Jason from United States, MO Public Profile

Similar to my review for their BlastAR carry handle, this thing will look cool on your AR but doesn't provide much functionality. The "funnel" effect you're providing is maybe a 1/4" per side at best, and isn't worth the added weight (which is surprisingly heavy despite being made out of aluminum). Also, I wouldn't advise buying this if you're not willing to do some grinding. It could be that my lower isn't milspec, not sure, but the mag release side of this doesn't line up with the rounded "rib" on my lower at all, and I had to grind out roughly 3/8" in two directions. Luckily I was planning on painting it anyway and I have access to tons of grinders/belt sanders/etc at work, but if you're planning on just clamping it straight onto your lower and leaving it at that, you may end up disappointed.

Just happened to stumble upon NCStar's VISM line when I was looking for parts for a space gun build, and there's really no competition for space-y looking furniture. Anodized finish looks decent, and I'm almost shocked that it's actually made out of aluminum at all. The only main problem I have with this piece is that the mounting system really doesn't make any sense from an engineering standpoint. Most M1913 accessory mounts use two 45° angles on the clamp - one to grab the accessory, and one to grab the rail. This converts the horizontal force applied with the clamp screws into the vertical force needed to pull the accessory down onto the rail. The clamps on this thing use only one 45° angle to grab the rail, which means that the only downward pressure on the carry handle is applied to the screws holding the clamp on. I could very easily see this either causing the screw holes to go egg shaped or the screws themselves bending if you tighten it down too hard due to the way the clamp works. This is probably why other people have mentioned needing to put shims between it and the rail to get it to clamp tightly. However, it's a lot of aluminum and fairly clean machining for $40, so you kind of get what you pay for. If you're like me, you're buying it for looks anyway instead of functionality (of which there isn't much even at a glance).

I paid a little over $45 for this handguard, and it seems fairly solid. I haven't had the chance to take it to the range yet, but the mounting system seems to hold tightly, and as long as the screws don't back themselves out, there doesn't appear to be any way for the handguard to walk forward (since the screws go through grooves cut into the barrel nut) and it has fairly beefy anti-rotation tabs compared to some others I've seen. Screws came with blue Loc-tite pre-applied. The only two negatives I can find so far are that the barrel nut was absolutely covered with burrs on every edge. I assume this is part of the reason it was only $45, but a few minutes with a file and it was fine. The other is that the barrel nut required a 1-1/8" crowfoot to install, which was nearly impossible to find anywhere locally, though that's not really the manufacturer's fault. Just wish they would have made the barrel nut more compatible with more common wrenches.