Don’t have a MSR (Modern Sporting Rifle), but would like to get one?

Intimidated by all the terminology?

Stay tuned for a series of posts explaining simple MSR terms and functionality.

Today’s term – “Forward Assist”

Forward assist is a control found on many, but not all, modern sporting rifles (ARs). Its purpose is to assist in closing the bolt. Sometimes, for various reasons, the rifle bolt may not completely close after cycling the next live round. When this happens, the forward assist button allows the operator to close the bolt.

Image “A” shows the location, and appearance of a fully closed bolt.

Image “B” shows the bolt when NOT fully closed.

Image “C” shows the location of the forward assist button.

Whenever the bolt is NOT fully closed, pressing the forward assist button will often be enough to properly close it.

That’s it! The first intimidating term explained!