think it's only a jam enhancer if someone has no idea how to clear a stoppage.
Also in fairness the newness Tap rack bang procedure also causes double feeds if you don't actually look in the chamber after you pull the charging handle back to make sure it is clear
Trying to clear a brass over bolt jam by “mortaring” the rifle is a really bad idea. I recently saw a cartridge with the bullet pushed back so the tip of the bullet was almost even with the case mouth. Ugliest jam ever!
@@chipsterb4946 if anyone is interested in the correct procedure for clearing a bolt override malfunction there is a video showing how if you click my screen name.
You can do the same thing and make sure it’s in battle by lightly pressing on the back of the charging handle instead of the FA
@@kurtnewman7182 what are you talking about?
I have trained hand to hand EXTENSIVELY and one of the points we always seem to make is the "blood on your hands" argument. The handling of any tool, gun, knife, baton, or just bare handing anything with blood on your hands increases the difficulty of wielding said item exponentially. The absolute last thing I would want to do, is try to fumble to seat that round with bloody hands and a screaming hot bolt by pushing on the scallop. This I think lays within the realm of rather have it and not need it than the other way around. What's the worst that will happen? You look at it and it just sits there.
Where are your gloves? And why are you trying to force a round into battery that doesn't want to be there?
Adds a bit of weight and it sticks out to bump into and get caught on things. Maybe I'd still rather have it, but only slightly rather.
@@benningsniper9516 most people don’t wear gloves and those who do are typically doing it so they can look like Johnny Tac Ranger.
@@jcraigshelton you don't train with gloves on? I understand it's pretty ghey to wear them at the range, but if you're running a course, or don't have a pair in your truck ready to throw on, you're a POG.
@@benningsniper9516 Do I have time to put on gloves? Maybe, maybe not, but I'm for sure not going to worry about it when I have a perfectly good forward assist instead of fumbling around playing with the bolt.
Exactly! All the people that don’t know what it’s for always say “yeah forcing a round into the chamber isn’t correct” yes, that’s right, and not what the fwd assist is for lol
@Zac's DIY Guns you want to bring up stoner….well the original M16 design didn’t even have a fwd assist. I believe your missing the point, as most do. It’s not to just blindly force a round into the chamber. You should know what’s goin on before just slamming the forward assist and possibly causing a malfunction or more serious condition.
@Zac's DIY Guns yeah exactly basically from the first sets of M16’s arriving in nam with no cleaning kits coupled with no chrome lined barrels/being told-rumors not needing to be cleaned etc and having issues which could’ve been corrected without a fa. Typically it’s not needed much if you properly pms your gun, but overseas it CAN have its place. I used them overseas, but if I had any malfunctions it was remedied the correct way and not using the fa. Mainly checking the gun is still chambered, not to lock the bolt.
Don’t get why people feel the need to argue over it, but whatever. Ford / Chevy I reckon.
It's an awesome concept to recognize the volume of 5.56/.223 rounds that have been shot since my Army Basic Training in early 1971.
How many you figure?
All of them.
What's more awesome is that the number of rounds fired to the number of bad guys shot is 50,000 to 1. I suppose you could attribute THAT to "cover fire" at the tree line and the lower number of GI's shot, but it still sounds a little excessive to me. Maybe that's why the three round burst was implemented.
No more three-round burst. 😢@@Michael-A
In the Marine Corps, Immediate action was tap, rack, bang.
Remedial action used the the acronym SPORTS. The first "S" was for Seek cover (civilians usually forget this because no one is shooting back), The last "S" was Sight-in and fire. You don't want Marines just squeezing the trigger without aiming first, because some will.
Care to mention what the letters PORT stand for in that acronym?
@@bobhopman4648
S: seek cover
P: pull charging handle to the rear
O: observe chamber
R: remove obstruction/release the bolt
T: tap the forward assist
S: sight in and attempt to fire
@@jasoncraig136 Slapping the magazine is usually first for a reason and you skip it all together? Thank God the Air Force exists
That's a good explanation and right on the money. It's also a good way to quietly seat a round when you need to be quiet.
It is nice to see people undoing the damage that was done by in range TV when it comes to the usefulness of the forward assist.
@@tonygonzales948 it really is.
The dislike for the forward assist originates with Eugene Stoner not In Range.
@@Chiller01 that would be the guy that sold his better designs overseas? Even designers sometimes have their head up their butt. He's just mad that someone changed his design. Pure ego
@@didamnesia3575 would love for you to pontificate further of your biographical take on Eugene. /s
@@Chiller01 Eugene Stoner was just like Borchardt, didn't think his gun needed to be improved.
It took the US Army insisting on the fwd assist based on extensive field trials to perfect the AR, just like it took Luger to perfect the Borchardt.
The press check seems to be a valid way of using it. There is another circumstance where it can be usefully employed on semiauto rifles that can include other guns besides the AR platform of rifles. Releasing a bolt to slam home is the best way to be sure that bolt has closed, but it makes more noise than gently lowering the bolt. In some hunting and combat scenarios when noise can result in alerted game or an enemy, lowering the bolt is quieter, but the bolt may not closed on the chambered round. The forward assist can help with it. IIRC there were some sniper versions of the G3 that are equipped with a functional equivalent of a forward assist to allow more clandestine chambering and closing of the bolt.
