While the difference is mere ounces, "ounces make pounds", especially when they're way out at the front of the gun. The (good) bottom line: The B5 handguard is the lightest and slimmest handguard by a healthy margin - it's almost 40% lighter than the Magpul handguards. The obvious exception to this is the factory plastic AR-15 handguards, which are round, but this is again a manufacturing and a cost-saving measure (the round top and bottom halves are interchangeable) over the Vietnam-era triangular handguard that influenced the grip profiles of the Magpul MOE and BCM PKMR. What's more, not a single commercial drop-in handguard chose a round or octagonal grip profile. In contrast, drop-in plastic handguards are cast in a mold, not machined from aluminum tubing, meaning their grip profile can be any shape the designer wants.
#Magpul barrel shroud free
That said, aluminum free float tubes are generally limited to two grip shapes: round or octagonal. The above chart shows that just like aluminum free-float tubes, some drop-in plastic handguards are much slimmer than others, with the slimmest models of both types bottoming out around a 6.0" circumference. Quad rails are around 7.75" or higher, and super-slim free-float rails tend to sit a bit above 6.0". *For comparison, a generic aluminum free-float rail with a 2.0" diameter has a grip circumference of around 7.0".
#Magpul barrel shroud full
Edit: With production now in full swing, BCM supplied us with a PKMR for testing and that handguard has now been added to this article. The pickings for mid-length drop-in handguards are pretty slim to ourknowledge it's just the three handguards we had hands-on time with here, and then the BCM PKMR, which was not yet available at the time of this article's posting. Tapco, Slide Fire/AB Arms, Strike Industries, IMI Defense, CAA, MFT, Promag, the Mako Group, and probably a few more manufacturers we're forgetting all make carbine-length handguards we'd be interested in trying out, but as civilians beholden to the legal convenience of the 16" barrel, we have little use for carbine gas systems (see Midlength vs.
There are many drop-in handguards on the market, but most of them are only available in carbine length. Additionally, drop-in plastic handguards are typically a fraction of the cost, lighter, more comfortable, and stay much cooler than aluminum free-floating handguards.
Free-floating handguards allow the rifle to be more accurate, it's true, but you can reliably hit a head-and-shoulders target at 400 yards with a 4 MOA gun, which is well within the capabilities of any properly-assembled AR firing decent ammunition. Drop-in plastic handguards don't get as much hype as free-floating aluminum handguards, but they are often a better match for the needs of the average shooter.
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