The Geissele SCH 5.56 - A Masterpiece

Ah yes, Geissele … a name synonymous with Elite Military Contracts, Angelic trigger units, Rails systems Tony Stark would be proud to call his own, and well… let’s be honest, Stout pricing. But you’ll never hear someone disassociate their brand with the word quality. If you’re willing to pay, they will deliver the utmost to you.

So naturally, as I have begun modding out my Daniel Defense MK18 SBR recently I came to the Charging Handle situation. A component I truly feel is overlooked and almost completely forgotten by most AR end users. If you were building a High Horsepower, all-purpose Racecar… would you skimp or run stock transmission or clutch components? Best of luck, if you do. So I looked at my usual go-to(s), The Raptor or an off the shelf BCM whatever MOD was on sale at the time. But this time I wanted to try something different. I had been glancing at Geissele’s website for a minute and noticed two offerings. The ACH and SCH. I saw where the ACH was designed to be a low profile, low snag piece of kit requested by some serious fellas who specialize in Aerial Insertion Operations. And as I don’t plan on HALO jumping behind enemy lines anytime soon, I opted for the ACH’s Curvier sister… The Super Charging Handle. As an avid FDE Addict, their Desert Dirt (DDC) finish was my flavor of choice. So I ordered one from Rainier Arms, received her promptly with no issues like always. However there was one potential user facing aesthetic issue, which I’ll address here shortly. At first glance, it’s hard not to be impressed by the SCH. It’s beautifully crafted, robust, yet surprisingly lightweight. Lightly oiled from the factory, I swapped her in my MK18 and immediately noticed the vast and I mean vast improvements over obviously a stock charging handle or even the SCH’s direct competition. She’s overbuilt, yet elegant in function. This thing reminds me of Old World craftsmanship. Never has Charging an AR-15 felt so eventful. System Manipulations are damn near effortless and I feel that clearing potential malfunctions would be far less stressful, far more efficient, and even lifesaving with an SCH ran AR-15. The texturing, the cuts, and surfacing on the SCH, hell.. this whole interface is simply unrivaled in the current market. If a single component can enhance the Battery of Arms for a Weapon System, you have my attention. I don’t care if it’s your strong hand, weak hand, any hard surface near you.. you are going to charge your AR with one of these installed. This thing was designed to be ran, and ran hard in real world applications. It’s a bonus that it’s beautiful too. My host is a relatively bone stock Daniel Defense MK18 factory SBR, with no buffer or gas trickery as of yet. I mostly run her suppressed with a Surefire SOCOM Mini 5.56 can, so yes things can get as Gassy as a cool Jupiter evening. According to Geissele’s website, The SCH’s heightened rear lip will help mitigate gas blowback on Suppressed Short Barreled Rifles - I decided to find out how true that was. So, I loaded up some bulk XM193 headed to my local range, and went to work. Four Hundred and Twenty Rounds-ish later, and with a healthy amount of carbon build up - zero malfunctions was my final score, Well Done Geissele, well done. Which now brings me to that one user facing issue, which I mentioned earlier - a purely aesthetic issue. It’s definitely not as issue for me, but for some of you OCD’ers it could be, and is worth mentioning. Now when I received my first SCH I noticed the Left-Side Charging Latch, was well considerably a different shade than the rest of it. I know Geissele clearly states on their website that the Desert Dirt Color (DDC) finish is a variety of desert terrain shades designed to break up a weapon’s outline. Essentially, an elegant solution to what we commonly call Camouflage. Due to their chemical process, a uniformed finish is not guaranteed. Again, not a problem for me. Hell I loved the original one I first received, it reminded me of a certain Mandalorian Bounty Hunter’s ethos…if he ran Geissele components, which he should. So I went on and posted some pics on my Instagram account, and it caught Geissele’s eye. They messaged me and concurred that the sample I had received, was a bit extreme and highly uncommon. So they overnighted me a new one, at no cost to me. It is worth mentioning that in 2017, Customer Service like that simply doesn’t exist anymore folks. Any company that takes that kind of pride in their product, should have you taking the same pride in owning their products. Thanks again Geissele! Two caveats also worth mentioning, sorry Geissele… The size is noticeable. If your current rig is an Anemic Super Model, or you are currently attending Jump School on the weekends – the Airborne model should fit your needs better. Also, she’s not super cheap. However in my opinion, you are getting a bargain for the quality and engineering that without a doubt is evident here. So, yes I am 100% recommending the Geissele Super Charging Handle. If black is your thing, they make em’ in Black too don’t worry. They also make a 7.62 (read compatibility chart) and Heckler & Koch 417 models, for those of you who run those Big Boy Battle Rifles. Visit www.geissele.com for more info. Purchase here: Geissele Super Charging Handle 5.56