Stoner did not design the AR15 to have one and it was added later at the insistence of the military.
Thank you for showing how to properly use the Forward Assist. All one hears of is why not to use the FA, but no one asked what is the proper way to use it!
A little knowledge goes a long way. Thanks for always being informative without drama or hype.
I was thinking the same thing, now I know.
Fix your space bar
Amen
Was originally trained SPORTS. But typically use and teach Tap and Rack in classes, although I do cover the FA uses. I think people forget sometimes that there was an actual reason it got added to the platform's design, better to have it and never need it than need it and not have it. Great Vid, good stuff.
The reason it was added was because of the production failures with Colt 602 and change to ball propellant in M193. They ran reamers ragged until chambers didn't meet spec, didn't issue cleaning kits, refused to chrome-line the chamber as Stoner demanded they do, then thought the solution was a band-aid malfunction assist device.
It's what you get in the culture of CONARC and Army Ordnance Board after 5 decades of public schooling and myopia by that time.
Had they kept reamers in-spec, chrome-lined the chambers on the 602s, and actually tested and integrated the action spring and buffer to account for the 10,000-20,000psi increase in gas port pressure, forward assist wouldn't exist.
@@LRRPFco52 the reason it was added was because it was shown to be absolutely necessary in US Army Field trials there is an absolutely outstanding video series on UA-cam called in defense of the Forward assist that shows all the documentation
@@M7A1bayonet Absolutely necessary, yet units who have guys shooting more rounds in a month than an entire Infantry Battalion fires in a year got along miraculously for over 40 years without it, to include some of the most successful operations conducted using AR-15 variants without FA. The word "absolutely" is invalid in this context, but not absolutely invalid.
@@LRRPFco52 that's b*******. Flat b******* all of those units have ARs with fwd assists. Just cuz they had a few that didn't doesn't mean that's all they had your point is total nonsense.
@@LRRPFco52 Keep on coping, buddy.
Private first class, later staff sergeant, Patrick Miller repeatedly used his forward assist at the Battle of nasariyah to almost single-handedly hold off an entire company of Iraqi motorized Infantry until the enemy eventually brought down heavy mortar weapons fire on his position. And so doing he won the Silver Star for Valor and also survived being a prisoner of war. The forward assist is there for a reason.
@@tonygonzales948 okay so you're goofy
Can you explain how and why he used fa so extensively in that battle? Not doubting your info, but that's like saying you used a coffee can to save the day.
According to the report of the Battle of An Nassariyah (actually an ambush and total over-run, the worst defeat of a US unit in battle since the Vietnam war), unit wide poor maintenance procedures combined with harsh environmental conditions were the culprits.
Miller was able to overcome this with the charging handle and forward assist, essentially turning his M16 into something equivalent to a magazine fed ersatz lever action.
The forward assist is there for a reason.
when using a AR platform with 300AAC subsonic, I'm thanking the Lord for a forward assist which allows you to ride the charging handle and ensure getting into battery using the forward assist, all this while remaining quiet as a Whisper. Also using the release bolt lever to keep the action from making any more noise than needed when attempting to cycle.
I’ve shot AR platform rifles for over 40 years, in competition, Long Range and IPSC Three Gun. All my AR’s have forward Assists on them, I Can’t remember ever using the Forward Assist ever!! 😏😏
Agreed. Never used mine either, in the service or civilian life.
The only time i have used the forward assist with an effect was when i was hiking to a coyote stand while carrying an AR15 with a very sensitive trigger. I spotted a coyote and realized i hadn't chambered the AR because i was waiting until i got to the stand, so i "quietly" loaded the AR which involved riding the charging handle as to not make enough noise to spook the yote, then pressed the forward assist to pop the extractor over the cartridge rim and chamber. Coyote didn't seem to notice which was nice.
How much and what type of lube did you use?
@@LRRPFco52 CLP along with some grease on the buffer/spring assembly. not an issue of lubrication, just an issue of low bolt carrier velocity/force to pop the extractor over the rim on chambering as i was "riding" the charging handle.
I usually just thumbed the bolt forward if my M4 didn't go into battery - which was a very rare thing.
I never had to use the forward assist during loading and firing. During cleaning, I would let the bolt forward gently and set where it did and pressed the forward assist to make sure it was fluid in function.
Proper weapon maintenance makes a big difference.
Proper maintenance on firearms is the most important thing in caring for the machine, forward assist is a feature.
Don't care whay anyone says, I very much like all of your tidbits of useful information. It's why I subscribe!
Thanks for this! I was never in the military (missed Vietnam by one year!). I came late to the AR party in my 50's having never had any father figure in my life to teach me this stuff. I knew how to operate the rifle safely, disassemble and clean it safely, but I never understood what the FA was for (and it didn't seem to be covered in the manual I got with the rifle). The one time I tried to use it I put a dent in a cartridge and had to disassemble it in disgust (I'm a hand loader). I now own 2 AR's, one for Service Rifle competition, and now I know what the FA is for and how to use it!
