Downsides of going "latch-less" on CH's?

Dealers/ Manufacturers/ Regional/ Info Trash
1

I had seen something somewhere about running an AR without a charging handle latch, and a search didn’t come up with anything similar, so I thought I’d ask the experts: what potential downsides might a “latchless” build have? Obviously on a loose or well-lubricated and slippery build it means a risk of the CH racking unintentionally, but I can also see potential upsides of a little less weight on an ultralight build and slightly faster into action if carried Condition Three.

Any other pros and cons on doing one of these mods? (My first thought was “while I don’t know what, Stoner put that latch on for a reason–pro engineers don’t add small parts, moving parts and complex machining without having some perceived good reason.”)

2

The weight reduction would be negligible and you’d still need some sort of detent to retain it, even without a latch. No advantages IMHO with too many downsides with a CH that isn’t positively retained until actuated by the user.

3

I had a roll pin fail on a hunting trip, and fired very few rounds through rifle w/o the latch. The charging handle didn’t hit me in the nose TOO hard, but it will hit you in the nose with no latch, and that is quite distracting.

Gave my hunting buddies a good laugh at my expense.

4

You should probably just remove the charging handle completely, plug the hole and charge your AR with your fingers. You’ll be really slick/streamlined/lightweight whatever the flavor of the month for ARs is these days.

5

Thanks, MM and Brett–technical manuals are strong on the “How To” but not so much on the “Why It’s Built This Way,” and some of us are as much about the intellectual side of the engineering as the technical and procedural.

6

Theres nothing intellectual about pointless minutiae. If more people went out and shot more they wouldnt be thinking of trivial things like this.

7

My day job is as a historian and researcher. I suppose you’re also going to argue that how design details of the P-51 Mustang were developed to maximize its combat performance is “just so much pointless minutiae” too…

My comment was addressed to people who actually had USEFUL things to say, and since you Doubled Down welcome to the Ignore List.

8

Because your idea makes so little sense to me I need to clarify.

You want to take a perfectly good charging handle and remove the latch that holds it to the receiver?

Your intention is save weight? A tiny bit of weight for significant reduction of utility.

How in the actual F would this make anything quicker?

Are you new to this weapon system? Do you actually shoot much?

9

Let ME be clear: Not my idea, and militarymoron and Brett above you already put this one to bed before you and whatshisname decided “ooh, I wanna play dogpile.”

Mods, nuke the thread please.