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Thread: Does anybody even still use carbine length rails anymore?

  1. #31
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    Thanks for all the opinions guys. It has helped me learn alot more about people's choices in their customization of their weapon system.

    For me, at least, I think the carbine length rails work fine, at least for now. My next AR build will probably be more of a SPR than just a carbine, so I will most likely use longer rails.

    Oh, and please keep in mind that my original statement of "I feel left out" was supposed to be taken more tounge-in-cheek and I was not completely serious.

    Oh, and here is a picture of my rifle:

    But what then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? - Albert Camus

  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by kmrtnsn View Post
    Times change, weapons evolve. I don't hear anyone clammoring for the good old days and the Garand and M1 Carbine.
    Not so much on this board, but on other boards, you'll be told that the Garand is the One True Rifle and that ARs and 5.56 aren't even suitable for plinking rats at the dump...


    I can still use a carbine length handguard set just fine, but long rails are just more comfortable/practical for me.

    i
    I'm no expert, but I took my CCW course at a Holiday Inn Express

  3. #33
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    Before I am too old to write about, someday a new caliber and a new carbine will come along and we'll all dump the M4 and move forward.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by kmrtnsn View Post
    Before I am too old to write about, someday a new caliber and a new carbine will come along and we'll all dump the M4 and move forward.
    Haha, ya then all of us will be the crusty old men clamoring about how these new guns aren't like they used to be, how they are made out of this future material that I don't trust, and them laser bullets don't feel like a mans gun.

    .... much like the current generation of M1/M14 lovers do.

  5. #35
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    I use carbine length, but most of mine are SBR's.
    Military still uses them.
    The main advantage I see in a longer length would be longer sight radius if you use a rail mounted front sight. I've never been comfortable with the support arm extended out on the hand guard.
    Independent Field Testing/R & D

    Better to die for something than live for nothing

  6. #36
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    As a brief bit of personal history over the course of my "firearms" career I have gone from the M16A1 to a CAR-15 to the M16A2 to the M4 with a 203 under it to an MP5, to a UMP-40 to an AUG-P, and now back to the M4 (with a bit of back and forth and a shotgun and MG or two thrown in between). Things change, improvements to equipment and techniques are made. What works with an MP5 (single point sling, for example) doesn't always work with the others (SPS too long on an M4 for me). I had no problem with the short forearm of the HK's, they were SMG's and were light, with low recoil calibers and were easily handled. The short forearms on the CAR and the M4, however, always bothered me because I always liked the longer grip selections that the A1 and the A2 offered, especially when shot standing and moving. Some things are universal , as I found the "universal shooting platform" I was taught early-on. The extended reach grip, as advocated with the use of the AFG took me a three day Magpul course to make me a convert once I got the fundementals down. Is the AFG needed for the technique? No, a stubby can serve as an index point but the technique I found to be sound. The AFG helps shooters adapt to the technique. Fad or tool? I vote for tool. Mine is coming off as I now have the technique down and I will pass it on for another shooter to use as I see value in the technique. The short hand-guard on the CAR and the subsequent M4 was a compromise and a parts bin solution. Did the hand-guard need to be that short for the platform? No, I don't think so. Were shooting techniques of the time for the platform as well developed as they are now? No. Poo-poo'ing the AFG and the longer more "fashionable" forearms used by shooters now fails to recognize the limitations of the original M4 design and the poor ergonomics it imposes. Anyway, enough of my rambling, I find the longer grip surface, especially of the aluminium free float hand-guards represent a weight savings and improvement, and a better more flexible grip surface, why not use them if available? Why limit yourself?
    Last edited by kmrtnsn; 07-18-10 at 11:41.

  7. #37
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    My EDC and rec shooting carbines are standard handguards, all carbine gas systems. I don't think I even own a midlength.

    My LT Stealth is 10 or 11", but if it was 7" I wouldn't know the difference for the way it's set up.

    To each his own.
    2012 National Zumba Endurance Champion
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  8. #38
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    No rails, glass, laser designators, foregrips, GPS, compass, fuzzy dice, or lights on my 6920.

    I don't need a mid-length, I do not need a piston, I do not need rails...I actually prefer the A1 to any other AR, and someday I will have one, BUT if the mid-length rail works for you and is what you need, I say use it...who cares what anyone says or if it is everyone else's "fad", you should set your firearm to work for you , not based on what is popular at the time.

    Last edited by xcibes; 07-18-10 at 08:12.

  9. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by DavePAL84 View Post
    I agree. Part of the reason why I haven't switched my carbines out for longer rails is because I can't do it with my SBR (for obvious reasons)...
    Uh...why not? How short is your SBR? I had a 13" rail on my 11.5" barrel (when I had the PWS CQB Comp), and am going down to an 11" rail now that I'll be running a suppressor or normal flash hider.

  10. #40
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    My first SBR, a Colt 6933 with 11.5" barrel and carbine-length gas tube, wears a 9.0 DD M4 rail over a shaved FSB. When I did the conversion I weighed all of the pieces from the factory and the pieces I replaced them with, and the railed forend was a net zero weight gain. Given that fact I saw no reason to keep the stock parts on that particular gun. It also wears an Ops suppressor that indexes back over the barrel and stops right at the end of the rail.

    Of course, that gun largely sits in the safe while it's sister 6933 goes to the range with me every single time and wears all MOE furniture and the stock FSB with an MI light mount attached. I have found the MOE forend and MI FSB mount increase my tolerance for the carbine-length handguards exponentially. But if I had to mount the light to the handguards, like a 7.0 railed system, I would have tossed that combo in very short order.

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