Why buy an expensive AR charging handle?

I have thought about upgrading to a steel Charging Handle.

M14sRock said:

A stock charging handle is fine, unless you need to use your boot heel on it to free a stuck case. When that happens you will appreciate the strength of the BCM Gunfighter charging handle.

The BCM also has a raised lip around the back of the upper that directs any gas blowback up, rather than back into your face/eye.

Run an AR hard enough and long enough and you'll see the value in a good replacement charging handle.

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Nope...first time I saw a boot-heel 'mortared' charging
handle was on a well-worn M16A1 in 1980, in Army
Infantry OSUT at Fort Benning--and it worked just fine.

Seen it done a time or two after that, with similar
positive results. It was a rare event, but standard
GI charging handle worked just fine.

Our OSUT cycle was taught the "nose tip to charging
handle" technique for getting a consistent face/cheek
weld on stock. Nobody had any gas-in-face problems.
I used that technique for thousands of rounds, and
still do, and haven't ever had any problems with gas
from upper receiver, with standard charging handle.

Deen said:

If you run the mil-spec charging handle with the blade of your left hand, like an FAL, you can easily bend it from the asymmetrical force (BTDT).

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Been there & done that too, with standard GI handle. Not
a problem.

There's lots of snake oil for sale, anywhere you look. The
guys selling it will always tell you it's great (and you really
need it).

I use the extended handle on my heavy barreled AR-15's which sport rather large scopes for prairie dog hunting. Used them for years for the convenience of not reaching under the scopes.
They can have a practical use.

charge handle

A great way to get rid of excess money. They can be easier to reach if you have a low mounted optic. IMHO

I own about 10 of the BCM charging handles. They are superior to the GI style regular one.

Back in the day, the prevailing training was that you took your right hand off the pistol grip, and charged the gun with your right hand. That is no longer the proper tactically minded way to do it. The proper way nowadays, is that your right hand stays on the pistol grip at all times, never to be removed. You do all gun manipulations with your left hand. You operate the charging handle with your left hand, and the bolt stop/release with your left hand.

The BCM charging handle is a must for me. At only $45, its a no brainier.

Steve912 said:

Nope...first time I saw a boot-heel 'mortared' charging
handle was on a well-worn M16A1 in 1980, in Army
Infantry OSUT at Fort Benning--and it worked just fine.

Seen it done a time or two after that, with similar
positive results. It was a rare event, but standard
GI charging handle worked just fine.

Our OSUT cycle was taught the "nose tip to charging
handle" technique for getting a consistent face/cheek
weld on stock. Nobody had any gas-in-face problems.
I used that technique for thousands of rounds, and
still do, and haven't ever had any problems with gas
from upper receiver, with standard charging handle.




Been there & done that too, with standard GI handle. Not
a problem.

There's lots of snake oil for sale, anywhere you look. The
guys selling it will always tell you it's great (and you really
need it).

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To each his own.

I've broken and bent GI and other commercial charging handles. And I've had lube and powder blown back into may face, especially with Suppressor use and PCC.

I've been running ARs pretty consistently and pretty hard for the last 35 years or so, and the BCM charging handle is a definite must for me.

bubbatime said:

Back in the day, the prevailing training was that you took your right hand off the pistol grip, and charged the gun with your right hand.

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Who the h-e-dubble-toot-picks taught you that?

I have a BCM for one of my rifles that I bought on sale for, like, $35 because I was going to mount a variable on that one. I ended up going a different direction and never did mount a scope on that rifle. So I can't speak to how useful a cool-guy charging handle really is. But it runs fine and doesn't hurt anything, so what the hey? Truthfully, for what most people really use these rifles for, clean out of the box is GTG. But, as long as it doesn't interfere with reliability, if whatever accessory turns your crank, why not?

Well, I really like the Radian Raptor NP-3 coated, but not crazy about the a-symmetrical symmetry (believe me, this kind of stuff bothers me) so I'm really leaning towards the Giesselle Super Charging handle because of it's reputation, I love the cross hatched design on the handles too and it's symmetrical to boot, I just wished they made one that's NP-3 coated like Radian. I went ahead and ordered a Phase5 B.A.D. replacement lever and the Timber Creek billet skeletonized trigger guard. Just can't decide on the handle because I keep going back and forth on that.

