Rail attachment that doesn't exist, but should?

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Strakele

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Hey guys,

I just started my final undergrad semester of mechanical engineering and have to do a capstone project in which I design and build a novel product.

Given how universal rails are, I'm interested in designing a new rail attachment that would fulfill a need and be marketable.

So I come to you all to solicit suggestions. What doesn't currently exist that you'd like to see exist?

It needs to be something useful, something people would buy, and something that could be designed, built, and tested in one semester (around 13 weeks). I have to decide on the idea fairly quickly.

So, what's something new you'd like to attach to your rails?

Thanks!
 
IMHO: There is no useful rail attachment that doesn't already exist.

Oh wait!
Maybe a reverse view video camera attachment so more fools could capture their goofy expressions while doing foolish things with firearms to post on You Tube.

Kind of a "Here, hold my beer and watch this" camera mount.

Ya!
Thats the ticket.

rc
 
I'd be inclined to agree with you, but companies like Magpul keep coming out with stuff that everyone has to have. There's got to be something.

We're not required to actually market and sell the product, but we are supposed to produce a working prototype that could be produced. I already have a military service commitment when I graduate so my hopes and dreams and financial success aren't riding on making millions from this project, but since I have to do it, I'd like to work on something that interests me and that some people might actually want.
 
Differnt ballsnce weights for competition shooting? This would shorten time back to target by resisting flip.

Inertia reducer/canceller to stop muzzle flip so my wife will want to shoot the gun she bought. Thinking something hydrolic.

Way to attatch a muzzle break on non-threaded barrels? Think of a break held in place by a support bar or ome such
 
I think that ship sailed when I built a statement rifle for the SHOT Show that had a boat compass on one rail and a cup holder on another - along with all the other "usual suspects".
 
Do you want a real problem?

Why don't you look at....

A) Quick-detach (QD) mechanisms for existing types of rail attachments/devices. My sense is, there is room for some improvement(s).
But first, backing up: For example, my favorite QD mechanism is by GG&G (Arizona, US) and is called the "Accucam". Here is the version for traditional rifles, as applied to one-piece scope rings/ring-set. The idea is, a user should be able to quickly swap out several different types of scopes, each one holding a previously dialed-in "zero" to within << 1 MoA. This whole concept barely works. The GG&G Accucam is really good, but it is a little rough and "scratchy" when operating the cam lever. Why not a rolling ball or cylindrical ball bearing on the cam pressure zone?

B) Quick-detach (QD) rail. For many types of rifles, the installed rail itself blocks factory-installed iron sights, even if you remove all attachments from on top of the rail. For self-defense/combat/whatever, if a shooter must have reliable access to iron sights in an emergency, then one would want to whip off the rail in less than 1 second. But then, when the emergency is done, you'd like to put the rail back on and have its registry or "zero" be perfectly the same as before the rail was taken off. A problem here is that a QD rail might be totally dependent upon the type of rifle. A universal version may be impossible. Often folks "bed" the rail on the receiver and install it more-or-less permanently. At least this degree of quality/care might have to be practiced to implement a QD rail. [Of course, people will point to the fact that a rear iron sight could be installed on top of any rail; but often then the front iron sight is so tall that a) you can't buy one, b) it gets snagged on brush/etc and c) it looks ugly as sin.]
 
I don't quite share rcmodel's opinion that there are not useful rail attachments that don't already exist, but would offer that some that might be useful would be on more traditional guns where the typical buyer is likely more traditional (old fashioned) and thus apt to shy away from any sort of rail products. Keep in mind that a lot of gun owners have a very Henry Ford Model T coloration sort of bias. They aren't apt to go for even minor cosmetic changes and certainly not changes that would be so progressive as to include rails.

Since I night hunt, I would like to have a way to have accessory rails on most of my long guns because I want to mount at least a light on them if not a whole night vision package. Doing that can become something of a creative endeavor.

