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Posted: 12/3/2005 2:49:05 PM EDT
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I've read in numerous places that the original Forward Assist was the so called Teardrop style, which was later followed by the large round and finally the small round style. My one and only AR is a reasonable clone of the M-16A1, built with a real M-16A1 upper mated to a Colt Sporter Lightweight lower with the full mag fence and small holes for the pivot pin. For now I can live with the A2 features on the lower and the blocked receiver and big hammer/trigger pins because from a few feet away this rifle has enough of the aesthetic features of the M-16A1 to keep me happy. There is, however, one problem. My M-16A1 upper came with the large round Forward Assist. The beefed up rear portion of the A2 style lower actually keeps the Forward Assist plunger from being depressed as far as it should go. This bugged me for about 5 minutes before I finally said "hell with it" and ordered a new Teardrop plunger which ultimately further enhanced the look of my A1 clone. I was still curious about this so I started looking at all the pics I could find on the web of the large round style plungers and discovered that some of them have part of the plunger milled flat so that they will work with A2 style lowers. I have never read anywhere that there were different large round plungers for the A1 and A2 style lowers. I was wondering if anyone else has run into this situation when swapping uppers on their A2 style lower. Also, is there a current source for large round plungers with the edge milled away to work with beefed up A2 lowers? Please forgive me if this post proves that I am a complete AR-15 Newbie. Regards, Greg |
And now you know why current round assists are significantly smaller in diameter than the one that came on your upper Colt went to the round FA toward the end of the M16A1 era. From what I've been told, it was strictly a cost saving move. Let them save a few pennies on production costs. When the M16A2 was adopted, the diameter of the assist knob was too big for the wider specs of the rear ring, so Colt started milling the inside edge to clear the back of the lower reciever. This raised the cost of the piece back to what the teardrop had cost; and thus was born the current smaller diameter knob type.  Actually, the teardrop you have on your piece now is really a more accurate type piece for the vast majority of A1 uppers; but if you just have to have a flat side round one, e mail me your name/address info and I'll send you one
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Too bad you modified your large diameter "round" forward assist plunger because they are kind of rare. They were the result of our (USMC) final changes to the M16A1 to the M16A2 where we increased the diameter of the receiver ring at the same time we (for cost cutting) made the forward assist full round and large. It was not until M16A2 rifles were being assembled until the interference between these two changes was discovered. So there are just a few out there that represent a why "one test is worth a thousand expert opinions." |
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Thanks for the replies, folks. shamayim, I sent you an email. AssaultRifler, thanks for the pic. Nice piece! coldblue, rest assured I didn't damage or discard my Large, Completely Round plunger, I just replaced it with a new teardrop I purchased from Fultom Armory. I am one of these nuts that's really into the cosmetic features, so I have a bag of miscellaneous parts and it contains my wierd plunger for later use on another project. If you guys want, I can post a nice picture of my strange plunger. Cheers, Greg |
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Here's my odd plunger: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~tspahr/GROSBEAK/STUFF/FA3.jpg |
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