Newb with newb questions.

[Schwag173]

Crap. I forgot this rifle has the old m16 style handguard which snaps onto the barrel at the gas block. That can't be good.
Looks like I'll need a gas block, and a different hand guard.
Can a new handguard be just snapped into the ring at the receiver or am I going to have to change that too?:mad:

In my opinion: Yes, free-floating is much superior in terms of accuracy. However, some applications don't require THAT much accuracy and in those circumstances free-floating is an unnecessary expense. It sounds like your squirrel-hunting will require the floating, though. Based on advice from LRRPF52 I'm looking at these floated handguards: http://store.troyind.com/Troy_BattleRail...1bt-01.htm