Everyone knows about the Daniel Defense RIS II rails, though perhaps not everyone know that they have built-in hanging hardware for an M203, which means the launcher is freefloated rather than hanging on to barrel as per the typical M4 and M16 mounts. SOCOM was going through the SOPMOD Block II upgrades back in the mid 2000s when the rifle-mounted 40mm was a lot more common, so it makes sense to float the launcher. Otherwise, you’re rather wasting time by getting the freefloat handguard.
As best I can tell, the handguard component of Block II was a competition between DD, ARMS and KAC. While the DD integrated the 203 mounts as mentioned, the other 2 had separate items of hardware that bolted the launcher to the rail. Shown above is KAC’s version of that.
In a way that is actually slightly similar to the original RIS and RAS, the URX IIs had a removable 6 o’clock rail segment. With that section gone and the pair of accessory bars bolted to the launcher via the holes near its’ front, the entire assembly could be slid in to the handguard and bolted to it. This of course meant it was not touching the barrel, technically eliminating the requirement for the step down in the typical M4 profile.
My guess is that just a very small number of the bar sets were made for testing and to compete for the contract. I stumbled upon the first images of these via N.S. Armory LLC who do (at the time of publishing) actually have a single set in stock. If you have $5500 to spend along with an M203 and the carbine length URX II on an AR upper, you should get them and build out the whole thing.
Any images at all of this kit are scarce and fragmented, so I’ve put them up here for consolidation and preservation purposes.
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