So I've had good experiences with all of my Palmetto uppers over the last few years, the CHF FN barrels, and the stainless and nitride Freedom barrels. But I have not gotten one of their uppers with their store brand free float rail, my previous purchases all had magpul or GI hand guards.

They have an upper I like that has a free float M-lok rail on it (link to a similar model is below). It looks like it has 3 screws on the bottom edge that clamp the rail to the barrel nut. If anyone has one, what are your impressions of it? At the sale prices they look like a pretty good deal. As long as they are reasonably rugged and moderately light, I'd be happy. I would not expect them to be super light like a premium rail that sells for almost as much as this whole upper.

Any experiences appreciated.

PS: My normal go-to rail for builds is a basic ALG Defense tube. I like them light, simple, and inexpensive, and have no need for 4 lengths of picatinny rail.  

http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-20-a2-rifle-length-nitride-15-lightweight-m-lok-upper-no-bcg-or-ch-516445026.html

ETA: update posted

Palmetto shipped very quickly, and I got my 20" upper Friday. Overall the it looks very good. gsc0527's description of the mounting system is spot on. It's marked with a Palmetto logo at the front 6 o'clock, and is not an MI model. The tube has 3 hex screws that clamp it onto a cylindrical steel barrel nut. The barrel nut is round with flats so it can be installed with just an open end wrench. It does not time to the gas tube in any way. 2 additional small hex set screws are part of the tube assembly, one engages a groove in the barrel nut to prevent the tube from moving forward, the other seems to tension the two halves of the clamp. I imagine that just the 3 clamp screws alone would hold the tube on just fine even under heavy use. A small metal tab below the picatinny rail engages the receiver and prevents the tube from rotating.

The tube is probably the narrowest one I have ever come across. Since it has flats for the m-lok, it has an octagonal shape to it. From 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock the guard is 1.525 wide on the outside. That is narrow. My round ALG tubes are 1.75 across by comparison, so this tube is narrow enough that I can easily hold the rifle to fire, and have my thumb and middle finger tips press together. I'm a 5'6" guy with normal size hands, and the narrow handguard is comfortable to me.

The only issue with the narrow tube is that the low profile gas block is barely touching the inside of the tube, and probably has only a 1/32" gap on the opposite side for clearance. I pulled the tube off to check it out, and will just reach in there with some sand paper on a stick and relieve the offending corner inside the tube. I can't imagine it will take me more than 5 minutes to fix it. I can also loosen the set screws on the gas block and adjust that, but there's so little play right to left, I'd rather just file away a bit inside the tube. The aluminum extrusion is thick enough to take some off.

The upper did not include a BCG, but has evidence of being test fired, so I'm sure it will function fine.

Overall a decent handguard for the price.

GTG for me

No problem whatsoever. Very nice upper and assembly.

This 14.7" pin & weld showed up at my house yesterday, it's the lightweight profile FN CHF barrel variety. I have not yet shot it, however I did throw it on an LMT lower to check fitment and I am very pleased. Locked up really tight, the upper looks and feels well assembled, and was lubed appropriately on arrival. The MLOK handguard is Midwest Industries, light but solid, and securely attached.

The pin & weld is secure, and there's no play between the barrel, crush washer and flash hider. The weld itself is centered and on the underside of the assembly, appears good. No rust or globby/sloppy workmanship, but the weld would be obvious to anyone wanting to verify its authenticity as a legal, 16" assembly, per ATF regs.

The forward assist and dust cover are properly installed, and function as well as the parts in my LMT upper. There was just a little moly I could see coming from the barrel extension, but that's ok. I'd rather there be a tiny bit that's visible, proves to me that they used it, and it was a quick wipe off with a Q-Tip. I threw a bolt carrier and charging handle in there and performed a few racks. Chambered and ejected a few rounds. Everything felt and operated like it should. I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be a performer.

ETA: The handguard on my upper looks a whole lot like a shorter version of the handguard in the link in your post,  OP. I suspect that MI is the manufacturer for a number of PSA's rails and handguards.

Thanks for the info guys. A 16" upper w/ free float handguard is on the way. A few good confirmations is enough for me.

I'll check it for accuracy when I get it broken in.

Thank you again for the responses.

I've been wondering the same as the OP.

I noticed they use a 13.5" rail on a lot of their uppers 14.5-16" uppers.

I didn't think MI even made a 13.5" rail.

My buddy had one 16in/13in show up today. I didnt have too much time to fondle it but it looked great.

Mines great. There are 2 small hex screws on the bottom the hit a groove on the barrel nut, then 3 more larger screws that clamp the handguns to the nut and finally tabs the prevent rotation.

Well built and light, if a little on the small side. I like it enough to order another upper with the same handguard.

Tagged for being curious. My couple PSA uppers have MI handguards before they had their own... They look solid but have never had hands on with one.

I have a 16" stainless barreled upper with the 13.5" hand guard and so far it has been good to go. All Picatinny accessories have fit on the top rail and all of the MLOK accessories have fit in the slots. Probably going to order an SBR upper today with the same, albeit shorter, hand guard.

I would love to get confirmation on the Midwest Industries handguard theory. Not that it really matters or anything but I've seen a lot of people say "see the 'M' that's MI's logo" when in reality that M just signifies MLOK and not Midwest.

I would be surprised if they were actually Midwest. But then again does it really matter? Nope, as long as it's quality and it works (which they appear to be good to go from most reports). Whenever a company does as much business as PSA there are bound to be a few horror stories but overall I believe they are good to go. I've never had an issue with their LPKs. My spikes lower with their LPK has ~3k through it.

And while their customer service may be a little slower than other companies (again, a high volume company so it's expected) I've never heard of any issue they didn't make right.

Edit: AR's aren't rocket science. In spec parts assembled correctly should work. PSA is essentially just an assembler who buys parts from other companies in bulk = better prices for consumers. If the manufacturer (sometimes unknown) did their job correctly, and PSA assembled correctly, there should be no issues.

Thanks for all the replies and information. I have an upper on the way, and I'll report back. Hopefully I can arrange enough time to hit the range and evaluate the accuracy, it has a standard government profile nitride barrel and free float tube. and at least there will be no worries of a canted front sight!

Built my dad a lower and we put a Palmetto upper on it with a keymod handguard and I have to say it looked really nice esp. for the money.

Update in first post. Thanks for everyone's input.

I don't own any MI handguards but this sounds like SLR  handguards.

I have a 16" CHF barrel with PSA keymod rail. Has performed very well thus far. However, I was trying to change out the rail as I wanted to go back to a quad rail and the barrel nut was torqued wayyyy to tight, definitely outside of the spec limit. Gave PSA a call and they paid for shipping back, removed the barrel nut and returned the upper within about a week.

I have a PA10 308 upper with the same MI rail setup and had the same issue with the barrel nut, I couldn't get it to budge and gave up on it. It is only like 1/64th out of alignment with the upper receiver and not a huge deal. Plus being 308 I didn't have any armors block to properly hold it with and I really didn't want to break something just for cosmetics.