Brigand Arms makes carbon fiber handguards. The pictures show the revolutionary use of sophisticated materials, but until you handle one you can’t really understand how light they really are. The 9-inch rail weighs only 3.9 ounces without rails or accessories. That’s less than $5 worth of quarters and they are stronger than you can believe. According to Brigand Arms website the rails can support a force of 100 pounds in any direction and 400 pounds along their length.
The tube is made of T700 carbon tubes braided from special composite yarns in a lattice that minimizes weight and maximizes stiffness and strength. The carbon T700 is coated with a protective layer which shields the carbon from the elements and keeps it from degrading. It doesn’t crack, splinter, or break. When you shoot it fast and a lot, it dissipates heat as fast as you can generate it.
https://youtu.be/POIOcOjfLrI
This is a picture of two Brigade Arms handguards attached to each other supporting a 40 pound weight. You could do pull ups on these things if you could mount them.
It’s a seriously strong and light rail. Some people strive to minimize weight at all costs. For a lightweight build, an SBR or a Pistol caliber carbine the Brigand Arms rail is your best choice with no trade off in performance. This is the Blade handguard, very light and angled for your pleasure.
I chose to make a heavy gun lighter. I like long barrels, I figure that when Stoner picked a 20″ barrel, he knew what he was doing. Long barrels and rails are front heavy, Brigand has the solution. I had a heavy rail which pulled the gun down in the front and held heat in. Now my gun runs cool, looks cool and is much better balanced for rapid transitions.
Another advantage of the Brigand design is the ability to attach accessories virtually anywhere along the length of the tube at any orientation.
I wanted a fore grip, so I used the excellent Tyrant Designs’ HALO Mini AR-15 Vertical Foregrip It is compact and saves even more weight.
Brigand sells an M-Lok adapter which connects your device almost anywhere on the rail in any orientation. They also have light weight rail sections which attach to the handguards.
I had no trouble installing the Brigand handguards using the Wheeler Engineering Delta Series Ultra AR-15 Armorer’s Kit. This kit has everything you need including a special tool to line up the gas tube.
Brigand uses a free-float barrel nut system (externally threaded alloy aluminum barrel nut and a steel jam nut). This allows fine adjustment in alignment and secure mounting.
- Tube: Patented carbon fiber braid
- Caps: Aluminum
- Barrel nut included.
I built this rifle a couple of years ago for 3-gun matches with long targets. It was so heavy that it got pushed to the back of the gun rack. Now she is pounds lighter and looking trim like a whole new gun. I am looking for excuses to go shooting.
The Brigand Arms Handguards come in a variety of shapes and lengths.
| Models | Atlas, Blade, Edge |
|---|---|
| Sizes | 7″, 9″, 12″, 15″ |
| Rifles | AR-15, AR-10 (DPMS-Hi) |
You can transform your own rifle or build a new one with Brigand Arms Handguards at brigandarms.com
Prices range from $279.00 – $414.00
| About Brigand Arms: |
They are a veteran owned company located in Alabama. In their own words:
A “brigand” is a rebel. As such, you may run with a band of like-minded brothers, or you may prefer to go it alone… but one thing is certain: you don’t FOLLOW the rules – you MAKE the rules. This mentality is what gets us out of bed in the morning; it drives our decisions; it fuels our incessant push to make our next weapon better than our last, and to create the lightest, strongest weapons systems that technology can produce.
Photos courtesy of Brigand Arms
Body armor carrier and Level 4 steel plates from Premier Body Armor
