DANIEL DEFENSE MFR & GEISSELE HANDGUARDS

[Edsel]

This one’s a Geissele - it clamps on the barrel nut.

Pretty secure.

This one’s a Daniel Defense MFR.

Always liked the slimmer MFR version for the ergos and look.

Majority of my ARs have them.

BUT I always had this nagging concern that the way it affixed itself was “weak,” compared to the Geissele design (and on top of that, there was always that annoying gap between the receiver and the handguard itself).

Is this a sentiment others share?

 

[DemonicLemming]

DD design always seemed like a complicated solution searching for a simple problem to fix.

 

[Edsel]

Is it a “weak” design, in your opinion?

 

[Cascade Hemi]

View attachment 8708282

This one’s a Geissele - it clamps on the barrel nut.

Pretty secure.

View attachment 8708281

This one’s a Daniel Defense MFR.

Always liked the slimmer MFR version for the ergos and look.

Majority of my ARs have them.

View attachment 8708285

BUT I always had this nagging concern that the way it affixed itself was “weak,” compared to the Geissele design (and on top of that, there was always that annoying gap between the receiver and the handguard itself).

Is this a sentiment others share?

I have both. I like the MFR's size, shape, features, etc better. If anything, the MK16 with aligned MLOK slots, is more prone to damage when dropped onto hard objects/surfaces. There's tons of drama surrounding the bending MK16. The other Geissele rails don't seem to have the bending issues.

 

[TheOE800]

I have both. I like the MFR's size, shape, features, etc better. If anything, the MK16 with aligned MLOK slots, is more prone to damage when dropped onto hard objects/surfaces. There's tons of drama surrounding the bending MK16. The other Geissele rails don't seem to have the bending issues.

They don’t have bending issues since changing to 7075. Now they crack.

 

[dms416]

DD design always seemed like a complicated solution searching for a simple problem to fix.

Granted this off-shoot of the DD RIS (which has 6x larger bolts instead of 4x) is more time consuming to put on, it's not that bad.

I had the DDM4 (quad version of the MFR) rail on a Mk12 build and on a few other guns. The Mk12 especially never gave me any problems with torque/impact shift. Pretty handy rails in the long, long ago before keymod, mlok and all the other 1-off shit.

 

[WindstormSCR]

Is it a “weak” design, in your opinion?

not at all, the reason for the two-piece design in the MFR anchor is so that it fully captures the barrel nut. It's quite strong without being complete overkill or having the issues with fitment that the RIS II/III sometimes have

of the rails that are out there, the MFR is probably one of my favorites because of the curved underside being better on the hand than a true octagonal design

Edit: a pic of a recent-ish 450 bushmaster rebuild I did with a riflespeed gas block featuring an MFR XL. Plenty strong enough that I was able to do side window cuts for the gas control adjustment and it still doesn’t flex enough to fuck up a laser zero.