I love the forward assist. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Its a good place to stuff used up gum if you don't have garbage can. 🤔
@@LuvBorderCollies no kink shaming here. 😘
P.S. all of my forward assists are also my charging handle and my spent casing deflector.
Love my side charging AR's !
My boy kyles alive because of a forward assist 💪🏼
Shame it worked
@@joeds3775 you pro- women beater/ pedophile? He didn't shoot innocent people he shot criminals trying to kill him. Even the court agreed 😴
Spot on👍
Eight years Army, and I appreciate your explanation/demonstration
As a USAF vet that carried the original M16, which did not come with the forward assist, for years, I can tell you the forward assist is helpful. The BCG and bolt from time to time did not fully seat, and having a forward assist would have allowed a simple push to seat the bolt. In the late 90s our old M16 uppers were retrofitted with M16A2 uppers and the USAF bought a bunch of new M4s. Basically, if I encountered an out-of-battery condition, with the old M16s, I had to run the charging handle to re-rack the bolt, and later with our M16A2s or M4s all I had to do was push the forward assist.
Got a DPMS AR 10 in 308 for my son for deer hunting. It is the smooth side receiver without the FA. I did not consider getting in the stand before daylight and loading the gun until after I had bought it. I had a machinist add a side charging handle so it could be loaded quietly. A FA would have been a lot cheaper.
The "scallop" is meant to aid the bolt but if you've popped of several mags in a row...well it's a good way to remove your thumb print....
I think the scallop is there to accommodate the feature on the ejection port cover which unlocks the cover when the bolt moves.
Gloves?
@@sbreheny that too but it's original purpose was to aid in pushing the bolt into battery.
@@socmonki That isn't practical in a loooot of scenarios lol. When do you wear gloves outside of larping?
@@AR15andGOD I don't larp, but I do wear gloves at work, or when I work on my car, or when I do some yard work, or when I work with wood occasionally because splinters suck. If I were going to be shooting my AR a lot I would wear decent gloves because, let's face it, handguard get hot. Of course I don't usually wear gloves when shooting but I can see the value in it.
"If you've ever had blood on your hands, you'll realize why the bolt carrier scallop doesn't work as a forward assist."
Now I understand why the Air Force doesn't use a forward assist button on their version of the M4
During Vietnam the air force, like my step father, was routinely assigned ground combat support. Hence his designation as a combat weatherman attached to a marine platoon where he was awarded the bronze star for saving his captain's life. Or as the DOD states, for meritorious service while under enemy fire.
So take your BS and keep your mouth shut keyboard warrior little punk
Those Greyhound bus driver uniforms cost to much to afford a forward assist.
Hehe oof
The air force is the reason the rifle exists in the first place.
That's pretty cold, man...
Agree.. it's great to educate yourself before you purchase an AR platform rifle. Then, after you purchase one, practice makes perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect... Jeff Cooper
As has already been echoed by other prior service members, the forward assist has a purpose and if used correctly is a very nice tool to have. For an extremely minimal increase in weight, I will gladly take the advantages that the forward assist gives to the platform.
Twenty years in the army. Owning an AR 15, never used the forward assist. I believe it was added after the original M 16 s that were having the gunpowder issues needed help. After they solved the gunpowder issue, it became reliable, and trustworthy. Our military has used that platform for almost 60 years! That’s some kind of record!
The like button will be known as the "forward assist" button from now on.
Bet
🤣👍
lmaaooo underrated
@shelby M 🤣🤣🤣
Made sure this comment was properly seated
Like many others, I always felt the Forward Assist was most useful in quietly loading a round so as not to alert the prospective target.
I HAVE used it for that, but that isn't the purpose. Nothing wrong with it though. It is still serving the same function, just for a different reason.
To quietly chamber a round in a hunting situation or some other time when one needs to be discreet. That's a use that most people don't talk about, except us guys who know.
And you're not one of them because of that was the case, you would've already loaded a round before you got into that situation.
@@printingwithpeek4897 eh. Maybe. I don't mind running loaded most of the time. Home, hunting, whenever... but I understand why and know a few hunters that don't like climbing up/down or in/out of their stands with one chambered. My anecdotal is a couple of bolt action shooters and a pump user, but regardless I understand why this guy may want to do that.
@@printingwithpeek4897 Most long guns like rifles and shotguns aren’t drop safe even with the safety engaged. It’s why storage in cruisers or closets (so-called “cruiser ready condition”) involves a loaded magazine (tube or box) with the chamber empty.
It is absolutely a possibility to have an empty chamber and then quiet chambering. US Army snipers complained about not being to do that very thing with their M110s, hence why the HK417 derived M110A1 has a forward assist.
@@printingwithpeek4897 So you are in your OP at night and it is so dead quiet that a fart could be heard for a mile, and it takes you 10 minutes to open a zipper or velcro closure because you really don't want to be heard but you need to either clean or maintain your rifle or otherwise do something that requires going from action to unload then back to action.
