| I was looking for a free floated quad rail that was not outrageous in price. This rail system is solidly constructed and offers a lot of flexibility in the positioning of the rails. Only the top rail is machined into the forend. The rest of the rails are removable with screws, allowing you to place the rails along the bottom, sides, and at all 45 degree angles. This allows for a very customized setup and also allows you to get rid of the rails you don't need, which adds to comfort in handling the rifle.
That being said, do not get this rail system if you are planning to use any optic or other attachment that will be mounted between the upper receiver and the quad rail. The top rail on this forend does not match the height of a flat-top AR. So for example - if, like many people, you want to mount an EOTech midway down the rifle where the optic is partially mounted to the flat-top upper, and partially mounted to the quad rail, you are out of luck because the heights are significantly off.
The other drawback to this system is the way that the forend is affixed to the upper receiver. A custom barrel nut is first threaded on, and then the forend threads onto the barrel nut. The threads are not designed to keep the forend tight or in proper orientation. This is accomplished by tightening two Allen head screws, which squeeze the base of the forend onto the barrel nut, kind of like a hose clamp secures your radiator hose to the motor. This causes a deformation in the first couple of inches of the top rail, due to a slit cut in them to allow for the clamping action. The instructions state this is to be expected and is part of the design. I could see this causing issues with any attachments you might try to mount in that area. And, since there is no way to ensure proper rotational orientation of the forend, other than eyeballing it, I don't believe you could reliably remove and then reattach the forend without re-zeroing iron sights or any optic mounted to the forend.
I don't think the negatives completely outweigh the benefits of this system. It's solidly built, offers a lot of flexibility, and is pretty cheap, compared to other systems. If you aren't mounting anything spanning the upper receiver and the forend, it's still probably a good buy. I'd give it 3.5 bullets if I could. |