Hardware Talk: SilencerCo Gas Defeating Charging Handle

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Do you run your AR-15 suppressed? Does it spit gas back in your face? Here we look at SilencerCo’s solution, the Gas Defeating Charging Handle.

Got gas?

No, not that kind of gas. I’m talking about gas in the face from your suppressor. Yes, there’s gas out of the ejection port, but the real eye-watering gas can be the little jet of gas that spurts out of the rear of the upper, underneath the charging handle. Directed straight back at your face and jetting just above the level of the cheekpiece, it’s almost evilly aimed at your eye.

One of our club members had a real problem with that back in the 1980s. Combined with the contact lenses he wore (this was pre-LASIK and pre pretty much anything), there were some ARs he just couldn’t shoot.

So, I schemed up several ways to solve the problem for him … and one of those methods is the same one SilencerCo now offers. (I can’t say I was the first to think of it. I didn’t make more than a couple for use back then.)

The charging handle they offer is an ambidextrous model with latches on both sides. On the underside of the handle section, they’ve machined a groove and installed a section of rubber O-ring. The O-ring seals the gap between the bottom edge of the charging handle and the bottom face of the charging-handle opening in the upper receiver.

And, if/when you wear out the one that’s installed, there’s a spare O-ring with it. (Is it still an “O” if it has been clipped to be a “U”?)

Installing is easy: Disassemble your AR, take out the old charging handle, install the new SilencerCo one and reassemble. Done.

To do its job, the O-ring has to fill the gap—and that depends on the tolerances of the upper and the charging handle. In the few rifles I checked it in, the O-ring rubs enough that it takes more than just the usual easy thumb push to close and latch the charging handle. I consider that a good thing, as it provides a full seal.

Others, with a bit more wiggle room, might not rub. Even if they don’t, the O-ring will be fully (or mostly) filling the gap and cut down or eliminate the gas spurt out of that opening (which isn’t open anymore, right?).

At $114—compared to a USGI charging handle at $20—the price might seem high. Look at it this way: You’ve spent more than $1,000 (maybe even $2,000) for your AR-15, and another $1,000 (maybe even $1,500) for the suppressor and tax. Every magazine you shoot costs you $15 in ammunition.

So, is $114 to keep gas out of your eyes that much to spend? I thought not.

The SilencerCo gas-defeating charging handle is one of those good ideas that might not be needed for every application, but when it is, it’s a godsend.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

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