What are you going to do? Pull that charging handle back, then let er rip and blow your position?
Way to go pro!
Clearly you don't know.
Or ya know, just go in the woods with a round in the chamber 🤷♂️
That is the best discussion of the Forward Assist I have heard and it changed my cloudy perspective on it.
It scratched the surface without getting to the real history of the malfunction assist device.
The Wheeler Button As Eugene Stoner Called It 😂😂 After The US Army General That Insisted The M-16E1 Needed a Forward Assist
He had test data to back up his desire for it. See the part 1 of my forward assist videos on my channel.
Funny enough, you also explained the exact reason Stoner disliked the forward assist:
“most people don’t know how to use it”
His concern was always on the least familiar user of the platform.
This is also why he didn’t approve of the A2 adjustable sights and said that “busy fingers” would mess with the windage/elevation knobs.
It's also for if you can visibly see that you gun is out of battery and it just needs to pushed into battery.
I never needed mine, but I'm glad that it's there. By the way anybody else have a paint can opener in their pistol grip or somewhere to clear a failure to extract or double feed? Good tool to have.
Main use for the FA in my case is after doing a press check just to make sure the bolt is seated into battery.
Eugene Stoner stated it wasn't needed. The Army required it because they never had a rifle that didn't have that function. The Air Force felt it wasnt needed. If its not in battery, rack the action. If you like the feature fine. But its certainly not needed its just a perk that once in a blue moon you might find useful, but a lot of people feel they never need or have ever needed to use it. If it adds weight, snag points, failure points and possible areas for gas to come back into the face when suppressed then some people find its better to just not have it at all. InrangeTV has a good set of videos on it.
"Why do you have so many guns? You really only need two."
>"ItS bEtTeR tO hAvE tHeM aNd NoT nEeD tHeM tHaN nEeD tHeM aNd NoT hAvE tHeM!!!"
"Why don't you want a forward assist?"
>"i'D nEvEr NeEd OnE iN a MiLliOn YeArS!!!"
😆
The forward assist was added after fielding testing the rifle prior to sending to Vietnam. It was so in the early days with the Shite cases they were sending they could force the bolt closed and fired the round if it had a failure. Most of the time it is easier to force it closed into the normal cycle of operations so then they can extract and eject properly.
Not to mention that the original M-16 rollout was a fucking nightmare! The designers insisted the rifle would never need cleaned in the field, so they didn't include kits in the original release. The end result was soldiers having to field strip their rifles in the middle of combat and desperately try to clean it with whatever they had. cleaning kits went out not long after.
My brother, in the Marine Corps, and I'm sure in the other branches too, the forward assist helped to chamber the round especially when the weapon was under constant use and during really dirty conditions, it would help chamber a round in a otherwise dirty chamber if necessary.
That's what I use it for.
Also, sometimes when shooting cheap steel and she's running dirty the bolt doesn't seat fully and a light tap on the fwd assist is all that is needed to keep her going.
Thank you for this Informative Video. It was for people like me. Someone with a New PSA .556 with less than 100 rounds through it. Just at the beginning of the learning curve here. This simple 3 minute video taught me a lot.
I always learn something useful here. It's been so long since my Army days (more than 50 years) that I don't even remember what they taught us about the FA. Not that I really needed to know it all that well, being a REMF Army mariner. Still, I have one AR today with one and one without. The one with is a 450 Bushmaster and while I was fighting feeding and chambering issues, I used it. Once I solved those problems (the chambering issue was my reloads), I haven't laid a palm on the thing. Come to think of it, how about an episode covering the 450 BM in the AR platform. The magazine issues are (were, maybe they have been solved) significant. Would be nice to see a roundup of the dos and don'ts 450 BM AR platform.
Jim Allen: 50+ years ago was my time as well. Maybe I can jar your memory. Back then, the fwd assist was thought of to be a “solution in search of a problem”. The military itself didn’t see much of a use for it but colt insisted, so there it is.
Jim Allen: 50+ years ago was my time as well. Maybe I can jar your memory. Back then, the fwd assist was thought of to be a “solution in search of a problem”. The military itself didn’t see much of a use for it but colt insisted, so there it is.
Jim Allen: 50+ years ago was my time as well. Maybe I can jar your memory. Back then, the fwd assist was thought of to be a “solution in search of a problem”. The military itself didn’t see much of a use for it but colt insisted, so there it is.
Jim Allen: 50+ years ago was my time as well. Maybe I can jar your memory. Back then, the fwd assist was thought of to be a “solution in search of a problem”. The military itself didn’t see much of a use for it but colt insisted, so there it is.
Jim Allen: 50+ years ago was my time as well. Maybe I can jar your memory. Back then, the fwd assist was thought of to be a “solution in search of a problem”. The military itself didn’t see much of a use for it but colt insisted, so there it is.
OK. At 64, still learning something new! Thanks, Caleb!
This dude just burned all the haters in such a formal manner
25 years of shooting AR’s, and I recall needing it once. I was surprised. First round chambered from the magazine didn’t fully seat. Pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Looked at the bolt and saw not fully closed. Bumped the FA and it seated the case.
