Tyler Frogley from United States, UT Public Profile

The barrel nut is realllly tight. Cannot even start to thread it on an 1/8 of an inch onto the reciever threads without friction being applied. There’s already significant friction wear on my barrel from attempting to thread the barrel nut on. I’m not certain if they use a different barrel profile to accommodate this, but if that’s the case ecommerce or any store for that matter shouldn’t be ok with GGP selling this as a separate component.

I’ve yet to test the gas busting effects. But bought this to compare side by side to my griffin snach since that one IS NOT TRUE AMBI (griffin armament makes me mad), but has apparently some acclaimed gas busting effects. This PRI charging handle feels way better to charge vs the snach and around the same cost has some gas busting effects apparently claimed as well. The snach has a hole to the right of the right charging ear while the PRI gas bust has channels machined on the top and bottom of the charging handle back end shaft for “re-directing” the gas as well as a HUGE wall for redirecting gas as well. The sku images are out of date as well. Mine came with lightening machines marks on the top, bottom, and rear of the ears. Extremely impressed. And the charging surface seems massive, but it’s actually VERY ergonomic vs the snach which is about a 1/3 of the charging surface when comparing one of the charging ears of the PRI to the snach.

Well built, have used this upper a few times. This last one I purchased from OP had a blemish though, and I paid full price, which is frustrating but I’m too lazy and with all of the scare going on I’m willing to keep it.

Best ratchet system on the market. You can still wrench it down with your muscle and without staking, it can easily be removed. With the nub underneath that locks into the castle nut index grooves, you have peace of mind of it not walking off. And if it does walk even a little, there are additional grooves as safety precaution to prevent an malfunctions or damage do your tube and lower.

Reached out to griffin. They claim this charging handle is “ambi” when in reality it’s not. They admitted that the right charging ear when pulled DOES NOT actuate the left latch that disengages the handle from the upper. But when pulling the right side it relieves “pressure” for the left latch to then disengage. Anyone familiar with physics knows that if that right charging ear is pulled and there is pressure applied rearward and slow, then that latch will still sit on the shelf of the upper and not come unlatched unless inadvertently rubbing on the upper and creating more unnecessary wear. Unfortunately this is a no go for me. Industry standard charging handles that claim to be “ambidextrous” DO IN FACT HAVE RIGHT SIDE CHARGING EARS THAT MANIPULATE THE LEFT LATCH TO DISENGAGE FROM THE UPPER. To me their claim for ambidextrous is a sad attempt. For $80 it’s steep for a left side charging handle only.

So I bought this because of my buddy’s AR10 snach. But I regret it. The other review is correct. Idk if covid demand has plummeted the firearms industry QC, but this charging handle has vastly different finish on the charging ears and are NOT like his charging handle in shape even. His feels WAY MORE ROBUST, oh ya and to top it off, the right charging ear doesn’t actuate the left side latch. Not quite sure what’s going on, but if I had the packaging still I’d send it right back to optics planet. Id take even take store credit, for $80 I’d do a geiselle or bcm or even the PRI gas buster since this handles main purpose was for suppression, which I can’t speak to because this won’t live on any of my builds. I reached out to griffin regarding the design differences and apparently they’ve been “updated” for the last year or two, so if you can find an older snach I’d snag it up IF it is ambi.

Waiting to finish my build so I can’t speak to durability and design, HOWEver, I CAN speak to the fact that the charging handle received is different than what my buddy’s snach charging handle looks like. His finish on the charging ears look more durable and have an L sort of shape on the rear of the ears vs my square or flat back ears. Not sure if griffin changed manufacturers or finish, but his just feels more durable and sturdy tbh. I’ll have to update this review later but I’ve emailed griffins customer service to explain why the shift in finish and charging ear design. Honestly, at the cost of this I’d probably have done a bcm or raptor knowing the finish would look exactly the same. Can’t speak to its effects on suppression yet.

Handguard is supposed to be 6.1 oz with barrel nut included. Those trying to build a lightweight AR should look for another option. Barrel nut is 8oz bringing the handguard to 12.6 oz.... my purpose in buying this was for the weight, there are plenty of functional handguards out there.

I initially gave this product a 3 and now I’m giving it a 4. I took it out to sight in my .224 Valkyrie, and the 5-20 was perfect for seeing 200 yds easily. The Valkyrie is easily as impressive, because I shot a group within 3/4” at 200. I really enjoyed shooting with the sight. The only real gripe I have is the front objective focus, and the poor vision at night even with the stock IR. You can see at most up to 100 yds which might suffice, but given the 5-20 I was as hoping for a little more than that. It’s a pretty heavy sight and brings my Valkyrie upper to a whopping 8.4lbs. Love the zoom feature on the side. And other con is I’ve been waiting on the range finder attachment for 3 1/2 months now....

A Buddy and I built 9mm ARs.

I put my fostech in it and it worked alright with a 9oz buffer from spikes, jp flatwire spring, davidson defense 9mm BCG.

I modified the bcg in order to operate properly upon fostech's recommendation. It bursts for a few rounds in my 32 rd colt mags, and then at round #24 it starts ripping through.

I tried changing other things up, but still burst...BIGGEST GRIPE IS NOT BEING ABLE TO DO CONTROLLED BURSTS.

DIDNT RUN WELL WITH THE FOXTROT BCG

I just know alot of the 9mm bcgs need modified. I wasn't skilled enough to get the mod just right.

My buddy couldn't get his .300 blk to run with it.

All in all, take this with a grain of salt (we aren't gunsmiths) but I would only put this in a 5.56/.223. I think they need to make one dedicated for 9s.