Strike industries gridlok lite - Strike Industries Grildlok Lite AR-15 M-Lok Handguard Assembly

I love strike industries and their products. But the design of the barrel nut has a flaw in the timing and honestly they should’ve kept the design of their last gen barrel nut with the multiple divots for the gas tube to run up into the upper receiver because the one that comes with this handguard will not come to line up for the gas tube when spec’d out to 40-50 ft lbs of torque. It’s a mere >1/4” and the shims only make it worse. I never put my shims between barrel and receiver so let’s clear that up. But it doesn’t matter if you put 1 or two of the shims supplied with it, it just won’t line up. On top of that you start to get a gap between the upper receiver and the handguard. So I spent a week emailing strike industries about getting the older style barrel nut and they discontinued that design. They proceeded to tell me to cut a channel in the barrel nut to accommodate the gas tube channel. Smh. I’m not built that way when it comes to my builds but it worked. So for now it weighs on me the channel I cut but it works. Strike Industries dropped the ball on this flawed design of the barrel nut. But dang does it look good. So if your debating about this handguard buyer beware, your gonna have to think outside the box. 3 stars is for looks and quality. But the rest was left blank for the fact that you have to get it to work. Note I did reach out to a lot of my AR buddies and forums to which actually came across a few builders that had same problem to which they got the same reply from SI.