Forward Assist - Why Everyone NEEDS Them...

[rickyrick]

Never used steel ammunition in an AR, but my Mini14 ran it just fine…

Those complaining about forward assists never had a Mosin Nagant, a 2x4 literally is the forward assist, and reverse assist lol.

 

[orionengnr]

I know a guy that used one once. Assisted a 300bo into a 556 chamber. Pulled the trigger & things got ugly. Luck was with him & just messed up his hand,the rifle wasn't as lucky.

It was a new box of 556 ammo that had a 300 bo round in it & he didn't notice it when loading the mag.

I read about a .300BLK in a 5.56 once, and owning both I am aware to not be "that guy". I'd like to think that if you did not notice that one short fat .300BLK round while you are loading the mag...your situational awareness is probably sub-par. Just sayin'...

As regards the three-pronger, I worked with a guy who served in Vietnam pretty early on (late 60s/early 70s) and he told me that story too. In his version, it was the actual three-pronge flash hider being used to engage the band, then twist-and-snap...and that was what caused the barrel damage.
The DOD's response (in his version) was to replace the three-pronger with the small birdcage. Sounded plausible at the time.

I think the HBAR came along much, much later. Maybe 1990s?

And to keep it (sorta) OT, I have owned a number of AR platform rifles, and have never used the FA (mostly because of what I have read and heard about it usually making the problem worse). But at my age, rifles are range toys, not daily-use tools....

 

[rc]

I'm not sure what it is about my mini but if I run brass and then switch to steel, i've seen it stick. From a clean chamber, no problem.

 

[lunger]

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