Patent ID: 7640689

Claim:
A holding unit for releasably coupling a hand guard system to a firearm having a barrel secured to the firearm by a barrel nut, comprising: a coupling element having an opening, a coupling portion, and a flange, wherein the flange and the coupling portion define the opening so that the coupling element is slidably removable about the barrel of the firearm, and wherein an inner surface of the coupling portion engages an outer surface of the barrel nut; a sleeve operatively coupled to the coupling element having an inner surface defining an opening so that the sleeve is slidably removable about the barrel of the firearm, and wherein the inner surface forms a shoulder and defines a groove distally located from the shoulder and sized to receive a snap ring, wherein the snap ring retains the sleeve to the coupling element such that the shoulder and snap ring are located on opposite sides of the flange of the coupling element; and a biasing member disposed between the flange and the shoulder of the sleeve to bias the sleeve away from the flange along a longitudinal axis of the barrel, wherein the biasing member enables the sleeve to move between a first position and a second position relative to the coupling element.