Vietnam-War-US-Military-Bayonets (cropped)

A barrel shroud is an external covering that envelops (either partially or full-length) the

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

of a

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

, to prevent unwanted direct contact with the barrel (e.g. accidental collision with surrounding objects, or the user accidentally touching a hot barrel, which can lead to

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

s). Moving coverings such as

pistol slide The slide on the majority of fully/semi-automatic pistols is the upper part that reciprocates ("slides") with recoil during the gun's operating cycle. It serves as the bolt carrier group (BCG) and partly as the receiver, and generally houses t ...

s, fore-end extension of the gunstock/

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

that do not fully encircle the barrel, and the receiver (or frame) of a firearm itself are generally not described as barrel shrouds, though they can functionally act as such. In

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

s, a thin, slim partial shroud known as a rib is often mounted above barrel to shield away the

mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

generated by barrel heat, which can interfere with aiming. Full-length barrel shrouds are commonly featured on air-cooled

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

s, where frequent rapid

burst Burst may refer to: *Burst mode (disambiguation), a mode of operation where events occur in rapid succession **Burst transmission, a term in telecommunications **Burst switching, a feature of some packet-switched networks ** Bursting, a signaling m ...

s or sustained automatic fire will leave the barrel extremely hot and dangerous to the user. However, shrouds can also be utilized on

semi-automatic firearm A semi-automatic firearm, also called a self-loading or autoloading firearm (fully automatic and selective fire firearms are also variations on self-loading firearms), is a repeating firearm whose action mechanism ''automatically'' loads a follow ...

s, especially the ones with light-weight barrels, as even a small number of shots can heat up a barrel enough to injure the user in certain circumstances. Barrel shrouds are also used on

pump-action shotgun Pump action or slide action is a repeating firearm action that is operated manually by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge and typically to coc ...

s. The military trench shotgun features a ventilated metal handguard with a bayonet attachment lug. Ventilated handguards or heat shields (usually without bayonet lugs) are also used on police

riot shotgun A riot shotgun is a shotgun designed or modified for use as a primarily defensive weapon, by the use of a short barrel and sometimes a larger magazine capacity than shotguns marketed for hunting. The riot shotgun is used by military personnel fo ...

s and shotguns marketed for civilian self-defense. The heat shield also serves as an attachment base for accessories such as sights or sling swivels.

Handguard

A handguard (also known as the forend or

forearm The forearm is the region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist. The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in anat ...

) on

s is a barrel shroud specifically designed to allow the user to grip the front of the gun. It provides a safe heat-insulated surface for the user's hand to firmly hold onto without needing to worry about getting

ed by the

, which may become very hot when firing. It can also serve as an attachment platform for secondary weapons (such as an underslung

M203 grenade launcher The M203 is a single-shot 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher designed to attach to a rifle. It uses the same rounds as the older stand-alone M79 break-action grenade launcher, which utilizes the high-low propulsion system to keep recoil force ...

or M26-MASS) as well as accessories such as

bipod A bipod is a V-shaped portable attachment that helps support and steady a device, usually a weapon such as a long gun or a mortar. The term comes from the Latin prefix ''bi-'' and Greek root ''pod'', meaning "two" and "foot" respectively. Bipod ...

tactical light A tactical light is a flashlight used in conjunction with a firearm to aid low-light target identification, allowing the marksman, law enforcement officer or soldier to simultaneously aim a weapon and illuminate the target. Tactical lights can ...

laser sight A laser sight is a device attached or integral to a firearm to aid target acquisition. Unlike optical and iron sights where the user looks through the device to aim at the target, laser sights project a beam onto the target, providing a visual re ...

night-vision device A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The devi ...

s, foregrips/handstops, slings and a variety of other attachments. Handguards are typically available as two types. The first has a contact point at the base of the barrel and a predetermined length up the barrel. They are typically made of polymer if they are this brand but can be made of different types of alloys. If they have the two contact points they are considered to be a drop in handguard. The other type attaches around the barrel but does not make contact with it directly. That particular type of handguard is, the majority of the time, made out of some form of aluminum or aluminum alloy. That allows for what is considered a free-floating barrel. Free floating barrels are known to have greater accuracy than their counterparts that have drop in hand guards. They also use a number of mounting systems with the main ones being

M-LOK M-LOK, for Modular Lock, is a firearm rail interface system developed and patented by Magpul Industries. The license is free-of-charge, but subject to an approval process. M-LOK allows for direct accessory attachment onto the "negative s ...

, KeyMod, and

Picatinny The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The A ...

. When talking about

melee weapon A melee weapon, hand weapon or close combat weapon is any handheld weapon used in hand-to-hand combat, i.e. for use within the direct physical reach of the weapon itself, essentially functioning as an additional (and more impactful) extension of th ...

s, a "handguard" refers to the

crossguard On a sword, the crossguard, or cross-guard, the individual bars on either side known as quillon, is a bar of metal at right angles to the blade, placed between the blade and the hilt. The crossguard was developed in the European sword around the ...

(also known as the quillons or crosstree), the enlarged front part of a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

saber A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use de ...

hilt The hilt (rarely called a haft or shaft) of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel. ...

, which protects the wielder's hands from an opponent's blade sliding towards the hilt, or prevents the wielder's own hand and fingers from accidentally slipping onto the blade when

stabbing A stabbing is penetration or rough contact with a sharp or pointed object at close range. ''Stab'' connotes purposeful action, as by an assassin or murderer, but it is also possible to accidentally stab oneself or others. Stabbing differs from ...

Free-floating Handguard

Free-floating handguards, also referred to as "floating" handguards, have seen a rise in popularity in the recent years. They work by only attaching to the firearm at one point (on the barrel nut by the

upper receiver In firearms terminology, the firearm frame or receiver is the part of a firearm which integrates other components by providing housing for internal action components such as the hammer, bolt or breechblock, firing pin and extractor, and has th ...

) while the remainder of the handguard does not make contact with the barrel. This gives the impression that the handguard is "floating" around the barrel, hence the name. Free-floating handguards have been known to increase accuracy between 0.5 and 0.75

MOA Moa are extinct giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. The term has also come to be used for chicken in many Polynesian cultures and is found in the names of many chicken recipes, such as Kale moa and Moa Samoa. Moa or MOA may also refe ...

(0.15-0.2

mrad The Barrett MRAD (Multi-role Adaptive Design) is a bolt-action sniper rifle designed by Barrett to meet the requirements of the SOCOM PSR. The MRAD is based on the Barrett 98B and includes a number of modifications and improvements. The Barret ...

) compared to their drop-in counterparts. The reason for this increase in accuracy is due to the avoidance of an issue known as barrel warping. Barrel warping occurs when the handguard makes contact with the barrel which then slightly alters the barrel's angle reducing accuracy. An instance where this would occur would be when a rifle is propped up against a surface during or when a

is used. Force exerted onto the handguard pushes back up against the barrel which in turn changes the barrel's angle reducing accuracy. The angle may seem insignificant, however, even a slight deviation can be magnified causing the shot to be widely off down range. Free float handguards do not suffer from barrel warping due to the fact that the handguard floats around but does not make contact with the barrel. Force exerted onto the handguard is not pushed back onto the barrel which allows for an increase in accuracy.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Finned carbine handguard assembly Randy E. Luth (patent)KeyMod vs. M-LOK Modular Rail System Comparison, Presented by Caleb McGee, Naval Special Warfare Center Crane Division, 4 May 2017
Firearm components

Handguard

Free-floating Handguard

See also

References

External links