hello all,

has anybody done this ....cutting the carry handle just before the rear sight and create a rail all the way to the end of the (free floating) handguard, creating a 1 piece mounting platform and still have the iron sight's....

(gun is a 11.5" dpms carbine)

greetings

Hurbie,

While I understand that modifying a carryhandle upper into a flattop(or cutting a section off fwd of the rear sight)is posssible, the widespread availability of flattop uppers and their low relative price makes this option less than attractive.
When you add up costs of materials and time, I would think the end result of a mod'd receiver would not be as goog as a factory flattop w/a good BUIS of your choice.

Good Luck

blitzkrieg,

one of the idea's behind this is to make the upper stronger (the weaver rail has to be steel), and have a 1 piece rail all the way out, or are there options to create the same with a flattop upper and some sort of rail system ?? (btw flattop upper's in holland are expensive !!)

greetings

if you cut the handle like you mentioned. then install an A.R.M.S. scout mount backwards to a 4 rail free float handgaurd. i think you would accomplish what i think you are saying.  so, instead of securing the mounting rail to the flat top upper it would be mounted on the free float hanguard.  then, the extended (non-clamping) portion would face backwards towards the rear site.  i hope this made sense.  now you have me thinking about cutting up a spare A2 upper i have lying around.

Hello Hurbie,

Sorry for the confusion. I hadn't realized that you were posting from the Netherlands.  I can see more of your interest if parts costs are substantially different from what we can expect in the states.
The idea of strenghtening the uppers seems a bit like overkill. If you are going to encounter enough force to damage an upper the addition of a thin steel rail will prob not save your unit.
Their are one piece rails from manufacturers such as ARMS that will mount on a flattop upper as well as a railed handguard creating an uniterrupted rail that is almost the entire length of the barreled upper.

food for thought.....happy holidays

Bushmaster cut A2's down for there first flaptops