Let's talk about the top 5 accessories you can put on your AR-15 handguard.

Hello and welcome to the STNGR Workshop. My name is Rick Barrett and I'm your host for the series of videos where we talk about everything in the gun community from gun accessories to gun maintenance. In this video we are talking about gun accessories. In particular, in my opinion, the top 5 accessories you can put on your AR-15 handguard.

Just a quick FYI, all the accessories that we're gonna be showing here whether it's rail covers, flashlights, bipods, the whole thing. They're going to be available for each individual system, whether it's picatinny rail, the M-Lok system, or the keymod system.

Let's start with the most popular (and you can say the most practical) accessory for your AR-15 handguard, and that is the flashlight. A flashlight is one of the simplest items you can put on your AR-15 and the majority of the versions out there are pretty simple to use. All you have to do is mount it, press the ON switch and you're good to go.

The obvious reason that you'd want a flashlight on your AR-15 is it gives you the ability to add light if you're in a low light situation. This could be in any number of scenarios ranging from self-defense to hunting. Probably the biggest advantage of mounting a light onto your AR-15 handguard is it allows your weak hand to maintain a proper firing grip.

As you can see I have a proper grip on this AR-15 handguard but I also have the ability to hit this pressure switch here and that allows me to have this light on while keeping my hand on the firearm. Having the switch so close to my thumb also gives me the ability to control how much light I want to have on the firearm or whether I want to keep it on at all times.

Also with the flashlight it gives you the ability to mount it wherever you want. You can mount it at the 3 o'clock position, the 6 o'clock position, or the 9 o'clock position depending on which hand is your strong hand.

Just like everything else in the AR-15 aftermarket space, there are tons of different lights to choose from. They have different lumen strengths which means how bright they actually are. They have ones with lasers, they have ones with different pressure switches. You're gonna have to try out a multitude of lights to see which one works for you.

Let's move on to the next most popular accessory people put on their AR-15 and that is foregrips. Now we'll talk about different styles because they are available on the picatinny rail, on the keymod, and on the M-Lok.

See the image below for an example of an angled foregrip that you would find on a picatinny rail (on the right) and an example of a foregrip on an M-Lok handguard (on the left).

But first, let's start with the picatinny rail. Its function is to give you a place where you can put your hand while firing. This will give you more control over where the gun goes and it helps your hand from being fatigued because it's a more natural firing position.

Now of course you're saying, well the the only function of a foregrip is to give you a place to actually grip. I'm gonna show you when we talk about the M-Lok foregrip why just having a place to put your hand is kind of limiting when you're looking at foregrips. But still, it does its job, it's a very good foregrip and if you're running a picatinny rail, it's a great option.

Moving on to the M-Lok handguard's foregrip here it is right here as you can see, it's not as pronounced as the picatinny rail version, probably because it's not as thick, but this ergonomic handgrip, which you can get at STNGR USA, gives you more firing options. Now let me break that down. Yes, it does give you a place to put your hand if you wanted to use it as a grip in that popular shooting position. Also, depending on how you shoot, it can serve multiple functions. You can use it as a pull leverage point or as a push leverage point while firing.

No matter which one you run whether it's the angled foregrip on a picatinny rail or an ergonomic handgrip on an M-Lok handguard, you're gonna be able to have more control over your firearm. And that's the reason why it's the second most popular accessory people put on their AR-15.

When you're running a long gun of any kind, whether it's a shotgun, a rifle, or an AR-15, you're going to use what they call a sling. And essentially a sling is just a long rope that goes around your body and it keeps the weapon close to you. Now there are a variety of ways to do this and one of the more popular options is the quick detach system or QD system.

The way the QD system works is the first thing you do is you go get a QD mount, you can get this one from stngrusa.com. Then you would get what they call a quick disconnect or QD swivel, this one in the video is a Magpul accessory. There's gonna be a button on the front of it. This is how you engage and disengage the mount. So once you thread your sling through this swivel, what you do is you would press that button and engage in the actual mount, like so.

One of the great things about this system is because it is not latched on permanently like some others, it gives you the freedom to move depending on what you're actually doing. Of course, when you want to take your sling off for a variety of reasons, you get the sling, you press the button, and you remove, like so.

