Good question since it raises an interesting discussion point!jwb47 wrote:did you consider a national match free float barrel sleeve ? I wonder if a person could get that to work . the top rail would be an issue for sure but you definatly have my wheels turning.
I did not run across it in my searches for a small diameter hand guard. I think that is probably because I focused on finding a top railed hand guard with a small diameter.
I did just now look at the sleeve and it looks interesting, however I think the sleeve would not easily work as it rifle length which would be a definite hurdle when trying to accommodate a carbine gas system (or pistol gas).
After thinking about it a bit (well enough to devised a 10 step solution because the not knowing was bugging me hahaha) I could see the barrel sleeve working in theory but it would be a lot more effort than what I did, however still possible.
Something like he following steps for a barrel sleeve solution would need to be considered.
1. From the barrel nut side of the sleeve, Cut the sleeve in half at the point before the location of the low profile gas block providing enough space for the tube and gas block to be untouched by the barrel nut side of the sleeve
2. On the 2nd half of the barrel sleeve cut approx 2 inches off and throw that 2 inch piece away, also cut off the hand guard cap as you do not want it touching the barrel
3. This would leave you with the barrel nut half of the sleeve, and the hand guard cap portion of the sleeve
4. Take the wooden hand guard and fit it to the hand guard cap portion of the sleeve, using a rotary tool (like my Dremel) to sand down the interior of the wooden hand guard halves (it comes in two halves) until it fits flush/properly with the hand guard cap piece of the sleeve
4. With the wood hand guard fitted to the sleeve hand guard cap piece, drill holes through the wood hand guard and the sleeve. These can be big holes if u want to simply use bolts and nuts or smaller holes you can tap, all up to you)
5. Fasten the wood hand guard to the hand guard cap portion of the sleeve with some sort of screws, bolts & nuts, or whatever you have chosen to do
6. You would now have a free float wooden hand guard attached to the hand guard cap portion of the sleeve, but still need to work the barrel nut portion of the sleeve
7. Fasten the barrel nut and the barrel nut portion of the sleeve to the upper receiver until the fit is good and then fasten onto the barrel the gas block and tube so that all is setup properly
8. Fit (basically slide on) the assembled wood hand guard and hand guard cap sleeve portion onto the barrel nut portion of the sleeve that is attached, sand away any wood hand guard preventing a good fit of the wood hand guard over the barrel nut portion of the sleeve.
9. Once fitted drill/tap/fasten/whatever the barrel nut side of the wooden hand guard to the barrel nut portion of the sleeve.
10. You now have a free floated wooden hand guard via the modifications made to the barrel sleeve
I'm sure there would be other issues that might pop up like good sturdy stability, but once again this is all food for thought. Also, this design would not allow you to remove all of the hand guard like a true screw on/off free float hand guard but it would be wood and free float none the less. Finally, I will no longer be bugged by wondering if a solution was possible