The KeyMod vs M-LOK debate isn’t actually a lot of a debate anymore. It’s clear that M-LOK — the rail interface system used for mounting equipment, and launched in 2014 — is the go-to choice of right this moment and tomorrow.
Even for those who agree the argument is settled, it’s nonetheless an fascinating little bit of gun historical past that, at this level, ought to be preserved for future generations who could discover a rusty previous handguard in a pile of unused components and surprise what these bizarre keyholes are for. Within the warfare of KeyMod vs. M-LOK, simply as within the warfare between VHS and Betamax, there was a winner and a loser.
It’s fairly protected to say that the KeyMod handguard system might be becoming a member of the Laserdisc, the HD DVD, and the MiniDisc on the pile of concepts that labored effectively for some time, however simply couldn’t lower it towards a barely higher competing know-how. Nonetheless, there are a good variety of KeyMod choices on the market, and VLTOR remains to be cranking out handguards, so it’s price realizing the professionals and cons of every system.
However earlier than we may even get into the attachment slot warfare, the concept of a standardized firearm attachment system needed to be developed and take root — no straightforward process in an trade with producers everywhere in the world turning out numerous firearm fashions.
It began with the army and its want to connect an growing quantity of stuff to M16s and M4s that had lots of unused handguard actual property. And, ultimately, it was the army that decided the winner of the M-LOK vs. KeyMod.
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The Key Variations Between KeyMod and M-LOK
M-LOK Specs
- Slot Form: Rectangular with rounded corners
- Slot dimensions: 7 x 32 mm
- Nook Radius: 2.38mm
- Slot Interval: 8mm
KeyMod Specs
- Slot Form: keyhole with a circle and slot
- Gap Diameter: 0.380 inches
- Slot Width: 0.234
- Slot Interval: 0.788 inches between gap facilities
Relying on who you ask, some will say that M-LOK equipment are sure to suit because the rectangular slots are extra forgiving, whereas there could be some issues with KeyMod fitment if something is a bit out of spec.
Moreover, whereas firms can license using M-LOK freed from cost, it isn’t open supply. Meaning accent makers and gunmakers nonetheless have to accumulate a license from Magpul to make use of the M-LOK normal. One can assume this provides Magpul extra management in ensuring specs are constant.
And yeah, there’s actually no denying that the easy, minimalist M-LOK slots simply look higher on any firearm and getting an array of equipment to suit excellent is manner simpler. However the actual distinction is energy.
By 2017, numerous firms have been producing M-LOK handguards and equipment, together with rail segments and merchandise like vertical foregrips, bipods, sling mounts, and tactical lights that connected on to M-LOK slots with out the necessity for a rail, decreasing the variety of components, and holding the accent nearer to the handguard, decreasing profile.
That 12 months, U.S. Particular Operations Command (SOCOM) did some testing to see which system they needed to make use of. The M-LOK system reportedly outperformed KeyMod throughout the board via drop exams and failure load testing.
Since then, particular forces started utilizing M-LOK as the popular mounting methodology. Phrase unfold to each the firearm trade and gun house owners, and whereas KeyMod nonetheless has some followers because of its ease of use, it typically appears shooters have settled on M-LOK. You’ll discover these little rectangles on the whole lot from PRS rifles to tactical carbines to shotguns.
It’s sturdy and dependable sufficient to connect equipment like bipods and foregrips that can take in a great quantity of weight and torque whereas additionally being backward suitable with generations of Picatinny rail equipment, as a result of whereas direct M-LOK equipment are the hotness, you’ll be able to all the time connect a rail section to an M-LOK slot.
Plus, these slots don’t get in the best way after they’re not doing something, and so they look fairly cool. And KeyMod, whereas nonetheless a tremendous system, is effectively on its solution to turning into the BetaMax of gun accent attachment programs. In any case, you’ll be able to nonetheless get attachments which might be M-LOK or made for Pic rails, however KeyMod is infrequently an choice.
