The rifle in question, for reference.
Woodland Brutality 2022 was this past weekend at Echo Valley in eastern West Virginia. There were machine guns. There were Blackhawk pilots. There were Viet Cong. There were SG-1 personnel. There were KETTLEBELLS EVERYWHERE. It was awesome.
The gun ran perfectly on Wolf .223 for the entire first day, and the first stage of the second day. Problems began on the next stage, the Humvee stage. Below is a video of another shooter for reference:
Shooter begins seated in the back of the Humvee and engages a rifle target as the Humvee drives away. Shooter then clears and drops the rifle, and engages several steel targets in a drive-by. Finally, shooter reloads the rifle and gets one hit on the steel at much longer range plus making up any missed hits from earlier.
First attempt at this stage, I get a stuck case. The rifle is dirty, and it's been sitting out in direct sunlight getting cooked. I can't mortar it out, so I fetch a cleaning rod and easily tap it out. Charging handle action still feels gritty, but I hose the chamber with oil and go for round two.
On the second attempt I nail the first string of rifle fire, clear the rifle, and just barely clean the pistol targets with my M9. I load the mag for the last rifle shot, and try to run the gritty charging handle at a weird angle. Something immediately feels wrong, and my heart sinks. Will I blow my one and only mulligan?
I roll the rifle on its side and look at the ejection port. The bolt is stopped just 3/8" short of being fully into battery.
I pause. "What if...? Dare I? Am I truly arrogant enough to slap the face of God and Eugene Stoner? Is my need that dire? Yes, send it."
My palm slaps. The bolt jumps into battery. The steel rings. Stage complete, cleaned and under par time.
Strutting back to my squad, I declare "Gentlemen, not only did I clean the stage, but I did so WHILE UTILIZING THE FORWARD ASSIST, which is a necessary and useful feature!"
A chorus of boos and denials. Blaspheming is not tolerated here.
Ah, but there is PROOF! I have video, courtesy of my squadmate and the only other witness to this holy event. He hands me my phone. On the screen is a message: "Device storage full. You do not have enough storage available to capture media." But, look! A file has saved. Some fragment of video remains. Is there hope? Do I have the proof?
I play the video. There's the first rifle shots, then the drive-by. I load the magazine and awkwardly run the charging handle. I roll the rifle over. The decision registers on my face. I roll the rifle back up, haul my hand back, launch my palm forward, and then-
Video ends. An instant, and I mean an instant before my hand contacts the forward assist.
My credibility is destroyed. My squadmates sigh and roll their eyes in disgust. I understand immediately what has happened: Gun Internet has intervened and tampered with the footage. The hivemind cannot allow evidence of the forward assist's superiority to enter this universe. The Narrative must survive. The WWSDs must flow from Brownells and KE Arms. Everything within the slickside, nothing outside the slickside, nothing against the slickside.
My squadmate and the RSO have since disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The Humvee driver is in hiding. There are no witnesses left, no one to speak the truth alongside me. It's as if the event never happened.
But it did happen. It's okay if nobody will ever believe me. In my heart, I will always know. The forward assist is a necessary and useful feature, especially on a beater Del-Ton build with an out-of-spec charging handle that binds up when it gets dirty.
Additional shoutout to the One Shepherd guys who were there doing logistics and running a bonus stage with MILES gear. The match ran incredibly well and it was awesome to meet those guys. They're planning to do it at the same place next year and you guys it is 110% worth the experience.
