TFB Review: Emissary Development Micro Cable Clips and Handbrake

Most fans of AR-style firearms tend to share some things in common. One key is that we typically like to customize our ARs. A major benefit to the platform has long been its modularity. Particularly as the military began using different versions of the CAR-15, Colt Commando, and later the widely varied M4 family (along with its various offshoots and cousins), modifications became virtually ubiquitous. The commercial parts and accessories market has responded in kind, having spent many years now focused on developing vast quantities of all kinds of products. If you took a random sampling of a handful of the many millions of AR-15s in Americans’ hands today, there’s a strong chance that no two of them would be exactly alike. When you consider how popular add-ons have become, and debates over aspects like barrel length, handguard systems, optics types, etc., it’s not hard to see why there’s so much variation. Tons of AR buyers bring home their new firearms and may delay very little before they start thinking, “What can I add to or change on this rifle to make it work better for me?” To this end, enter Emissary Development.

Emissary Development is a new name in the firearms accessory game. However, by no means does that indicate they don’t know what they’re doing. Although the company only officially launched about six months ago (at the time of this writing) and began behind-the-scenes establishment roughly six months prior to that, Emissary is actually a subsidiary brand of Milspec Retail. Milspec Retail was founded in 2014 first as a military surplus distributor/reseller and has since grown into a major retailer for many of the top brands in gun parts, accessories, and related gear. As you peruse their website today, you won’t find brands or products that most people would consider “entry-level”; it’s pretty much all top-quality stuff. Combine this with customer-centric policies like fast and free shipping or 30-day free returns, and it’s clear why they’ve enjoyed the growth and success that they have. These elements of Milspec Retail also provide insights into Emissary, since it’s an in-house brand directly under the domain of Milspec’s product team. The ideas of commitment to top-tier equipment and excellent service appear to carry through.

When Emissary launched in 2020, their initial product offering was the Cable Clip. These small M-LOK panels are made from nylon polymer and each measures about one and a half inches long by a half-inch wide, or approximately the size of one common slot on a typical M-LOK handguard. They weigh only 4 grams apiece and the top of the clip itself sits just a quarter-inch above your handguard, so these panels add very little in the way of bulk or burden. Cable management has begun to see a good deal of focus recently. More shooters than ever have come to realize the massive benefits that can be realized by attaching a light to your rail, and lately, weapon light make/model options have exploded in number. With these lights often come separate switches, and it’s usually not wise to have loose cordage hanging off of your gun, for the sake of issues like snag/safety hazards and possible equipment damage, so for years, people have sought what solutions they could. Cobbled-together methods like zip ties, tape, and Velcro have commonly been used. Fortunately, purpose-built products are becoming increasingly available, and Emissary’s v1 Cable Clips have been well received.

You may have noted my use of “v1” above, and surmised that this suggests a v2. You would be correct. Emissary has been working on a second, more minimalist take, appropriately dubbed the Micro Cable Clip. “Micro” is right; this new product is comparatively minuscule even by the original Cable Clip’s diminutive standards. They take up only slightly more surface area than the heads of the Torx screws that fasten them, as Emissary first revealed via Instagram in March of 2021. When they saw I had written some news articles about a couple of other manufacturers’ cable management product options, they got in touch with TFB to ask if I would test out their own new version, as well as their handstop. I agreed, so they sent me a Handbrake and a prototype set of the then-unreleased Micro Cable Clips for testing and evaluation. Next, I’ll detail my findings and experience with each product.

Let’s start with the Handbrake, which carries a $35 or $40 MSRP depending on color. This ultralight M-LOK handstop attachment is advertised as weighing less than an ounce, at only 26 grams. The dimensions are 1.1 inches wide, 2.1 inches tall, and 1.9 inches long. It takes up one and a half standard M-LOK slots, and I would say its overall form is roughly similar to a BCM GUNFIGHTER Mod 3 vertical grip – though it does provide different ergonomics – and it’s about half the BCM’s weight. Think of it as sitting essentially in between the size and form of Magpul’s AFG and VFG. It attached to my M-LOK rail easily and securely, and it seems rock-solid. The Handbrake’s lightness doesn’t seem to sacrifice any compromise in the material’s strength or rigidity. I wasn’t able to produce any notable flex or movement from squeezing it or pressing it against barriers from a variety of sides and angles. Though my purpose wasn’t torture testing by any means, I’m confident that this thing could easily stand up to a good amount of hard use without breaking or failing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Handbrake’s feel and ergonomics. Emissary’s proprietary texture pattern provides excellent grip without feeling unduly abrasive. In testing different angles of grip interface and hand positioning, I found the Handbrake provided superb comfort and positive control. Ultimately, I genuinely found it difficult to find anything to complain about with this handstop. Unless you’re just diametrically opposed to having anything protruding from the bottom of your rail – which some people are, fair enough – the Handbrake has a lot going for it. For my uses, and that of many other AR shooters out there, it’s a definite thumbs up from me and almost certainly warrants a strong place in buyers’ consideration sets.

Emissary’s Micro Cable Clips were also interesting to test. This wire management system is built with the minimalist in mind. Great care was taken in developing these clips to maximize functionality while mitigating size, weight, and footprint. They come in either single- or dual-channel varieties, which will be sold in triple-packs for $21 per set of three clips. The new MCC is not releasing with the intent to replace Emissary’s v1 clips, but to offer an additional option to suit shooters’ individual preferences. In Emissary’s own words:

Ever since we brought the original Emissary Cable Clip to market we have been looking at ways we can make it smaller, more modular, adjustable and versatile.

We always thought that having the ability to adjust the angle of the cable clip would give significantly more functionality to the design. The Micro Cable Clip is 360° rotatable. Due to its tiny size it can also be placed anywhere within the length of the Mlok slot with complete “fore and aft” adjustability. The profile is so small in diameter that it can be placed on the 45° Mlok sections of even the slimmest and most compact Mlok rail systems.

Something that we wanted to retain from the original design is the open top cable channel. We prefer this much more over an enclosed/captured channel design for two reasons: