just got the email! excited for it

Would love to try this, but already have two extra Raptors laying around

Avalanche Charging Handle by Triple Bravo, on Flickr" />

Thought I'd toss out my review.  Please be kind lol.

Before I start I’d like to thank Stickman and Rainier Arms.  Without them this wouldn’t be happening right now.  

I’d also like to mention that the extent of my formal writing training was a technical writing class in college.  So I’m sure reading this review will be like traipsing through a minefield of grammatical, spelling, and sentence structure errors.

As I’m assuming a certain number of you did, at one point in time or another, I started out fairly ignorant to the AR 15 platform.  I knew the basics, but ignorance prevailed, ruling the vast majority of my build.  As time passed and I amassed knowledge on the rifle, the parts I bought for it went up in quality. In the beginning however, I didn’t give much thought to the charging handle.  I ordered a $3 dollar extension and it, along with an assortment of other cheap pollutants went on my AR.

Part by part my AR was upgraded.  Rail, optic, furniture, BCG, et cetera but that extension sat stubbornly on my charging handle without me giving it too much thought.  That is, of course, until I saw the Avalanche charging handle from Rainier Arms.  

I’d like to start out touching upon what is, in all reality, the most subjective part of this review.  I feel like this is the best looking charging handle on the market today.  Not only in the configuration I tested, but also the various other handles that you can interchange at will.  It’s almost as if the guys at Rainier feverishly toiled away in some clandestine facility in order to reanimate Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Picasso with the sole intention of garnering their artistic cues for the Avalanche’s design.

The intriguing aspect of the Avalanche is the assortment of interchangeable handles, the impact of which range from impact to aesthetics.  I have the knurled handle for one simple reason, the grip.  I understand that nothing replaces training but there are certain products that can augment training to aid in manipulating your rifle.  

If you’re so inclined, have some tools lying around, and the aptitude of a four year old, you can easily change the handles with any of the offerings currently available.  I didn’t receive any with mine, so I can’t comment on the exact process but it looks very straightforward.  

For me, personally, I like the fact that I will get grip even if the tip of my finger barely makes contact with the tip of the knurled handle.  If my life is on the line I want that kind of piece of mind and that is exactly what the Avalanche delivers.  

Unfortunately I can’t report on the Avalanches performance when it comes to running your AR suppressed.  I just moved to a free state and while I’ve started the process of obtaining a suppressor, it’s still in legal limbo until the powers that be give me their blessing.  So I can’t tell you if shooting with it suppressed will be like wading through your local cigar bar on a busy weekend afternoon or it will offer the smoke free conditions of a prepped operating room at Duke University.  

For those of you who like the facts, they are as follows:
The Avalanche is made in the U.S.A. our of aircraft grade 7075 aluminum.  As mentioned it is ambidextrous and the handles are interchangeable.  Pricing and the handle options can be found by following the link above.

If they come out with SHORT levers, I'm in

One of these arrived in the mail today.  Compared to the Raptor it sticks out a little, though I think the Avalanche is more comfortable.  If I were involved in designing version 2 I'd suggest making the rounded handles a hair bigger in diameter and in an effort to achieve comfort and less perception of it sticking out I'd consider changing the tube to something more like this.  Rounded on the edges might be highly awesome and even more comfy.  

I'd close off the back end of the charging handle. As it currently stands, blow-back gasses have a direct channel to your face. Besides that, I really like the design.
 

EDIT:


Pic for reference.

I forgot to mention a feature I like.  Pulling the right side handle to disengage the locking mechanism doesn't require the left side handle to move.  

I haven't fired any rounds with this so if gas in the face is substantial that's going to be a bummer.  

After messing about with this I see a little divot in the padding on the ACE Skeleton stock.  Upon closer inspection there's a little bit of rub there.  We'll see how badly it chews up the padding over time.