Driving the Rails: Picatinny vs. Weaver
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At first — the primordial days of gun ownerships — attaching equipment to a firearm virtually all the time meant drilling and tapping holes in your gun, clamping issues, and including customized holes with bolts and washers that have been spray-painted black. Or, on the very least, coping with dovetails even to easily connect a riflescope.
The benefit of this period was that gunsmiths had a bunch of small, common jobs to maintain them in enterprise when gun house owners weren’t bubba-ing their very own options.
However, on the down aspect, that barrier made most gun house owners slightly hesitant to make modifications. To not point out customizing a gun in everlasting methods may kill its resale worth.
For a very long time, the world of AR-platform firearms was no totally different. The unique M16s and civilian ARs got here with a two-piece artificial triangular handguard that wasn’t constructed to carry equipment and sort of shook round irrespective of how tight that delta ring was on there. Then got here the spherical handguards, however they have been made the identical manner. On high of the receiver, there was a carry deal with with a gap in it that was used to mount optics of assorted varieties, nevertheless it was fairly excessive and never perfect for the period’s optics.
Then, the recognition of rails modified the whole lot — and so they’re older than you in all probability assume.
The Weaver Rail system was launched within the Nineteen Thirties as a common mounting answer, largely for rifle scopes, however for different equipment as effectively. It was a rail with a sequence of slots with a particular cross-slot setup. It did the job, and whereas it grew to become common within the civilian gun world, it wasn’t extensively adopted by the army.
The Picatinny rail system, formally known as the MIL-STD-1913 rail was created within the Nineties to unravel the issue of attaching an growing variety of required equipment to army M16 rifles, after which M4 Carbines, which entered service in 1994. At the moment, you’ll additionally see it known as the STANAG 4694 Nato Accent rail, a time period that was official adopted in 2011. The STANAG 4694 is backwards suitable with the MIL-STD-1913 rail, however has tighter tolerances.
This new slotted rail, named for the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey the place it was developed, is pretty much like the Weaver rail, nevertheless it was standardized. The slots have been all precisely 0.206 inches aside, whereas weaver slots have been about 0.180 – however that “about” is an enormous deal once you’re making an attempt to get a multi-slot accent to lock in.
Consequently, the Picatinny was adopted by the army for its notorious quad-rail handguards for its AR-platform firearms, and legislation enforcement quickly adopted go well with. At the moment, Pic rails are nonetheless in every single place and on each gun from pistols to rifles to shotguns. You’ll see Weaver rails each from time to time, totally on rimfire lengthy weapons and older firearms, however the Pic rail has largely changed it.
Even nonetheless, you don’t see as many new weapons with lengthy, built-in rails anyplace besides atop the receiver for optics. That’s as a result of a greater system got here alongside — two really.
KeyMod Comes Alongside
Rails have been nice, however they offered some issues. A brief built-in rail part on high of a receiver for a scope base is ok, as a result of the place else is a scope going to go? However alongside a handguard of a protracted gun, equipment have totally different perfect placements relying on what they’re and what they’re meant to do.
So, in 2012, VLTOR Weapon Methods from Arizona created the KeyMod modular rail interface system for firearm elements. It was launched by Noveske Rifleworks of Oregon earlier than the sample was printed open supply within the public area so the complete firearms trade may use it.
Except you’re working a full early-2000s U.S. Military M4 accent equipment, many of the house on an aluminum handguard with a full-length rail at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock goes unused. It’s nice to have the ability to place a mount (virtually) anyplace you need, however all that wasted rail provides pointless weight and the slots are inclined to tear up gloves or pores and skin if left uncovered. There are whole product strains addressing this — rubberized ladders and such that you just lower to suit clean rail house.
The KeyMod system let gun house owners put rail sections anyplace they needed on a handguard that was lined with keyhole-shaped slots as an alternative of rails with out eradicating it from the gun. So, for those who needed a flashlight mount close to the muzzle on the left aspect of the gun, you simply put a six-slot Pic rail part with KeyMod nuts proper the place you want it, after which connect your mild as regular. Increase. No additional rails, no wasted weight or house.
