JL Billet has been making accessories for the AR market for some time. As their name indicates, most of their parts are machined from billets of metal. A billet is basically just a raw chunk of metal. I was in need of a handguard for my pistol build. They had just what I was looking for in their 7.3” angled M-Lok handguard.

The design of the JL Billet angled handguard is pretty straightforward. The front of the handguard is angled rearward, thus the name. There is a full picatinny rail along the top. It has 3 full M-Lok slots on the sides and 2 full M-Lok slots on the bottom. The 2 bottom M-Lok’s are not usable to me, because the base of the gas block is too close to allow the M-lok hardware to be installed. Yes, the base of the gas block clears the handguard, but not by much. On the 45 degrees are triangle shaped lightening holes. JL Billet also put lightening slots under the picatinny rail.

JL Billet also machined in quick disconnects for QD slings. On the rear of the handguard, closest to the receiver, is where they are located. One on each side. They are not just the, “hey let’s drill a hole in the handguard” stye, instead they are the real raised kind. One of the key features on the QD mounts, is how they are non-rotating. Once the QD is installed in the cup, it only rotates slightly, not all the way around. There are 4 basic positions to install the QD in. I loved this for the simple fact that it is more like a fixed sling point, but still rotates slightly.

Construction of the handguard is a little non-standard. Instead of using an extrusion and then machining it, JL billet machines the handguard out of a single piece of 6061-T6 aluminum. It produces a really nice handguard, but adds to the cost. They then anodize it black. They will also sell the handguards “in the white,” or non-anodized. If you know that you are going to have the build Cerakoted, this is a nice option.

Installation of the JL Billet handguard is pretty straight forward. The barrel nut uses an 1-⅛” wrench, which they sell for $15 if you don’t have one. The barrel nut is aluminum and you torque it down to 45 ft/lbs. You don’t have to index the barrel nut or use shims. The aluminum helps make the assembly lighter. I didn’t have any problems screwing on the barrel nut and torquing it down. Then just slide the handguard on. Install the little metal key and clamp screws. The key indexes in the barrel nut. Line the rail up with the receiver and then tighten the clamp screws to 90 in/lbs. See, easy. JL billet doesn’t use any type of anti-rotational “wings” or timed barrel nuts. The clamping force from the precision machined barrel nut, and inside handguard are sufficient. This also allows the handguard to be used on “non-standard” style billet receivers.

Like previously mentioned, I installed this on an AR pistol. Having the barrel free floated is almost the standard today and I like that aspect of the JL Billet handguard. The angled front looks nice and keeps the front of the firearm from catching on stuff. It’s a short handguard, so flex is not a problem. At 1.55” outside diameter, it fits my hand nicely, but I tend toward smaller diameter handguards anyhow. Everything about this handguard works well.

JL Billet did a great job with their handguards. I have seen some of their other stuff, and it looks nice also. If you are looking at handguards, or any other AR part, go give JL Billet a look.