Now o use it every time I chamber a round from the mag. No reason not to.
I always understood the forward assist to be a solution in search of a problem dating back to the AR15/M16 days. In all of my years with AR15's, an M4, and a few M16's, I have NEVER needed it. I *DID* need more common-sense the first time I fired an AR15 though. The bullet was only a hair larger than a .22, just with more powder. My brilliant self fired it with zero hearing protection. Once. I lost my hearing for two minutes and had a ringing in my ears for the remainder of the day. Boy I was dumb! Wear your hearing protection, kiddies!
The obvious size of the 5.56 case and powder capacity is a dead giveaway that it's not a .22 rimfire. Even the Military furnishes mandatory ear protection. Maybe talk to a Military person before you make up your mind on the forward assist. Ask a Marine about it.
Forward assist could also be used to rack a round into the chamber quietly.
You can do that by pressing the back of the charging handle
@@kurtnewman7182 what
Thanks for explaining what the Forward Assist is and how to use it!
I'm glad to finally see some actual not smoothbrains talk about this. I'm in the infantry and honestly really only use the FA when I'm checking the chamber of my M4, like, it's been awhile on mission and I'm just the type who checks their equipment obsessively so I'll check my mag, pull the charging handle back just enough to see if there's a bullet, but doing that, means that your bolt will not seat properly unlike if you used the bolt release on a new mag, so you use the FA. It's pretty insane how nobody really knows about that lol.
Not really. Most rifle owners have never been formally trained. The giveaway is when they grip the magazine well with their off hand instead of the foot long hand grip in front of them. Or they do that weird shit where they grab the barrel right behind the compensator. Like, what is wrong with that large piece of polymer on the front that is designed to be a handguard??
The problem with using the bolt carrier notch as a forward assist is that those holes are where the excess gas vents and if you have fired several rounds that area can get very hot. But it would work in a deer blind to help you quietly chamber the first round.
And hay K, seeing that you were a 🪖 armorer, I would tend to believe that what you're telling us IS FACT. It shines a brighter light on that jam button/ forward Ace do hickey. Tanks Brother.
Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷
As most military rifles have no firing pin spring, when you load their chamber by letting the bolt go, firing pin will strike the primer with enough force to leave a dent, hopefully not enough to fire it, but it does happen.
My Colt AR15-A2 manual actually warned about this and advised to always chamber a round with the barrel pointed on a safe direction.
Brazilian police, which has their rifles charged indoors, have a sand box for that purpose.
So, if you have to charge your AR inside your bedroom and you don't have a fern vase, you can ride the bolt closed, then use the FA.
I have had a similar incident with my M1 Garand. I fired one shot and the report came out sort of long and I saw two cases bouncing on the ground. As the bolt ejected the spent case and loaded the second to the chamber, firing ping struck and fired the second round. It happened 30 years ago and I still keep those two primers as a reminder.
And you forgot an important one: those of us in weather, where it goes from slurry to freezing, and back to slurry, can cause slurry build up in the locking end of the m4 ramp, and cause failure to go in battery.
Forward assist, every time!
Use your ejection port cover
I've spent a decade shooting well-built AR-15s/M4s in Sub-Arctic and Arctic conditions in high volume. I don't recall ever touching the forward assist. Lube, mags, ammo, TDP gun, nothing more needed.
@@robotbuster1487 that only works if the bolt goes forward enough that you can force the bolt cover closed. Which may not always be the case.
@@Followme556 must be a junky rifle. Messing around with AR rifles for 30 years, leaving them dirty for extended periods, different ammo weights, etc, I havent use the F.A. more than 10 times that I can recall. I am not anti F.A.. Never used the F.A at all on my large frame 308 AR's, ever. In regards to300 Blk caliber uppers, I totally insist on F.A's....even my piston drive 300Blk has a F. Assist.
It's been my experience, failures to feed was more about ammo indescrepancies, and less about the rifles hygiene.
@@Followme556 He's talking about using the cover beforehand to prevent the slurry from getting in there in the first place.
I've only ever used it for brass check and quietly loading when hunting. Also helps to chamber rounds without beating them up or dinging the primer if your loading and unloading often when hunting. Good video
Kyle R knows how to use it
Yea, I can't argue with that!
Being around and training with the AR platform for a long time the first time I heard of someone using it was Kyle R.
Maybe 🤔 he should learn how to properly load it?
@@michaelurban8893 private first class Patrick Miller won the Silver Star at the Battle of nasariyah using his Ford assist. Now you've heard of two
@@69deputy why don't you show him how to work an hour while being descended upon by a pack of communists tough guy
You are 100% correct. It is only to be used AFTER you have pulled the charging handle back and chambered a round. You don't need to pull the bolt back to see if there is a round in there. Many other ways to check that without manipulating the bolt.
this is my first video of yours and you have a SUPER calming presence- just from this short clip, you reminded me of a lot of really really cool pastors I've met
That blue anodized control, love it...just all loud and proud. Caleb...don't ever take that off that rifle.
