Quote:
Originally Posted by WVSig
I disagree with this statement to an extent. Mechanically a free floating barrel will improve accuracy off a solid rest with mechanical stabilizing but a better trigger will decrease most shooters groups more than a free floating rail. A lot has to do with how you shoot. What ranges, rate of fire and desired accuracy.
For the vast majority of AR15 shooters a free floating rail is not going to make the biggest difference in the size of their groups. I would bet if you took 100 S&W Forum members and gave them a Sport II stock and then a Sport II with Free Floating rail but everything else is stock for 90% of them the groups will be the same from both rifles.
It will be the Indian not the arrow. 
Hanging unnecessary stuff off the rail of your AR15 and the cosemtics of a free floating rail are the is the #1 & #2 reasons that most people go with a free floating rail from the start or swap to one.
If you are a good enough shooter who can ring the difference out of a FF rail vs a standard M4 handguard you are a better shot than most, including me.  |
I agree that some folks free float for the wrong reasons, and I agree that people with quad rail, M-Lok or Keymod fore ends often hang unnecessary **** on them - ruining the weight and handling of the rifle, carbine or pistol.
In this case, however I deleted the original delta ring, barrel nut, and gas block/FSB, and then added a longer Keymod free float hand guard that allowed me to put the accessories I wanted where I wanted them, when I wanted them there. In this case the only things on it are QD for a sling, a back up front sight (with a much longer sight radius) and a short section of rail for a light that is readily detachable because the light isn't needed 95% of the time.
Best of all it reduced the over all weight by just over a half pound, improving the handling.
Also have a couple of varmint ARs with free float tubes, where the only thing added to them is a hole for a sling swivel to attach a bipod. A free float tube is not synonymous with a quad rail, etc.
I also am not in full agreement about the trigger. I shot service rifle competition for years with the required 4.5 pound trigger. Now...admittedly it was two stage, crisp and clean, but way too many folks think a trigger more than 18 oz or preclude excellent accuracy That's not the case, even the average 6 pound gritty AR-15 trigger is capable of good accuracy, if the shooter has mastered the fundamentals of building a solid position, sight picture and trigger control. So it depends on how bad is "bad" when you're talking triggers.