Two Questions

[Fletch]

On your complete carbine uppers do you guys parkerize the barrels under the FSB?

Does the redesign of the Lite Rail line affect all the Lite Rail models? I was told that the Lite Rail design was being changed to look more like M4 Rail series.

[Eric Rice]

Yes, our barrels are parkerized prior to FSB or gasblock installation.

You were given incorrect information on the Lite Rail series. There is no redesign planned. We are rolling out a small revision that allows one to slide the rail over a lo-pro gasblock, but that is entirely internal, and not visible from the exterior of the rail.

[Fletch]

That's interesting because I got a rail of yours that is an amalgam of a Lite Rail and an M4 Rail...






The rail came as a complete upper assembly I ordered from you guys. Any thoughts? I was told the Lite Rail was redesigned to match the M4 rails...

You can see here how the rail differs (I hope you don't mind, I pulled these from your site).

Lite Rail Series:




M4 Rail Series:

[Eric Rice]

Pardon me while I remove the foot from my mouth...

You are correct. The large holes in the original Lite Rail series are now replaced with the hole pattern on the M4 Rails. The shape of the rail and dimensions are the same, just a different ventilation hole pattern. This is a cosmetic change that was implemented months back, but takes time to filter thru inventory and flow out to the market.

Sorry for the confusion.

To be clear, new production runs of the Lite Rail series will have the ventilation hole patterns of the M4 Rail, but the dimensions of the rails will not change.

The Lite Rail SSC (sound suppressor capable) will be available soon as well. This will be a true hybrid of the M4 Rail and Lite Rail. The M4 Rail extrusion will be mated to the patented Bolt-Up system of the Lite rail and the RIS II series for the SOPMOD II kit. This will give the user an uninterrupted top rail and allow nesting of a silencer under the handguard. GEMTECH is currently offering their T2 .22 upper with the 7.0 version. http://www.gem-tech.com/T2.html

[Fletch]

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. What was the motivation for the change? To unify part of the machining process?

[Eric Rice]

The reasons were mostly cosmetic. The M4 Rail design has changed little over the years and is recognizable as a DD product. Also, minimizing the number of holes takes less time (=$) and allows more room for laser engraving.

[Fletch]

Makes sense.

One last question... do you know what the weight difference is between the two versions? I'm presuming the newer versions are slightly heavier and obviously the longer rails benefitted (weight wise) more from the cutouts, but is it noticeable?

[Eric Rice]

There is a negligible weight difference.

For example:

Original Lite Rail 9.5 FSP = 8.9oz

New Lite Rail 9.5 FSP = 9.1oz

[Walker Precision]

Is the Lite Rail SSC going to be a regular production item now? When I asked about it at SHOT, nobody seemed to know anything about it other than it was a special run for Gemtech.

[Eric Rice]

Given the positive feedback received at SHOT, I believe it will soon be available. Many dealers expressed interest in the product.

I would be surprised if it isn't brought to market in the near future. The only question is when.