AR Sponsor
Posted: 12/11/2011 1:28:01 PM EDT
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Serious question, not trying to troll or anything. I just built my first AR after a month of reading the forums and looking at a crapload of pics. My question is, why do so many people have quad-rails only to cover up every inch of rail with rail covers and not have anything useful mounted to them? Besides lights at the very end of the handguard, why do manufacturers even make the rails the full length of the hand guard instead of only having the rails at the very end where they're useful? I contemplated getting a quad-rail for my first build because I too love how they look but they don't seem very useful for the cost. Unless everyone installs a quad-rail so they have the option in the future if they want to easily mount stuff to it, am I missing something?
Is the sole purpose of a quad-rail that you can mount tac lights on the front? |
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Lights, sling mounts, forward grs, bipods, hands tips, etc , etc. make the rifle fit the job
Honestly, I'm moving away from quad rails. I need a light and a red dot sight. The sight goes on the receiver, and my surefire mounts to the hand guard with an IWC mount. No way am I going to bother with a quad rail on that gun, My last gun had a really nice DD 12" rail, and it held a flashlight. No point to it. I'm not going to kid myself into thinking that I'm going to be stacking night vision optics and IR designatora on the gun either. Besides, if I am going to make the $3,000 investment into that type of equipment, ill put the quad rail on then. |
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Most are free float. So there is one advantage.
Vertical grips, lights, sling attachments, lasers all attach to the rails. Some, like myself, may only use certain attachments for certain situations. I have a few pistol uppers. If I have them mounted on an SBR lower, I will use a vertical grip. I can put the same upper on a pistol lower and simply remove the vert grip. Some like their optics mounted forward. Not a good idea to me but it is done. Lastly, you can get free float rails with a tube and rail attachments to put exactly where you want them. Dave N |
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Quoted:
Are they all freefloating as well, that's supposed to increase accuracy? Some are. My AR is a short barrels rifle with an 11" barrel, so accuracy is not a primary concern. If I was building a precision rifle with a 16"-20" barrel, the case for a rail makes more sense as it would allow free floating as well as the ability to use a quick detach bipod. The benefits of a FF barrel are not readily apparent unless you are putting constant force against the barrel, and even then we are talking about fractions of degrees. |
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Oh, one more thing that rails are good for.....
You can extend the length of gripable area with a rail. For example, some DD, KAC, and centurion rails allow forward holds on a carbine well past the front sight post. If you have shot a carbine, the 7" long hand guard can be somewhat cramped even if you don't have anything mounted. |
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