Knights Armament KAC M4 RAS, Vero Beach, 2-ribbed covers 

Original New Old Stock - Black Circa 2002

If you are looking for original GWOT covers for a mil spec RAS or RIS, nothing is more authentic than new old stock Knight's made Vero Beach marked covers.  For 99% of buyers, you do not need this.  Let's face it, you can buy the same quality material made by another military contract provider for 1/3 the price.  For that 1% guy, this is as original as it gets.

At Charlie's, we get three questions on KAC RAS rail covers:

1) What does Vero Beach mean, and why does this not have a CAGE Code?

2) Are these knock-offs?

3) Why are you guys so expensive on a stupid rail cover?

You know what?  All great questions.  I could be rude, and say, well, if you have to ask, then this is not for you.  That is what the Porsche dealer did to me.  LOL.  Now, let's take those one at a time.  Because, we care.  And, we are insane enough to carry about 27-1/2 different RAS covers.  We are like the Total Wine store of rail covers.

TL;DR:

What does Vero Beach mean?  Well, it means next to nothing, but what it does do, is date the product.  Knights Armament started in Vero Beach sometime before history was written, and when they started making so much money on the War on Terrorism, they had to move to a larger facility.  Their original facility was in Vero Beach, Florida, so the RAS rail covers up to the point of their move had this marking.  When did they move?  Meh, I think it was late 2002.  I am not going to look it up.  Call Trey Knight and ask him.  LOL.  Anyway, after the Vero markings, came the Knights Armament markings with nothing else.  They were made from 2003-ish to 2012-ish, at some point, the US Department of Defense came out with CAGE Codes, which are nothing more than a number assigned to a manufacturer.  Yes, CCC has a CAGE code as well.  Probably someone at DOD got a promotion for this amazing idea.  So, from some point around 2013 forward, Knights RAS rail covers had a CAGE Code.  Now you know.

Are these knock-offs?  No.  We do not sell junk.  While "clone" is in our name, we carry some of the most authentic products from some of the key manufacturers that are military correct, and a few others that are just darn good.  These are made by Knights Armament.  While we have some products we refer to as generic "mil spec" as we get them from various manufacturers, if we have a company name on the product, that is who made it.

Why are your New Old Stock products so expensive?  Hmm.  That could be one of two answers.  The first is obvious.  If we purchased something in 2001, and held it until now, there is a big cost of having our capital deployed holding inventory.  Just as, a 25-year-old Scotch is more expensive than a 5-year-old Scotch Whisky.  Most resellers want to buy and sell quickly.  They might make a 5% or 15% profit on a quick sale.  Good for them.  That is why you see pink AR rifles and Robin's egg blue revolvers at gun shows.  Our margin needs to be much more if we are holding a product for 20 years, than the guy who sells out every month.  Basic economics.  The second reason is that we might have acquired a collection from a dealer or individual who had a box sitting around, and he sees how much things go for on Gunbroker, but called us to sell in bulk.  We are paying much more for that product than for a new product from the manufacturer.