I have a LMT upper, 14 inch carbine.  What's the best (i.e. solid) snap on fore end rail system?  I was looking at the Surefire M73.  What are you all using?

I'm using the YHM hand guard.

I use Knight's on my carbines and YHM LW on my rifles...both are just peachy

After almost a year of waiting and shopping I  finally decided on and got a KAC RAS II for my 14.5 Bushy and I really like it a lot.  Works good and it is solid as a rock.  It free floats the barrel and was easy to install if you have stong hands to hold back the d ring.  Only thing that is a bit cumbersome is the hump that is at the back of the top rail where it mounts to the receiver.  This is a nessecary evil as it is what free floats the thing. I had to move my Aim point clone back to make room, but since I have a cantilever mount it did not make too big of a difference to my sight picture.  I would like to get an A.R.M.S. mount to put my optic on the hump, but I do not know how many slots it covers.  Good luck with what ever you decide.  Shop around and try some out, some are really heavy and feel bad in your hands.

The KAC RASII's hump was designed specifically for mounting an Aimpoint on top of it. The A.R.M.S. #22 Low Height Mount fits perfectly on the RASII hump. Also Knight's Armament 30mm Low Profile Aimpoint Mount was designed to mount right to the hump as well. My personal favorite is the Larue Comp M2 RAS II mount.Larue Comp M2 RAS II Excellent craftsmanship and sturdy!

Quoted: The KAC RASII's hump was designed specifically for mounting an Aimpoint on top of it. The A.R.M.S. #22 Low Height Mount fits perfectly on the RASII hump. Also Knight's Armament 30mm Low Profile Aimpoint Mount was designed to mount right to the hump as well. My personal favorite is the Larue Comp M2 RAS II mount.Larue Comp M2 RAS II Excellent craftsmanship and sturdy!

Thanks for the info.  I may get one to mount on the hump.  

The only thing I dislike on the M73 is the height difference between the M73 and the receiver rail. Seems Surefire rail systems are the only ones with that flaw...

KAC M4 RAS on my M4gery.

Quoted: The only thing I dislike on the M73 is the height difference between the M73 and the receiver rail. Seems Surefire rail systems are the only ones with that flaw...

I wonder though...  Since everyone seems to say that mounting an optic on replacement handguards like these is a no-no anyway... then why does it matter if they don't line up?

What they do give you instead is a slimmer forend than any of the others, which a lot of people seem to want.

Too bad they're one of the heavier options though.

I second everything excist_and_reflect Member said  I have this set up with the rasII and the Comp M2 RAS II (LT152)  (LT122) and I love it. My only neg to say about it is that if I want to get the 3x I think I have to loose the Comp M2 on the system since I do not think there is enough room between the aimpoint and the rear BUIS. Just something to think about. All in all it is a great set up

I have the a surefire m73, yhm lightweight free float and just recently purchased a samson mrfs-cx and love it . all of these work well , but the samson seems to take a slight edge due to quality of craftmanship and also fit ...good luck guys...

the samson is not really a snap on if you ever want to go back to standard handguards without taking it apart, but it is very sturdy.
I had trouble with sliding a streamlight m3 over the front of the side rail of a surefire m73 because the mounting screw and where it threaded into the rail was in the way.  It would work, but it was too tight.
The surefire m73 also seemed to have small picatiny size and would get very hot.