Decent extended , ambi , charging latch - oh yeh at a fair price ... any such thing .... help me out the ones I have seen have been aluminum ....I question those ...
Having used some of the ambi CH's, I've settled on the BCM Gunfighter's instead. The ACLM was probably the nicest of the bunch, but the stupid forward assist just gets in your way. I'd much rather go over the top and grab the bigger latch on the BCM knowing the handle isn't going to twist when I yank it back.
I just looked into this for a lefty build I'm doing for the wife and I went with this latch AR-15 AMBIDEXTROUS TACTICAL LATCH - Brownells its steel and you can put in steel handle. I'm going to give you a link thats pretty helpful thats by a lefty and gives some reviews on some really nice ones. I would go for the armament dynamics one if I was doing the build for myself but couldn't justify the cost for a rifle for the wife who shoots a couple times a year. They have made some upgrades to the AD one since this review. Military Morons AR Accessories Page and if you want a lefty mag release I went with the troy one and like it alot and is on the exact same place as the normal one just on the left side.
No need to as aluminum has been the standard handle material since around day one so many decades ago.
Its been fine through several nations military and civilian uses for as long.
The only potential issue that can crop up from a lot of use is the latch handle rollpin coming loose if the hole it passes through in the handle proper goes out of true.
The BCM as suggested above and a few others have tweaked the design a bit to relieve most if not all of the stress off the pin.
Steel charging handles are for grandpa's bolt gun, 50's era military collectables and AK variants that machine it as part of the bolt carrier.
Sorry for jumping on the post, but related question... I know ther aren't a lot of RRA fans out there but that's what I've got at the moment. The only part that seems really flimsy to me is the charging handle. Can I replace with one of the above or is there more involved (altering/cusomizing) than just swapping out. Not opposed to ambi but not necessary. Are the aftermarket ones any better or do they all seem "flimsy". Thanks.
Ok so I took some pics of the one I got from brownells. I also realized that it says its aluminum but the one I have is steel I just checked it with a magnet. Maybe they changed it recently because the one I recieved is also skeletonized.
I may chop off the large latch section so it wont mess with forward assist operation and snag anything but havent decided yet.
@ cgrutt: Straight up swap/plug~n~play unless your upper is way out of spec.
@ GUNSICK1: I think you'll find that its just the latch that is steel, not the handle.
Some skeletonized ones do come as steel as its much cheaper to produce than a special alloy aluminum that can take the oddball shaping and hole cutting without failing when done.
The handles themselves remain aluminum though none the less.
As a side note, I imagine you're going to hate life if you ever have a bolt under~ride and you have to karate chop that charging handle to knock the trapped casing/cartridge loose.
Cool thanks all for the fast responses - I'm good to go on the charging handle .... its just the latch part I'm looking for ..... and looking at the stress points on the latch is what gave me concern about the latch being aluminum .... GUNSICK1 the item you linked me to is aluminum
Good God, why?
The stress point is still there unless they've done something internal not shown or mentioned, making that offering just heavier and way more expensive than a standard one.
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