Steve912 said:

Who the h-e-dubble-toot-picks taught you that?

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I'm too young (35) to have been trained like that, but watch some old military training videos, and they charged the guns back then with their right hand, by first removing the right hand from the pistol grip.

bubbatime said:

I'm too young (35) to have been trained like that, but watch some old military training videos, and they charged the guns back then with their right hand, by first removing the right hand from the pistol grip.

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Guess I'm too old to have "learned it" that way.

The only time we would manipulate the charging handle
with the 'trigger hand' was in the manual of arms, i.e.
when standing in formation and presenting the rifle
during an in-ranks inspection.

I've thought about buying an aftermarket charging handle because I wanted to blow money on something, not because I was looking for something better than stock - always talked myself out of it.

As with 98% of the folks on this site, I am no longer operational and never shot competitively with an AR so I don't don't need any tacticticool stuff for range play or self/home defense. For most I feel it's about looking and feeling cool, not that there's anything wrong with that, especially when chasing hogs with your buddies across the south 40. In fact, I don't ever remember seeing aftermarket charging handles in war footage or while working in law enforcement, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel, etc. not sure how we survived without em.

I survived, "neat", "cool", "rad", "bad", "groovy", "state of the art" and "tactical". I suppose that I'll survive "mil-spec"!

03hemi said:

Does an expensive ($100 or less seems to be the range) charging handle make any difference? Other than being ambi, is there a noticeable difference in the feel when you charge it, or is it just for looks?

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I like the BCM Gunfighter AR-15 Charging Handle, Mod 4. When you have a scope on the AR the extension makes charging the AR a lot easier

Stock CH is fine, no real reason to change it out. I do however usually change out the CH lever to one from PRI just because I prefer it

If you're a left handed shooter especially if you are using a scope an oversized handle might be an improvement. Otherwise I think it is just improving a nonexistent problem. As a lefty w old eyes so optic almost mandatory I'm thinking about trying one to see if it helps.

So far the only things I have done to any of my ARs are

1 ambi safety
2 sling hardware bc I won't own a rifle w/o a sling
3 choice of optic
4 flashlight mount on 1 rifle
5 change out grip bc nothing w a fingergrove grip fits my hand
6 rubber butt cover bc on my DPMS rifles the factory butt plate has a sharp edge and
7 on DPMS rifles change handguard to a slimmer flatter handguard bc the DPMS Glacierguard handguards work to keep heat down by being big and fat too fat for my paws.
8 my 1st AR does have a set of back up iron sights. Since it has a battery powered optic that makes some sense.

Ambi safety almost necessary for fast left hand use.

Numbers 2,3 and 4 are common sense to me especially sling hardware.

Rest are for comfort and handling which depends on the shooter. All of my ARs still weigh the same or less than stock plus the optic weight.

On optics I found out if you have astigmatism a red dot looks like a fluffy red cotton ball rather than a round dot. I think it loses some precision but not much. All of my scopes are low power variables. 1x - 4x or 6x illuminated. The 1-6x is on a 308.

All rifles have standard barrels. I've shot heavy barrel ARs and have no need for such a rig. For target shooting or longer range I prefer a bolt action.

I've seen ARs w everything known to man hung off them and have no use for any changes other than those mentioned. That is me though. I use factory triggers because they work for their intended purpose. My brother built a heavy AR for prairie dog shooting but it didn't work as well as a good bolt gun.

Realize that drifts from original question but that is my experience w ARs.

CH4 said:

I've thought about buying an aftermarket charging handle because I wanted to blow money on something, not because I was looking for something better than stock - always talked myself out of it.

As with 98% of the folks on this site, I am no longer operational and never shot competitively with an AR so I don't don't need any tacticticool stuff for range play or self/home defense. For most I feel it's about looking and feeling cool, not that there's anything wrong with that, especially when chasing hogs with your buddies across the south 40. In fact, I don't ever remember seeing aftermarket charging handles in war footage or while working in law enforcement, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel, etc. not sure how we survived without em.

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I believe you summed it up pretty good, the stock will and does work just as good as any, it's only about having a "kewler" one.

muzzleblast said:

I'd rather spend the $ on ammo.

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Yep, gasoline and ammo, do it for me, too!