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This has been discussed a few times, including this thread:
I’m still mainly running red dot/prism sights, so the issues with standard CH & scope interference haven’t been approved. I have mounted a couple scopes on ARs in the last few weeks, but haven’t shot any of them yet…so I may upgrade somewhere down the road.
But for those of you that shoot suppressed and have standard charging handles, you’ve probably been bother by the gas to the face a bit. There are two mods you can do that won’t cost much at all and are a decent bandaid until you spend the $$ on a nice CH. One you can use on ambi charging handles, but the other may not works depending on the specific design.
First up is to drill a hole in the side opposite the latch. This is the one that may or may not work for ambi setups. It also wouldn’t do much good for left-handed shooters.
It’s as simple as picking whatever drill bit you have handy that isn’t too big for the application. You’ll drill a hole that goes through rhe CH into the channel…like this:
I used whatever but happened to be in the drill from working on my closet door rifle rack this past week. It’s just enough to let some of the gas shoot out to the side instead of between the gap between the upper and the CH.
The other step is the one that may cost a couple bucks if you don’t have any RTV around. (I’m assuming everybody already has a drill and some bits). But one little tube would do a dozen or more if you had to buy them.
Other write-ups use various methods to do this, but after doing several I’ve found this one to work well for me. Grab a piece of plastic/cling/saran wrap (whatever you call it at your house. Release the charging handle and slide the edge of the plastic up under the tang on the back of the upper, then pull it around where we you can’t fit it. It’ll look something this when you’re done.
This is the RTV I had on the shelf from previous attempts at this mod;
And this is the tube I bought today after getting the upper prepped only to find out the old tube was dried out to the point it was unusable. 🙄
Run a bead of it around the inner curve of the CH, kinda like this:
You’re not too worried about a mess at this point, as you’re going to clean it up later. The cling wrap is to keep it from sticking to the upper, and you’ll use a razor blade or something else to remove the excess once it’s dry.
I then push the CH back into its spot until it clicks, then pull it back (still latched) so the opening is as big as it’ll be. It’ll look something like this after it oozes up once you’ve pushed in back in to the latched position.
Now we wait. Probably clean it up tomorrow after church and post a pic.
The type of RTV isn’t super important. I think the ultra black is rated for 400° continuous temps and 500° for short periods. The write-up linked in the thread above uses some variant that’s red. It’s ones of those things that’s quick and simple if you have to redo it down the road.
The best charging handle
Latest in the best of series- The best charging handle. What say you? Also equally as informative...the worst one?
carolinafirearmsforum.com
I’m still mainly running red dot/prism sights, so the issues with standard CH & scope interference haven’t been approved. I have mounted a couple scopes on ARs in the last few weeks, but haven’t shot any of them yet…so I may upgrade somewhere down the road.
But for those of you that shoot suppressed and have standard charging handles, you’ve probably been bother by the gas to the face a bit. There are two mods you can do that won’t cost much at all and are a decent bandaid until you spend the $$ on a nice CH. One you can use on ambi charging handles, but the other may not works depending on the specific design.
First up is to drill a hole in the side opposite the latch. This is the one that may or may not work for ambi setups. It also wouldn’t do much good for left-handed shooters.
It’s as simple as picking whatever drill bit you have handy that isn’t too big for the application. You’ll drill a hole that goes through rhe CH into the channel…like this:
I used whatever but happened to be in the drill from working on my closet door rifle rack this past week. It’s just enough to let some of the gas shoot out to the side instead of between the gap between the upper and the CH.
The other step is the one that may cost a couple bucks if you don’t have any RTV around. (I’m assuming everybody already has a drill and some bits). But one little tube would do a dozen or more if you had to buy them.
Other write-ups use various methods to do this, but after doing several I’ve found this one to work well for me. Grab a piece of plastic/cling/saran wrap (whatever you call it at your house. Release the charging handle and slide the edge of the plastic up under the tang on the back of the upper, then pull it around where we you can’t fit it. It’ll look something this when you’re done.
This is the RTV I had on the shelf from previous attempts at this mod;
And this is the tube I bought today after getting the upper prepped only to find out the old tube was dried out to the point it was unusable. 🙄
Run a bead of it around the inner curve of the CH, kinda like this:
You’re not too worried about a mess at this point, as you’re going to clean it up later. The cling wrap is to keep it from sticking to the upper, and you’ll use a razor blade or something else to remove the excess once it’s dry.
I then push the CH back into its spot until it clicks, then pull it back (still latched) so the opening is as big as it’ll be. It’ll look something like this after it oozes up once you’ve pushed in back in to the latched position.
Now we wait. Probably clean it up tomorrow after church and post a pic.
The type of RTV isn’t super important. I think the ultra black is rated for 400° continuous temps and 500° for short periods. The write-up linked in the thread above uses some variant that’s red. It’s ones of those things that’s quick and simple if you have to redo it down the road.
