The original AR-10 and AR-15 prototypes produced by Armalite which was a division of Fairchild Aircraft had the charging handle, though it looks more like a charging trigger, inside the carry handle. Once the design was sold to Colt, some design changes were made and one of those was to move the charging handle to the rear of the receiver where we’re used to seeing it today though side charging AR’s seem to be gaining in popularity. Its my understanding that Colt engineers thought having an open slot on top of a battle rifle wasn’t a great idea as it would allow debris to enter the action plus that little charging trigger tucked away inside the carry handle didn’t afford a lot of leverage to clear a jammed rifle. I just thought it was a cool addition to my collection. These were produced by Brownells a few years back.
yeah i always thought they looked neat but ii figured they’d hurt your fingers if you really had to wail on that charging trigger in the event of a problme.
Thank you. I’m doing pretty darn well.
Hey Larry good to see you in here.
Hope your health is improving sir!
@string1946
So happy to hear Larry!!!
I think l speak for all of us…admire your posts
Welcome home
Thank you Jammo and Foxtrot. I’m doing better than I expected. Other than having a 8" scar down the middle of my chest I’m pretty much back to normal. I guess the bovine heart valve is doing its thing as well. My wife says she always thought I was full of bull but now she can prove it. 
“If you can’t laugh at yourself, don’t worry - your Wife will laugh at you enough for the both of you…”
She has put up with me for 43 years. I reckon she has earned the right.
welcome back sir! glad that the surgery went well and you’re up and about as close to normal as possible. nice gun too!! glad you’ve returned!
Thank you. The recovery was better than I expected. I’ll try to take a few more pics to post. Its just about too hot to get out and shoot. I have a FRT and Super Safety to test.