AR "free-float" handguards?

[Forestgnome]

Hi all,

New to AR's, old to rifles. Looking at recommendations regarding free-float handguards, I'm a little disturbed by the use of "free-float" when it comes to the handguards I see for sale. In terms of rifle accuracy improvements, free-floating the foregrip prevents contact between the barrel and any other parts of the rifle, allowing the barrel to deflect independantly. The free-floating handguards I see would still place a load at the handguard cap, and doesn't do the same thing as traditional free-floating a barrel. Can anyone dispute this or clear up any misunderstanding of the concept on my part? Seems to me free-floating handguards for AR's are B.S. (but they are cool looking, and have rails).

[offrdmania]

The ones I use dont have a cap on the end, making it free floating ie. Hogue. If there is a cap then it isnt truly free floating.

[Mute]

As already stated, some of the handguards are free-float and some are not. The ones that are do not have contact at the end. It may look like it does but does not really.

[Forestgnome]

Thanks guys. I was looking at the Daniel Defense system. Looking at the Hogue, it looks like it takes the place of the barrel nut?

[Wildhawk66]

I personally recommend the Daniel Defense lite hanguards if you want the rail look and the JP Precision handguards if your going more for a cleaner customizable round handguard look (though the JP's are a bit heavy). Both of these systems do not contact the barrel past the barrel nut. Keep in mind though, that AR's generally require a gas block to be mounted on the barrel, so there will always be something contacting the barrel, even if it's not the handguards.

[ar15barrels]

Hi all,

New to AR's, old to rifles. Looking at recommendations regarding free-float handguards, I'm a little disturbed by the use of "free-float" when it comes to the handguards I see for sale. In terms of rifle accuracy improvements, free-floating the foregrip prevents contact between the barrel and any other parts of the rifle, allowing the barrel to deflect independantly. The free-floating handguards I see would still place a load at the handguard cap, and doesn't do the same thing as traditional free-floating a barrel. Can anyone dispute this or clear up any misunderstanding of the concept on my part? Seems to me free-floating handguards for AR's are B.S. (but they are cool looking, and have rails).

A proper freefloating handguard does not contact the barrel forward of the barrel nut.
There are some proper freefloating handguards out there that are short enough that you can leave the handguard cap on the barrel.
These will not have an open end so you may not realize that they are really free floating still.
These are generally designed to clamp over the existing barrel nut.
The main reason for these type of handguards are for people that can't take apart the upper (dept/govt policy) or people that don't have the tools/skills to install a proper dedicated freefloat handguard.
Proper dedicated freefloat systems do indeed have their own barrel nut of a different design than the factory barrel nut.