Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Side charging

Anyone use a side charging upper on there AR, what's pro and cons

the obvious plus is no charging handle. I have 2 uppers probably no longer made. LAR grizzle and MMC

minus is it is not amby though there may be side amby's avail now.

The majority are from dogshite makes like BCA

A crap shoot. Just had two brought in that would not function with factory ammo. New in the box....not so good.

Why did you buy these things, they were cheap....

Bear Creek makes a bunch, non-charging handle cheap. I wouldn't want one.

I bought a Sanders Armory Side Charging 18″ 6.5 Grendel upper just to try one out. I put it on an aero precision lower. I like it. So far no problems, it functions just as well as any of my other AR's. The grandkids like to shoot it.

I love my Gibbz

I'm not too keen on having to take the charging handle off in order to remove the BCG from the upper.

The only side charger I own is a Bear Creek Arsenal 22 WMR that just came in today. I went to clean the bore, and quickly realized I needed to remove a hex bolt in order to remove the charging handle, in order to remove the bolt from the receiver. I said fck it, and cleaned it from the muzzle.

Me too, got three of them.....

That's intriguing. I looked around a little on the Gibbz site but didn't see anything about disassembly (MM's comment made me think of it).

By the way, the reloads that worked on the AR-15 300 BO side charger, were loaded with: AA-1680 for supersonic and H-110 on the subs.
Guy that had the factory ammo that would not function at all, asked if I would...NO. Then asked if he could, YES and I will teach you how.
So we pick up another reloader, with a rifle that now works and shoots sub 1/2 inch groups.
Another lifetime convert. Like the man and a fish deal.

The Gibbz has a nonreciprocating bolt handle. Pop the rear pin and slide the BCA out, easy peasy.

I have 2 LAR grizzly side charge..... awesome, night and day better than the BCA,
I know Potterfield has them also but have not been impressed with his AR wares

Potter's are BCA sold under his ar stoner brand. That's why they're so cheap. I'm about to see if one works. I didn't mind unscrewing a hex bold to clean it but it does look pretty cheap overall. I'll see if it shoots, if not I'm not out much.

Bb

I don't save posts to be used as weapons later, but I could swear I've seen comments trashing BCA while praising AR Stoner.

Picked up a BCA side charger in 450bush. Jury is still out so far ill stick with my other 450 AR for hunting this year. Worse case, I sell it

One of the major Pro's is that you get less gas-blast to the face if you're using a suppressor. Even with a well-tuned upper (adjustable gas block or properly sized gas hole in the barrel matched to the proper buffer), you can get extra blowback when using a suppressor. A side-charger eliminates that.

Another "pro" is that if you're in position you can charge the rifle without removing your face from the stock and continue looking through your scope or whatever sight you're using.