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Posted: 4/8/2014 8:59:48 AM EDT
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I'm going to buy a new upper from BCM and leaning towards a 14.5 mid length Block II but everyone seems to be going to a Keymod rail.
Is there any advantage to a Keymod that I'm missing? |
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Keymod vs standard rails is a hot issue right now. Both of them have their followers and both (imo) serve different purposes.
I have a keymod rail because I don't put a lot of stuff on my rifle and don't like the look of solid free float tubes. Keymod is also lighter. It also gives me the modularity to put shit on it if I want. I also hate the feel of rails underneath my hands. |
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Quoted:
I'm going to buy a new upper from BCM and leaning towards a 14.5 mid length Block II but everyone seems to be going to a Keymod rail. Is there any advantage to a Keymod that I'm missing? I wouldn't go that far. No benefit to me personally but I don't hang a bunch of stuff off my rails. What are you going to be doing with this AR and what do you plan to add? |
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I see the whole keymond thing like this:
With the addition of various add-ons and light came a bunch of compromised mounting solutions. Things like barrel mounts, front sight mounts, surefire m500 hand guard replacement. This brought forth the need for a mounting solution. With the adaptation of the quad rail. Works great but extra weight and complaints of ergonomics ensued (square rail/cheese grader etc.) Then came the tubular rails with bolt on sections. Good again with limited ability to bolt on things directly (people like impact weapons components came up with some great stuff), but it was no longer a single standard. Rails sections were specific to certain forends. Additionally, you had to first mount a rail then mount the component adding at the very least an extra step and extra thickness, some arguing an extra failure point. Some required you removing the rail (screwing up your zero) to get back plates on for rail sections. Along came keymod with the promise of addressing most of this - direct mount (no mounting of rail sections), standardization, no removing the rail to mount things, keeping it slim and smooth etc. Standardization being the key, although I do believe there may still be some flukes there (for example rail sections having different contours on the back?, some staggering their keymod holes, others not). The bad part of keymod is the industry doesn't seem totally invested yet. Accessories aren't all caught up, and may never catch up unless it is adapted by the military. It will probably be a long time for things like IR lasers to direct mount. Still there ins't another standard that allows for the more ergonomic smooth rail our there. More and more accessories are available all the time. It is gaining in popularity. Detractors are primarily about looks and people who don't care for them, people whose accessories and add-ons haven't caught up yet and would have to mount rail section anyway, and people who see no need to upgrade an existing system. I think you would be hard pressed to find many disadvantages from a technical or functional perspective over other smooth rails. So the question is really about preference. If you want to switch to the ergonomics and probably lighter weight of a smooth rail? If so keymod is probably the way to go over other smooth rails. Choice of other smooth rails over keymod rails is often a decision based on looks, in my experience, although there may be some other factors like needing a specific length, fitting a suppressor under, etc. Those reasons are becoming fewer and fewer though as there are more and more keymod rails. Of course I wouldn't fault anyone for making a choice on looks either and I do on occasion as well, I just don't try to justify it with a technical argument. Edit: I guess there is probably 2 technical advantages to a normal 1913 rail. It is more granular, you can fit more 1913 slots in a given length than keymod, this would allow you to finer tune positioning of accessories. Second, 1913 tightens and fastens from the side, where keymod does from the top. Probably more difficult for them to manufacture direct mount things like a WML or surefire x300 or the previously mentioned ir lasers. You can always use a rail section for those and that wouldn't be any different than any other smooth rail. |
I prefer keymod over a traditional quad rail for the ergonomics and light weight. I have a KMR and just installed a IWC keymod sling mount and it`s pretty slick. I can't wait for BCM's keymod VFG to come out  .
Unless you plan to hang a bunch of stuff off your rail or just prefer the look of a quad rail I'd go with keymod. I'd do a 14.5" fluted ELW with 13" KMR 
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