Posted by Staff on 12/30/2022 to
How-To
Riflespeed Gas Controls enhance your overall shooting experience, increase your carbine's reliability, and offer tremendous performance and durability benefits compared to fixed-gas systems and traditional set-screw style gas blocks. Gas Controls are in use across the country with civilian shooters including home defenders and competitors, law-enforcement professionals, and military special operations members at the highest levels. The success Riflespeed customers have enjoyed with so many varied firearm configurations is incredible. With the completely modular nature of Riflespeed Gas Controls, any direct-gas carbine in any chambering with any barrel length and gas system length can take advantage of the performance offered by the use of a Riflespeed Gas Control. As with any new technology that offers such a performance leap, there is always a cost. Two things sometimes come up as "costs" or considerations when a shooter is first exposed to Gas Controls and has not yet experienced the performance benefits that come with their use:
- Price
- Gas Controls are necessarily more expensive than fixed gas blocks
- Gas Controls are necessarily more expensive than low-profile gas blocks with set screws and similar adjusting mechanisms.
A Porche 911 is more expensive than a Chevy Cobalt. These are two different cars doing two different jobs for two different customers with two different budgets. In the gun world, a Knight's Armament rifle is more expensive than a Smith & Wesson M&P. A 1911 from Nighthawk or Wilson Combat (not to mention Heirloom Precision) is more expensive than a Kimber. Each has a place and justifies their price in different ways. A set of articulating dual-tube NODs with filmless L3 white phosphor tubes is more expensive than a PVS-14 with a commercial-grade green phosphor tube. Likewise, Riflespeed Gas Controls offer premium performance, durability, convenience, and modularity that is completely unmatched by any other gas system. With specialized materials, significant machining requirements, and durability enhancing features, it costs more to achieve such performance.
- Weight
- Gas Controls are necessarily heavier than low-profile fixed gas blocks with no adjustment mechanism, etc.
- Gas Controls are necessarily heavier than adjustable blocks with the form factor of a low-profile gas block using a set screw or similar adjustment mechanism.
Let's look at some actual numbers for the RS75-series Gas Controls (RS62-series Gas Controls will have practically identical weights) compared to the proven military grade components we've relied on for decades. Keep in mind that the use of a Riflespeed Gas Control allows you to remove the additional weight of unnecessarily heavy buffers so you may end up with a lower total weight for your carbine with its current fixed or low-profile gas block and overly heavy buffer.
Mk12 SPR low-profile fixed gas block weight: 1.8 oz
Riflespeed RS7519 weight: 3.7 oz
Riflespeed RS7521 weight: 4.0 oz
Riflespeed RS7533 weight: 4.3 oz
Riflespeed RS7543 weight: 4.6 oz
Riflespeed RS7548 weight: 4.7 oz
Riflespeed RS7558 weight: 5.0 oz
Front Sight Base (M16/M4) weight: 5.1 oz
A 16-inch barrel is heavier than a similarly profiled 11.5" barrel. More material is used to make the longer barrel therefore the mass of the longer barrel will be greater. The same is true with the longer models of Riflespeed Gas Controls. The good news is that even the longest Gas Control is still lighter than the standard front site base we've been carrying and shooting for decades.
A note on the dimensions of each assembly:
The model numbers we use correspond to the critical dimensions for each Gas Control. The journal diameter is represented by the first pair of numbers; xx62xx for 0.625" diameter or xx75xx for 0.750" diameter journals. The last two numbers indicate the assembly length. For example, xxxx19 would have a 1.9" assembly length.
Using the popular RS7533 to demonstrate, we see that the RS7533 fits a 0.750" diameter gas journal and has an overall length of 3.3" for the assembly.