UTG quad rail gear test (UPDATED on page 3)

bluesclues

bluesclues

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OK, since I read the thread on railed forends:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=383427

I was honestly quite surprised at the comments regarding the UTG quad rail namely, "poser", "junk" and, "crap." However, no one provided any details on witnessing a failure, or a reason besides, made in China, that they are junk.

Note: The last time someone kept telling me all about this Chinese junk was when I bought my first Norinco 1911. The funny part of that was, my Norc ate everything I fed it and, the guy who kept beaking off, his Para choked on a regular basis.

So, I ordered a UTG quad rail and VFG. I have always run my AR with the factory handguards, this will be my first quad rail on my personal AR.

Total: $109, not including tax or shipping.

Use: I will use this set up on all range trips (usually 3 times per month for about 150 rounds per trip). Also, for club fun matches and, at least 1 3 gun match per year and, any training courses and service rifle type shoots.

I will update any problems encountered, everything from having to re-tighten the locking screws upto and including any catrostrophic parts failures.

Update will start as soon as I get the parts and put it together.

This is simply me trying to sort through fact and fantasy.
 
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regardless of price I don't like sending my dollars overseas unless I'm getting such a good product that the domestic market can't compete.

If it's a get what you pay for (typical Chinese expectation) it's one thing, however if it's a dollar for dollar good investment (Toyota) then I'm interested...
 
I have one to... Works like it is supposed to havent burnt my fingers on the barrel yet.

The only advantage I can think of with buying a much MUCH more expensive one would be free floating.
 
One point that seems to keep coming up is the political aspect of buying Chinese made products. Westerners, in general, do not find communism or percieved slave labour, politically correct. However, often times the actual quality of a product or the materials used is not junk. Ofcourse, this is not always the case.

As has been discussed to death already, the usual reason for cheaper Chinese products is the price of labour in China. This is not a Chinese phenomenon, in fact most of world works for wages Westerners would not.

And, lets face it, a civvy range only gun with mags pinned to a max 10 rounds, isn't going to be driven hard enough to really ever warrant some of the "must have" uber cool, space age material, gear that costs almost as much as the gun itself. Just one shooters opinion. My AR is not a safe queen but, I don't use it as a bat, pry bar, pogo stick or attitude ajustment tool... hence this test. Lest we forget, better is the enemy of good enough.

So, if you would not purchase Chinese made products because of the aforementioned reasons, than it really doesn't matter the actually quality of the product itself. This, and people tend to get pretty bitter and twisted when they find out that their super trendy, uber expensive gear doesn't do anything to make them a more skilled individual.

For the rest of us, who have purchased Norinco (or any number of household, or automotive goods etc etc) we are well aware, that it is not where something is made but, rather how (and of what) it is made. {Eg. Norc M14/1911 receiver steel being higher quality than a lot of their American counterparts.}

I expect my UTG stuff to arrive tomorrow. First impressions to follow shortly. I also bought a UTG rifle bag, this I will also report if there are any issues.
 
I defiantly see your point, however the one thing that bothers me with this stuff is the quality. They are defiantly using cheaper materials, otherwise the price would be higher. I think that with accessories in this platform you get what you pay for. Is your new rail going to be non FF? Example: you could go to an MI FF rail for a little bit more ($185 USD) and get something higher in quality and something made in the USA. If your spending 100 already, whats a little bit more to get something better overall. It just doesn't seem worth it to cheap out when there is something more mainstream close to that price range, not to mention the support offered by a company in the US or canada... What if your UTG rail cracks? you guna call china[exaggeration]? If your MI rail cracks atleast you have the support...
 
50calshooter, I do see your point as well.
I will run the UTG stuff and see what happens. I am truly interested to see if it is a viable alternative or not. On your last point, if the rail cracks I guess that I will just be out $99.
 
bluesclues said:
OK, since I read the thread on railed forends:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=383427

I was honestly quite surprised at the comments regarding the UTG quad rail namely, "poser", "junk" and, "crap." However, no one provided any details on witnessing a failure, or a reason besides, made in China, that they are junk.

Note: The last time someone kept telling me all about this Chinese junk was when I bought my first Norinco 1911. The funny part of that was, my Norc ate everything I fed it and, the guy who kept beaking off, his Para choked on a regular basis.

So, I ordered a UTG quad rail and VFG. I have always run my AR with the factory handguards, this will be my first quad rail on my personal AR.

Total: $109, not including tax or shipping.

Use: I will use this set up on all range trips (usually 3 times per month for about 150 rounds per trip). Also, for club fun matches and, at least 1 3 gun match per year and, any training courses and service rifle type shoots.

I will update any problems encountered, everything from having to re-tighten the locking screws upto and including any catrostrophic parts failures.

Update will start as soon as I get the parts and put it together.

This is simply me trying to sort through fact and fantasy.
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I'll enlighten you with some examples of bad UTG or similar quality products. I've seen UTG rails that were out of spec and would not accept other accessories. Namely a Tango Down Vertical grip. I've seen several rails break the locking tabs that sit under the D ring during installation. The UTG rails I've seen and handled were not parkerized or anodized. They were painted. The overall finish quality was rough at best. Of the UTG/Leapers rails I can find, none are free float. They aren't the lightest options either but they aren't the heaviest I've seen or handled.

