School me on some carry handles.

SamT1 said:

I did some surgery on my colt carry handle so my big fat hand will fit through it. It needs a little smoothing still, but it is usable now. The rail isn’t sharp in this eagle arms upper.
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You went through a lot of trouble to carry your rifle like a purse.

jmorris said:

In design we never called a flaw a flaw, it is a “feature”. So you design a rifle where the rear sight needs to be up abnormally high, well it’s a service rifle you can just stick the thing on a little post, it will break right off. You need more contact to make it durable but you don’t want this big dorsal fin looking thing up on top of the rifle not to mention the added weight. How about we put a few holes in it? How about we open it up so it’s big enough we can call it a carry handle? I like it, we’ll go with that.

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The sights are high in order to keep recoil all in a straight line. The rear sight was shaped to protect the original charging handle, which was on top of the upper and was ambidextrous.

GunnyUSMC said:

In the Corps we never carried our weapons by the carry handle.
We carried them in this way. It gives you better control of the weapon.

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This. The Marine Corps drummed into me that you should never, ever carry your M16 by the carry handle ("It's not a <expletive> briefcase!") So it literally made me cringe seeing the picture of @SamT1 holding his rifle by the carry handle.

SamT1 said:

I’m not above carrying the wife’s purse for her.

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Ah. This AR is for your wife. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge...

jmorris said:

In design we never called a flaw a flaw, it is a “feature”. So you design a rifle where the rear sight needs to be up abnormally high, well it’s a service rifle you can just stick the thing on a little post, it will break right off. You need more contact to make it durable but you don’t want this big dorsal fin looking thing up on top of the rifle not to mention the added weight. How about we put a few holes in it? How about we open it up so it’s big enough we can call it a carry handle? I like it, we’ll go with that.

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While there's truth to what are often called features being the result of unforeseen changes, the carry handle was not an afterthought on the AR. On the original AR 10, it was triple purpose: it made for a very robust elevated rear sight, it housed the charging handle, and it provided the carry handle.

Most other post-WWII battle rifles & assault rifles have their sights elevated to a similar level above the bore. It's just not as noticeable because the receiver itself is taller to accommodate the op rod, and op rod/gas piston cylinder is usually right up to if not incorporated into the front sight. G3/CETME/HK51/HK33, FAL, FNC, Sig 540/550, AR-18/180, AK, Galil, and so on.