It's Almost Like The Part I Wanted

A couple of weeks ago I ordered some longer accessory rails for the G36C. I only would have needed one, because I was planning on putting it on the bottom of the handguard, but they would only sell packs of two, meant for the sides.

The default rail feels a bit short in my opinion, so with a longer rail I could have the foregrip a bit closer to my body.

Original grip placement on the default rail

Enthusiastically, I opened the bag of new rails, removed the foregrip and unscrewed the default rail. I began fitting the new rail only to notice it wasn't actually up to spec.

With the front screw hole aligned, the rear one doesn't come even close.

I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment at this point. I had waited for these things to arrive for more than two weeks, and even though they were sold as G36C accessories, they do not fit it. And no, the side rails do not have a different screw placement, so every rail should be able to sit anywhere. Not these things, though. 

After some searching I find the specs for the real steel G36C, and after comparing them to my airsoft gun, I see that the replica is well copied from the original, whereas the rails I got are simply not correctly made. A replacement would take forever to get here, so I just decide to fix this situation myself.

The front screw hole seems like the obvious place to work on this piece, since it's already an oval shape and there's only little material nor is there any actual rail in the way. 

With the rotary tool, I first try a grinding bit with similar dimensions as the hole, with the idea of simply grinding away enough material so that the screw would go through. The grinding tip is too fine, though, so this takes ages. 

I quickly get bored with the lack of progress, and switch over to a cutting bit. I can't use that one from the inside out, though, so the whole front of the hole has to go. The rotary tool is definitely great for this kind of work, since it's light and easy to manoeuvre around. With the cutting tip I can both cut and grind, so in a few minutes I have a nice, clean looking result.

I screw it on, but it's almost as if someone keeps going "Not so fast" all the damn time. Not only is the rail too short, it's also a too thin: Having screwed the rail and the front sling point on, I notice there's a bit of up and down wobble. So off come the screws again and I'm back at the planning stage.

Luckily, it doesn't take long to come up with a solution. I have it handily lying around, and it worked for the AUG, so why would it now work here? So duct tape, the sticky but ever-faithful hound of the handyman, to the rescue!

It sure is thicker now!

Stuffing this thing back into the sling mount isn't easy, but once done and the screws are tightened, it definitely doesn't budge.

I fiddle around a bit with the foregrip to find the perfect placement, and it indeed feels most ergonomic a few centimetres further back from where it used to be. It was all worth it, in the end!

Here we are. It's all better now!