In an effort help my carbine shed a few pounds I’ve decided to sell my Knights RAS and either run MOE or factory handguards.
Leaning towards factory guards right now due to the fact that I wouldn’t have to purchase them. I’m wanting to keep my M3X attached as well as my AFG but I’m fairly unfamiliar with mounting solutions when it comes to factory handguards.
Can someone clue me in on mounting solutions?
Also wondering if it would actually be smarter to purchase some MOE handguards rather than running factory handguards?
Thanks in advance.
it probably would be a smarter buy for MOE. They offer more options of adding rails. Its just a different feel to them also. I wouldnt have spent the money on them, but thats how this upper came, with the MOE handguards. Id save up and put a FF rail. Well thats IOM, and thats what i plan to do. Spend a good couple hundred dollar on a nice rail system.
The MOE is less than $30 and the rails are another $20ish plus covers… a standard HG can have rails added to it… several manufacturers make them in lengths from 1-12" or more. The MOE is a better option in my opinion but the factory HG can work.
Brownells sells the rail sections for the MOE handguards. They’re listed on the same page. They also work with standard handguards.
I use a 2" piece mounted at 12 o’clock right behind the fsb for an offset VTAC light mount. Putting the rail at 2:30/9:30 would take 30 seconds with a drill.
I tried the MOE handguards and didn’t care for them. They’re easy to find used for @$25.
so get an MI front sight base mount for the light and a GG&G under foregrip rail and you will be good to go
I gave thought to the MI FSB mount but it wouldnt allow for proper manipulation of the light I have. Where could I find the GG&G rail?
http://www.gggaz.com/index.php?cat=44&parents=38
they also have other options for mounting your light. just make sure you locktite the under foregrip rail
I just felt the carbine moe rail on a smith and wesson magpul edition, it feels much better than a standard m4 handguard in my opinion…it feels natural.
I assume we’re talking about a carbine-length gas system and fixed front sight here?
My #1 gun is a colt 6933 which is a carbine-length gas, fixed front sight, 11.5" barrel. I originally used the standard M4 handguards on it until the MOE came out and I made the switch. I use an MI FSB mount and attach a Surefire X300 to that mount on the support side. This setup works great for me.
Given a 7.0 handguard length I am not a fan of attaching anything to it save perhaps a strategically located sling swivel if using the MOE. I don’t find the plastic handguards, whether MOE or M4, to be sturdy/stable enough for mounting a VFG, and I find the overall length to be too cramped to mount a light (even with the X300, forget it with a longer light like a G2). The length issue applies, IMHO, even on railed 7.0 handguards.
Something else you may consider…
Believe it or not, a Daniel Defense M4 rail or Lite rail 9.0 over a shaved-down FSB as gas block and with a Troy flipup or DD fixed front sight attached weighs almost the EXACT same thing as a set of M4 handguards and a stock FSB. I, of course, can’t find the photos right this second but I even have pictures showing this. I have a second 6933 that has the DD M4 rails. If you use something like the new Troy Extreme FF tube you could actually wind up SAVING weight over the stock setup! and a FF tube or rail system is a much better attachment point for a VFG.
to address your original question though, I find the MOE to be worth the <$30 they cost. I like the extra heat protection at the FSB, I like the little hook at the front end (no need for a FAG with that hook IMHO), and I think they lock up tighter and more securely than the stock handguards, and they are almost exactly a 1:1 in weight to a set of double-shield M4 handguards (the M4s get the weight edge if you ditch one layer of shielding).
You read my mind. My original plan was to replace my FSB with a gas block or to shave down my FSB with the intent of buying the DDM4 rails. Then money became an issue. It really boiled down to either saving weight with the optic by consolidating from an M3 to a T-1 or saving weight through my rail system. I figured that I could do both by purchasing a T-1 and running MOE or factory handguards until I can re-coup from the T-1 purchase.
What do you think about a G2 with a VLTOR mount( or any non offset mount) attached to the FSB with the tail cap slightly protruding the end of the mount which adds a bit more room for manipulation?
FWIW, the H-1 is less expensive and, for our purposes, does everything the T-1 does.
What do you think about a G2 with a VLTOR mount( or any non offset mount) attached to the FSB with the tail cap slightly protruding the end of the mount which adds a bit more room for manipulation?
Like this? (I would have pushed the light slightly further forward, pretty much as far as it would go, on a non-SBR)
I’m seriously considering doing this when Magpul finally releases the rifle-length MOE. Going on the assumption they’ll be -$100, I can sell my Larue 12.0 and still walk away with a new rail system with all the goodies. Sounds like a win-win. I wonder what the rifle-length MOE will weigh…
Rifle length not available yet but listed for $37.95. Even if this is a guess, they will be much less than $100.
middy and rifle are supposedly coming summer 2010, no exact dates. WTB middy MOE handguard in FDE
The 2010 Magpul catalog has the midlength MOE MSRP at $34.95 and the rifle length at $39.95. Midway is frequently a couple bucks lower than MSRP.
I am patiently awaiting the midlength MOE, illumination kit and MVG for my new 14.5" BCM.
Me too…but I’m waiting on the BCM 14.5" middy too…patiently, patiently…
WTF??? :eek:
I’m doing the same. The only thing I have attached is a G2 in a VTac mount. I weighed the ras, g2 and vtac mount, came to 1.5lbs.That’s atleast a pound that does nothing for me. This will probably endup getting stripped of all doo dads, asap, bad, t-1 etc. and those items put on my new bcm lightweight once they are in stock again.
That’s what I said.
Scoby