How many mm is a picatinny rail

The Picatinny rail was originally for mounting scopes atop the receivers of larger caliber rifles , but, once established, its use so expanded to other such accessories as tactical lights , laser aiming modules , night vision devices , reflex sights , foregrips , bipods , and bayonets that Picatinny rails and accessories have replaced iron sights in the design of many firearms, and they are also on the undersides of semi-automatic pistol frames and grips.

Their usefulness has led to their being used even in paintball and airsoft. The Picatinny locking slot width is 0. The spacing of slot centers is 0. Weaver rails have a slot width of 0. Also, many rail-mounted accessories come with only a single recoil pin — avoiding the issue of differing slot spacing.

Military Wiki Explore. Weaver rails? Picatinny and Weaver rails look almost identical in some cases and it can be difficult to determine the difference between the two just by looking at them. A Picatinny rail has specific dimensions of grooves and notches and is built into a handgun or long gun to mount different attachments. After the initial design work was done, testing of the product occurred at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.

Once the testing was finished, a military standard was assigned to the design, and given the MIL-STD designation. This standard was adopted by the U. Military on February 3, The design originated to facilitate the mounting of a scope on high-powered hunting rifles.

With the military standardization in , the popular M16A2 and M4 carbine version of military rifles were modified to begin including the Picatinny rail as standard equipment. Rails can be designed for the front handguard on these rifles in multiple positions top, bottom, right or left side.

An entire industry has sprouted up designing accessories for the many variations of products which can be added to AR style rifles. These products include scopes, tactical lights, night vision sights, reflex sights, laser sights, foregrips, bipods, and bayonets. In addition to rifle and shotgun applications, the Picatinny rail can also be found on some handguns.

Many handguns, particularly rimfires, feature a Picatinny rail along the top of the slide. This allows for the mounting of a red dot optic. On the Wiki. About and Community. Manual of Style Sandbox Copyrights.

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