Rainier Arms Raptor™ Ambidextrous Charging Handle Review Discussion

[zero7one]

Discuss the Rainier Arms Raptor™ Ambidextrous Charging Handle here.



Click HERE for review link.

[ExTester]

Absolutely love mine. Got one of the originals with no markings.

Honestly never cared how the original handle felt, but the feel of the Raptor just seems natural to my hand. Can honestly say I won't buy another design, it's worth the price.

[Hmac]

I appreciate the heads-up. My son is left-handed. Looks like the long-rumored Troy ambi is vaporware, so for me this is a timely post. I just ordered this nice-looking Ranier for him.

[Stickman]

While John (of Rainier Arms) is a good friend, its not friendship that makes me say this is an outstanding charging handle. I hate to swell his head, but the level of detail and attention put into the Raptor really makes it stand out. I can't think of any ambi handle on the market that comes close.

[markm]

Interesting..

[Stickman]

Interesting..

That I have friends? It is rather hard to imagine....

[niftyvt]

I got to fondle one of these at the Rainier Arms shop and I was impressed (in Seattle area for work so how could I not stop by! ). If I ever needed an ambi charging handle the Raptor would be it!

[MoxyDave]

Looks good. Now we need a polymer filled-in dedicated .22lr version ;-) Sorry, I'm falling in love with .22lr lately ...

[jbsmwd]

Looks good. Now we need a dedicated .308 version ;-) Sorry, I'm falling in love with .308 lately ...

Fixed.

[Hmac]

My son had a chance to run this handle over about 300 rounds in his Stag this past week. He had been using an ACLM ambidextrous CH, but found that the release had a tendency to bind, especially when it got dirty or after a couple of hundred rounds. The Ranier ran smoothly and without any binding at all in the release mechanism. It appears to be a very well made unit and IMHO is state of the art in ambidextrous charging handles these days.

[BobinLaConner]

Excellent product...bought one, went home and installed it and immediately realized I need another one. Back the next day for a Raptor for the other rig. They just feel like this is the way a charging handle should feel. Thanks guys, but what do I do with the charging handles I took out? I guess it is good to have spares, but maybe I can get creative to use them somehow...trunk release in my SUV?, Oil Dipstick pull handle?, gate latch for the back yard?, bottle opener perhaps?? Seriously though, nice job and well thought out.

[markm]

I'm thinking this thing should be LAW ENFORCEMENT ONLY. I'm not too sure about a bunch of untrained masses having AMBI charging technology.

[zero7one]

I'm thinking this thing should be LAW ENFORCEMENT ONLY. I'm not too sure about a bunch of untrained masses having AMBI charging technology.

You are joking, right? I'm sure that a lot of left handed shooters would challenge your point.

[markm]

You are joking, right?

Of course.

[tac40]

I recently got one and have been running the Raptor on my Colt AR. As a left handed shooter, there were some CH on the market that looked good but fell short of what I wanted, reliability, durable and compactness without hitching onto my gear. The Raptor is well thought out and proven itself in the field. I loan my AR to a friend and she's new to shooting the AR, she picked it up quickly and is a right handed shooter who is getting into the 3 gun sport. Her ability to transition from left to right and able to run the CH without doing a "ninja" move to operate the Raptor won her over to go get one. Yeah it's that good. We had another ambi handle there and that shooter is now planning to switch CH.

Picture of the other brand. Raptor on the left and the other brand on the right. Note size and design between the two CH.