Need source for sling/bipod stud for alum free float handguard at a good price?
Bushmaster has them for 5.00 each(http://www.bushmaster.com/shopping/slings/b-0807.asp) but I need 6 as I have 3 uppers and I want to put two on each(one for bipod and one for sling) and With BM shipping thats almost 40.00.
Can I beat this price and where?

I think that is a great price  IMO.  I bought a the Harris adapter #2 IIRC) and they run around $10 a pop.  I guess I should have checked BM website first.  

1) This is a good price; I haven't seen any better.

2) Tapping the FF handguard is certainly not the most robust attachment method.  I have used the "radius nut" shown here, and it works great:

[url=http://metalcraft-ar15.com/accessories.htm][img]http://metalcraft-ar15.com/images/slingswivel.jpg[/img][/url]

They will let you buy individual pieces, i.e. you could buy the stud, nylon washer, and radius nut without the sling swivel.  Even if they cost a bit more than $5, I think they're well worth it.  The steel radius nut holds the sling stud very securely.  I don't trust steel fine-pitch screws in aluminum.

Edited to add: click pic for link to the accessories page of [url]metalcraft-ar15.com[/url].

Yeah that is the best method.  I bought the adapter from Harris that is supposed to go in the Handguard. (it is a metal plat that is threaded )  and I drilled a hole and use that as a backing.  You have to attatch to the FF tube directly otherwise it defeats teh purpose of having it FF'ed.  I like that stud and back plate above though better than the one I have.  You will strip the aluminum pretty quick if you try to just thread directly into it as fizassist said.

thanks fizassist, I really like that setup.  
BM and RRA and others supply there freefloat tubes with threaded sling studs and I never here complaints- What do they do differently or does practice make perfect?
I had planned on using red loctite to help seal the deal but may go with the fizassist plan.

Beats me.  Enough people sell them like that that it can't be such a bad idea, I guess.  Maybe my discomfort isn't rational.  OTOH, I would guess that the majority of these FF tubes go on rifles which are used mostly for benchrest work.  The most stress they probably see is bipod attachment.  I've never heard a "I dropped my rifle because my sling stud came out" story, but I'm picky about what I use to support a $1000 rifle.



I do use red loctite on the setup above, especially if I'm using it for a side sling mount, where it's subject to a lot of torque.