Moreover, a handguard can have slots at 45-degree positions alongside the size of the handguard permitting for extra perfect accent placement — plus, all these slots solely assist the barrel cool higher.
The KeyMod system is dead-easy to make use of: put the KeyMod nuts into the slots on the accent you need to connect, being cautious to orient them the right manner, as a result of the screw holes aren’t centered. Then, get your screws began. Place the rail part within the right place with the KeyMod nuts within the holes, after which push ahead in order that they’re pressed into the entrance of the slot. Then, tighten down the screws and the nuts tighten towards the opposite aspect of the handguard. That’s it.
However the system is way from excellent. Once you first see a handguard stuffed with these humorous formed slots it doesn’t look cool, and let’s be trustworthy, that’s an enormous deal for people who find themselves all about customizing ARs.
For this method to work, the spacing of the holes, and consequently the screwholes on a given accent, needed to be actual. They usually weren’t all the time so, because the gun trade was nonetheless getting used to a common attachment system. Plus, low-cost rail sections with awful high quality management quickly hit the market like a tidal wave.
Magpul Drops MOE System Adopted by M-LOK
A good suggestion doesn’t stand alone for lengthy. Magpul started as an AR journal accent firm and finally bloomed into one of the vital trusted and prolific firearm accent firms round, took a stab at a common mounting system within the 2000s.
Their system was known as the MOE (Magpul Unique Tools) and it labored sort of the identical manner as KeyMod, nevertheless it had an enormous downside. It required the installer to manually connect the nut to the bolt whereas it was inserted into the slot. That meant you couldn’t use MOE to connect one thing to a free-float handguard with out taking the handguard off the firearm. That’s an enormous downside.
Realizing this was a dealbreaker, Magpul launched the M-LOK attachment system in 2014 as a alternative. The M-LOK system makes use of rectangular slots and a T-slot nut that may solely rotate 90 levels, which permits it to connect to a handguard similar to a KeyMod accent, however with out the necessity to push it ahead, making placement and match a bit extra actual.
Greater than that, equipment could be mounted both inside a slot or bridging a number of slots. Meaning the place of an adjunct could be adjusted in intervals alongside the size of a slot.
Utilizing the M-LOK system is about the identical as utilizing KeyMod, however it will possibly take slightly getting used to. If you happen to thread the M-LOK nut onto the screw simply the correct amount, once you put it via the slot, it can lock in and tighten with a pair turns of the screw. If you happen to don’t thread it on sufficient, it can spin and spin. Due to this, you’ll discover folks on Reddit and Quora who assume — dealing with a lot ridicule within the course of — that it’s important to take away a handguard to make use of M-LOK.
Nevertheless, when you get an M-LOK rail or accent arrange, you simply have to offer the screws 1 / 4 flip to orient the nut so the accent could be eliminated. M-LOK screws additionally include a little bit of blue Loctite on the threads, making them prepared to connect precision gear like bipods or optic mounts.
Magpul had nice timing with M-LOK. LED tactical weapon lights had lastly develop into small and highly effective sufficient to be thought-about indispensable equipment. The identical goes for laser sights and different tech. LPVOs grew to become extra inexpensive than ever, together with different optics. Plus, the market was stuffed with sturdy, light-weight polymer attachments of each form and measurement, from angled foregrips handy stops.
All of them wanted a dependable and common solution to connect to firearms.
Remaining Ideas on KeyMod vs M-LOK
One may make a great argument that the M-LOK system has vastly contributed to the general recognition development of tricking out ARs. All these empty slots have a manner of calling to an individual, teasing out infinite potentialities. In any case, it’s really easy to connect something precisely the place you need it. Shooters from the Nineteen Sixties would scoff, and the old-timers who’re nonetheless round right this moment normally do, however deep down, they’re simply jealous.