I like the DD Lite rail for it’s light weight, and continuous top rail, but I have a concern.
All those allen head bolts look like a problem waiting to happen. What keeps them from loosening? Locktite? Has anyone heard of them coming loose?
Is the LaRue design or the DD M4 design better because it’s a simpler design without all those allen head bolts?
I have two of the 12" lite rails that are on relatively high volume shooters, one came directly from DD as a complete upper, the other was put together by an AR master smith, both have been excellent and show no signs of movement.
The Lite rail is the same basic attachment system that the Daniel Defense RIS II rail uses, which is the current issue US Military SOCOM rail. I’ve been using my Lite rail on my duty weapon since they first came out, and its been beaten on quite nicely without ever a problem. Its a design which went through a lot of military testing.
The Daniel Defense M4 variant is also used by the military, though given a choice, I would go with the Lite rail or RIS II every time.
I put blue loctite on those screws, they are very stout. When properly torqued in sequence and loctited, they won’t go anywhere without some heroic efforts. The only way I can see that connection being more secure would be to knurl the front and rear faces of the barrel nut, but that would chew up the rail and lock nut real quick if you monkey with the connection a lot.
If properly installed they don’t come loose. The 6 screws from the factory have a sleeving agent already on them (you can add blue loc-tite but it’s not needed). I only add blue or red loc-tite if I’ve had to remove and then reinstall the Lite Rail for some reason. I’ve installed over 80 Lite Rails (in that number includes rails related like the RIS II rails). None have ever loosened.
The ADC PD15 piston upper I tested has the DD rail, 6000 hard rounds with blue Loctite and no loosening.
Do the DD Lite rails have an anti-rotation feature?
Here’s what DD responded to an email I sent asking that question.
"Rob,
Thank you for your interest in Daniel Defense and our products. Our AR15 Lite Rails utilize our patent pending “Bolt-Up System”. This system is battle proven and is the same mounting system found on our RIS II which is being supplied to SOCOM for the SOPMOD Block II Program. This system provided for a rock solid mounting platform by securing to a proprietary barrel nut which is to be torqued to 50 ft/lbs. The AR15 Lite Rail is extremely rigid and can take a lot of abuse. If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask."
Best Regards,
Joe Marler
Daniel Defense
Sounds like the answer is, “No.” Which leads me back to the LaRue. Any thoughts?
The RIS II rails do have anti-rotation tabs that I do not see on the Lite rails, which is what finally convinced me to try out a Daniel Defense product. But, if you don’t need the features of the RIS II, I would just stick with LaRue.
I wish DD would make a 7" carbine length RIS II. I would buy one of those.
How essential is this anti-rotation feature? I have 2 DD M4 rails and a LaRue rail. I like them both. While I don’t put them through hard use, I can’t imagine inadvertently rotating any of my DD rails out of alignment. I haven’t read anything about rotations being an issue. Do you have any reading materials that I can peruse?
I know a few hundred people with Lite Rails, none have loosened a Lite Rail without using an allen wrench…
It has happened under the stress of combat with older technology rails (not DD or LaRue that I know of). I just asked the question about DD rails because LaRue touts this as a feature of their rails and the allen head screws on the DD Lite rails looked problematic.
Good to know that it’s not an issue with the DD Lite rails.
I am in the process of switching my Troy rail over to the DD Lite rail because my Troy rail loosened up on me. My gun is handled like a virgin & i’ve only had maybe 1k rounds through it. It was factory installed & the bolts didn’t back out. My shots were very inconsistent one day at the range & I couldn’t figure it out. I kept adjusting my sights (rail mounted) but I could never catch up to the movement of the rail. I finally figured out that the rail had moved (twist rotationally). I am somewhat skeptical of clamp on style rails now. I know, I know that thousands of them are reliably in use right now, but I personally feel more comfortable with the DD Lite Rail mounting system over the Troy, Samson, MI, etc. that clamps to the factory barrel nut. That’s just me though.