I am looking for three lengths of the 18 slot ladder style rail covers.

Everywhere I look they are about $12.00/18 slot length.

To me this seems a bit ridiculous for a small piece of rubber.

Am I looking in the right places?

Anywhere I can get them for a reasonable price?

Thanks much
Stangle


I tried this in the AR forum with no luck.

Hell yeah that's ridiculous, they should be about $.50 or so.  The cheapest I have found them is at OlympicArms, and thats in person with a decent .mil discount.  I wish I knew a place that actually sold them at cost+100% instead of cost+1200% like most places.  

Molds aint cheap and if the volume isnt there things cost more.  welcome to the firearms world.

im ballparking it.
R&D=$5000
Mold making=$15,000
machine cost= $45,000 for a new 50 ton machine

so that is $65,000 to make a simple part... so at .50 each you would have to sell 130k rail covers.
at $18 each you only need to sell 3500 rail covers.

this is simplifying it EXTREMELY.. because you are not going to have just that one machine set up for just that. so you have labor in changing the molds, as well as minimum parts run each time so you dont lose money.

even still, it's not like it's a complicated mold!  The probably roll the shit out in 1000 foot sections and cut to length.  No way their cost is NEAR $12/18 slots.  Dont forget, that you have 4 sides to a railed HG, so that comes to $48 for a handguard cover

They charge what the market will generally bear - which in the case of suckers desperate for the latest tactical gimmick for their AR is unfortunately quite a lot.

That's the thing.

I don't need a tactical gimmick.  The way I see it, those style rail covers are about as simplistic as you can get.

I guess I could wrap my free-float in an old sock or something but that would look like absoulte shit.

I might be forced to make my own somehow.

Quoted: I might be forced to make my own somehow.

That's the problem - they've figured out that it's JUST not quite worth your time to try to make your own, so like most of us, you end up sucking it up and paying the grotesque price - thus keeping it at that high level.

I hate it as much as you do.  



If you figure out how to make them, start selling them for $10.00  

Quoted: I might be forced to make my own somehow.

There's several places on the internet you can learn about DIY plastics molding for a few small parts.

Quoted: Quoted: I might be forced to make my own somehow. There's several places on the internet you can learn about DIY plastics molding for a few small parts.

i bet you could suspend your rail into a small channel, then pour some RTV silicone into it.. let it harden then remove the channel and pull it off your rail.