Patent attributes
A rail is mounted solely to a barrel nut so that the rail is free-floating and does not affect movement of the barrel when the firearm is fired. The rail may have first and second wedges that are drawn together and frictionally engage a smooth exterior surface of the barrel nut in order to frictionally engage the wedges and the barrel nut. The first and second wedges have contact surfaces defined by a radius which is equal to a radius of the exterior surface of the barrel nut. By forming the contact surfaces of the first and second wedges to have a radius equal to the radius of the barrel nut, the maximum area of the contact surfaces contact or engage the exterior surface of the barrel nut to maximize frictional engagement between the barrel nut and the wedges.