Hello AR15.com F.A.L.  Fanatics!

Curious if someone in the Hive Mind has the answer.

In Fred's Columns (as in Fred of Fred's M-14 Stocks)  he mentions that he believes every serious military rifle should have a forward assist.

Supposedly there is some combination of Israeli cocking handle with sand cut carrier that allows the charging handle to also push forward as a "forward assist"

Anybody out there knowledgable about this?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for Sharing!

BIGGER_HAMMER

I guess you could ride the cocking handle forward, but I don't know of a forward assist on a FAL.
That is funny that Fred would write that since his beloved M1A/M14 does not have a forward assist and I believe standard procedure is not to ride the op-rod handle to close, unlike on a garand where it is OK to do so and necessary sometimes.

You can modify your bolt carrier with a notch like this one-
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=1336518

Then get an Israeli cocking handle, it can be depressed to catch that notch in the bolt carrier and be used as a forward assist.

I thought about doing it, but some people noticed accuracy issues after modifying their bolt carrier. So I didn't want to give up any accuracy for a forward assist I probably wouldn't use very much.

Quoted: I guess you could ride the cocking handle forward, but I don't know of a forward assist on a FAL. That is funny that Fred would write that since his beloved M1A/M14 does not have a forward assist and I believe standard procedure is not to ride the op-rod handle to close, unlike on a garand where it is OK to do so and necessary sometimes.

Gilamonster,

On M-1 and M-14 rifles, the oprod handle acts BOTH ways.  If your bolt is not all the way forward into battery, you can push the handle forward and ShaZam!  On the FAL the cocking handle retracts, but does not push forward (sort of like with the original AR15 / early M-16s.  You could retract the bolt, but not assist it forward.  Not that is seems like that huge a deal (F.A.L.s have only been doing without them for about 50 years or so)

Curios to know more, especially if it can improve my rifle any!

BIGGER_HAMMER

The forward assist cut begins .882" aft of the forward edge of the carrier. Note that this is from the FORWARD EDGE OF THE CARRIER, not from the forward edge of the guide rail. The dimension is .750" from the forward edge of the guide rail. The cut is 1.430" long. The cut is made on the left side of the carrier.

RobT2K  
The dimensions that MuktukJoe posted are correct , The pic you posted is not the correct modification for a forward assist . and as far as accuracy is concerned with the modification , its false , no ill effect what so ever .
I will get a pic up of the correct modification later

Bad pic but you get the picture

The Israeli FAL I had used a bolt carrier with a fairly long slot cut in it, it was an all Izzy kit and a SBL receiver that I bought in the 80's.  IIRC the dimensions that MuktukJoe has are right.  The forward assist was similar in operation to the Portugese AR-10.  The charging handle stays stationary until you need it.  Then you retract the handle and push in on the knob.  The knob is spring loaded and has a nub that extends into the groove of the bolt carrier.  That allows you to manually force the carrier forward.  

Obviously, there is some question as to if it's worth it or not.  It can't hurt, since the rest of the time the charging handle just sits there, sorta like an AR's fwd asst.  You can just ignore it if you don't need it.  The Izzy knob is farther aft than the standard FAL knob.  That is so it's over the bolt carrier cut when closed, so you have full travel closure using the forward assist feature. I found it to actually be in a more comfortable position and it's bigger and easier to use.  TAPCO made some and some carriers to go with them, and those would count as a USA parts as well.