Rail stability question.

AR/M4 AR Technical Discussion
1

I’ve got an idea for a one-off project that would involve taking a 12" rail blank from either Midwest Industries or Falcon Industries and mounting it so it is only screwed down on the ends(no support in the middle). Do you guys think that the rail is still rigid enough to support optics?

The rail blanks in question.
http://www.midwestindustriesinc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=124
http://ergogrips.net/item-detail.cfm?ID=4752&storeid=1&image=ergoaump.gif&CFID=40445159&CFTOKEN=12650610

2

Parallel to the barrel it will be rigid, although any rotation about the axis of the barrel will not be resisted very well. I guess the better question is where, relative to the ends, would you mount the optics? I’m sure some high temp epoxy could help, but the rails just cannot resist moments about the weak axis very well.

PM me your idea, I can draft up a few quick things tomorrow at work that, if I understand what you want to do, should eliminate most concerns.