Very tempted to start chopping up my YHM rails...

[durabo]

I was just replying to someones thread about rails, and it made me think about my own situation... what do you think?


I am running a rifle length free float YHM diamond rail on my 16"

I have a VLTOR iMod stock...

My rifle is so freaking front heavy. my balance is all screwy, i think im going to order some tungsten powder to put in my battery storage kits, and see how that effects my balance, but ideally i would like to lessen my weight in the front to compensate, not just make the whole thing heavier.

So i was thinking, what if i started cutting the diamonds on my rail into just diagonal lines?

XXXXXX into ///////

by just cutting off the arms of the X's thus making them diagonal?

Not sure how much weight this would save me, but anything would be an improvement....

only concern is stability.... i mean... im not pounding nails with this thing... it locks up tight, and is sold as a rock, so really... at no point is there ever any pressure on it that would cause it to buckle or bend... so really... im not seeing the downside to this...

someone want to chime in with thoughts?

would this work?

edit...

here is a pic... i have cut out the sections in photoshop that i would be removing.... i used the middle one for the example... top and bottom rails are original... excuse the crappy photoshop... 2 minutes work here.

http://i48.tinypic.com/ok5v8h.jpg

[Powder]

Would it really make that big of a difference? I don't think so. I have the same rail on a 16" but with an ACS stock and it seems good to me.

Your best bet to make a difference would be to get a lighter weight/profile barrel.

[K. Foster]

You aren’t going to decrease your weight very much by doing that. YHM rails are just plain heavy. That is the reason they cost less than other brands. My advice is to get a Troy, VTAC or Daniel Defense.

[faawrenchbndr]

Little to no weight savings with the proposed "mod".
I also do not care for the looks of the modded rail

[Hef]

I had a 12" YHM Diamond FF tube on my 16" rifle. It looked cool, and offered plenty of rail space, but it was nose heavy. I sold the FF tube and replaced it with a 7" YHM Diamond FF tube. It is much lighter, more balanced, and offers sufficient rail space.

[Chuck TX]

That's probably not going to shave enough off the weight to make that big of a difference. The YHM would still be heavier than most other rails on the market. I'd get a lighter rail like Daniel Defense.

[RonS]

You aren't going to save much weight.

How many rails do you use? Could you go with a lighter, simpler tube?

[remat]

Agree with posts above. Sell your YHM's and replace with lighter unit.