You have a way with words...

That was certainly painful to read!

I mean it's kinda just the truth as painful as it is lol.

gatnerd said:

In terms of stuck cases or rifles dropped from helicopters, is that really a forward assist issue, or rather a rearward retraction leverage issue? Typically when a case is stuck you're trying to yank it out by retracting the charging handle to rear to eject the case, not trying to mash the stuck case further into the chamber?

When the rifle is full of sand (or mud), you need both rearward and forward leverage on the bolt. With an AR-15, if you use the charging handle to retract the bolt and the bolt stays locked in the rear position, your only option is to separate the upper and lower receiver and hope to be able to extract the bolt carrier, the buffer, the spring, clean the buffer tube, then re-assemble the gun.

We had a case of Special Forces (equipped with SIG 552 and HK416) "inserted" (hanging below a chopper) in some remote place in a desert. When the team touched the ground all the rifles were literally filled with very fine sand, the guys equipped with 552s were able to bring back their rifles into service in a handful of seconds, those equipped with 416s needed a handful of minutes.

In the case of a case stuck into the chamber, you need only rearward leverage but with an AK or a SCAR it's very easy to hammer the charging handle on a hard surface and eject the empty case. With an AR-15, you need to tie a short paracord around the T-handle, hang the rifle muzzle-down to any solid place, then strike the rifle stock to remove the empty case.

Don't get me wrong, I hated the SCAR charging handle when it struck my left thumb the first time I shot the rifle (the second time also), but if I had to take a rifle on a remote battleground, I would prefer one with a simple reciprocating charging handle instead of the "T-handle" of the AR-15.

FINALLY I was able to get a Stag lefty! And I have some trouble still with the charging handle, because I am so used to operating the "righty" one on my Colt.

Yeah I've tried lefty uppers but after so long just running right handed ones I've found it messes me up more than helps me.

It also irrationally bothers me to a totally unreasonable degree that the damn ejection port door is upside down!

At this point I'm so used to brass whizzing by my right side I just don't know what to do with myself when it doesn't happen.

I still have an irrational fascination with true ambi on the fly ejection port selection because of how technically neat it would be, and so I can enjoy bullpups without paying several hundred extra dollars and being stuck with a left eject only gun I can't hand to a right handed friend to shoot without disassembling the gun and putting in right handed parts.

Tbh that's another reason I just buy right handed guns, because it's no fun if your friends can't shoot your stuff too...

And I've seen right handed people try to shoot left handed AR's before, while funny it's also painful to watch because right handed shooters are not used to having to adapt like lefties are!

You should definitely let a right handed person try it, it's kinda fun to watch.

roguetechie said:

I've seen right handed people try to shoot left handed AR's before, while funny it's also painful to watch because right handed shooters are not used to having to adapt like lefties are!

LOL.  I'm righthanded.  I once had to shoot a 6.5 Grendel AR lefthanded and I assure you that it was much more painful to do, than it was to watch. 

That was eight years ago, and I have not shot a rifle since.

ETA:  Oops.  I misread "shoot lefthanded AR's" as "shoot AR's lefthanded".  

With the A2 case deflector, it's not bad, but slick-side can be painful. You get used to cases flying in front of you, but not hitting your cheek.

Both can be pretty painful and entertaining to watch yes lol 

And this is why I have zero slick sides even though they look kinda cool sometimes.