Opinions and experience - Surefire vs KAC rails

[Creeky73]

I have no doubt that the Surefire rail is of fine quality, as I know of at least one manufacturer of decent reputation that uses these rails on some of their stock models. They are, however, very pricey for a non-ff hand guard. If your optic situation is already set up, and you do not intend to be using the hand guard rail space for optics, I don't see a huge problem with going with non-ff hand guards. Under this assumption, I also would not consider it a huge con that the Surefire 12 o'clock rail is not at the same height as your flat top rail. The big issue is whether the ease of installation trumps the lack of free-floating the barrel, especially at the Surefire price point. I can certainly understand not wanting to get gunsmiths involved or, if this is your first AR, not wanting to spend a bunch of money on the tools needed to properly break down the gun, which a whole lot of ff hand guards require. If this is the case, take a look at the Daniel Defense Omega rails, not the Omega X that just recently came out. They free float without needing all the break down, but do cost more.

[alt154shiver]

I actually just got done looking at the DD Omega rails and I was liking what I saw. If it becomes possible to install a set without rocking the boat too much I might just have to consider it. I would probably also re-use a set of DD rails at a later date which would negate the "only useful on deployment" factor.

If I owned the weapon I wouldn't hesitate to run FF rails. It's not a question of cost, it's a question of Regs. They navy (outside the SOCOM world) has a stigma when it comes to firearms and gear. Hell they don't even like letting people obtain their own holsters. I actually had an officer try to tell me (and the rest of my unit) that if we used non-issued gear that they DoD might not pay out benefits, or that there could be questions about paying out benefits. I don't think I need to explain to anyone how pegged out my BS meter was when I heard that come out of her mouth.

The height difference on the Surefire rails wouldn't be a deal breaker. The rails would be mounting on an A2. No flat top receiver to line up with in the first place. I'm more concerned with the weight and quality issues. So far it seems like the DD Omega is the lightest of the bunch (with the benifit of being free float), but I'm pretty sure it's still not lighter than the standard A2 hand guards.

[SDDuc996]

I actually just got done looking at the DD Omega rails and I was liking what I saw. If it becomes possible to install a set without rocking the boat too much I might just have to consider it. I would probably also re-use a set of DD rails at a later date which would negate the "only useful on deployment" factor.

If I owned the weapon I wouldn't hesitate to run FF rails. It's not a question of cost, it's a question of Regs. They navy (outside the SOCOM world) has a stigma when it comes to firearms and gear. Hell they don't even like letting people obtain their own holsters. I actually had an officer try to tell me (and the rest of my unit) that if we used non-issued gear that they DoD might not pay out benefits, or that there could be questions about paying out benefits. I don't think I need to explain to anyone how pegged out my BS meter was when I heard that come out of her mouth.

The height difference on the Surefire rails wouldn't be a deal breaker. The rails would be mounting on an A2. No flat top receiver to line up with in the first place. I'm more concerned with the weight and quality issues. So far it seems like the DD Omega is the lightest of the bunch (with the benifit of being free float), but I'm pretty sure it's still not lighter than the standard A2 hand guards.

Officially, even in NAVSPECWAR it's highly frowned upon to alter your weapon outside of what the controlling unit has done to it. Fro example, before DD rails were installed on the MK18 uppers, KAC drop in were issued. Everybody hated them and some would go out of pocket to buy a good ff. I would install the rails for them and would catch hell from the unit in charge of all the weapons. This even included swapping fixed A2 to LMT collapsibles onto the MK12's. Though I would get in trouble if caught, it was a gay ass rule, and if that was what the operator wanted, that's what I did. To hell with the consequences.

Creeky beat me to it, but I was about to recommend the DD Omega for your A2 as well. Doesn't look too out of place, and no weapon mods.

[gunnut284]

I have a Surefire rail on my issue gun and it is ok. If I had the option I would go with a free float instead (DD, Larue, Troy, etc) but the Surefire does lock up solid. I don't think the method of attachment is ideal but it seems to work reasonably well. The little bit I've seen of the KAC rails they seemed to be loose and more easily damaged (softer aluminum).