Now that Keymod and Mlock Rails have been out for a while, which rail system do you prefer? Keymod, Mlock, or Picatinny?
I think the Picatinny is a must have due to accessories such as BUIS which are not available in KeyMod or M-Lok for direct mount.
I prefer M-Lok over KeyMod for aesthetic reasons. Additionally, in SOCOM tests conducted by NSWC-Crane the M-Lok clearly performed better under rigorous conditions:
The most remarkable differences between the two types of attachments (M-Lok and Key-Mod) was observed during repeatability testing. With variations measured in MOA, KeyMod exhibited a spread from 0.2 to 14.6 while M-LOK varied from 0.0 To 6.6 POA shift.
This isn’t a quote, a summary from a couple slides: In drop testing the M-Lok held the attached accessory rail and WML on the rail, although with rearward displacement in the slots; the KeyMod had a complete separation of the accessory rail and light from the handguard and a torn area between the slots used.
In failure load testing which attempts to pull accessories from the rail from 90 Deg off-axis, Crane noted an increase of 215% in average sustained load of M-LOK over KeyMod.
for SOCOM, the conclusions were clear enough to choose a path forward. This test concludes that M-LOK is a more robust and more stable system. In addition to repeatedly maintaining point of aim for mounted accessories during normal mounting and remounting, it also better maintained rail intagrity in spite of impacts. On the other hand, testing shows that KeyMod suffered significant POA shifts during both repeated mounting and remounting as well as after impacts. Additionally, while both systems noted cracking under impact, some KeyMod rail samples lost integrity with fracturing beteeen slots.
Crane noted that it was extremely important to properly mount accessories to the rail. KeyMod did a much better job of self-aligning the accessory during mounting while M-LOK required more attention. The takeaway here is to pay attention while attaching accessories to the rail and to check zero after mounting.
I prefer MLock because it’s the easiest to fabricate stuff for
Picatinny
Customizable Picatinny
M-Lok
Nothing
I will stick with M-Lok going forward as BCM MMR rails are available (BCM and Geissele are my preference). I have no plans on ditching the Keymod rails I’ve purchased, though.
That said, the rifles which I shoot most often wear DD Omegas (work guns, by policy). I don’t mind them a bit.
I’ve had no complaints about my Keymods. Repeatability, for me as a civilian, is a non issue. I don’t take stuff off the handguard… nor do I have PEQ type aiming devices that need to retain zero.
My Geiselle rail that’s pic/mlok has the mlok slots where I don’t need to mount anything… and I don’t have anything mountable in Mlok anyway… so I’ve never really tried it.
Pic isn’t going away for me.
My real hard usin’ AR has a Centurion C4 Picatinny rail. I still believe a Picatinny attachment is the best.
I have a BCM KMR-A on a 16" RECCE type and I like it. The light mount is real close to the rail and the BCM QD socket is very low profile and smooth. It’s primarily a light competition and ranch rifle.
There is no doubt that Keymod is going to die. There is no denying it’s ugly. When Magpul did MLOK, Keymod was obsolete that very day. So I’ll be rocking an obsolete KMR well into the future.
I guess I am more of a fan of kmod as there are better accessories but own a few mlocks. Big fan of the BCM KMR, Knights URX 4, and the Geissele MK8. Now that BCM is making mlock accessories that will help.
Not AR related but the KDG mlock rail for the scar is pretty fricking awesome.
I’ll stick with KeyMod. I can follow instructions so Mloc doesn’t offer any advantage over it to me.
I’m still a large fan of direct attach, like the original Centurion Arms rail. However, I can understand the needs and wants of the various other attachments on the market. 1913 isn’t going anywhere for a long time, no matter what people think.
I will only use a 1 piece rail, I have seen too many 2 piece rails fail. I like a picatinny rail over all others and I like the LaRue the best of them.
Keymod for me, since that was the “skinny” option when I bought my first NSR as a replacement for a cheese grater quad rail ten(?) years ago. Now all my AR’s have that system and can’t see any reason to spend $x thousand replacing all my hand guards and parts for marginal/theoretical improvements that don’t make any difference (for my uses).
I’d rather spend the coin on powder, primers, and projectiles.
Which one is “best”? Hell if I know.
Thanks for your responses; I was curious. While sales seem to be moving in the direction of the Mlock, most shooters that I know plan to keep the rails they have.
All are looking at ammo ads!
Well, a BCM rail will still cost $200 next run. A case of AR ammo definitely won’t stay as cheap as it is now during that same time period.
New guy here and no connoisseur, but I’m flexible by application.
Despite its weight and age, the one I wish I could get more of is the original Vltor CASV-EL, not the step-down model but the original straight-line rail that forks around the FSB… even though I prefer middy gas for 16" carbines, for PDW’s a Carbine Length with CASV (basically, a Mark 18 Mod 0 upper on a pistol lower) seems to handle about right for me in non-firing “dry run” handling. Not to mention that the girlfriend wants one identical to mine that she can borrow on the range, and once fully configured a “Gremlin” PDW package becomes very strongly optimized to one side or the other with very poor fit when a right-hander tries to hold a lefty gun or vice versa… which means either having to spend five minutes dismantling and rebuilding it every time we change places, building up a second, right-handed handguard/foregrip assembly for her or more fun an entire second gun.
FYI- It’s MLOK.
Oops! I’ve been spelling it wrong
I agree. The Larue is a product improved KAC FF RAS. I bent the bottom rail on the mighty RIS II years ago.
My favorite has got to be the Hodge mega collaboration. After that, geissele, centurion, and Daniel defense. I have MLOK and picatiny rails. I would say I prefer MLOK but my current go to rifle has a 12in Daniel quad on it. Looking forward to getting my hands on some of the new bcm rails.
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I prefer 1913 rails, because I feel they have the most solid method of attaching accessories. Between Mlok, and keymod I would go Mlok.