M&P 15 Sport and the Missing Forward Assist

[vipermd]

FWIW. There is an indentation on the side of the bolt carrier that shows through the ejection port. If the carbine fails to chamber a round, just use a finger to push the bolt forward until it locks. If this does not work, use the charging handle to eject the round. If you "force" a round into the chamber via the FA, then you have a round stuck in the chamber that may not fire. Clearing a stuck round, I have helped clear them that resulted from steel cased imported ammo, is not something you want to have to do. I suggest you Google and read up on the FA. The FA is the wrong answer to a problem that existed in Vietnam when the M16 was a new weapon system. The right gun powder and cleaning kits were and are still the correct answer.

No the FA is there in case you NEED to fire the round. "Pushing" on the indent is next to useless as the skin melts from your finger, since that is what the FA does. IF you could push it forward with the indentation ( same as FA ) would you not be "forcing" a bad round the same as a FA? One way is "better" than the other?? At the range you could remove the round and pontificate as to the reasons, clean /lube the gun, use a new round or try the "bad" one again to see if it resolved it's problem. This is fine if you take the gun to the range, bring it home, clean it, lock it in the safe. If you "ever" think that it may be used in a SD situation, then an FA is much like a light on the gun, totally useless for weapon function until it is!! Be Safe,

 

[shawn mccarver]

Friends don't let friends force a sticky round into the chamber. Use the charging handle to REMOVE that sticky round. Do NOT use the FA to jam a sticky round into the chamber. The need for the FA is greatly exaggerated.

The need for the dust cover is also greatly exaggerated for US sport and LE use. And, if you are going to the "sandbox," you will be issued a rifle to take with you that has the dust cover.

Don't forget to thank a service member or veteran today and every day, not just on Veteran's Day

 

[Rastoff]

I saw value in the forward assist this past weekend. There were a couple of shooters who needed it. While doing a malfunction clearance, they accidentally rode the charging handle a little and the bolt didn't close all the way. A tap on the forward assist and they were back in business.

It wasn't a sticky round or an extremely dirty rifle. The bolt just didn't close all the way.

 

[LanceS4803]

I've had SPORTS ingrained in my head for the past 30 years in the Army.
But other than training, in all that time (including deployments), I've never had the need to use the FA.

 

[fyimo]

I was a combat Infantry soldier with the 4th ID 1/12 Battalion B company 2nd Platoon in Vietnam and I carried an M16 from March 1969 to about September 1969. I never had to use the forward assist ever during that time. We did 30 day Search and Destroy Missions where we left with the clothes on our back and our weapons of war and came back 30 days later in the same clothes and we lived in the Jungle along the Cambodian border. However because of the conditions we were in sleeping on the jungle floor the dust cover was badly needed because of where we were and especially during the monsoon season.

Here in the USA I bought a DPMS Sportical that shoots inside and inch at 100 yards and it is like the S&W Sport and doesn't have ether of those features and I don't miss them.


I finished my next 4 months carrying an M-14 Sniper rifle after our Sniper was wounded. I got a 60 day drop to go back to college and I was suddenly a short timer.

 

[robkarrob]

I liked the one about the forward assist was for the GI picking up a dirty round and reloading it into the magazine. Ya right they carried 10+ full mags so they could bend over and pick up that cartridge, dirty and all. The mags were mostly throwaways, but that cartridge was not.

Bob