So I salute what you are trying to accomplish because folks like me would like it, but folks like me aren't in the norm that would satisfy your need of something that is not only useful, but that would sell.
 
gg&g makes some really good stuff, I actually prefer them to Larue.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
 
I'm inclined to agree with the others. You can find rail systems for nearly any weapon out there today and for every location on the firearm imaginable. It seems to me that the new trend is modular rail systems where sections of rail can be added or taken away as needed. To me it makes perfect sense, since traditional quad rails are usually almost completely covered up with some sort of rail protectors and only a small portion of the rail surface sees any actual use.
 
How about a rail mounted quick-release tourniquet carrier? You can never have too many tourniquets. I scrounged some shock cord off a pair of ACUs to jerry-rig a way to carry one on the buttstock of my M4 on my last trip, but had room on my rifle where one could have lived on the rear portion of the left or right rail.

I'm not sure how much of a market for it there'd be if you really wanted to go into production, but I think it would make for a great project for a class, and even anti-gun and/or anti-mil types in the class (or grading the project) would probably have a hard time looking down on a way to carry medical supplies.
 
"I just started my final undergrad semester of mechanical engineering and have to do a capstone project in which I design and build a novel product."

I would question the wisdom of this type of project. With the view of most (if not all) academics involved in education, you could very well find yourself marked as an undesirable and no matter what you do, it would be considered suspect at best.

There is always something 'new' or an improvement that can be made to an existing product. The old 'build a better mouse trap' adage. I would think multiple adapters for differing attachments/connector/mounts would be of benefit. But what do I know.

Good luck in your endeavors.
 
How about some type of rail attachment at the forearm that would create sort of a self adjusting 2-point sling so that when you bring the weapon up it automatically elongates and then tightens when brought down?

The other, i think there is definitely room for improvement for scope QD devices.
 
I would say that a rail that fits the mosin nagant rifle reciever but does not go over the bolt area so that it can sit lower to the reciever.


another would be a lower profile dogleg style rail for an SKS.
 
How about a bayonet lug adapter? It wouldnt work on all rails, or maybe it could. I just hate losing the ability to mount a bayonet after installing a rail/free float tube.
 
iPhone mount, or perhaps a spare-battery carrier? Perhaps something to mount a small TV-cam like a Looxcie and an iPhone so you can just poke the muzzle around a corner and see on your smartphone what's around there without having to poke your head out?
 
How about an angled forward grip with integrated bi pod and laser/ flashlight.

It's the few most common tactical bolt on accessories all rolled into one package.
 
I'd think one of those deals like lasermax makes, only in the rail instead of the non-existant recoil spring guide. If you think about it, that would put it about where people generally put a laser or light... bottom or side rail... and with it IN the rail instead of ON the rail, you have room for more unnecessary stuff. also, you don't have to invent anything, you just have to put them together to make something new. So it's a new breed of product, but not a new species.
 
OK. It is a different QD type system. A device that clamps the rail edges as well as wedging within the middle grooves. A single threaded, hand tightened, type device that initially turns inwards levering the two edge clamps into the sides of the rail, which once they are locked, a la HK claw mount, then drives a small wedge between two hardened metal strips laying in the grooves of the rail, forcing them apart, essentially locking from inside the groove. Should have a very repeatable zero, and no shifting. Ever.
 
YooHoo!? STRAKELE, where are you???

Strakele,

Did you get preemptively assasinated by your engineering professor? Or just on a 5-day bender? There are lots of good ideas for your project posted in this thread. All FREE of charge! I think you owe us some feedback on them! :eek:

I like where stubbicatt is going. Or where I think/thought he was going. As you probably know, when mounting most devices on a rail, you're supposed to slide the unit as far forward as it will go against the cleats of the Picatinny rail, then engage the clamps to hold it down against the rail. This is so when the gun jolts backward under recoil, the rail-mounted device is already stopped by a cleat in that direction and is prevented from sliding on the rail. I think stubbicatt is asking for a clamping mechanism that would automatically apply this to-the-front-stop pressure before clamping.
 
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