Infantryman for nearly 20yrs here with multiple combat deployments... the forward assist is absolutely needed on every true fighting rifle. I've used it many times to not only seat rounds for different reasons, but to strip the top round off of the mag.
There are 18Bs and JSOC operators with far more trigger and deployment time who have the opposite opinion. Big Army trains incorrectly on immediate and remedial action. JSOC and SOCOM have a different approach to how to actually use this design. The SOCOM M4A1 manual from the early 2000s covered all this, and I don't remember it discussing much, if any use of forward assist.
In high volume courses, I know it might as well not even be there.
@@LRRPFco52 that's great for them and there will always be a debate, but I don't personally know a single individual in that community that says don't use a forward assist. I've worked with many from multiple branches, both in and out of the military. There are several accounts of it saving lives.
@@WallyMerc06 I have never done CQM training with them instructing where they even mentioned using forward assist. Not in Ranger Regiment, not in Group, and definitely none of the Unit guys advocated for using it.
They specifically critiqued the big Army's SPORTS as something not to do.
I like the thought of many of the comments saying they’ve used forward assist for quiet racking..but in my experience the forward assist is probably the best for seating the bolt in high fire situations. Best example on camera was the SPORTS used in We Were Soldiers. When in full blown high fire combat a lot of round are put down range, with that comes brass shavings from the cheaply made high production NATO rounds. The more you fire the more shavings. Shaving that’ll could course Maude your bolt not to seat properly and miss fire. You don’t always have the time field strip and clean in combat.
Forward assist worked and saved the Kenosha Kids life.
Really? What happened?
If you watch the video, especially during the trial, the prosecutor tried to impeach him for hitting the gun, you can see it in use there. While on his back his AR jammed. As you know it's not easy to rack an AR when you are flat on your back. He slammed the forward assist, which in turn seated the round. He then was able to put a round into the forearm of that sexual offender. Pretty good training for a 17 year old. @@drspock3454
We should call it the "Kyle button."
Dumb excuse
How do you know it saved his life? Out of that entire riot, only two people were killed, both by Rittenhouse. If he hadnt had the gun, nobody would have attacked him in the first place.
I was told when I was in the military, it was because the original design had so many issues with the first round in the magazine loading they added the forward assist. I'm so glad my AK doesn't have one.
Thanks for the tips and the comments from users. I’m not ex military so I don’t have a lot of experience with an AR. I found this video helpful.
well, after all, if you really don't like it you can always buy an upper without a forward assist...
Way back in the '80s, we were told that the first "S" stood for 'squeeze' and was used when there was a failure to fire or clearing a jam.
Immediate action and remedial action are not the same. Immediate action is “tap, rack, bang.” Remedial action “sports” is used in malfunctions that tap & racking won’t clear (i.e. a double feed). In the Marines (at least in 2003-2008) SPORTS stood for… Seek cover, Pull and lock bolt to rear, Observe the malfunction, Remove the magazine, Take appropriate action to clear malfunction and reload, Sight in and reengage. Immediate vs remedial action.
Ahh, in the army we just maintained cover as we moved. It wasn’t part of our malfunction checklist.
Sports per USMC 2009 Scream at rifle for not working, pound aimlessly on it, orient self towards enemy, throw Rifle at enemy, Take out secondary weapon, Supress enemy with secondary weapon"...i jest but mostly cuz they didn't teach sports they taught us to tilt, strip, rack, reassess and reinsert and re-engage...and it doesn't make a cool sounding acronym
I remember a video from Brandon Herrera that in the Arab world the forward assist is also called the Sniper Button. The rumor somehow got started that holding down the forward assist will make you long range shots more accurate. This resulted in some laughter from Brandon, a die hard AK guy, and the veteran he was talking with.
When my buddy is having a malfunction like a stuck cartridge I like to help him by jamming the sh*% out of his forward assist. You're welcome buddy. You're welcome. Even outside of the context Caleb mentioned, the FA has uses!!
Oh, wow! Not only does the FA keep the gun running, it builds the bonds of friendship. How sweet.
Buddy is only half a word...
I think the forward assist was added when they was having problems with the M16 in Vietnam because they told them the M16 didn't need cleaned but after alot of shooting carbon will build up and the bolt carrier won't seat good. I wouldn't buy one without a forward assist. If you have a jam it won't help because you need to clear the jam first. The forward assist has alot of good uses
👍
The anti forward assist group is the same group that's never had to use an AR off the range. That forward assist is used as often as that charging handle to make the weapon condition one. Anyone that's ever done anything with the AR knows how useful it is in making sure it's in battery for when you need it to work.
Really?! A career in the Army, most of that as a Special Forces operator, 18B, but what would I know. 🙄
Career in 11 series, multiple Recon units, attached to multiple SOF task forces, foreign armies, have shot untold tens of thousands of rounds through M16A1s, M16A2s, M4A1s, M4s, 11.5" Commandos, 10.3" suppressed, 12" suppressed, day, night, shoot house, flat range, sub Arctic, desert, mountains, JOTC/Panama, Korea, ME, Finland, Estonia.
I just don't see the need for it. I prefer the slick feel of GAU-5s and order as many slick M4 no FA uppers for my builds. I still have most of my uppers with FA just because that's all that was available at the time/standard.