The personal or political reasons for not purchasing off shore is something that can't be argued. With the "economic down turn" being experienced I prefer to support local business on this side of the pond when and where possible.


TDC
 
i have a utg mounted on a norc. so for me, china gun, china parts.

FWIW, I had a ace vert grip at one point mounted on it. It uses two hex screws that drive INTO the the rail, from inside the grip (means I needed a long hex screw driver to reach). the metal is soft so that the screws would tighten into the rail, and actually began drilling into it - creating two small holes. the ace grip broke. so now I use a tangodown that has a QR latch that tightens on the side of the rail.

The finish does wear off. after 1000 rounds, though it still works to hold the grip. I don't mount any optics on it so I don't care about that. the only thing I would suggest is to lock tight those 4 screws that clamp the rails together. they tend to work themselves loose from the repated battery.
 
nza said:
i have a utg mounted on a norc. so for me, china gun, china parts.
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OK this makes sense to me, if your guna build a low budget AR to beat on, then yes, I do not see the harm in going this route...

It's the guys I see at the range that spend decent money on nice out of the box AR's and start bolting cheap crap to it, that makes my skin crawl...
 
50calshooter said:
OK this makes sense to me, if your guna build a low budget AR to beat on, then yes, I do not see the harm in going this route...

It's the guys I see at the range that spend decent money on nice out of the box AR's and start bolting cheap crap to it, that makes my skin crawl...
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Just curious, why would it bother you?
Although, I get the same feeling whenever I see guys running Glocks:p


Anyways, any day now. Hoping to have it all ready to go the range later this week :rockOn:
 
i see that the materials quality has come up a few times.. UTG make their bits from 6061 aluminium dont they ? its going to be the same 6061 as american made stuff.

as per the screws digging into the rail.. if the rail is aluminium, and the screws are steel.. yup, you'll get that, depending on the force you apply.

i use a UTG trirail mount on my shotgun, and havent noticed it being soft, or out of spec
 
bluesclues said:
Just curious, why would it bother you?
Although, I get the same feeling whenever I see guys running Glocks:p


Anyways, any day now. Hoping to have it all ready to go the range later this week :rockOn:
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TDC summed this up lots... I hate to see guys invest in quality rifles only to have that quality covered up with cheap crap. For me, I am fully committed to my rifle (there are many like it but this one is mine :D ) and if I cant afford to put decent parts on right away, I'll wait. I will not settle for the cheap s**t, only to have the cheap s**t diminish the look and function of my quality rifle.... But thats just me, ya know.....
 
I usually run my rifles too hard to rely on some cheap piece of crap to break, causing downtime at the range, waiting for replacement parts, and general inconvenience. My spare time is limited so when I get a chance to train I would rather avoid unnecessary delays due to equipment failure. Pretty much as simple as that, I discourage others in my circle of friends and shooting partners for these same reasons, as the only thing worse that a delay caused by your rifle having issues is a delay caused by your partner's kit go down in the middle of a training session.
For what it is worth I have seen cracked UTG rails as well some out of spec rails rom other inexpensive manufacturers that are all but useless. I have yet to see a VLTOR, LaRue,KAC etc rail that has failed or been out of spec,even under even what some would consider extreme use.
 
Reaper said:
I usually run my rifles too hard to rely on some cheap piece of crap to break, causing downtime at the range, waiting for replacement parts, and general inconvenience. My spare time is limited so when I get a chance to train I would rather avoid unnecessary delays due to equipment failure. Pretty much as simple as that, I discourage others in my circle of friends and shooting partners for these same reasons, as the only thing worse that a delay caused by your rifle having issues is a delay caused by your partner's kit go down in the middle of a training session.
For what it is worth I have seen cracked UTG rails as well some out of spec rails rom other inexpensive manufacturers that are all but useless. I have yet to see a VLTOR, LaRue,KAC etc rail that has failed or been out of spec,even under even what some would consider extreme use.
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You hit one a key factor. You TRAIN with your gear. Others just plink or "sport" shoot, often from the bench. If you don't run your gear hard, its tough to justify running hard gear. I still agree that the inconvenience of failed kit is a PITA that I would sooner avoid.

TDC
 
Fenix.NZ said:
i see that the materials quality has come up a few times.. UTG make their bits from 6061 aluminium dont they ? its going to be the same 6061 as american made stuff.

as per the screws digging into the rail.. if the rail is aluminium, and the screws are steel.. yup, you'll get that, depending on the force you apply.

i use a UTG trirail mount on my shotgun, and havent noticed it being soft, or out of spec
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A friend already has the UTG 416 and it's made of annodized aluminum, and it seems to be in spec 1913 rails and so far (18 mos) has had no issues.

Now that being said, he hasn't done any real hard/abusive training with it, that I am aware of. He shoots it about once or twice a month and usually one of those shoots is a club fun match.

Also, just for the record, I AM NOT SAYING that UTG gear is the same as KAC or anything like that. Just trying to determine for myself (and hopefully the benefit of others) the practicality of this inexpensive alternative.

If it turns out to be junk or sub-standard, I will not sugar-coat it. It will be reported here in full detail.
 
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