full float hand guard

[edinidaho]

how much would you expect a full float hand guard to help accuracy ?

Ed

[A5BLASTER]

That's a good question, I never used the normal stocks on any ar I own so I really don't know the answer to this question.

[jim_bob]

Depends on how much pressure you would exert on the barrel with a non frefloated handguard. The free floated handguard helps keep extraneous forces off of the barrel.

[Klem]

I think sometimes there is too much emphasis placed on the 'free floating' concept in the AR world. The fact remains, there's a lump of metal half way down the barrel which is connected back to the receiver by a gas tube. This confounds with the idea that the barrel must be completely free to whip. I also don't think many AR shooters are shooting at the accuracy potential of their rigs (present company excepted), at least to the degree that they would notice a difference in accuracy between floating and non-floating.

That said, it means you at least don't have to worry about how much force you put on the handguard when it is independent of an easily flexed barrel.

[Chrazy-Chris]

I have a 5.56 with a non-free float and I had trouble sighting it in because I was at an indoor range without a proper bench. Everytime I would use a different shooting position it would affect POI. This was a particularly crappy extended handguard (borderline airsoft level crap) which put extra torque on the handguard cap when I pulled on it so that likely exacerbated the problem. I did not have this problem with the KAC M4 style non-free float handguard, although if I accidentally rested the exposed part of the barrel on a barrier, it definitely threw off my shots.

The other thing that can affect accuracy is the barrel heating up and coming in contact with the handguard parts.

I'm a believer in FF tubes. You can find relatively cheap ones out there. Check out ALG and Hogue. If you have an A2 front sight and you want your FF tube to extend over it, you can dremel it off instead of replacing it which will also save you some dough and prevent you from having to hammer out a pinned FSB. I apologize if I'm stating the obvious here... A longer tube will allow you to place your bipod or front bags further out as well, giving you a more stable shooting platform.

[Clarence]

Just as any forearm that is not firmly attached to an action/buttstock, POI will vary with location of the rest and/or sling pressure. I shoot heavy-barreled .22 single-shot rifles, and even on them, the POI varies by 1-2 MOA when the rest is moved from the front of the forearm to near the front of the barrel. The lighter the barrel, the more pronounced the effect.

Clarence