It's much ado about nothing technically and practically, but is an important conversation starter about how inept Army Ordnance was during the early days of AR-15 adoption, particularly the fiasco with the Colt 602 and how they changed the propellant in M193 from tiny stick powder to ball, without testing the rifles with that to see what changes should have happened. That's the real story.
@@LRRPFco52 Denying it as a useful feature is also a good way to hear from people that feel that it should be mandatory on all ARs. Sounds like you had quite a career. Thanks for all that you did. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.
@@RobinP556 I had a lot of good times and some really sucky times that always involved incompetent or corrupt leadership driving their excrement downhill onto us. Units with great leaders were a totally different experience, loved it. Even better to be able to determine my own schedule and who I worked with once I got off active and went private.
My main focus from 2005-2016 was in Northern Europe preparing for all that’s happening now and more to come. My mom is from Finland, my grandfather fought in Talvisota and Jatkosota, we lost 3 great uncles during Talvisota and Continuation, and my great aunt. One great uncle went missing/taken by the Russians.
@@LRRPFco52 You need to tell your story somewhere. I’d love to read it in a book, but that’s a heavy time commitment.
Most people don't realize it's a feature there to provide mobility in both directions to the bolt. You can manually move the action of a pistol, bolt action rifle, etc back and forth, but can only charge in one direction. It provides you the ability to move it slightly forward if you need to seal the action up properly.
3:00 Wouldn't that scallop on that bolt eventually get too hot to touch after firing a certain amount of rounds?
gloves
I am no combat veteran but for what it is worth, if you are running an AR without a forward assist, I suggest shelling out $200 or so for an enhanced nitride bolt carrier group by CMC (designed to have less points of friction allowing it to move more freely & an extra gas port allowing more dirt & grime to exit the rifle. The nitride coating is also easier to be cleaned if you just want to do a quick wipe down), $130 or so for the enhanced charging handle by Radian & $90 for an adjustable gas block (controls how much gas/dirt/grime is cycled back into the rifle). So basically prep your gun as if you are running a suppressor even if you aren’t. This all adds peace of mind knowing that you are doing everything you can to prevent the forward assist from having to be used in the first place. Clean your rifle when ever you have time, no matter how many rounds you have fired.
I get that Eugene Stoner didn't feel the need for a forward assist. Personally, I feel like the "failure button" is the only worthwhile addition the military added to this design. Although 99% of the time I actually use the thing is after a chamber check.
@@tonygonzales948 Kyle Rittenhouse disagrees
@@tonygonzales948 Have you scene the footage? He used it after he shot. That situation has literally nothing to do with "racking the bolt hard" lol
@@tonygonzales948 what if the buffer spring is out of spec and the chamber is dirty? Oh.
@@DeafeningPew He was using a dry VISMOD-15 imitation gun, CLGS 16" barrel. That's a recipe for failure. He's lucky it worked up until that time.
@@Followme556 Dirty chamber plus worn action spring plus lube and good ammo from good mags will work fine in temperate weather.
Weak action spring in extreme cold might have sluggish function.
Legend has it that Caleb's Hair never grows, never falls out, and never changes color or shape.
I just did the same video last week, but UA-cam throttled the living crap out of it.
Good old youtube.
@@spearthumb68 yep.
Thats how i was taught to use the forward assist on the M-16A1 in 1989 forthood Texas by the 84th division rail splitters!
The March 23, 2003, ambush of 507th Maintenance Company in Nasiriyah, Iraq, was both a military and public relations disaster. Of 31 soldiers who made a wrong turn into the city during the chaos of the invasion, accompanied by two soldiers belonging to the Army’s 3rd Forward Support Battalion, 11 were killed, seven captured, and nine wounded, according to the U.S. Army’s official report of the ambush. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, initially hailed as a hero by the Bush administration and the news media, testified before Congress that she lost consciousness early in the attack and never actually fired a shot. The real hero of the ambush fought back as long as he could with a jammed gun and no support. Even after his capture, he prevented the enemy from obtaining sensitive papers that would have jeopardized more American lives, according to an account by Tom Bowman of the Baltimore Sun.
When the American convoy made its fateful navigational error, 23-year-old Army welder Pfc. Patrick Miller was driving a five-ton wrecker truck with Sgt. James Riley in the passenger seat.
Soon after the ambush began, Miller pulled alongside a disabled tractor trailer to help rescue marooned occupant Pfc. Brandon Sloan. Miller “executed a combat pick-up of Sloan while moving and under fire,” reads a portion of the Army’s official investigative report on the ambush. Sloan’s passenger, Sgt. Donald Walters, was already missing and later determined to have been killed in action under unknown circumstances.
Ducking low over the dashboard, Miller pushed his truck forward as bullets impacted it from all sides. One bullet shattered Miller’s sideview mirror as he tried to adjust it, then another struck Sloan in the forehead, killing him instantly.
Miller pressed his vehicle forward for as long as he could. Scanning his surroundings, he was afforded terrifying views of RPG-toting Iraqis setting up mortars, and more with AK-47s arriving to the ambush site in white taxis.
