When was the round forward assist first used?

[Bill Hollinger]

I think that he was wondering if there was a period where you would have either seen round ones on A1s or, Teardrops on A2s. If there ever was it would have been a 3rd shop diddle.

I do know that when the A2 was adopted we received round replacement handguards and buttstocks with spacers to use on our A1s long before we ever seen an A2.

A side note, I was watching some news show back in 1980 something and they showed either a Thai or a Cambodian carrying a brand new A2 (CIA issue?) and it ****ed me off because we were still being issued beat to death A1s.

Al

My old room mate was in the Marine Corps in the early 80s and he told me his issued rifle was mix of slab-side M16 and M16A1 with round hand guards and an A1 butt stock. He called it a "commemorative model" because it had no finish left on it and looked almost chrome in places. He also said he could turn it on it's side and shake the crap out of it and the take down pins would fall out.

I have a late mid 90s Olympic Arms A2 with a tear drop FA.