Vertical Foregrip [Archive] - M4Carbine.net Forums

Mojo58

07-25-07, 12:33

I'm considering a vertical foregrip to add to my Armalite M15 (14.5" bbl). I have always placed my support hand around the mag well with support thumb forward (eg. thumbs forward pistol grip). The only item I have attached to the flat top is an EOTech 512 atop a LaRue Tactical EOTech mount and a LT BUIS, so overall it's not a heavy rifle (eg. no white light, laser modules, bipods, etc.). Is there any practical purpose in adding a vertical foregrip for my purposes (eg. set up for fighting, not sniping or long range accuracy)? How does the vertical foregrip help you with your carbine and do you find it a great benefit?

Robb Jensen

07-25-07, 13:20

I only use a KAC grip to reach the light on my LMT (SBR), it's being replaced with the stubby Tangodown soon. Everything else I own I don't use a forward grip. I grab the rail/FF tube up high at 9 o'clock and very far forward for more control of the rifle/carbine. Very much the same as Dave Neth pictured here on the Primary Weapons (www.primaryweapons.com) web site.

http://primaryweapons.com/UserFiles/Image/Dave_Neth.jpg

rob_s

07-25-07, 13:22

I use them, but I've contemplated taking them off. I generally use a magwell hold also. In order for me to activate my light in the location that I like it, and to mount my sling the way I like it, it's necessary for me to have a vertical grip as I can't grip the magwell.

I can do it this way with a single point sling, but not with the two-point setup the way I like
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3371/dsc0280mediumox9.jpg

Sam

07-25-07, 14:28

I have two carbines, one with VFG and one without. I can use either one and only use the VFG on the rifle with white light (it allows me to easily activate the tail cap button).
One day while shooting with a friend who just purchased a S&W15T, his support wrist was aching pretty badly during the session. His rifle didn't have the VFG. I found out that he had a wrist/hand injury when he was younger and that was the cause of his discomfort. He tried my rifle with the VFG and found that it was less stressful and less fatigued to bring the gun up from low ready. He ordered a VFG soon after that range visit. So outside of being cool there is a real usage of VFG for those of us who are high drag and slow speed.

Harv

07-25-07, 17:26

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/harv24/IMG_1581.jpg

I've ran with a VFG for quite a few years now and like them very much.

-allows for a better more natural fighting stance.
-helps control the gun and lets me pull it in tight for hammers and NSR's.
-helps control muzzle flip during rapid fire.
-helps me drive the gun faster on multiple targets.
-allows me to pull it in tight while engaging tgts on the move.

VFG's are a personnel thing.. you have to try them and decide if they are for you...I have decide that they are for me....;)

Mojo58

07-26-07, 00:59

I've seen various grips on these. Some hold it like a hammer and others use the support thumb along the handguard like a thumbless grip (bench press). When you say it allows you to drive the gun faster on multiple targets, which grip do you use?

HolyRoller

07-26-07, 11:31

I have a SureFire 910A VFG/weaponlight. One problem with the thumbscrew mount was that when you run your thumb along it, the thumbscrews will unscrew. Also, the checkering on the thumbscrews act like cheese graters on your thumb. It didn't take long before I ditched the thumbscrew mount for a LaRue. What a world of difference!

I choke up on mine to where my thumb is alongside the handguard (I wouldn't call it a bench press grip because I use my thumbs when bench pressing; it's embarrassing to drop the bar on your chest, and painful) and my index and middle finger are between the VFG and the back of the light housing. This is where the weight really sits. My last two fingers rest on the VFG.

I'm not at all any kind of carbine jock, but this is based on what I learned from Larry Vickers in the only carbine class I've been able to take so far. As I recall, and I'm sure I'll get corrected if I'm wrong, Larry thinks of your trigger hand as the north-south control, and your support hand as the east-west control. If you wrap your fist around the VFG, then when you move it east and west, it tends to roll one way or the other. So, choke up on the VFG to where the underside of the handguard is resting on your hand, and you have only slight pressure on the vertical part.

Also, choking up on a VFG/weaponlight will dramatically reduce ADing of the white light. If you take a hammer grip, you're just a mild clench away from depressing the grip switches, and you're almost certain to AD the white light while dropping from standing to prone. For these reasons and others, Larry is not a fan of the 900/910 SureFires. To me, the 910 is the least bad of my possible worlds, in that I believe I really do need a weaponlight to identify who is/is not supposed to be shot in a law enforcement situation. I've tried the SureFire 6P/9P in a Weaver ring on the accessory rail and found the button to be very fatiguing to hold in, and the twist switch requires me to break my grip to turn it on/off.

Side mounted lights won't fit in my rifle case and it seems to me (others may know better) that stuff sticking out to the side would be likely to snag and bump on obstructions. Best of all would be if the cool guy who's working on the Ideal light mount in front of the front sight base can get it into production, and that would free up the handguard area again.

But just now I was trying variations of this hold, and noticed that if I let both my thumb and index finger point forward, and put my middle and ring finger between the light housing and VFG, and have only the little finger on the vertical part, it is now utterly impossible to AD the white light. I'll try it on the range very soon.

gunny

07-26-07, 15:21