My FS2000 custom foregrip

[Noncentsical]

Sooooo, I'm 5 days into FS2000 ownership. And I'm kinda obsessive. So I had to invent something.What if you like the light weight of the plastic fore end, and you like the way it feels, but you'd also like to have a vertical grip available, and you want the whole thing to be lightweight and look kinda like it "belongs"? Well, this is what I came up with....

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Solid and fully functional. I know, what a tease. I have full DIY pics and specs and will post later. Now off to the range!

Update:Back from the range. Me and my 12 year mortally wounded a silhouette. I don't think it will survive 120 5.56mm punctures

Loved the fore grip. And then made it even better when I got back.

Here's the story:
Before I even received my FS2000, I was thinking about this mod. Replacement stock plastic fore ends for the FS2000 are surprisingly inexpensive, so I ordered one so I'd always be able to go back to stock if wanted - Sarge can hook you up. About $12.

After looking at a bunch of fore grips, I ordered this Mako one - I liked the lines, the size, and the way it folded. I thought it had promise for being able to integrate into the standard fore end. About $30





You can unscrew the "pushbutton" to disassemble it:

Originally I was contemplating bolting this directly into the grip somehow. Then I got the idea of mounting a rail inside the top of the grip. The Magpul polymer rails are perfect for this. They make several sizes. I used the 4" long one. About $8. Total of all parts shown below, about $50.



Remove the foreend. To do this, you remove the barrel assembly from the rifle, then you just pull the fore end down and off the rest of the stock. Then remove the two small hex head screws to allow you to separate the halves. Careful not to lose the nylock hex nuts. They usually won't fall out by themselves, but they might. Better to use the loosed bolts to push them out and keep them somewhere safe.



From here on out, just be patient and go slowly. You'll be permanently removing material from the fore end. If you really mess up, it costs about $12 to get a new one and start over, so not the end of the world. I used diagonal cutters, nippers, pliers, a file, and a sharp wood chisel to remove all the material in mine. You may chose to use these tools, or a dremel, or air die grinders, or xacto knifes, or whatever. Just go slowly and be careful. Remove a little material at a time and continuously trial-fit the parts until you get the profile you need. Most of the work is getting the minimal amount of the internal "ribs" of the grip removed.

Initially, I just removed the minimum amount of material to mount the rail itself:

After marking the location for the bolt holes, I reassembled the halves with the hex screws and carefully drilled the holes - JUST THROUGH THE TOP SURFACE!


Then you can test fit the rail and trim more material away as needed. Loosely attach the screws and mounting plates that come with the Magpul rail. If you get the tension right on these, you can snug them up while mounted to one half, then when you snap on the other half they'll be pretty tight. This takes some trial and error but you'll get it. You'll be able to tighten the front bolt from the outside of the grip, but the rear one is not accessible with the halves snapped together... so you need to get the tension just right.


Once I had the rail in place, I disassembled the vertical grip and cut away just enough material to slide the base onto the front of the rail. Again, lots of trial and test fitting until it was "right".


This was the way I used it when I went to the range today. The grip stayed vertical, and could fold slightly for packing in the case, but wouldn't fold all the way. I had originally planned to cut away enough of the fore end to allow the vertical grip to fold into it more, but I liked the way this was looking so far with the lower surface of the fore end totally intact... you could use the fore end just like before, but also had the forward-mounted vertical grip.





I loved the way this handled and fired at the range. Both me and my 12 year old son had a great time firing 120 rounds. But once I got home, I decided to try it with more cut out. I figured that, worst case, I could always start over if I didn't like it. Here goes...

UGLY when you look at it this way. Luckily, you usually won't. But better with the grip installed.

It's very comfortable to hold the grip just like this, with the grip folded... no sharp edges, and it fits my hand well. But also works well to hold the original fore end when the grip is open. I sanded the edges of the cutout and you really don't even notice it when holding the fore end when the vertical grip is deployed. You'd think that big hole would be a big issue with your hand on it... but it isn't. Surprised me.

You can see here why I positioned it so far forward - so I wouldn't interfere with either of the screws that hold the fore end together when folded. I examined a lot of different placements within the fore end - I played with the pieces in my hands and modeled it in my head for several hours before I started cutting. I think it would be possible to do a much more "aft" mounted position between the two mounting screws, with the bottom of the grip folding back over the trigger guard when folded (much like this grip is designed to do on a Glock). But I decided I liked the forward position best.



The cutout is shaped like that so the grip recesses into it well. The bottom edge could be straight across instead of "V" shaped... If I do another one, I'll cut it differently.But with the grip folded, it's fine as-is. I used an ultra-fine-tip Sharpie to trace the outline of the grip and then trimmed away a tiny bit of the material at a time until I ended up with just enough. Lots of trim, test fit, repeat in this project. But still goes very quickly.



Moment of truth... on the gun....



Sarge is right... looks like the grip has it's tongue sticking out... but that's cool with me. the grip feels really good. and the finger guard is nice on there.



I'm keepin' it. And if I ever get tired of it, I can put my stock fore end back on in about 20 seconds.

The other reason I thought I might want the tri-rail was to mount a light. Installed a 2" Magpul poly rail in one of the vent holes for that... will use an offset light mount to clear the ejection port.

Just need to see if I can find some Magpul OD backup sights at the gun show tomorrow and will be about done... Love my big tuna...

[SgtStrykerUSMC43]

Hope you had a productive and safe day at the range.

The Mako grip looks like it's sticking its tongue out.

What else are you planning on morphing to the weapon?

[Delmustator]

I saw a vertical grip at the gun show today that split in half and became a bi-pod. I thought it was interesting. A little large to the grip but still functionally interesting.

Mako Group - Vertical Foregrip - Vert Foregrip w or QR Bipod Gen2 Blk

[Noncentsical]

Yeah, I'm going to the same show tomorrow.

My original plan was to buy the version of that same Mako bipod grip, but with the integrated light holder, and put it on the tri-rail I bought.

But once I put the tri-rail on, I knew it was coming back off.

To be fair, it does NOT add "two pounds" like has been commonly thrown around. The tri-rail weights 16 oz on my postal scale; the plastic fore end weighs 4 oz. So it only adds 12 oz, before you start clamping stuff onto it... But still, I didn't like the impact that had on the weight and balance of the gun... which was already getting heavy-ish with the EOtech and the Burris AR-Tripler.

My grip rail solution adds the weight of the grip... that's it. Feels no different than it did without the mod. But has a vertical foregrip when I want it.

[Noncentsical]

Updated original post with DIY instructions

[HK SD9 Tactical]

Updated original post with DIY instructions

Thanks for that update and instructions.

[SgtStrykerUSMC43]

Updated original post with DIY instructions

I like it and it didn't turn out gaudy. Like you said, it can be flipped back to original in less than a minute.

[full_bleed]

Nice mod and thanks for posting. I have been considering buying the tri-rail forend but was a little put off by the added weight and cost. This seems to be the perfect compromise. FN should have offered this as an accessory option as well.

Where can I order a replacement forend from? Directly from FN?

[Shadow Mountain Gear]

I like it and it looks functional compare to some modifications I've seen out there. Although I do agree that it looks like it's "sticking its tongue out".

[Noncentsical]

Nice mod and thanks for posting. I have been considering buying the tri-rail forend but was a little put off by the added weight and cost. This seems to be the perfect compromise. FN should have offered this as an accessory option as well.

Where can I order a replacement forend from? Directly from FN?

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