Winchester 190 or 290 charging handle

[johnnyc14]

A friend of mine has a very nice Winchester 290 semi auto .22 that he is very attached to, a relic from his youth. The charging handle has a plastic grip that does not stand up well and keeps breaking. He has bought up all the used and NOS ones he can find and they only last a couple of hundred rounds before the plastic breaks. The gun has been out of production for about 40 years so I guess the plastic on all those old parts is brittle. He asked if I would make him an improved handle, this is what I came up with. The part is very tiny so I made it from a 3/8" X 4" grade 5 cap screw.









He's been using it for a few months now and it is still holding up well.

John