CarrierComp Charging Handle: Will They Ever Be In Stock?

[shakiesam]

I have personally owned a Ti FFT charging handle and it deformed with usage. Not significantly, but indeed it did. That is why CC uses an A2 steel tang vs. a Ti tang. They actually T&E'ed an all-Ti version, saw the deformation, and opted to use an A2 tang to prevent it. A limited run of all Ti handles were made by CC, and they were handed out gratis (no, I do not have one), as well as tested in-house. The results of this are why the hybrid handle came to be.

 

The Ti handle I had from FFT was the 3/4" version. I am sure that their 1/2" version performs much better in every way due to having less weight (less momentum during cycling = less impact on the tang each shot).

 

Here is a link to my experiences with it: http://www.benelliusa.com/forum/showthread.php/22341-FFT-Ti-Bolt-Review?highlight=FFT

 

FFT brings things to market fast, CC brings better things to market, much much slower. Which one you buy depends on how patient you are and how much the details mean to you. Both are very serviceable products.

 

Further, Carrier Comp uses thicker tubing for their magazine tubes than does FFT. Now you have to decide...a bit lighter, or a bit stronger?

 

Further still, FFT is just an answer to CC's longer wait-times. Almost everything they have for the M4 except for the handguards, CC came out with first, and in my opinion having owned products from both, better. There is definitely competition and has been friction in the past. However, I do not side PERSONALLY with one or the other, except to say that Kip was first, and responded directly to requests from myself and other users here for product, and has been very personable. FFT is headed by a man who is trying to provide for himself and his family, and also provides a response to the requests people have: Wanting Ti products faster than Kip can provide them. So I am not "anti-FFT", per se, but I am "Pro-CC". That said, If I were in the market right now for a bolt-charging handle, the FFT 1/2" handle would get my vote. If and when I could upgrade to Kip's hybrid product, I would do so and dump the FFT. Regarding the magazine tube, I think they are close enough so as not to stress over it, although I buy from CC because I place orders before I need things so the wait is transparent to me.

 

Kip himself has personally told me in the past that he has no negative sentiment toward FFT, and that speaks volumes. We are lucky that Kip and FFT exist in our community to meet our wants and needs---varied they may be.

 

FFT ships fast, and they are very easy to deal with. Instead of a better product, they offer a more accessible product. A type of PI in and of itself. Like most small businesses, you will find a few stories of conflict involving FFT, but nothing to make a big to-do about, and you will find as many stories praising their fast shipping and easy business dealings as you will praising CC's superb finished products.

 

Vote with your wallet, regardless of who gets the green, it's going to Americans feeding their families.

 

Thank you for a very concise post. Think I will order a 1/2" one from FFT per your suggestion, as the Benelli one

is hard on these old hands.