[hcpookie]

Here I am happily making my rails yesterday, when I looked at them again I may have screwed up

What I need to know, whether or not the lower bends, which help center the magazine, are necessary or "nice to have"? I plan to dimple my Ace receivers.

I used the black rails from K-Var as a guide, with hunterwarrior's template for the measurements:

http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/AK/docs/construction/rails/DSCN3726.JPG

I looked at my Chinese rifles and the lower bends are practically not there - they bend inward about one thickness of the material, so I suppose I could even "shim" material to duplicate this if needed.

Do I need to start over? I thought about coaxing my welder friend into welding a bead on the bottom which I could dremel into shape for the lower bends but as easy as these are to make I will probably just start over.

 

[Kevin_M4]

I'm thinkin' there may be a potential for mis-feeds if the lower rail weren't there. But I'm only speculating.

 

[ErikJL]

I left out the lower bends on mine and it fires just fine, but the mag is slightly loose (I don't have it dimpled yet either). If I recall correctly, there are rails on the market that leave out the lower bends completely. Can't remember who sells them though.

 

[hcpookie]

Sounds like I'll be fine, since an aftermarket rail is missing them too. Of course I can always install a shim later on if needed. I'd like to see pics of those commercial rails...

That's what I needed to know - thanks for those replies!

 

[ErikJL]

I was thinking about attaching an L-shaped piece of the 4130 square tubing to the rail as a shim, kind of like an original rail except the lower bend is a seperate piece attached to the rail. I'm not sure how this would work if you wanted to spot-weld the rail to the receiver, but I sure as hell can drill and tap holes to work with my screwed rails. I hope I'm making sense here. :dunno:

 

[7.62x39]

I think the rail lips and dimples are redundant, but I think one or the other is necessary.

Since you are going to dimple it, I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[tac-40]

I just looked at my Arsenal receiver and the lower rails extend just slightly beyond the dimples. I would say that if you dimple your receiver deep enough then don't worry about the lower rails.