The early days of the M16 rifle in Vietnam

[old tanker]

Has anyone ever themselves or witnessed another use the forward assist?

I have used the forward assist to close the bolt after riding it forward while trying to chamber a round as quietly as possible.

In most other circumstances, if the bolt traveling normally fails to close completely, the round is bent or some thing is interfering. If you are lucky, hitting the forward assist well let it chamber and normal firing will resume. If you are unlucky you will have jammed things to the point you can't get the round to fire nor can you get it out of the chamber. Worse, the bolt carrier will be out just enough, you will have trouble because it is partly in the buffer tube.

By July of 1969, the Army was getting the word out to the troops...

DA_Pamphlet_750-30

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