Falcon 37, a startup company in North Carolina, is going to be releasing a cheek rest charging handle for the AR15 platform on May 16. The HABU Mod 1 comes in one piece, and replaces the standard charging handle in any AR15. There is no more “T” handle, but rather a sloped cover like device with indentations for a solid grip. Pulling this to the rear operates the action like any other AR15 charging handle would, but the advantage is that it gives shooters a cheekpiece that will work with any current AR stock in production. But more importantly, it allows complete ambidexterity of the charging handle, and appears to be more intuitive for charging the weapon because a shooter is using major motor skills instead of fine motor skills that a current AR15 requires to operate the T handle of an AR15. The design has two adjustable positions, so a shooter can bring it further back as well. Retail price is $137.84 per unit. It cannot be “installed” on an existing charging handle, but needs to be fully replaced. They are taking pre orders now.

In case anyone is wondering, the shooter in the video is an active duty infantry Marine with 1/6 in Lejeune, a unit that a reputation for performing well in combat, recently in the Marjah Push of 2009 and 2010 timeframe. He has the Marine Corp’s latest iteration of plate carriers, the OMTV, and all the assorted issue pouches as well.

Our flagship product; is HABU™ Mod 1 for 5.56mm/.223, Will be released to the public in May, 2016. It is a re-designed AR-15 charging handle combined with attached cheek rest that eliminates the problem of cheek rest devices getting in the way of the charging function of the rifle system. It’s features include: • Ambidextrous – Stippling allows shooter to get more natural grip on the “real estate.” • Natural Gripping Motion (Like racking a pistol slide) • Use only Major Motor Skills; critical in firefights. • Patent Pending Latch – More secure locking, smoother unlocking. No latch release lever. • Works on any M4/M16/AR-15 regardless of stock. • No stock modifications or special tools required. • Good option for Military or LE Issued Weapons. • Easily exchanged with stock charging handle. • Works with any Stock type • Fully adjustable in the field using commonly carried multi-tool or knife. Two positions available. • Made of 7075 T6 Aluminum, MilSpec, Hard Coat Anodized. • Minimizes or eliminates “back spray” of gas and oil into shooters eyes. Follow-on, patented products similar to HABU™ Mod 1 for the AR rifle platform is as follows: Mod 2 – AR-10/ 7.62mm x 51mm/.308 chambered rounds

The concept of the product is to make manipulating an AR15 faster and more intuitive for the user. Although this looks like it would work in this specific regard, I would be curious how it fares in other situations, such as clearing a malfunction when the rifle is not in the shoulder, or maybe fixing a brass over bolt malfunction as well. Essentially, for something to be a valid addition to a fighting rifle, it not only has to overcome the job of that previous part or lack of part, in addition to not causing a problem for any other aspect of the rifle. In this case, the intuitiveness of the HABU, the ambidexterity, and the cheekrest where no other cheekrest could fit, are all certainly enhancements to the rifle. However, does it hold the same properties in the situations mentioned above? If not, then it can be nothing more than a novelty gimmick, and not a real enhancement. An excellent example of this are some of the Magpul products out there. They enhance the rifle in ways that make it better all around, without adding negative factors in other areas of usage. An example of a more novelty product is this sort of charging handle. Either way, I’d like to get my hands on it to really see for myself.