Stuff like this?



Drives me apeshit.

Now, look.  I really appreciate a super accurate set up with a long barrel and a free-floated minimalist handguard.  I'm partial to these guys, for example.



But what exactly is the real use of these humongous quad rail set ups?  How much shit can you really hang off your gun?  

I blame Airsofter's who are old enough to own real guns.   I really do.   It reminds me of Honda Civics with enormous spoilers, 18 inch rims, and that sort of thing.

Seriously?  It seems you wind up spending $200+ on a huge chunk of metal with cheese graters rails on all four sides.   Then you spend another $100 on rail covers?  And from the guys I see at the range, then its a $9 flashlight from china, maybe a bipod, and what? a laser?   The rail thing is so fucking endemic of too much solution for not much of a problem that people are making up new and perpetually more useless gadgets to bolt on those things.    Rail mounted hand stops?   WTF is that all about?   What's next, a rail mounted cigarette lighter?   A rail mounted mess kit?  

I can see a full length top rail to deal with extended scope mounts, or the use of BUIS, an Aimpoint and a large magnifier...   I can even appreciate the more versatile items, such as this Troy FFHG on sale at AIMSURPLUS which has the ability to attach small bits of rail at selected locations where accessories will actually be mounted.



But the monster quads?   I just don't get it.   And these are the guys who, in my experience, show up to the range with all sort of shit bolted to their overpriced top tier gun and cannot fucking put three shots into a pie plate at 100 yards.   They shoot maybe two or three mags and then go home –– spending more time attaching and detaching stuff from their guns and showing their buddies how cool they are.

And its not limited to AR15 guys.   Its spilling out onto other guns.  I saw a guy at the range the other day with a quad rail on an AK pattern gun.   For every mag change he had to remove the VFG he had on the bottom rail (behind a bipod AND hand stop –– why a hand stop if you're running a VFG?????) just so he could pivot the AK magazine out of the gun.   Seriously.  

My favorite AR –– the one that is beat to shit and always gets out to the range –– is a  "keep it simple stupid" model with stock handguards.   I guess that makes me a philistine, unable to appreciate the "tacticool" essence of man.   So be it.

I hate lots of rails.

Never really understood it.  I've handled them in the shop and essentially, they are a piece of sharp crap that's just waiting for the right moment to make you bleed,

I have a rifle length lightweight quad rail setup (YHM).



The only thing on it is a light, and that's only when it's leaning in the corner by my bed.



I guess a smooth-sided free float system would have worked just as well, but my primary interest was light weight and free float.



No tactical badassery here.






 

The longest I would go for a full quad handguard is carbine length, longer than that a half quad. I do need to get another simple AR to go with my fathers A2.

FF tubes make great handwarmers in the winter.



Full length rails are tarded.



Customizable rails are probably the best option.

Man the fuck up.

I like them.

Try mounting a pvs22 or pvs-27 on a short rail in front of a 5-25x day optic.

I just realized I'm not using nearly enough space on the rails.

Tube rails are like giant dildos.





Cheese grater for life.



 

Why would one need quad rails to do that?   Why wouldn't something with a full length top rail suffice?    

BTW:  The AK guy I mention above was a walking joke.   In addition to his vertical foregrip, his bipod, and his hand stop, he had a laser on one side, a light on the other side, and a red dot mounted on the top.  

You do not have to load up every inch of railspace.  It just give you options.

Just installed my first FF quadrail, I plan on a flashlight and a VFG, or just a bipod.

Mine does not go past the FSB though.

My Mk 12 Mod 1 wouldn't be a Mk 12 Mod 1 if it didn't have a full length rail system on it.





I don't have a problem with full length rail systems.  I just think it's silly to hang a lot of stuff of of those rails.  Just because you

CAN put a bazillion accessories on a full length quad rail, doesn't mean you SHOULD.





CJ

Barbie dolls for men.
 

Most arfcommers don't know "why" they have what they have on their rifles.

