Leaderboard

I have the Aridus on my M4 and it is freakin awesome. I would recommend it over the Esstac and this Mark precision one any day of the week.

Agreed, and thanks. No point to have a MAWL without night vision. I live pretty remote so my backyard is all BLM land on a forested mountain with old mines scattered around. For part of my PT, the dog and I do night hikes under night vision only. Preferably nights with zero moon or when it’s cloudy. It’s fun to creep and sneak up on mule deer and elk. We have a three mile circuit we do where we never touch the white light for the entire trip. Having the whole trip is an amazing view of the night sky as a bonus. When you do it a bunch you really dial in your sling setup and belt arrangement for creeping mode.

Are you left-handed? The way you describe how you manipulate your weapon sounds like you are a lefty. I don't ever remove my support hand from reloads on my shotgun as I have become proficient with violin loading. I have been able to get my times pretty fast, but when I do it my support hand never leaves the front of the shotgun as I flip it and remove rounds from the shell carrier. What has helped tremendously with that is getting rid of the PG stock on my M4 and putting on a field stock, which I absolutely love. But that is why to me when I have done my drills it feels like I can get a better purchase on a shotgun with say an angled grip, but just because it "feels" like it might be better doesn't mean it is going to. Yet, if it is something that I can work with and train with then fine, if that means my wife and daughters can get a better grip on it and be able to control it better then I am all for it. We shall see with the shotgun, but I have a foregrip on my rifle and that will never change. I use a c-grip and wrap around three around the front of the rifle and the bottom two fingers use it as leverage, I don't know how else to describe it. I'm not a big fan of the hot buttons. I think the concept is cool, but every time I have run one they always get in the way of having a good grip or I have an accidental light discharge and it drives me crazy, so I pulled them off. Probably could get more comfortable with them if I train more with them, but I honestly feel like it is just another button or contraption to worry about. I know guys that run them amazingly well with no issues after long hours of training, but again each their own. I like my rifle as plain Jane as you can get, not a lot of extra stuff on it.

This looks very similar to SideArmor carriers. They were extremely heavy and covered in sharp edges. Why they didn’t round over all the hard edges, I’ll never know. You’re adding a lot of weight and thickness to the receiver. Carrying the extra weight isn’t a big deal, the issue is how much you’re slowing the shotgun down as you add extra weight. It’s easy to swing past a target due to the extra mass. Shotguns should be super easy to point and swing from target to target. While it is nice having rounds with the shotgun, you’re better served having the shells on your body and not hung on the shotgun. An arrangement of speed feed pouches on a belt load the shotgun significantly faster than cherry picking rounds one at a time from a side saddle of some sort. Amateurs can easily grab two shells at a time and feed them in. Pro users and fit 3 and 4 at a time depending on hand size. Most want something available for the bump in the night situation where you don’t have time to suit up like the Commando meme. Where you’re lucky to have shoes and pants let alone belt pouches. For this, I sling a bandolier around the shotgun wherever it’s staged. One bandolier can hold like 55 rounds maxed out and is easy to sling over your shoulder before you engage the skinwalker.

Back when I had a Surefire M80 picatinny covered Pringles can, I tried the two different Magpul Angled Fore Grips (AFG) on it. Foregrips are a personal preference thing, but I found it wasn't comfortable for me at all. Putting a longer foregrip made the forend feel wobbly to me. Like you're balancing the shotgun on the top of your fist. It also slowed down my support hand for loading procedures since my hand would have move farther. Then when putting my hand back out to grab the fore grip, I'd have to move my hand more to regrasp the fore grip. The foregrip can complicate weapon light activation too. By all means add one if it works for you. But try to be objective if it is helping or not. A lot of people fall into the trap of adding things just to add them.

I plan on putting one on mine to help my wife get a better purchase of the weapon. I have been doing some modifications on my M4 to help my wife and daughters better handle it, so I am going to put one on it and see if it helps. I dont see why more people dont use them. I have one on my AR and most people do, but I hardly ever see people put them on their shotguns.

Took a serious look at the 11714 but went with the 11715 for many of the reasons listed above. Thinking about the heat shield from RX Arms when they are back in stock....I like this set up as it keeps the stock poly hand guards and puts flashlight placement further forward.

The tape they give you with it.There’s no way you pull it off other then heating it ..I’ve had old sidearmor carriers .They suck to detach and put back on.That’s why not many people run them.I’d run a velco setup before them

If I was buying that style I’d do Aridus

I have seen those, they look pretty nice but, man, they are expensive and empty they don't lay flat. The hook & loop aren't great as they do wear out but at $14 a shot I just toss them when they do. For $100 you have quite a few h&l's that can be fit in mag pouchs. The rail alone with these is over $100 and you still need the shell holders. Just my $.02.

Been here observing things and studying/following threads for about a year now. Finally joined up 2 or 3 months back. Would like to thank the members (too numerous to mention) for their willingness to share knowledge and info. Because of their willingness to share this knowledge and info, I have completed one of three M4 builds, nearly completed a second and a third is in the works. Here are a few pics of my projects. Maybe this thread could be a place for others to share their builds/projects in one spot for all to enjoy.

Found it, appreciate you.

It's a handy little bugger. It's adjustable a hundred different ways to Sunday. Bought it a few years ago and wish I had bought 2 or 3.

Gorgeous. Tell me about that rifle stand/tripod though!

Only 3. LOL. Very nice. I'm still working on my first.