Quick Emag Rail Question

[TimmyJay]

Can the holes on the side be milled off if it is milled similar to a shadow rail with flat sides? Or do the screw holes penetrate too deep?

Thanks!

[C_losjoker]

Are you talking about RT rails? I think those are to deep to shave, if they are the wings you can shave the wings and the holes but on the side, a little to deep.

[TimmyJay]

Emag rails with the screw holes only in the wing portion. I'm looking to remove the wings and hopefully the holes as well.

Thanks

[knownothingmags]

in this thread there is an emag rail with the wings milled off.
the holes are still visible.

its the rail on post #2 with the powerfeed right body and emax valve on it.

so i would say yes the holes go deep enough that you cant get rid of them if you want the rail to look like a shadow rail.

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=261724&page=2&pp=30

,
KNM

[TimmyJay]

I saw that and thats what made me question the possibility. It still looks like there is a bump out from being totally flat. I can't really tell from the angle and the powerfeed.

[SouthMcSuck]

You could always fill the holes and then sand them down. I imagine it'd look clean enough once its all cleaned up that you wouldn't be able to tell they were there.

[knownothingmags]

I saw that and thats what made me question the possibility. It still looks like there is a bump out from being totally flat. I can't really tell from the angle and the powerfeed.

you are right, i didnt see that.
yes there is a hump still.
i have an emag rail. ill screw a screw that is too long into mine and measure the depth of the threads as they come out and let ya know.

,
KNM

[TimmyJay]

Thanks. I figured someone would have known from experience. I could do the same with my RT Pro rail. I am sure they would be drilled the same?

[knownothingmags]

so i just checked the depth. from what i can see from my measurments, the threads go far enough in that if you milled the rail like a shadow rail and ULE milled the inside you would see through the rail.
so yes, the threads go far enough in, even if you milled the sides down the holes would still be there.

,
KNM

[Chrome]

I did a similar measure with the rail I've got (with the same question in mind) and came up the same as KNM.

Now what I'm wondering is if, on a rail that has NOT had the middle milled out to almost nothing, if one could do a logic alpha rail-style cut and lose the holes smoothly? I don't remember how wide the top of the emag lowers is, which means the cut might not work for emag builds, but how about matching (or coming close to) the width of the top of a mech frame (as in the narrowest width at the bottom of a AM/MM stock rail)?

The other thought I had to maybe solve the problem with the holes (again assuming a non-ule rail to start with) would be to do a cut on the bottom of the rail to match the cross section of the bottom of an AM/MM rail, stopping with the cut around the threaded part of the sear hole - making a bump out like the early run shadow rails? Basically converting the emag rail to be able to take a winged ASA, following the cut all the way to the sear axle. I just don't know if that would cut away enough metal to lose the holes completely or if there would be some hole left? Again, not real useful for emag folks.

Last thought just came to mind - considering how close the sylized milling on the sides of the gen-2 AM/MM length tac rails look to where the stock holes would line up, how about doing a rt/emag length gen-2 tac rail style cut on a (non-ule) emag rail? Should get you emag compatibility, no holes, and no (or less) issue sorting out the sear axle hole. If nothing else, in the interest of "recycling" these old pre-ule rails (that seem to sell pretty cheap on the forum because everyone is looking for something different), I wonder if they could just be cut whole-hog into gen-2 AM/MM tac rails and call it a day. If the cut would be cheap enough, at least there seems to be a market for those. . .

I've got one unmodified emag rail sitting in the parts box. Kind of makes me wish I had a few more rails, some extra cash for a project I really don't need for anything, and a bored machinist with some free time.

[TimmyJay]

Thanks for all the responses. I hit up Luke to try to fix my nasty milled rt pro rail, but it looks to be dremeled too deep to make it worth the try.

I wanted an Ultra lite mill on an RT rail similar to what he already does to the AM/MM rails. I'm sure this milling would remove the holes, but I don't own an emag rail and the cost of rail and milling = Not worth it.

[knownothingmags]

have luke make you a emag length ultralite rail from billet.
i know he will do it and give you a quote for the price.

that is your best option at this point i think.

[athomas]

If you use a round tipped mill bit, you can drill a nice rounded hole where the screws are. That will get rid of them without affecting the rest of the rail. Select the diameter of the mill bit to match the depth you want and diameter of the hole at the surface. A bigger bit will give you a larger diameter at a shallower depth.