Why are quad rails so expensive

[hokiemojo]

I apologize for any typos. I'm trying to type on my phone. I'm just wondering why quad rails are so costly. I guess this goes for key mod rails too. I see some for 20 bucks but I also see peoplease say 150 to 200 is the sweet spot for value. That seems like a lot for a simple item. Any thoughts on what drives the cost so high. Thx and merry christmas.

 

[yugorpk]

What the market will bear. Ive got $25 rails and Ive got $200 rails. The biggest difference is the $200 rails cost $200 and the $25 rails cost $25.

Unless you are in a rifle club fashion show or are dragging your rifle behind a truck and want the highest "quality" just buy the budget stuff. It doesnt make you less of a man.

 

[M-Cameron]

there is A LOT of machining that goes into a quad rail.

time on a machine = $$$.

my guess is a quad rail that cost $20 is made from cast aluminum, and would not last long under actual use.

assuming a $200 quadrail is machined from billet, it will be MUCH stronger and should have no problems standing up to actual use.

 

[Sam1911]

The Midwest Industries rail I bought for my build was about the most expensive part that I had to buy.

It came with a highly machined aluminum "tube" which of course isn't really a tube like a piece of muffler pipe, but an intricately milled piece of billet, forging, or extrusion, that's cut to fit MLOK attachments in many spots. It is fitted with threaded inserts for tightening onto the barrel nut, and mil-spec anodized.

And it came with a special barrel nut and barrel nut wrench to install it.

It was the exact part I wanted and it cost something around $199, I think. I couldn't get that part any cheaper. I could have spent less on other designs, but I didn't want what those models offered.

If you find a float tube that does what you want it to do and you can get it for $20, by all means do so. Then after you've put some wear on it come back and write a review of what it does and how you like it.

 

[greyling22]

economies of scale and an ar15 culture that will massively overpay for things.

The very cheapest stuff is fairly marginal, and the top end stuff is overbuilt and overpriced, but there is some midrange stuff that is all right.

 

[Tirod]

Cost of machining and volume production has pushed a lot of makers into using extrusions. They are nearly finish dimensions in two directions with a minimal amount left to cut.

Rails are actually an embarrassment in the AR market - they are just an accessory mount, and frequently are unused. Many cost far more than the accessory attached to them, and to a significant degree, the holes milled in them are largely decorative beyond those that facilitate attachment.

Most sell for style - not function. The M4 quad rail? An institutional compromise, heavy, redundant, with four feet of rail, and not user friendly, hence the covers. Troops generally wear gloves anyway because the environment is rough, the rails only add more abrasion.

I see no reason that someone couldn't extrude a nice stiff tube and then overmold a polymer covering, leaving only the exposed mounting holes. And market it for under $75. Oh, wait - Hogue has been doing that for how long?

 

[jmorris]

Because you have to buy covers for them, so they don't snag everything you walk near or cut your hands.

Or someone actually machined them from bar stock/heavy wall tubing.

They also could have paid to have 10,000 feet (minimum) extruded to the shape they wanted.

But it could be the same reason a Rolex costs more than a Timex but doesn't keep time as well and is less durable, some people make buying decisions based on price (perceived value) vs what is actually a better product.