Say what you want about Strike Industries, they’ve never been content to sit on the sidelines and pump out the same-ol’ gun parts. While many AR accessory companies didn’t survive the Trump Slump, Strike Industries is about to celebrate its 10-year anniversary in part because they never stopped innovating.
That innovative spirit helped birth the GRIDLOCK quick-detach AR-15 rail system in 2019, and Strike Industries just released another GRIDLOCK for the H&K 416 battle rifle.
Announced at this year’s Primary Arms Range Day, the 416 GRIDLOCK affixes to the H&K 416’s OEM barrel nut and can be taken on and off using a simple tension lever.
Unlike the original GRIDLOCK system for AR-15 rifles, the 416 GRIDLOCK uses a one-piece design to minimize weight and increase strength. It comes in four lengths (9”/11”/14.5”/16”) and can be had with a full-length picatinny rail or a front/rear picatinny rail. M-LOK accessories can be attached and mounted along the rail at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions.
It also comes standard with a built-in flip up backup iron sight. The sight sits flush in the rail, so users can still affix accessories or their own iron sight above the Strick Industries sight.
Why would someone want to quickly remove a handguard from an H&K 416 or an AR-15? It’s a good question, and one we posed to the Strike Industries’ Danny Chang at the PA Range Day.
First, being able to swap rails allows users to develop purpose-built rail setups for different applications. Strike Industries designed the 416 GRIDLOCK with military and law enforcement personnel in mind. These folks might want one rail for CQB scenarios and another for long-range work. Instead of removing lights, bipods, optics, and other accessories each time, the GRIDLOCK system allows rail systems to be swapped quickly and easily.
You can see how this same functionality might apply to an AR-15 rifle used for both hunting and home defense. Moving accessories around isn’t the end of the world, but the GRIDLOCK system makes it that much easier.
A quick-detach rail system can also come in handy when adjusting a hard-to-reach gas block or to ease the installation or removal of a suppressor. Strike Industries handguards are designed to be wide enough to partially shroud a suppressor, which can sometimes obstruct gas block adjustments.
The 416 GRIDLOCK is designed with LEO/military budgets in mind as well. The nine-inch model starts at $352 and goes all the way up to $458 for the 16-inch. For the rest of us, the AR-15 GRIDLOCK system runs between $220 (8.5 inches) and $297 (17 inches).