Are monolithic uppers worth it?

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Doogledog

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I've looked at the Vltor VIS and really like them and I've also seen the Armalite monolithic uppers. They seem quite pricey to me. Is it just a personal preference thing or is there really an advantage to the monolithic upper over the two piece (Upper and seperate handguard) designs?
 
One piece design will always function in some way better than a two piece design.

The question is, how much are you willing to spend before you decide its not worth it.

Kind of like those guys who buy a couple hundred dollar parts for their cars so they can gain a whopping 3HP /derp
 
The main benefit is if you want/need to mount an optic that has to bridge what would be the gap on a conventional upper/forend setup. Bridging that gap is a no-no, but on a monolithic it's a non issue. Note that there are very few optic setups that would require this, vs. just using an extended forward mount that attaches only to the receiver top.

A few designs such as LMT's offer other features such as quick-change barrels. Apart from that, it's mostly cool, technically superior but not necessarily that beneficial.
 
My understanding is that the Vis upper is stiffer and the fact that it's one piece means its never going to rotate on you so you can put optics out there but that particular rail isn't quite as strong as some other popular rails and it's kinda heavy.

So my opinion is it might be a slight advantage for a precision gun. They are quite nice. I have owned one. I prefer the Mur upper by itself though without the rail
 
VLTOR, Mega, LMT are the monolithic that i have read about. Are there any more.
 
VLTOR, Mega, LMT are the monolithic that i have read about. Are there any more.

Aero Precision makes one which is sold under their name and is also used as the base for Armalite's monolithic uppers and rifles.

Colt as Justin mentioned.

I think KAC has one but I don't follow them that closely.
 
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