I've been looking to replace the Upper on my AR. It's a 20" Heavy Barreled upper. As they say ... "Dead-On-Balls-Accurate". But heavy. Better suited to shooting from a bench. So, I've been looking for a lightweight upper.

Last week, while bored at work on an overnight shift, I started shopping on my iPhone. I ended up ordering a spiral fluted 18" upper. Yesterday, I looked at the order on my (larger screen) computer and instead of a traditional "T" handle, this one is side charging.

I asked a buddy who knows more about this stuff than me, and he tells me these are something new. Maybe an improvement, maybe not.

Can anyone share some light on this?

I've got a couple of side charging JP rifles. SCR-11 and LRP-07. They are beautiful rifles, but I'm not sure I've found a huge advantage with SC. Disassembly is a bit different and perhaps slightly more tedious.

I built one also on JP parts. Its very nice and I certainly like it versus the traditional rear version but it doesn't make enough difference to me that I would consider building more of them given the added cost. Its not a detriment in any way except that you have non standard parts.

They certainly aren’t anything new as they have been around for quite some time.
They are becoming more popular as people are buying/building whatever they can get.
Neat idea and they work but if there is an added cost I don’t see much gain.

My precision AR is built on a Gibbz Arms side charging upper with a Shilen 20 inch barrel. Their design for handguard mounting is a very slick design, so good I've used their handguards on all 3 of my AR's. As for the side charging feature, it's fantastic when you are shooting off a bench. You can cycle the bolt without ever taking your cheek off the stock. BTW, Gibbs has two different methods for parking the charging handle, one is a detent and the other is a latch. I prefer the detent.

I originally explored side-charging uppers with suppressors in mind. (Skipping the rearward blasts of expelled air and other effects). Some folks have issue with the reciprocating bolt design. I had no issues- a dot of blue thread locker and it's Bob’s Uncle. Being able to cycle the bolt without losing position/sight picture is a plus.

Until the Covid/Biden disaster, side-charging uppers were quite reasonable. (Even more so than some of the pinkie-finger-out designer uppers). I bought a number of Magpul/Aero Precision and the like parts at sale prices for the build components. I'm afraid the good deals are gone for now.
All of the optics on these are Sig. Here’s a few that were done in 5.56.

I've always liked them.
I haven't built anything with them but I have an XCR and do like the feature.
Also prefer the left side charging too.

I have zero use for a right side charging one.