Finally, his bullet-riddled truck, with a damaged transmission, came to a stop just across a bridge spanning the Euphrates River. Miller and Riley disembarked and ran ahead to another bloody scene: A tractor-trailer had veered off the road, and a Humvee crammed with five more soldiers had rear-ended the bigger truck at high speed.
Miller and Riley took one look at the heap of twisted metal and bodies and thought all the Humvee’s occupants, including Lynch, were dead. The pair moved on to help their two wounded comrades inside the cab of the tractor-trailer.
Riley gathered his surviving subordinates and search unsuccessfully for an M-16 rifle that wasn’t jammed. The Army’s investigative report of the battle blamed the jammed weapons on dusty conditions and poor maintenance.
But instead of taking cover with the others, Miller ran through a gauntlet of fire toward an Iraqi dump truck, hoping to capture it and drive his fellow soldiers to safety. Along the way, Miller spotted a group of Iraqis 50 feet away from him setting up a mortar tube. His assault rifle was partially jammed as well. He realized he could fire one round at a time by continuously slapping his palm into a lever on the side of the weapon that slid each round into place.
Taking cover behind a berm, Miller used this painful technique to shoot seven Iraqis one by one, as they attempted to launch mortars at his trapped comrades. Riley witnessed Miller repeatedly pop up from behind cover to fire at the Iraqi position, making each enemy pay with his life for trying to drop a mortar round into the tube. Spc. Edgar Hernandez also recalled Miller’s lone charge, hearing his single shots stand out against the bursts of the Iraqi fire.
Unlike Miller, the Iraqis’ fully functioning weapons always missed. “The only thing I was thinking was if they don't get a mortar loaded, they can't blow them up,” said Miller, whose palm was bruised from manually forcing each bullet into position before firing
Thank you.
Thanks for sharing Miller's story.
This goes back to 1964/65 time frame. The tolerances are tight on a M16 and when mixed with the wet muddy conditions of the jungle along with ball propellant, & infrequent cleaning it was added as a preventive to a round not seating thus leading to a misfire in combat. Over the decades it has evolved into other uses.
This is one of the reasons many preferred the AK was because the lose tolerances were more forgiving under those conditions.
Watch that long Kyle Rittenhouse vid. He needed AND had the presence of mind to use his forward assist under some pretty significant pressures. Like many other things, would you not rather have it and not need it than to need it and not have it?!?! Thanks, Caleb. I was not in the military, and I've never seen exactly that before.
Having been trained on the M-16A1, I needed to use the forward assist several times over the years.
Airman don't count
Shout outs to all my slick-sided upper bros.
In my experience the guns that I think would actually fair to be improved by a forward assist are firearms that use a delayed blow back. This would be things like the MP5, HK 91 , PTR32, or the FAMAS. This is because the way those guns operate require a certain bolt velocity to properly close and lock the bolt. You see this adopted on some versions of the G3 rifle where on the G3/SG1, PSG1(A1), and the MSG90 have a mechanism similar to a forward assist, but it is called a "silent bolt closure device" eluding to its use. Due to subtlety being dead you can assume that the device closes the bolt quietly from the partial close position to fully with the press of the button. It also doubles as a brass deflector so it is really doing a 2-in-1 job and it really makes a lot more sense on those rifles than an AR-15 or AR-18 derivative.
TRB is missing a crucial step. It has to be tap rack observe bang. If you just TRB without observing you're very likely to induce a double feed. This is why there is an O step in sports. So even if you leave out the fwd assist step make sure you add an O step into TROB.
The O is critically important.
a forward Assist is absolutely essential on ANY battle rifle
Forward Assist. Better known as the "Rittenhouse "
SPORTS is not outdated nor is it useless. Outside of a combat or speed needed situation SPORTS is still relevant in determining the possible causes of stoppage or malfunction and getting your gun back up. Slap Rack Bang is just an abbreviated version of SPORTS to get you gun back up in a critical situation. The forward assist is still relevant especially if your ever had a dry nasty dirty gun in any of several situations. Shit happens
If the recoil spring failed miraculously, you could really use that assist to ratchet through all the sand and frog legs.
Yes.
You can also get a slightly bent or dinged buffer tube that causes the fully in spec buffer spring to not have enough force to slam the bolt home. I have seen this. The fa is there for a reason
Non-Military, non hunter here - but I've only ever had to use the FA on my AR platform 1 time, when I was trying to chamber the first round of a magazine. The rifle was a tad dirty inside, and when I let the charging handle go, I didn't quite "let it fly" and she didn't fully chamber that first round. Pushed the FA, and I felt it lock.
Considering the way the bolt MUST rotate to complete the chambering action and fully (and therefore safely) lock into position, bumping the FA would always seem like a great idea any time the rifle is chambered for the first time. During firing, the amount of pressure from the unrestricted buffer spring would be enough easily.
But man, if she's not chambering during normal firing/cycling.....clean it up!
This feature saved Kyle Rittenhouse.
I agree 100%. The forward assist is a good tool in the right (limited) contexts