Full length quad rails though are more about places to put your hand than places to put additional gun-dildos

rifle length rails make the ladies hot

Wisdom for the ages, right there.

:brofist:

I can work with either. Though I really like the idea of the newer minimalist tubes where you put rail where you need it and save the weight.

How about 13.2"s of rail with just a few modified XTM panels?

I've had and still have hand guards with moveable rails, my current one is a PRI Delta, and I love it and hate it. The infernal backing plates that the rail screws thread into are the worst most stupid fucking design ever perpatraded. Threaded inserts in the rail aren't a complicated design feature, hell I modified my old JP hand guard with some brass press fit inserts from Mcmaster-Carr and they held up fine, with some a actual thought out design you could have a hell of a product

Also regarding the length of the rail, I shoot with my arm out on the rail, when your 6'4" a carbine rail just doesn't cut it

It's all based on user preference, but I'm going to fucking strangle the next person who mentions "weight."

My rifle length DD Lite is maybe 3oz heavier than a 13" Troy VTAC.

This right here

On a carbines or SBRs the quad rail set ups make perfect sense.

Does this thread give anyone else the urge to buy a shitty Civic (with a fart can) and a whole metric fuck-ton of the Magpul rail sections, bolt them all over said Civic, and hang every conceivable accessory under the sun off of it, PLUS a few ARs for good measure?

Suck it, OP.

ROFL...

Oh look, it's a thread where everyone in it is cool because they do something different than everyone else! Different is awesome!

All that time spent making that post could have been spent researching for 5 minutes and learning what the benefits of long rail systems are.

Basically they allow you to get your hand further out on the barrel, allowing much better control.

It's not about mounting tons of gadgets.

The more barrel you can protect, the better.  That's why I rock the DD Lite 14".

Not a rail fan for weight reasons
 

This ^.  

Plus, you have the advantage of extending your front sight further down the rifle.

The only quad rails I can't stand are these:

I share your dislike.    Haters gonna hate.

I'm not big on rails either.
 

Okay, why is there rail in front of the front sight?

Yep.  Hand out near the end of my DD 12" on my 16" rifle.

More rail space gives you more options for attaching your tactical truck nuts.

1/10

I know, right?!

Mounting your light in front of your sight post is SO gay!

Believe it or not this is not just a range toy/safe queen. I actually take it out into the woods and hunt small game with it. When I go on a road trip it is in the Jeep with a Surefire mounted to it. I put the quadrail on it because the price was right and I could mount a variety of different things to it.

For a long time, it seemed you had a choice of a free-float tube, or a quad rail.  If you wanted a bipod and a light, you pretty much had to get the quad rail.  If you want a light, you want it as far down the rail as possible.



At the time, it made sense.  Now that we have modular rail systems?  Not so much.  



(I'm sure somebody will point out some modular rail that's been available for 10 years, but they haven't been widely visible or popular until the last couple years)



Also, AR's are as fashion driven as hell.  While we were highly engaged in Iraq, most guys were copying set-ups from there.  Systems tended to place less emphasis on light weight, as people tended to ride around in vehicles more.  Now that Afghanistan is the hoppin place, everybody is setting rifles up like that.  


 

M4A1 SOPMOD Block II


Hells yeah.

Some say the optimal spot for a light is on top of the barrel, infront of the FSB.

Flashlight. I like rails the mo the better.

The Yankee Hill smooth freefloat tubes seem like the best use of the real estate, without turning the end of your rifle into an overly heavy pineapple.
 

To mount a light at 12 out front of the FSB where it won't give you shadow and it works well going around corners either way....  Also allows for the extended arm grip with a carbine gas system and standard FSB.



And no effin' way.  Next rail I get it one of those.  I like standard FSBs, I think they are more robust and I like having my 1/3 cowitness always in field of view.  Thats an awesome rail.  Probably the best thought out rail currently out there IMO.





 

I think that set-up is awesome. I'm not going to build one like it, but its still cool.