You're gonna have to use a sling on your long gun, your AR-15, your shotgun, your bolt action rifle, so you might as well use the easiest and that is the QD mount system.

Another popular accessory people like to put on their AR-15 handguards are bipods. Bipods are great because they excel at long-range target shooting and they can also be frequently used for tactical purposes as well when you're out in the field, adding stability to places where you might not traditionally find it.

Another advantage that bipods have is they're excellent for fine-tuning scopes, zeroing rifles, and eliminating as much of your human element as possible. And another advantage to bipods is that when you're done using them, they flip up and they're out of the way, like so.

Let's continue our discussion of accessories for your AR-15 handguard, now talking about rail cover panels. Rail cover panels are available for the picatinny, the keymod, and the M-Lok systems. In this case, we're going to be discussing the M-Lok rail covers that you can find at stngrusa.com (that would be these bad boys right here).

Here are some of the key reasons why people love these M-Lok rail covers. The first one is superior heat protection. Let's look at these Gecko rail covers from stngrusa.com. These are constructed from a heat-resistant polymer, and that gives you added heat protection on your firearm.

Another reason why people like these M-Lok rail covers is it provides an additional aesthetic to their handguard or a different way to customize their handguard. Some people don't like empty space on their handguards, so this fills that space while maintaining a low profile.

And the big reason people really love these M-Lok hand covers is that it gives you an additional point of contact for your hand while you're firing. These points of contact right here allow you to have better control over your firearm.

As a bonus, if you pick up these M-Lok rail covers from stngrusa.com, you're gonna be picking up rail covers that were designed and made in the USA.

So we've discussed the top five accessories to put on your AR-15 handguard. Now, let's look at 5 unique AR-15 accessories.

Now, we are in no way saying these are bad accessories but we want to take the time to at least acknowledge that they exist and thank those who made them for thinking outside of the box.

That being said they are outside of the box and maybe don't fit your specific needs.

Image Credit: Sofrep

The first of these five unique AR-15 accessories is the bayonet.

The bayonet is a large tube without the front mounting system. Now, the majority of your rail area is taken up with this 14-inch tube which delivers a spring-loaded spike for handling your calls. The bayonet fastens to a rail and must be taken apart with what looks like an allen key. Maybe this fits your needs, maybe it doesn't.

Image Credit: Gun Deals

The next up on our unique list is the F4 Tactical Rail Mount pepper spray system. Now the F4 tactical pepper spray mounts below the barrel of the AR-15 and attaches to the rail system. The big issue that I find, but this may not be a big deal for you, is it requires you to point a deadly weapon at your opponent while being also uncomfortably near them. There is a potential issue with mixing different levels of lethality.

Image Credit: Tactical Life

Coming in third on our list of unique AR-15 handguard accessories is the Angel Eye rear view mirror. Now I get the concept of the rear view mirror. It gives you the ability to see behind you to see if any bad guys are sneaking up on you. However, it costs about $100 and it's not really that big. But as previously stated, it may work for you.

Image Credit: F.A.B. Defense

Next up we have the AR-15 magazine foregrip. Now the AR-15 magazine foregrip works about how it sounds. It's a magazine that puts into your foregrip. On the surface this seems like an advantage because it conserves space and allows you quick access to your magazine.

On the other hand, now you're putting two different things in the same bucket. Your foregrip should be controlling the gun, not as a storage space. And secondly, is it really that much faster to have the magazine in the foregrip as opposed to traditional places? And finally, it may put your gun out of balance. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't.

Image Credit: The Firearm Blog

And our final entry into our unique list of AR-15 handguard accessories is the GripShot. The GripShot allows certain holsters to be put on your picatinny rail. The natural advantage it would seem to this accessory is it would give you a faster method to accessing your handgun than drawing from your belt. The question is, does it?

Now I give them credit for thinking outside of the box and giving you a different place to actually store your handgun. In my humble opinion, there are a couple of problems that stick out. The first is that it could increase the weight of your rifle. It could throw its balance off and double the rifle's profile. But if you can get over these things and you think it works, you should try it.

And that's it for this video talking about the top 5 accessories to put on your AR-15, and 5 that are unique. Let me know in the comments below what you put on yours.

Coming to you from the STNGR Workshop, I'm Rick Barrett. I hope you enjoyed this video and I'll talk to you again soon.