I mean, pow.

I spent eight years in the Marines, disassembled my M16A2 I don’t know how many times.  Call it a bunch.

See that ring just aft of the handguards?  To remove the handguards, you slide it back, then sort of pry the guards out.  The problem is if your rifle is new or new-ish or even middle-aged the spring is super-duper tight and it’s a bitch to yank that thing back far enough.

Well science has marched to the rescue.  And once I saw this I smacked my forehead: duh.

Insert the bendy bit into the magazine well, clamp the straight bits around the ring and lever that sum’bitch down.

So obvious.  And it would have saved my paws wear and tear over the years.  I’d like to go back and smack myself for not even thinking about this.

Cross posted to Space For Commerce.