Did the M16A2 Carbine come with skinny or fat hand guards ?  Thx

I always considered them medium, they are bigger than the ones on the CAR Model 727 rifle and less than what is on the M4, they are just kind of in between.

I have all three sitting here with me, I guess I could measure them for you.

M16A2 series carbines (Model 723, 733, and 727) came with the skinny 6-hole round handguards. The fat M4 type handguards did not appear until the development of the M4 program. The XM4 had the fatter handguards.

We were literelly just talking about this in another thread in here.  I think it was the M16A2 carbine thread......  

727 = CAR
XM4 = Fat


Dave P1, I don't have any clue about what you're talking about.  You got pics of a 3rd width handguard?   I do notice with 20" A2 handguards, some commercial ones are thicker than standard by a little bit.  I'm pretty sure....  I might have proof of that.  Let me check today.

My bad, I also included the A2 rifle, he was asking about the carbine.

So in this you have the skinny CAR and the fat M4.

The handguards from the XM177 and GAU-5 series retained their profile through the Colt 723, 727, and 733.

They were slim with 6 vent holes as described, and tend to have more of a gloss appearance.

They are more resilient to heat than most of the after-market imitation Commando handguards.