I will be purchasing a 16" barreled AR soon and I have been doing some research.  I have decided to go with a rifle having mid length handguards like the Rock River Elite carbines.  One such rifle appears to be the Armalite carbine.  I spoke with the folks at Armalite and was told that the forend on their carbines is 8" long.

Now, my research on railed forends seems to indicate that carbine length forends run 7" and the mid length forends run 9".  

Does this mean that the Armalite uses their own size that is not compatilble with most aftermarket forends?

Does anyone have any experience with installing an aftermarket railed forend on an Armalite carbine?

Thanks!

Counting the part that goes under the cap and delta ring it would be slightly over 8". There counting the top. Hear it is on the dot, I just measured mine. Hope this helps.

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ogcujo and RustyTX,

Thanks for the quick replies.  That is just what I needed to know.