Brigand Arms surprised me quite a bit today. I’ve seen their carbon fiber handguards before but until you handle them you don’t really understand just how light they are. The 9-inch rail weighs only 3.9 ounces without rails or accessories. In the hand it’s a feather.

Brigand Arms rail

So it’s lightweight, and that’s easy to do right? Making something light and strong is the challenge. At SHOT today they had their rails on display, including one holding a 40-pound weight. It didn’t bend, break, move, or budge. The handguard has been on display all day today, and as far as I know will be on display all week.

Their website even features a Tannerite test where they blew up one of their rails. It was essentially undamaged outside of the small aluminum Picatinny rails. According to Brigand Arms website the rails can support a force of 100 pounds in any direction and 400 pounds along their length.

The Brigand Arms rails use a braided carbon tube to make it strong, and light. From their website, “It is braided from special composite yarns in a lattice that minimizes weight and maximizes stiffness and strength.”

The tube is carbon T700 and is coated with a protective jacket that protects the carbon fro the elements and keeps it from rusting or suffering from corrosion. It doesn’t crack, splinter, or break when beat to hell and back. It also looks superbly unique and is quite eye pleasing. You can toss pieces of rail on if you decide to add a little more accessories.

It’s a seriously strong and light rail. For an SBR, a Pistol caliber carbine, or just to reduce the weight of an AR 10 the Brigand Arms rail is an excellent choice. They are a veteran owned company, more specifically a Marine owned company. Check them out here.