What is this?

[nadeem]

what is the little thingy underneath the cocking handle on an m16? what does it do?

 

[Justin]

Without a pic, I'm just guessing that you're talking about the Forward Assist, which is located underneath the Charging Handle and directly behind the Ejection Port.

 

[nadeem]

i mean directly, about half a centemetre below the charging handle thingy, its further back than the trigger

 

[Bruce333]

Forward assist. Used to help chamber a round that hasn't gone in all the way.

 

[Thefabulousfink]

The white arrow is pointing to the forward assist. If that is what you are asking about then what bru333 said is correct, it is used to seat the bolt if it fails to close completely.

 

[nadeem]

yup tthats it. thanks guys

 

[MechAg94]

To be honest, I don't remember ever successfully using the forward assist. I ended up some pulling the bolt back and trying again. Since I have put several hundred rounds through my Armalite, I haven't noticed that sort of trouble in a while though.

 

[_N4Z_]

Foward assist. Used it all the time. Was part of what the Army drilled into us when learning to use the A1 version of this weapon in 1986. Whether the bolt went forward all the way or not, tapping this a couple times before shooting was part of the load up routine.

 

[Still 2 Many Choices!?]

The forward assist rocks,

I have only used mine to more quietly seat a round into the chamber by riding the charging handle down, and then tapping the forward assist to fully engage the extractor over the case's rim . It worked alot better than sling shotting the round into the chamber when I wanted to keep my position unknow to a possible home invader !! Oh yeah, I do tap it after sling shotting a round into the chamber, just to be sure it fully locked up, but I have never found the chamber unlocked.