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Posted: 2/17/2005 12:03:03 PM EDT
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I recently added an SOG Armory vertical foregrip to my Colt LE6920, using their graphite rail system to mount it to the lower hand guard. I knew nothing about how this would go other than I would have to take the heat shields out, so I thought I'd post my experience and a couple of pics. Taking the heat shields out was no big deal, except for one corner where the glue stuck to the corner on the handguard instead of staying on the metal like it did on the rest of the heat shields; I had to take my Dremel with a wire brush attachment to grind away enough of the stuff to where I could see the slots where the shield slid into. The glue that stuck to the shields simply broke off, either by hand or with a twist from a pair of pliers. The rail system attached in no time: SOG Armory supplies two sets of screws depending on your handguard type - the shorter set worked for me. Once I applied some blue thread-lock and tightened it all up, I had this:  The tricky part came when I went to put the heat shields back in. It's obvious to me now, but at the time I never thought about how large the block the rail screwed into was and whether or not it would interfere with the shields, even though that block was pretty freakin' hefty! But as soon as I tried to put the first heat shield in I realized I had a problem. Luckily it was a problem with an obvious solution: Dremel Time I loaded up a cutting disk and did my best to cut as close to an outline of the attachment block as possible, not wanting to make the Grand Canyon out of the lower heat shield. As it turned out, I went a tad overboard on one side but it wasn't a butcher job. I was surprised to find out I also had to cut the inner heat shield as well!. Oh well, I had the tools, right?  This cut went very quickly. After the Dremel was put away, I mixed up a batch of JB Weld and laid a patch on each corner of the heat shields' contact with the handguard, being careful not to put on too much and leave a high spot of the stuff where the handguard contacts the other one. (I'd hate to have to grind that off!) Here's the final result:  I got a lot of satisfaction installing this rail system on my rifle; I hope by sharing this with everyone someone will get some of the same. |
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