seems to me the aluminum ones are a definitive weak spot. what’s out there in the way of high quality steel stuff?
or you could just buy a quality forged CH instead of extruded/stamped crap.
What’s the benefit?
dunno about steel vs Al when rubbing to each other
Then your BCG/upper receiver combo probably worries you, right?
Ive never had or used a steel CH,so I cant say.
Who is to say the steel unit will be more durable.It could be made of pot metal and bend or break just as easily.
Ive never broken or bent a CH and Im a big dumb,ham fisted,corn fed animal.
Now that Ive said that I will probably have one break on me.
I’d personally just buy a quality aluminum unit from someone like Bravo or G&R.
All Im personally buying from now on is LMT parts.I wandered back to my previous brand of choice recently and found things are not as they should be.
Buy a spare in case you do break one.Other than that I would not worry too much about it.
While I generally avoid all things DPMS, they make a machined steel charging handle that many of the guys in the industry that I respect run in their personal guns along with a PRI Military “Big Latch”: http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=18381&title=AR-15%20STEEL%20CHARGING%20HANDLE
I have broken an aluminum CH in the past so it can happen. I prefer the PRI “GasBuster” CH.
After breaking two aluminum charging handles at the forward 90-degree bend [where they interface with the gas key], I only run the DPMS steel charging handle with a PRI flat latch on my personal guns.
I posted a pick of the broken ones in the other ‘Just As Good?’ thread.