I bought my first geissele rail, an MK16 rail this week and I liked it so much in hand, uninstalled, that I went to buy another but it was sold out from the one dealer who happened to have them 2 weeks ago in the size and color I wanted.
So I googled around more and found a trove of internet hatred for them, and not just them, but potentially any light free float alum rail system that hugs the barrel tightly. ]
Allegedly, the us military or someone did drop testing and when they dropped these URGI mk16 rails, the rails bent slightly, contacting the gas block which is really close to the inside of the rail, and changing point of impact by something ridiculous like 5 To 10 MOA.
Then apparently according to a Reddit summary of the issue, this was all over ARFcom 2 years ago and was wiped by moderators who, depending on your standpoint, were either trying to cover it up. Or they were getting d0xing/death threats from Bill geissele off their forum.
Personally I don’t put much stock in arfcom or Reddit, but it does seem very plausible a drop of the rifle could bend the rail every so slightly and cause it to press against the gas block, so internet rhetoric aside, before I buy a few more of these for different uppers I want to make sure it’s not an issue. By asking here, with reasonable common sense folks.
I’m wondering if I shouldn’t stick with a heavier and more durable 4-way pic rail setup for an upper I plan to run an IR laser on, since it seems like the issue is mostly related to devices attached to the rail itself. It wasn’t clear if an aimpoint on the upper receiver would be drastically have POI shift from this, versus a laser on the rail.
So maybe I put MK16 on a few uppers with no lasers and then some more heavy duty rail for the one upper with a laser (for night vision work)?