What do all these fancy-looking barrel shrouds, the ones with little flanges and grooved holes, actually do? I don't know much about rifles so please speak slowly and use small words. Thanks.
What do all these fancy-looking barrel shrouds, the ones with little flanges and grooved holes, actually do...
Owen Turner
Brayden Sanchez
It's a handguard. M-lok. It interfaces with pic rails if you do desire to mount shit on your gun.
Hunter Jackson
But if you don't mount shit isn't it just dead weight?
And what would you mount so far forward on the barrel? A flashlight? Doesn't that unbalance the gun?
Grayson Sanchez
>please speak slowly and use small words
Light stick and grip stick need putting on. Tape and glue bad. Holes for putting holding piece in and through and holding the sticks.
Jack Mitchell
The forends are incredibly light, they're typically made of aircraft aluminum. You need something to hold onto. As for hanging a bunch of shit off your rifle, yeah it might fuck the natural balance but it is designed to be modular in that way so the owner can do whatever they want to it. It comes down to your personal needs and desires.
Hunter Sanchez
>dead weight
They are holes, they are quite literally the lightest of options. Unless you're talking about no barrel shroud at all in which case I invite you to hold onto the gun with a bare hand after a few mags. Balance is not really an issue until you start throwing reams of shit up front.
Also, you know it's called a barrel shroud and I'm calling bullshit on your ignorance.
Easton James
The handguards are useful in their own right. The minimize your grip bending the barrel and negatively effecting accuracy. Modern handguards like that are actually incredibly light weight. Even lighter than a plastic handguard in some cases. Putting a light at the end of the gun does unbalance it a bit, but it's a compromise worth making because the benefits greatly outweigh the detriments.
Andrew Lopez
Ah, I see now. Thanks, everyone!
Ethan Davis
>Also, you know it's called a barrel shroud and I'm calling bullshit on your ignorance.
It was mentioned in an article I was reading and I didn't know what it did. I just copied the terminology.
Jack Turner
Next time, please use QTDDTOT, it exists for questions like this.
pic related is a quad rail handguard, it has 4 MIL-STD-1913 rails, aka picatinny rails, at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, and 9 o'clock. Picatinny rails are the standard for mounting all sorts of accessories, optics, laser sights, grips, bottle openers, etc.
A quad rail is outdated; it's heavy and unergonomic because of all those rails, and it's mostly wasted because you're really only going to use a few inches here or there for specific accessories.
Current standard is M-Lok rails like your pic; it may some rail left (yours has a couple inches of rail at 12 o'clock, a full 12 o'clock rail is also common -- the idea of having just a bit at the front is mostly for mounting a backup iron sight in case your optic fails), but is mostly smooth with rectangular M-Lok slots. This is nicer to hold because it's a smooth octagon (or similar) profile vs. the quad-rail's gnarly cheesegrater, but you can still use those M-Lok slots to mount a short segment of picatinny rail anywhere you want to mount an accessory. This way you only have the rails where you need them, so it's lighter. There's also some accessories (grips and sling attachments mostly) made to attach directly to M-Lok, without needing a picatinny rail segment, which makes things lighter yet.
Easton Richardson
>And what would you mount so far forward on the barrel?
bipod, fore grip. also chances are there is a really small metal tube You can see it right above the barrel) that shoots gas back into the gun to cycle it, gotta protect it with something.
Cameron Roberts
lurk more feggit
jk welcome to r/guns
don't forget to upvote
Leo White
flashlight is a great reason for a full length handgaurd, it keeps the beam from illuminating the barrel and side of your rifle instead of all going down range. Also, it's a little easier to compensate for where the guy is behind the gun when you can see more of the gun behind the light.
Where theyd be useful if you left the handgaurd empty? Resting the rifles in more improvised positions while keeping the barrel floated and it has helped me in the past.
Jeremiah Moore
You asked nicely (for a retard) and everyone else answered already, but you might also want to realize that they cover up the hot barrel and protect the gas system.
Joseph Reed
The square cuts are M-lok, so you can put stuff on them. Have a little nut that you rotate that engages with the side. The sharp angled block things on the top are pic rails, also a thing to attach stuff to. The random little holes and cuts are to reduce weight.
Kevin Fisher
QTDDTOT is where questions go to die.
Luke Thomas
One of the main concepts behind Mlok and Keymod was to have direct attach accessories, eliminating the need for pic rail altogether. Yes, you can still mount pic rail sections if you have older pic rail accessories. But choosing to do this if buying new stuff is retarded.
Tyler Bell
They do a few things, first they protect your hand from the hot barrel, second they give you a way to attach stuff such as lights, grips, etc. to your gun, third, the reason longer ones are more popular now is that if your barrel is in contact with something when you are shooting it, it bends very slightly which makes you hit somewhere different than where you are aiming.
Jonathan Ross
Weight, especially forward weight, can reduce perceived recoil because it helps counteract muzzle rise.
However, it's also more strenuous to hold the firearm up.
Ian Barnes
>it's also more strenuous to hold the firearm
That's why you either:
a) purchase an upper with an 11.5" barrel or
b) purchase an upper with a pencil/lightweight barrel
Pic related, I did neither of those ;~;
Zachary Green
Looks about as heavy as possible.
Now just add a suppressor, IR/laser, flashlight
and do kung fu training so your fore arms become thicker than your biceps.
Landon Perry
i dont have an ar, but if you mount stuff to the bottom it will counteract recoil
Hudson Parker
>Calls them barrel shrouds
>It's a handguard
>Actual shrouds are faux suppressors, meaning not a real one but for the sake of looks on a barrel from the bore to whatevr ending length
Fuck off anti-guns
Shrouds are what I explained
Handguards help protect your hands from being burned from the bare barrel so you can hold your gun without physically putting your hand on the hot barrel.