Surefire M80 Forend Review

[Hookster]

Hey All,
Well, I finally got my Surefire M80 picatinny rail forend today (many thanks to MeanGreen for the lead). Anyway, I thought I'd share some thoughts on it as well as some pictures. As most of you probably know I'm looking at using it simply as a forend grip that would be a U.S. made 922r compliant part that would also allow me to keep my Sidearmor rail system. I don't intend at this time to mount any accessories to it although from looking at it, if I were to mount my Streamlight TLR-1 to the right side it doesn't look like I'd have the problems StrangerDanger had with his hand hitting the backplate/wire plug area of his Surefire light (I believe it was a X300) due to the Streamlight having a 90 degree plug and smaller backplate projection

So, as far as being a forend that I can use in conjunction with my Sidearmor rail, I'm very happy with it. I had been concerned about weight before but it only adds 2.9oz after removing the weight of the stock grips. Additional weight on top of that would depend on your choice of rail covers.

The other issue that has been raised is hand comfort/grip feel. I've tried a few combinations of rail coverings already and they're included in the pictures. I believe the combination that StrangerDanger recommended was Magpul XTMs at the 6 oclock and ladder rails at 3 and 9 (3 ladder rails are included with the forearm). I found this fine too and probably the closest to the circumference of the stock grips. I also tried and like the XTMs on all three sides. I bought enough to completely cover all three sides but three panels per side seems more than enough to grip. Any extra would just be adding weight. This will probably be the combination I'll be using for now. It does make for a fairly fat grip but I have large hands and thought it had a good feel.

Overall I find it more comfortable than the KZ which I reviewed here:
http://www.benelliusa.com/forum/show...0&highlight=KZ
But depending what your after in a U.S. made forend the KZ may be a better choice for mounting options etc.

So in closing, If the Mesa "Urbino" U.S. made stock that MeanGreen posted comes out and is of good quality I would probably go back to my stock Benelli grips instead of Surefire or KZ but until then I think I'll be fine with the Surefire.
Now all I need is my FL tube. (Hi Kip!!!)

And now some pictures.....

[Hookster]

[Hookster]

[Hookster]

[Hookster]

[Hookster]

[Hookster]

[Hookster]

[StrangerDanger]

Hookster,
it looks pretty cool actually. Have you shot it to see if the binding issue plagues yours?

Have you tried mounting the pressure switch to the surefire rail instead? You're right about the x300 poking too far to the rear due to the xt07 tail cap design. Yours is much more low profile.

On the other hand, holy expensive batman!

[Hookster]

No, I just got the M80 this afternoon so I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. I've looked around but didn't see any posts about binding problems. Do you have links to accounts of problems? It looks like the gas pistons/rods have enough play room. I haven't tried changing the switch position but I'm pretty happy with where it's at. Even with the enlarged grip size, the switch position still feels very natural to use.

Hookster