AR ''FreeFloated'' uppers..

Airborn_69

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Seriously, are they really worth it on a carbine, not just accuracy wise??

I do see the advantage of a quad rail if you're a gadget guy, the Daniel Defence one is 200g+ in weight, very acceptable.
 
They are nice for mounting a light and a vertical grip...but not necessary, they do save on bolt wear in high use/full-auto guns...the CDI factor cannot be over looked, personally on my go to gun I like the drop-in type rails...my match gun has a normal 1980's style float tube...not fancy but nice when using a bi-pod or sling.
 
When I floated my 14.5" AR, I went from 6" groups at 100 to 1" at 100. ;)

Seriously - it probably improved accuracy by less than .50" at 100.

I just went FF because the style I wanted didn't come any other way.
 
A full floating of the barrel will help with consistant poi (and thus accuracy) only if you are putting varrying stress on the barrel while shooting.
If you are adding sling tension, hanging heavy stuff off of it or shooting at further distances (like 250+ meters), it would be worth it. If not, a non-floated rail will work just as well, and it is very likely the average shooter shooting short range won't see a difference between the two.
 
I've put a DD Lite Rail 7.0 on my Sabre Defence 14.5" a few months back and I do notice a difference in overall accuracy from the bench.

Using an ACOG, groups at 100-300yards have been reduced about 20-30% depending on the load. Heavy match ammo performs admirably at long range with the ACOG and DD rail.

The biggest difference I've noticed, as beltfed and TDC pointed out is when shooting from strange positions (urban prone, slings etc) when you sometimes will have stress on the handguards. Shooting from a lot of different positions that put any type of stress will cause a shift in the POI. I have noticed that since going with the DD rail my groups at all ranges have tightened up, most noticablable positional shooting. Most of my shooting is within 125yards using an EOTech for the close stuff.

Its minimal, but enough to notice. I really like how my AR performs with the DD rail, was the best investment in that system. The rifle handles much better overall and I do like the flexible design of a quad rail for whatever I get into in the future.

The rails aren't cheap, I paid just under $400 for mine installed. That's alot of money that could be put to ammo, gear and training before I'd worry about maximizing an AR system for squeezing just a bit more accuracy and no POI issues in my rifle. But....if you have lots of ammo and toys and are looking for a great tweak to an AR, a good quality rail is a good investment, especially if your into tactical stuff where you'll be hanging all kinds of stuff of the front (lights, lasers, IR, vertical grips).

Hope this helps.
 
This is probably off the mark, but what I really want is a free floated ar pistol. like the minimoose but at 7" and with the same monolithic-type rail that spans the d-ring. then mounted with a set of HK sites. blam that'd be hot.
 
Another option as Sparrow pointed out, to railed FF tubes are of course the tubes without the rails.
I think they are around $100 and are a good option for those on the cheap.
 
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