So I'm slowly picking parts out for my first ar15 and had a couple questions. As I understand it the purpose of free floating handguards is primarily that your accuracy remains more consistent as the rifle heats up and resting the handguads on a surface when shooting doesn't cause shots to deviate. You usually get them covered in rail area because people seem to love their rails.
I've also seen some 1 piece handguard/upper assemblies coming out like the larue monolith and vltor vis. I guess the primary advantage of these is that you can put your optics anywhere across the top and don't have to worry about straddling the handguard rail and upper receiver rail if you're inclined. I assume the barrel also floats? I read a post by the larue people saying that with monolithic uppers you lose a lot of heat transfer and will wind up with a much hotter chamber.
Do I have that all pretty much right or have I missed something important? All I can really tell is that I think the monolithic uppers look pretty spiffy.
Also what barrels lengths do you put the different gas systems on? I think I'll be using a 16" barrel, I assume that means a carbine or mid length gas system? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of either choice?
I've also seen some 1 piece handguard/upper assemblies coming out like the larue monolith and vltor vis. I guess the primary advantage of these is that you can put your optics anywhere across the top and don't have to worry about straddling the handguard rail and upper receiver rail if you're inclined. I assume the barrel also floats? I read a post by the larue people saying that with monolithic uppers you lose a lot of heat transfer and will wind up with a much hotter chamber.
Do I have that all pretty much right or have I missed something important? All I can really tell is that I think the monolithic uppers look pretty spiffy.
Also what barrels lengths do you put the different gas systems on? I think I'll be using a 16" barrel, I assume that means a carbine or mid length gas system? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of either choice?