Helmet rail system review

Sup brothers,

We got this helmet rail from airsoftpark.com. Do you remember when you saw it first time in MW2? Shadow Team looked so cool with this gear on their helmets.  Lets do a review about this functional and nice looking item.

  • Manufacturer: n/a;
  • Country of origin: n/a;
  • Title: Tactical ARC Helmet Rail Black;
  • Material: plastic, screws – metal;
  • Dimensions: width – 5, 4.3, 5.2 cm;
  • Weight: 350g
  • Color: Black, they have OD and Tan too;
  • Price:  19.99$  free shipping from AirsoftPark.com.

Thus, the product came packaged in simple, no labeled, no named plastic bag. Inside -two black plastic helmet side rails and a bag of screws and hooks for NVG.

I this small plastic bag you will find 4 screws with nuts, 2 of which are longer and two shorter – close to those who are already on my helmet. Bolts are black, only slightly glossy and this is not paint, as i could’nt get this off with my knife… Two black hooks is from plastic. This plastic is simple and ordinary – slightly firm, slightly bending. Upon receipt of screws I had left one in the wet pantry for aweek. This bolt had no rust on surface after this week. Good, because few screws from my helmet already are rusty.

Rail plastic is very solid and sturdy. Their structure is virtually identical to the AEG pistol grip’s  – foamy, light, solid. When you try to bend, it bends for about 2-3cm, then i can break. In fact, I have broke one:) I know it will only be glued with epoxy glue. Trust me :)
Rail is curved shape to fit the helmet arch. After scraping it with a sharp object – it is quite difficult to get it deeply carved. No visible mold seams. Surface of the mat, but it reflects the direct sun a little.

The inner half of the rail is glossy. You can see its structure on the photo above – cross-linked form provides strength.
At the ends both bolt holes are oval. In the corner of the rail there is a place for a pin from gass mask (there was no in the package, they can be bought separately). In the front of the rail there is a hole for bungee lanyard. You get the hooks with the package. I can not say whether the overall design is correct, compared with the real runners, I have no real on aside, and i gues the real one is from metal… Correct me if I am wrong.

To use this rail for its intended purpose, such as base of a flashlight or camera, you will need to purchase separate rail adapter. This rail is in reverse. Such a decision was taken to prevent the rail from sharp corners, like we have on weapon rails. I have a plan to buy/get an adapter and test whether it fits or not for these rail copies. And yes, some of the accessories are sold with this rail adaptor in package. Pay attention to when choosing.
It is difficult to say how well this rail will hold accessories when with the adapter will get high profile. I think we’ll try one soon with mounted on cam.

I have a MICH helmet 2001. This is normal MICH 2001 what is sold in all Airsoft stores. I chose this because my swimmer style headset does not fit under any other helmet.

As you can see from the picture above, my helmet is not the rail friendly :) The distance between the strap bolts are too big, the angle for the headphones cut is wrong – it should be steeper.

In the pictured above you can see how the rail should stand and what should be the correct notch shape.
I was stubborn to put the plate in order to show you, but I failed to do so. I was trying to heat the plastic plate in boiling water, tryed to stretch it by hands to reach the two screws … unfortunately. This plastic is similar to the AEGs pistol grip, it doesnt get soft. The only option is to choose another helmet or other form of plate (there are even softer arc runners pancake over the ear). Next week will be the game here, I’ll try to mete this rail on other helmets (2000 2002).

Below you can see  decoy helmet fitted with the runners, with full equipment – angular mask strap pin and NVG lanyard. There is a NVG stump too.

So, in conclusion.
I’ve broke one and it didnt fit my helmet – its ok as price is super low. I liked the price, because so far the rails have been much more expensive.
Plastic material are good, solid, high quality mold, what is rare. Screws and bolts are too good to be sold with this rail :)

I will try adding more info about test runs on these rail in future. Keep in touch.

Should you get this helmet rail system? If you are a modern army reconstructor, if you use a more serious flashlights on the helmet, or your headset feels wrong under the helmet, or you have a full face mask deviation – the runners are necessary:)

Sincerely, UNO

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Uno Written by:

Long living airsoft dinosaur. TBOC memmber. Blogger. Designer.

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