When did the M4 switch to the "fat" oval style hand guards vs. the early "skinny" carbine style hand guards ? Were they designed for the M4 from the beginning ? -Thanks

I not a fan of the Fat double heat shield handgaurds, I don't rapid or full auto fire..

Yes they were part of the xm4 project that later became the M4 as far as I know.. so mid 90s

Early xm4 had 2position RE and skinny handguard if I’m not mistaken though

I was stationed at Fort Campbell in the big army got M4s, yes they had the big hanguards.  And I was in the guard when we got brand new M4s...no carry handle, matech buis mounted and KAC RAS installed.

There were complaints of handguards becoming very hot during trials and the XM4 was renamed the M4 in 1991.

Improvements and changes to the M4 were still ongoing though.

I've seen early M4's with the M203 grenade launcher, with the standard sling swivel, before there was the tactical side sling mount.

The tactical side sling mount was originally designed with the stop forward to reduce sling contact with the possibly hot barrel and the sling swivel could rest on the handguard / cap in the rear position.

When the quad rail became standard, it was found that the tactical sling side mount blocked installing and removing rail covers and could interfere with rail mounted accessories.

The Army then had the tactical side sling mount installed facing backwards, to allow the sling swivel to fold flat forward and for the block to prevent contact with the rail.

Topic Moved