The Gun Counter

I was looking at some reviews on the Smith & Wesson MP 15 Sport and I ran into some stuff I didn't know. It doesn't have a bolt assist or a dust cover but nobody has reported that to be a big problem. One reviewer said some small police agencies have been covering the ejection port with the Blue painter tape, ripping it off before firing or just letting the ejected case burst the tape.
I was watching a video demonstration of how you are supposed to use the scallop in the bolt carrier to push the carrier forward to seat a cartridge. In the video the gentleman wraps his left hand around the magazine well and uses his fore finger to pull the carrier forward. He states that his was how the original design was supposed to work. Then later I thought he was doing that on a rifle that hadn't been fired. What would have happened if he'd done that after say 60 rounds fast semi-auto of some dirty ammo fighting off zombie squirrels and had to assist the bolt?
Nomex gloves or something instead of a bare finger?

I've never used a forward assist to chamber a round. I've been shooting the damned things since 1973 and never found a use for the assist. If the bolt isn't going forward, you've got other problems that need to be solved.

What problems?
1. Dirty to the point of not chambering
2. Bad ammo
3. Bad magazine.
4. Dry bolt. Every AR I've ever known likes a wet bolt. Squirt whatever oil you have in the bolt.
5. Only rarely is it a bad recoil spring.

I'm putting the S&W MP 15 Sport on my wish list. Bud's has them for $584 and free shipping. I just hope we don't have a big price jump between now and this time in 2016.

The first M-16 I ever fired was at Lackland AFB in September, 1972. It didn't even have a forward assist! (Didn't have a brass deflector, either, and that was really fun for a lefty!)

As PawPaw says, if it won't chamber the round, you have problems that a forward assist won't fix.

I've got a Stag 2-HL, which is a lefty AR, and with the .22 LR conversion, I've got less that $700 invested. The conversion unit is worth it's weight in gold!!!

First Shirt wrote:
I've got a Stag 2-HL, which is a lefty AR, and with the .22 LR conversion, I've got less that $700 invested. The conversion unit is worth it's weight in gold!!!

So is .22LR, right now...

Good point!!

I own that AR. Well, technically its the wife's zombie gun. It is a very good gun at a very reasonable price. IIRC, it also does not have a chrome lined bore. But I clean it after each outing and never had an issue.

The only thing is I am used to chamber checking on my Glock. Doing so on an AR will result in not going bang. But that is user error not the rifle.

The only thing the rifle NEEDS is a better trigger. Don't get me wrong, the stock trigger isn't the worse I've shot but compared to a good trigger.

toad wrote:I was looking at some reviews on the Smith & Wesson MP 15 Sport and I ran into some stuff I didn't know. It doesn't have a bolt assist or a dust cover but nobody has reported that to be a big problem. One reviewer said some small police agencies have been covering the ejection port with the Blue painter tape, ripping it off before firing or just letting the ejected case burst the tape.
I was watching a video demonstration of how you are supposed to use the scallop in the bolt carrier to push the carrier forward to seat a cartridge. In the video the gentleman wraps his left hand around the magazine well and uses his fore finger to pull the carrier forward. He states that his was how the original design was supposed to work. Then later I thought he was doing that on a rifle that hadn't been fired. What would have happened if he'd done that after say 60 rounds fast semi-auto of some dirty ammo fighting off zombie squirrels and had to assist the bolt?
Nomex gloves or something instead of a bare finger?

Not sure where the guy got that idea. The scallop in the bolt is where the dust cover catch mechanism sits, when the door is closed. I call BS on the guy's claim, especially on a hot gun, since the scallop contains the venting holes for the gases. Looking at some old images of the AR15, it appears they always had the Forward Assist.

One of the things I like about the M&P Sport is that it does have the Melonite bore. I also like that it has the 1:9 twist on the latest models. It is easier to find ammo at Wally World in the lighter bullet weights and for home defense I want the light JHP bullets.

The original version of the AR did not have the forward assist, the Army required the addition. The primary purpose is to allow you to quietly ease the bolt home and then push it home with the forward assist. It works, as designed in that regard.

If you have a lot of fouling, it can get your bolt home too. Probably not very important as a sport gun, but probably a good thing in a fire fight if you didn't have time to clean it.